by Susan Stoker
Her phone vibrated with an incoming text.
Dean: Had lunch with a woman I can’t wait to get to know better. ;)
Adeline smiled. God, she felt like a teenager again, getting a note from a boy she liked. She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she put down the phone and finished cooking and packaging up Coco’s food for the week. When she was done, she washed her hands and was drying them when her phone vibrated again.
Picking up the phone, she walked into her living room and plopped herself down on the huge armchair. She had a couch, but much preferred to curl up in the buttery-soft leather chair. It was big enough that she could sit with her feet tucked under her and lean against the large arm. It was one of the first things she’d bought after she’d started working at her first “adult job.” It was old, and probably needed replacing, but Adeline wouldn’t part with it until the stuffing was coming out and it couldn’t possibly be repaired.
Expecting the text to be from Dean, she frowned when she saw it was from her boss.
At one time she might’ve been interested in Douglas. He was fairly good looking. He had light brown hair that he kept short. He was always well dressed and well groomed. But there was just something that had rubbed her the wrong way from the moment Adeline met him. Something that just seemed off about him. And that was before he’d shown what an asshole he really was.
He’d insisted on getting all of their cell phone numbers when he’d been hired. He wanted to be able to have immediate access to all of them, “just in case there was an emergency.”
Adeline shook her head. The only emergencies he’d had were ones of his own making…and they’d all had to deal with the consequences of his actions.
Boss: Meeting tomorrow. 7:30am. Wolfe portfolio needs complete overhaul. Don’t be late.
Adeline rolled her eyes and sighed. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been expecting it. James Wolfe was a demanding customer—rightfully so. He owned a chain of car dealerships across south Texas. Douglas had acquired the account from the person whose job he’d taken over. Except their old boss had regularly held meetings with all of his employees to get their input and ideas on marketing campaigns in order to keep them fresh and hip. He’d regularly shared some of the profits from those campaigns with his employees as well.
Douglas hadn’t once asked anyone for their thoughts, and if the last couple of radio spots and television commercials Adeline had heard and seen were anything to go by, Mr. Wolfe had a right to not be happy. They were awful. Corny and cheesy, they sounded like something a novice would put together, not an award-winning marketing firm like theirs.
She’d been expecting something like this for a few weeks now. And while she might not be happy the reputation of the company was suffering because of Douglas Hill the Third, she felt a bit of excitement that she and her coworkers might get a chance to turn the Wolfe campaign around.
She shot off a quick affirmative reply to her boss—he expected his employees to acknowledge his texts—then sat back with a sigh. She felt okay, a bit dragged out, but she was used to the feeling on days when she had a seizure. Unfortunately, those days were coming more and more frequently.
Not wanting to chat on the phone, but wanting to touch base with her sister, Adeline thumbed a quick note.
Adeline: Hey sis. Had another seizure today right when I sat down with my blind date. He was an ass, but a firefighter helped me out and let me go to his station across the street to lie down. Nothing out of the ordinary with it though, no worries. Coco was awesome and let me know it was coming. Jerkface called us in for an early meeting to fix his mistakes. No surprise there. Hope all is okay with you. I’ll call tomorrow night and we can chat. Luv ya.
Adeline hit send and bit her lip. She really wanted to respond to Dean’s message, but wasn’t sure what to say. Out of all the men she’d met for a first date from the dating website, no one had inquired as to whether or not she’d made it home all right. Not one. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t really clicked on their dates; it was a matter of being polite and considerate.
But Dean hadn’t wasted any time checking on her and it made her feel good inside. Adeline typed a response to him, smiling all the while.
Adeline: Anyone I know? :)
She clicked on the television and turned to the Science Channel. It was her new favorite station. Some of the shows were extremely interesting…thank goodness for the DVR.
Within moments, her phone vibrated.
Dean: Maybe. She’s got black hair, a well-behaved dog, and can make me laugh with only three words.
Adeline immediately typed out a response. Usually she was a bit more reserved with men. When she chatted with them online, she kept to the basics and didn’t let her true self out, figuring she needed to be polite and hold back some of who she was until she really got to know the person. She wasn’t sure what it was about Dean that made her want to be completely herself. Maybe it was because he’d been there for her when she’d needed him. Maybe it was how he had put her at ease. Or maybe it was because she was more attracted to him than she’d been to anyone in years. Whatever it was, she felt more energized than she had in a long time. More wired. More…excited.
Adeline: It took three?
His response was immediate.
Dean: Lol. How was the rest of your day?
Adeline: Good. Until my jerk of a boss texted to tell me and some of my coworkers that we had to be in thirty minutes early tomorrow for a meeting to discuss how to fix his screw-ups.
Dean: Ugh. Sucks. You sent out that resume yet?
Adeline smiled. He wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t already thought about.
Adeline: It’s on my to-do list for tomorrow.
Dean: Good. You deserve more than that.
Adeline: How do you know? Maybe I’m the troublemaker in the office. Maybe I’m the bitch and my boss is the one who has to deal with me.
Dean: Nope. Not buying it.
Adeline: Why? You don’t know me.
Dean: You’re right, I don’t. Want to go to dinner with me this Friday?
Adeline looked down at her phone in shock. She really shouldn’t be that surprised, he’d flat-out said earlier that he wanted to get to know her. But he’d actually asked her out on a date. It was right there in black and white on her phone.
Did she want to go out with him? Yes. But for some reason she hesitated. Maybe it was because she had a feeling saying yes would completely change her life.
As much as she wanted to find a man to love and to love her back, her life was a mess right now. Between her increasing-in-frequency seizures, her work situation being up in the air, and the fact that she was just coming to terms with the realization now might not be the best time to jump into a relationship, it was jarring to have a man like Dean literally pop into her life out of nowhere.
Dean: Too fast?
The words blinked back at Adeline as she contemplated what to say. Friday nights she and Alicia usually got together, but that was just an excuse. Her sister wouldn’t mind in the least if she canceled on her. She’d been on her case long enough to get back into the dating pool. She’d be ecstatic if she broke off their standing get-together for a man.
As she was about to text back and tell Dean that, yes, it was too fast, and she already had plans with her sister, a message popped up from Alicia.
Alicia: When do you go to the doctor again to discuss surgery? I hate that you’re having to deal with the seizures so much now. And gah, what an ass Douglas is. You need to hurry up and find another job. Oh, and before I forget, I need to cancel for Friday. Matt made plans for us to go to that Brazilian steakhouse. Next week for sure. Love you!
It was official. Fate was conspiring against her. She shot off a quick return text to Alicia, telling her it was okay about Friday and telling her she was sending resumes out tomorrow. Then she went back to Dean’s text.
Adeline: Yes. And no. It does seem fast, but at the same time, I was more comfortable with you toda
y at lunch than I’ve been with any guy I’ve met in a long time. I was going to tell you that I couldn’t go because I go out with my sister every Friday, but she just canceled on me. As long as we go somewhere I can take Coco, and I can meet you there…I’d love to go to dinner with you Friday.
Adeline’s thumb hovered over the send button then quickly hit it. She didn’t know what it was about Dean that made her want to throw herself into his arms, yet at the same time run as fast as she could away from him. It was ridiculous. She was way too old to feel this up and down about a man.
Dean: Whew. You had me worried there for a bit. Thank you. I promise to be on my best behavior. And I wouldn’t have asked you out if I didn’t feel the same way about you. Are you sure I can’t pick you up?
Adeline: I’m sure.
Dean: Not even if I promise to leave my pager at home and not do anything creepy so you feel the need to get away from me?
Adeline: Lol. Not this time. Maybe next time.
Dean: Deal. And I’m holding you to that.
Adeline: To what?
Dean: To a second date. You just asked me out and I said yes.
Adeline: Wait, what? I didn’t ask you out.
Dean: Yup. You said next time we go out I can pick you up.
Adeline laughed out loud. She totally had.
Adeline: I guess I did. So where are we going?
Dean: I’ll text ya later. I gotta plan something epic.
Adeline: You mean you didn’t already have it planned?
Dean: Nope. I wasn’t sure you’d agree. And I don’t presume to know the answer to anything I might ask a woman.
Adeline: Probably a good life plan.
Dean: Right? Thank you, Adeline. I can’t wait to see you again. I feel extraordinarily lucky I was there at the right time today to not only help you out, but to get to know you a little afterwards too.
Adeline: *blush*
Dean: I’m serious.
Adeline: I’m glad you were there too. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.
Dean: Sweet dreams, beautiful.
Adeline stared at the television blankly for a moment before a huge smile crept over her face. Beautiful. She didn’t really believe it, but merely imagining the word coming out of Dean’s mouth in his deep voice sent warm shivers through her.
She had no idea where they might go, but she hadn’t been this excited for a date in a long time. Not even the thought of having to meet with Douglas and hearing exactly what ridiculous thing he had planned for her and the rest of the team could diminish her happy thoughts.
Friday couldn’t come soon enough.
The man sat in the leather chair in his living room, oblivious to the television in the background. He rocked back and forth as he thought about the woman. He hadn’t really noticed her until recently. But now that he had, he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
She’s cute.
I like her.
I want her to be mine.
Tomorrow I’ll get to see her again.
I can’t wait.
Chapter 4
As far as he was concerned, Friday couldn’t come soon enough.
“What’s put that weird-ass look on your ugly mug?” Penelope “Tiger” Turner, the lone female on the squad, asked Crash the next day.
They’d been sitting around watching television, killing time until their shift ended or they got a call, whichever came first.
“Nothin’,” Crash told her, not able to keep the small smile off his face.
“Bull. Does it have anything to do with the woman you hid in the back room yesterday, then snuck out of here without letting anyone talk to her?”
Crash turned to her. “I didn’t hide her in the back. She was having a seizure. I was giving her some privacy.”
“Ha!” Penelope crowed. “I knew it was her. Spill it!”
Crash knew he was grinning like an idiot, but didn’t care. Deciding that maybe Penelope was the best person to talk to about Adeline, he said, “Her name is Adeline. She was on a blind date and when her dog alerted to the fact she was going to have a seizure, the asshole she was with got up and left.”
“Christ, what a douche.”
“Exactly. So I went over to see what I could do to help, and brought her here. She had her seizure, and we went back over to eat lunch. I asked her out, she said yes, and we’re getting together on Friday.”
“Somehow I think there’s a lot you’re leaving out,” Penelope said dryly.
“Not really,” Crash protested.
“She was cute,” Penelope noted.
“Yeah.” She was more than cute, but Dean wasn’t going to get into it with Penelope. When he was watching over her at the station, he was focused on her health, but later, at lunch, he’d noticed.
She wasn’t very tall, probably half a foot shorter than he was. When they’d walked side-by-side to the diner he towered over her. It had made him feel even more protective of her. Adeline’s black hair shone in the sunlight and brushed against her shoulders as she walked. Her hair was so dark it almost looked like she had blue highlights in the thick strands. Her lips were full and if she’d been wearing lipstick it had long since been nibbled or wiped off by the time they sat across from each other in the booth at lunch. He recalled her flushed cheeks when he complimented her, as if she wasn’t used to them, and her lashes were long and thick when she looked away from him, not able to meet his eyes.
She had been wearing a long, flowery skirt and a white button-down blouse and he’d been able to see a hint of her curves under it. Penelope was right, Adeline was cute, but she was more than that. He enjoyed not only talking with her, but her pragmatic take on her life and illness. He couldn’t wait to get to know her better.
“I need to figure out where I want to take her on our date,” Crash mused out loud.
Penelope looked at him for a moment with her head tilted. “You like her.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“No, I mean, you like her. This isn’t just another date, is it?”
Crash shrugged. “It’s too early to know what it is.”
“Don’t lie about it. There’s something about her. Something that’s caught your eye.”
Crash looked over at Penelope. She was sitting on the couch next to him, her head resting on her hand, her elbow propped up on the back of the couch. She wasn’t teasing him; she was completely serious.
“Yeah. Although it’s crazy. I just met her.”
As much as Crash portrayed the playboy to his friends, in actuality he was anything but. He had a profile on a dating website, but had never entertained the idea of actually meeting anyone in person who messaged him. He dated, but was very picky about the women he took to his bed. He supposed it was sappy. He probably should be happy with playing the field and screwing as many women as he could…but he wasn’t.
He once saw a picture on social media that said something to the effect of, “I wish I’d found you sooner so I could’ve spent more time loving you.” It was exactly how he felt. He was only thirty-two, but if he could’ve met a woman when he was twenty who made his heart speed up just by looking at her, who made him happy simply by hearing her laugh, and who he wanted to wake up to for the rest of his life, he would’ve married her on the spot.
He couldn’t help but thinking about how much time he was losing. Crash knew he wasn’t typical in that sense. Most of his buddies enjoyed being single, but he didn’t. He only played the game, pretending to be interested in dating as many people as possible. Maybe too well.
“It doesn’t matter that you just met her. Sometimes, all it takes is one look at someone and you know.” Penelope’s voice was low and serious. “It’s not necessarily convenient, and it might not be the person you think you should be attracted to. Sometimes you know deep in your heart that it’s, in fact, the last person you should be attracted to, but it just is.”
Suddenly feeling as if they were no longer talking about him and Adeline, Crash asked, “You felt
that before, Tiger?”
The small blonde dynamo nodded.
Protective feelings rose in Crash like a tidal wave. Penelope was one of a core group of friends who worked as firefighters at Station 7. She was Sledge’s sister, and she’d busted her ass and proved herself more than capable of holding her own against the taller, heavier, and stronger men she worked with. She didn’t quit, no matter what.
When she’d gone over to the Middle East to do a tour with her National Guard unit and had gotten kidnapped, it had nearly killed every one of the firefighters. They’d worked hand in hand with her brother to lobby whoever would listen to rescue her. Luckily, the President had authorized a Special Forces team to go in and get her out.
She was back at work, and most of the time everyone thought she’d been dealing exceptionally well, but every now and then a very vulnerable side of the woman peeked out. Like now. Crash had no idea she might be harboring feelings for someone. He also had no idea who it could be, as the woman volunteered to take shifts for other firefighters all the time…she spent more time here at the station than at her apartment.
But he knew that Moose more than liked the small spitfire, and it would be ideal if she liked him back. Crash probed for more information.
“Who is he?”
As if his words brought her back to the present, Penelope smiled in a vacant way and Crash knew any chance he had of finding out who she might be pining over was most likely lost. Shaking her head, she said, “Oh, you know, I got to meet Chris Pratt when I went to the White House for that ceremony thing. God, is that man fine.”