Fire & Flesh: A Firefighter Romance Story

by Kerri Carr

  Tonight would just be the beginning, making a perfect soldier’s return.

  THE END

  Another bonus story is on the next page.

  Bonus Story 27 of 44

  Forever

  I’ve never been one to believe in the supernatural. Paranormal, of course. I could spend days watching ghost hunting television shows, but everything supernatural always seemed so far-fetched and unrealistic. Werewolves, vampires, witches… It all seemed so crazy – until I was thrown into their world.

  Shortly after graduating from a small community college with a degree in business, I decided to open my own floral shop in my hometown of Jasper, just about an hour outside of Atlanta. It started in the spare room of my apartment and blossomed until I had enough income to buy my own little building space. I lived in a town small enough to garner regular customers, yet big enough to move away from my parents and choose when I got to see them. I didn’t have much say in who else I saw. At thirty-six, I’d spent sixteen years in the business and in that time, I had seen half of my high school classmates come to me for their wedding arrangements. Watching everyone get married when I was still stuck online dating made it hurt just a bit more. I loved seeing everyone so happy, but I couldn’t stand constantly seeing what I was missing out on – what I had dreamed of since I was a little girl. A big wedding with flowers adorning every wall, down the aisle and underneath my feet.

  After organizing the bouquet sets for an old classmate’s second marriage, I hit my slow season. We never had bad weather in Georgia, but summer and fall were definitely the most popular wedding seasons and high school prom wasn’t until the spring. Right as slow season hit, I saw an unexpected face walk in through the shop doors. It was nearly impossible to ignore him as his tall frame loomed over every pre-made arrangement in the store. His dark mop of hair moved through the small aisles of flowers and trinkets until he made his way to the front counter.

  “Hannah. Hannah Campbell, right?” he said, a small smirk crossing his lips as he looked at me, his brown eyes lighting up in silent laughter.

  “Professor Crowne,” I replied with a mirrored smirk.

  “It’s been fifteen years, Hannah. Please, call me Kyle,” he insisted.

  “Kyle,” I said quietly, testing the sound of the name on my tongue. “You look exactly like you did in college.” He was one of the younger professors, fresh out of graduate school and only six years older than me.

  “I could say the same about you, but you look much more mature than you did at nineteen.” Something about the way he said those words sent a rush down my spine. His demeanor was undeniably friendly and the lilt in his speech told me he didn’t mind getting a little flirty during our first meeting in years.

  “I hope by ‘mature’, you don’t mean old,” I laughed lightly. I turned from facing him to tie bows around a couple new floral arrangements sitting in vases on the counter behind me. He followed the curve of the counter to stand in front of me again, barely taking his eyes off of me to look at the flowers.

  “Is there anything I can help you find?” I asked, forcing myself to keep my eyes on the bouquets as I tied the ribbons.

  “Yeah, actually. I’m looking for something to give a friend for her birthday.”

  “A friend or a girlfriend?”

  “Friend. We both like girls so that wouldn’t work out very well,” he chuckled.

  I smiled at his comment and nodded my head for him to follow me across my little shop. One wall had particularly colorful flower sets, typically chosen for birthdays.

  “These are pretty popular birthday sets,” I said, pointing at the wall of color. “We have most of these growing in the greenhouse if you wanted to handpick which flowers you’d like.”

  Kyle walked along the wall examining all the flowers while I stood back and examined him. He honestly looked like he hardly aged. He looked a little older when he was my professor at twenty-five, but now at forty-two, he looked closer to thirty-five. Maybe it was his general style. He wore dark wash jeans and a slightly tattered band t-shirt; his hair was shorter and a little shaggy, hanging just above his glowing brown eyes. The stubble covering his jaw helped a bit too – and had me biting my lip at him as he chose his flowers.

  “You have bearberries?” he asked suddenly, snapping my attention back to reality.

  “Yeah. We have a couple more pots of them in the greenhouse if you want some. We usually sell them during the winter months.”

  “No, I’m actually allergic,” he laughed. “I’ll just take this one.” I grabbed the colorful flower set he preferred and rang it all up for him, packaging everything for him to take along.

  He turned to the entrance. Before he could make it to the door, I mustered up enough courage to ask the question I wished I could’ve asked while I was in school – except professors dating students was against school code.

  “Prof – Kyle,” I called, barely catching my slip-up. He turned back and smiled at me, making me feel a little more nervous about what I was about to say. “Do you want to, maybe, get lunch later? Or dinner? Whichever would work better for you. I have a pretty flexible schedule,” I rambled.

  “Sure. Lunch sounds fine.” He walked back over with another smile and handed me his phone to put my number in. Despite my nerves, I gave him my number and managed to smile in return. He left without another word. Barely seconds after the door shut behind him, I received a text from an unknown number.

  Unknown: Hey Hannah. It’s Kyle. Are you available in about two hours for lunch?

  I smiled to myself and typed back a quick reply, saving his number before I’d forget.

  Hannah: Sure! My lunch is usually from 12-1 if that works?

  Kyle: Sounds good. I’ll pick you up at noon.

  I didn’t know Kyle as Kyle in college, but those texts told me he wasn’t a very exciting texter. Whatever, I could deal with that. I set my phone down and went back to work for another two hours. I could hardly pay attention, though. Mainly because I was incredibly nervous for my date with…my old college professor. Maybe it was a bad idea.

  At eleven o’clock, my other employee, Taylor walked in. I hired her about five years ago to only work summers while she was in college. Thankfully, she studied creative writing and wrote her own novels while she wasn’t working. Even though she was about twelve years younger than me, we had grown close in the past two years of working full-time together.

  “Hey, Taylor,” I smiled. She punched in her time card and joined me in the greenhouse to make new arrangements. “Can I ask for your opinion on something?” I asked.

  “Yeah, definitely,” she said.

  “Okay. I don’t know how to say this, to be honest. Um, I ran into one of my old college professors today.”

  Taylor just stayed quiet and waited for me to continue. My mind was racing with everything except what to say next. “Okay. And?”

  “And,” I started, “I have a lunch date with him in about an hour.”

  “What? You have a date with your old professor?!” Taylor squealed. “That’s awesome, Hannah!”

  “I’m really glad you said that,” I laughed. “Ugh, I was getting so nervous.”

  “Is he old?”

  I laughed even more and replied, “No. He’s only six years older than me.”

  “Damn, nice!”

  Taylor and I spent the next hour talking about Kyle until the man himself walked back into the store.

  “That’s him,” I whispered quickly, drawing Taylor’s attention to the man walking to the front desk. Taylor just raised her eyebrows at me.

  “Hey,” Kyle smiled. “Ready?”

  “Absolutely,” I returned with a smile.

  *****

  Kyle chose one of the smaller, privately-owned diners in town to have our little lunch date, but I was starting to question if it was a date or not. Most of what we talked about was simple reminiscing over things that happened when we were both at the school.

  “So what have you bee
n doing since then?” I asked, desperate to learn about what he was doing now.

  “I still work at the school and now I have tenure so I can finally stop being a hard ass,” he joked.

  “What about that friend you were talking about earlier? How did you two meet?”

  “She’s a teacher at the high school. She asked me to give a speech to her students about college and we became friends from there.”

  “Just friends, right? I don’t have to worry about her storming in here and pouring my drink on me?” I joked.

  He laughed with me, the sound making my own smile grow a little bigger, and shook his head. “Just friends. Like I said, we both like women. Since I’m not a woman, I’m not sure how that would work out,” he smiled. “She did say she’d like to meet you, though.”

  He already told her about me? I thought. “That was quick,” I said.

  “She asked if I wanted to get lunch shortly after I left. I told her I had a date and she asked all about you.”

  “I’d love to meet her,” I smiled. “If she’s a close friend of yours, I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”

  And we sure as hell did. Two weeks later, once Kyle and his still unnamed friend were finished with their Friday classes, he asked me to meet them at his place for some drinks. Taylor gave me advice on what to wear, so I showed up at Kyle’s front door with a black skirt and red top, a pair of black flats adorning my feet so I ‘don’t look desperate’, according to Taylor.

  “Hey, come on in,” Kyle greeted. “Ellen’s right in the living room.” Kyle’s place was thankfully small enough for me to see the living room from the front door so I wouldn’t end up wandering around like a lost puppy.

  The woman I saw sitting on the couch took my breath away. She was dressed far more casually than me in yoga pants and a sweatshirt, but she still looked amazing. Part of me felt bad because I had already gone out with Kyle, but if Ellen asked for anything, I wouldn’t have said no. Her long blonde hair framed her face perfectly, and her bright blue eyes lit up when I walked into the room.

  “You must be Hannah,” she smiled, holding a hand out for me to shake.

  “You must be Ellen,” I smiled in response. “It’s great to meet you.”

  “You too. Kyle has already told me so much about you.”

  “Has he?” I smirked, turning to Kyle as I took a seat beside Ellen. His face flushed a light shade of pink but he just shook his head and laughed.

  “Mostly stories of when you were in school, but I could tell he was excited to see you again.”

  “Well, the feeling is mutual.” I threw Kyle another smile and watched the tension in his body fade a little bit. My own body did the exact opposite and started to tense up at the sight of him licking his lips, his tongue darting out just before he drew his bottom lip in between his teeth. Fuck.

  “So, Ellen,” I said to distract myself. “Kyle said you’re a teacher?”

  “I am. I teach high school economics.”

  “I could never understand economics,” I laughed. “I think I nearly gave Kyle a stroke with how many times I asked him for help in class.”

  “Well I’d be willing you teach you a little something, free of charge.” The smirk on her lips let me know Kyle wasn’t the only one feeling flirty. Usually, I would have been able to handle two people flirting with me, except I found myself attracted to both of them and I really didn’t want to choose.

  *****

  Two weeks later, I found myself back at Kyle’s with Ellen on one side, Kyle on the other, and my third glass of wine in my hand. We had all been talking quite a bit and become good friends, but both of them flirted with me when the other wasn’t around. I couldn’t pick between the two, but part of me was curious about each one. Kyle seemed intriguing because he was my old professor. Something about being with him, even after college, seemed taboo. I loved it.

  Then there was Ellen. I’ve been with a couple women before, but none of them got my heart racing like she did. She knew the effect she had on me too. I could tell by her confidence every time she sent blood rushing through my body.

  Kyle had some show about Vikings playing quietly on his television, even though there was never a dull moment in conversation for any of us to actually pay attention. Once I had that third glass of wine gone and started working on my fourth, I couldn’t keep a smile off my face. The other two kept me laughing all night and I knew I wouldn’t be able to drive myself home, which meant either getting Kyle to drop me off or staying overnight.

  “We’re a little low on wine,” Kyle said, holding up the nearly empty bottle and raising his eyebrows at me.

  I held my hands up in mock surrender. “Hey, you never told me I couldn’t keep drinking.”

  “Drink however much you want,” Ellen laughed. “I’m right behind you.” With those words, she grabbed the bottle from Kyle and drained what was left, making the man grumble in fake annoyance.

  “I’ll go get us all another bottle,” he said, heading to the kitchen.

  When he was out of the room and out of sight, Ellen turned my attention back to her. “Hannah, I have a blunt question and I need you to answer honestly.” I wasn’t surprised. Ellen wasn’t one to mince words anyway, so I was more surprised that she admitted she would be blunt instead of outright asking.

  “Okay?” I replied, more as a question.

  “Are you straight?”

  I nearly choked on my wine and coughed a bit to catch my breath. “That was blunt,” I laughed. “But no, I’m not. Not technically. I’m bi.”

  Ellen hummed in understanding. “Good.”

  Before I could fully comprehend what was going on, Ellen leaned forward and pressed her lips against mine. I was a bit taken aback at first, but let myself lean into her kiss. Her lips were soft – that’s something I’d noticed as a difference between men and women. Men have typically been more aggressive. Women, on the other hand, not so much.

  “Starting all the fun without me?” We pulled apart at the sound of Kyle back in the room and I felt a blush immediately cover my face. I let my hair fall in front of me to hide the color from him, but Ellen reached forward and tucked the hair behind my ear anyway.

  “Sorry,” I muttered. “It’s probably just the alcohol.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about,” Kyle shrugged.

  I looked at him, confused. “What? Wait, I thought you liked me.”

  He nodded and uncorked the new bottle of wine to pour himself another glass. “I do. But that doesn’t mean I’m against you making out with Ellen.”

  I was lost. What was going on? If he liked me, why would he want me to hook up with other people? “Have you ever heard of polyamory, love?” Ellen asked, turning my attention to my right. I nodded. Instead of giving me a verbal answer, Ellen just shrugged.

  “So you two…” I trailed off, looking between them. “But you’re straight,” I said to Kyle, “and you’re a lesbian,” I said to Ellen. “How does that…?”

  “You’re bi,” Kyle smirked. How did he know that? “It works perfectly. I’m into you, Ellen’s into you, you’re into both of us. If you don’t want to try it, you can just say no.”

  I sat in shock for a second, taking a little bit of time to mull it over. I’d never been in a polyamorous relationship, but the thought piqued my interest. “Okay,” I finally said with a shrug. Kyle and Ellen looked at each other with smiles.

  “Are you sure?” Kyle asked.

  “Yeah. I think so,” I backtracked. “I can back out if it’s weird, right?”

  “That, babe, is called a break up,” Ellen said.

  “Then let’s hope everything goes well because I’m not one for grief,” I laughed. Kyle and Ellen looked at each other again, this time with a different look in their eyes. Concern, almost. I shrugged it off, not wanting to doom the relationship before it started. Instead, I lifted my newly filled glass of wine, courtesy of Kyle, in a silent toast to what may come.

  Kyle insisted I stop after my fift
h glass of wine, mostly because even he could tell I was getting past the point of tipsy, almost drunk.

  “I’m fine,” I said, a wide smile covering my face.

  “You’re drunk,” Kyle laughed, scooping me up in his arms.

  “No, I’m not,” I whined. I nestled my head into the crook of his neck and kissed him gently, letting my tongue flick out against his pulse to suck a light hickey. I could’ve sworn I heard him moan at the sensation, but before I could get very far, he set me down on a soft bed and tucked me under the covers.

  “You’re not really making me sleep here alone, are you?” I pouted. I could feel the alcohol starting to affect me, but I didn’t care.

  Kyle rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yes, I am. I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret when you’re sober,” he explained.

  “So tomorrow night?” I asked with a small smile.

  “Tomorrow night,” Kyle chuckled quietly. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead before flicking off the light and leaving me in bed.

  *****

  I woke up the next morning with a slight headache in last night’s clothes. Even with the alcohol I had, I remembered everything. It just had a more adverse effect than I would’ve liked. Once I pushed myself out of bed and washed my face in the guest bathroom, I met Kyle and Ellen downstairs.

  “Good morning,” I said with a little more pep than I liked.

  “You seem chipper,” Kyle smirked.

  I shrugged and sat at his kitchen counter. “I’m not as painless as I’d like but, like I told you last night, I’m fine.”

  He laughed at my casualness and slid a glass of water and bottle of aspirin to me.

  “Thanks,” I replied with just a little bit of annoyance. I was grateful he knew what I needed, but I hated admitting I was wrong.

  “Morning, sleepyhead,” Kyle said, looking past me. I turned and saw a yawning Ellen, very evident bedhead messing up her hair. She still looked gorgeous though, with a pair of shorts and an oversized sweatshirt on.