“They’re really good.”
“They’re children’s books, Case.” She closed her eye again, and exhaled a long, slow breath.
“They’re still good.” He was amazed when he read them. Short, sweet, and packed with emotion. There was no doubt they had a strong message with their Ugly Duckling theme. He could definitely relate, knowing how he’d felt as a child—unwanted and like he didn’t belong. He wasn’t ready to tell her that, but even though the books were designed for small children, they tugged at his heart just the same.
“Thank you.” She smiled, her eyes still closed. “That means a lot to me.”
KATIE
Katie knew she should kick him out and lock herself in her room until her book was finished, but this was just too good to pass up. She lay there with her feet in Casey’s hands while he told her he had read her books. She couldn’t believe it. Brendan had never read them. Not one. Had not even lied about it. He had said the covers were cool—but that he’d read one of her books when she decided to write a suspense thriller. That bastard.
She knew Casey was just her friend, but not only was he massaging her feet, he’d brought her chocolate ice cream. She couldn’t recall ever getting a foot message from a man. She was going to eat it up, just like she had her ice cream.
Was this guy for real? If she didn’t know better, she would have pinched herself. Surely, this had to be a dream. A dream that was getting dirtier by the second in her mind. God, his touch felt so good. She wanted nothing more than for his hands to travel up her leg to the warmth of her promised land. She sucked in a breath at the thought and had to tell herself to snap out of it. He wasn’t there to go on a treasure hunt of her lady bits. He was there to visit a friend.
“You’re so good at the kids’ books, Kate. What makes you want to write for adults?”
He had called her Kate. She noticed that he did that when he was talking to her seriously, otherwise it was Katie.
“I’m a sucker for happily ever afters. Since I was a kid, I would curl up on the couch with a blanket and the remote and watch cheesy made-for-TV romances, one right after another. I still do. My passion for romance novels was much the same. I knew someday I’d want to write one, I’ve just never had that nerve to do it.”
“What changed that?” His deep voice caused butterflies to swirl in her belly. She loved listening to him with her eyes closed, imagining herself lying in his arms and talking until they fell asleep.
She knew better, but she also couldn’t help her romantic self.
“Kate?” he called out.
“Yes,” she said, trying to remember his question.
“What changed?” he asked again. “You said you never thought you’d have the nerve to write a romance.”
“Someone told me I couldn’t.”
He squeezed her feet a little tighter. “Whoever he was didn’t know you very well.”
She opened her eyes, wide. “What makes you think it was a he?”
“Just a guess.” He winked at her. “It doesn’t matter what the motivation was, you know more than anyone that you’ll finish and it will be great.”
“How can you be sure, Case?” It amazed her that he spoke about her work with such confidence. They had only known each other for a short time, yet she felt more comfortable sitting across a couch from him than she had been with people she had known for years. How did this familiarity, this comfort happen so fast?
“If you write with the emotion you did for little ones, you can’t go wrong. Love is love,” he said. It surprised her, his words. By the expression on his face, she could tell that it surprised him too.
He sat up and patted her shins. “I gotta go, Katie. It’s getting late and you have a story to write. I’ve already taken up too much of your time.”
“You’ve done more good than harm, Casey. Believe me.” She pulled the blanket from both of them and got to her feet. The cold hit her quickly, so she crossed her arms across her chest.
Casey bent down to reach for the blanket, but pushed it aside laughing. “Haven’t you been looking for this?” He pulled a composition book from between the seat cushions. “You’re too funny, Katie.” He tapped her on the head with it and dropped it on the coffee table. Then he scooped up the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “This should keep your warm.” If that didn’t do the trick, then his smile would, she thought.
Before she could protest, Casey had picked up their trash from the table and was making his way to the kitchen.
“I could have done that, you know,” she called out to him.
“I know,” he called back.
When he returned to the living room, he headed for the door. Katie took a few steps toward him, not knowing what to do. She didn’t want him to go, but she didn’t want him to stay. Her inner thoughts were at war with each other. They were just friends; she had to remind herself. She had sworn off men, off firemen. Where had that train of thought gone?
It had been driven farther and farther from her mind the more time she had spent with Casey. He was making her feel things she didn’t want to feel. He brought her ice cream. He massaged her feet. He was supposed to be a cocky, asshole firefighter. Not a good guy.
“See you later, Katie,” he said, opening the door and dragging her from the battle waging in her head.
CASEY
He was going mad. He was sure of it. No matter how many times he reminded himself that Katie was just his friend, somehow he’d always forget. When he set out to make her forget she’d sworn off firefighters for good, he had no idea he was laying down a gauntlet for himself. He never had any intentions of developing feelings for her, yet here he was looking into her eyes, feeling shit he had no business feeling.
Casey had said goodbye to her, but apparently, his feet didn’t get the message. She stood in front of him, her warm, welcoming eyes gazing up at him. He wanted to look away, run away, but he couldn’t. It was like there was this magnetism between them that pulled them together. He could see his own confusion mirrored back at him. She was at a loss for words just as much as he was.
He knew he shouldn’t but that wasn’t going to stop him. Slowly, Casey bent down and kissed Katie on her temple. It was a quick kiss, like ripping off a Band-Aid. What he really wanted to do was kiss her mouth, fully. Pull her against his chest and kiss those damn luscious lips of hers. He was actually proud of himself for having some semblance of self-control.
“Bye, Kate,” he said, before turning away. “Goodnight.”
She didn’t say anything in return. Her mouth hung open as he walked out the door and closed it behind him.
He had just turned the ignition in his truck when his phone chimed.
Thank you. For everything.
Well, fuck if that wasn’t the most cryptic message he’d ever read. For everything. What the hell did that mean? As he backed out and drove away from the B&B, he laughed his ass off the whole way home. He knew that Katie hadn’t meant for her message to be so full of hidden meaning. She was in the same boat he was. He was sure that she was just as much at odds with her reservations about their friendship as he was.
What a fucking pair they were.
Friends, Casey. You’re friends. Just enjoy it.
Finally, his brain had given him something that made sense.
When he got home, he couldn’t go to sleep without sending a reply, so he texted her: Anytime.
CHAPTER SIX
CASEY
It’s cold as balls outside. That’s what Katie would say. Casey was waiting outside the Mountain Meadows B&B, hoping she’d be coming out soon. He’d been sitting on the porch for a little over fifteen minutes trying to catch his running partner before she headed out to the lodge. Now that he could barely feel his toes, he was starting to think his plan was flawed.
The door flung open and out rushed Katie. She didn’t even notice him, she just passed right by him and headed down the steps like she was on a mission.
“Good morning
!” Casey called out to her.
She stopped suddenly and whipped around, a smile shining brightly on her face. “What are you doing here?”
Casey rushed down the steps toward her and handed her an insulated mug of hot chocolate. “I thought we could use a change of pace this morning.”
She took the cup from him and brought it to her lips. He knew they were just friends, but he was a guy and given any reason to draw his attention to her mouth made his pants tighten in the crotch area. She had pouty, bow-shaped lips. Completely and utterly kissable. Well, if they weren’t just friends.
“Ooo, hot chocolate. This is yummy.” She took another sip. “Thank you.”
“I wasn’t sure how you took your coffee, so I thought hot cocoa was a safe bet.”
“You can never go wrong with chocolate.” She fluttered her brows at him. “So what did you have in mind?”
Casey couldn’t control the smile on his face. Her easy going, happy-go-lucky spirit was contagious. “Have you been to the river yet?” She shook her head. “I didn’t think so. I thought we could take the trail there.” They both started walking toward his truck. “It’s not something I’d run along, but we’ll get a good workout with the terrain. It’s also a smidge warmer than going up to the lodge.”
“Warmer? Sounds fantastic. The weather has definitely gotten colder.”
He opened the door for her, but before she could get inside, he ruffled her hair. “Yes, it has,” he said. “You should wear a beanie this early in the morning. Your ears are going to freeze and fall off.”
She jumped up and got settled. “That’s why I was running late. I couldn’t find it.”
Casey shook his head with a chuckle. She’d lose her brain if it wasn’t sealed inside her skull. He laughed again and closed her door.
On the way to the river bank, he asked her about her writing, like he usually did. He listened as she gave him the update, often using terminology he didn’t quite understand. She spoke in abbreviations or acronyms. His stepmom had filled him in on some of the lingo. He now knew the meaning of HEA, WIP, and HFN. Yes, he’d called in the reinforcements. When he found out that Katie was a romance author, he knew exactly who to go to. When he was growing up, his stepmom always had books with half naked men on the covers all over the house—on the coffee table, her nightstand, in the kitchen, laundry room. She always seemed to be reading one, and he always knew when she was near the end. The tears in her eyes and the tissues in her hands were a dead giveaway. He’d yet to read one, but his dad told him that if reading a love story made his wife happy then he’d gladly buy her a library full of them. Happy wife, happy life—yada, yada, yada. He’d heard that mantra more than once.
He was starting to understand it though. Katie was only his friend and he enjoyed seeing her happy. Like now, she sat across from him on the bench of his truck, sipping hot cocoa and talking about how she just wanted her characters to shut up and screw already but they weren’t there yet. Her cheeks were a dark shade of pink as she laughed about it, smacking her thigh and giggling in her seat.
“Don’t you ever just feel like that?” she asked, breathlessly.
The question made him choke on his own sip of hot chocolate. Her cheeks were flushed and her chest was rising rapidly up and down with each breath. She looked hot as hell, and he wasn’t talking about the temperature. What exactly was she asking? Did he just want her to shut up and screw?
“You know like when you’re watching a movie or something?” She clarified for him. “You know what’s going to happen and you just want the writers to cut to the chase and get the couple together long before the last five minutes.”
Movies? They were talking about movies. He rolled his eyes at his own train of thought that was barreling in the wrong direction.
“Katie, I don’t really watch romance movies. I’m more of an action kind of guy.” Thankfully, they’d reached their destination. He killed the ignition, got out of the truck, and rounded it to her side. She was already out of the cab with her feet on the ground.
Now she rolled her eyes at him. “Figures,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re a firefighter. You guys are always looking for the action.”
Katie took off in the direction of the trail, so he followed, thinking it was the segue he’d been waiting for since they met.
“So what do you have against firemen?” he asked as they fell into step with each other. “I mean, who hates firefighters?”
She looked up at him with a confused expression, the skin between her brows all scrunched together. “Who told you I hate firemen?”
Casey smiled, wondering if he should reveal his source. “Sue Ann.”
It was Katie’s turn to smile now. “Okay, I’ll answer your question if you answer one of mine.”
He had to admit, she looked like a woman out to kill. Wondering what she could possibly have to ask scared the shit out of him, but not as much as he wanted to know the answer to his own. “Fine, I’ll bite.”
“So, I don’t hate firemen. That’s impossible. I grew up surrounded by firefighters. My brother is one and some of my closest friends are.”
“Really?” He wasn’t expecting that. “Your brother?”
“Yup, my bro is a fireman. He was a hotshot too for a good chunk of time, but he’s on squad now.”
Hotshot, huh. He could respect that. “So what’s the deal then? Why does Sue Ann think you have a thing against our kind?”
KATIE
Conversation usually came easy between them, but now Casey was asking about her affliction toward firefighters. For the first time, Katie was at a loss for words. Did she really want to tell him about Brendan? About her failed relationship? Would he even want to hear it?
Well, he did ask. And he was waiting for an answer.
What did she have to lose? They were friends, right? Maybe he could shed some light on why men seemed to run from her as if she had an infectious disease. Who knows? He might run too after hearing the story. That would be okay, though. Their friendship was only temporary anyway. She’d be leaving as soon as her book was finished.
“So, I don’t have anything against firefighters, per se. I just won’t date one.”
Casey threw up his hands and shrugged. “Why not?” he asked as if he was offended. This made her chuckle a bit.
“Because.” She realized that she sounded like a child, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Because.
“Because why?” Apparently, that wasn’t a good enough answer.
“My last boyfriend was a firefighter. And like all the men in my life, he left me for”—she held up her hands and gestured with air quotes—“the action.”
“What does that even mean? The action.”
After a few steps in silence, Katie continued. “Small town firefighters are always looking for something bigger, something better. They’re never satisfied with small grease fires or saving a cat from a tree.” She laughed. “They’re always looking for big city skyscraper fires to battle or blazing acres of forest. That always seems to take precedence over a relationship. I don’t want to play second best to the need to be an action chaser.”
Katie could almost see the wheels turning inside Casey’s head. His silence was killing her. It felt like she was literally dying to know what was on his mind.
“It might sound dumb to you,” she continued, “but my dad didn’t stick around. He left when I was little and never came back. My brother left to Utah, and Brendan was so in awe of my brother that he left too.”
“Your dad was a firefighter?”
“Yes. And small town life was too boring for him.”
“And your brother is still in Utah?”
“Oh no. He came back to be closer to my mom, but that dumbass did go back to Utah when things got tough with his girlfriend.”
“So that’s where he is? Utah?”
“No. He came back for Lizzy. They’re married now.”
“And your boyfriend left?”
&
nbsp; “He’s not my boyfriend anymore. He broke up with me before he joined a hotshot team.”
God, she sounded so lame. Saying it aloud made her feel even more stupid than she felt when it all happened. More stupid than she felt when her dad, her brother, and Brendan had all left. She felt like she wasn’t worth anyone’s time. She wasn’t worth staying for.
Without warning, Casey put his arm around her and pulled her to his side as they kept walking. “I’m sorry, Katie. Despite what you might think, not all firefighters are action chasers. Some of us love our small town fires, and our small town friends and family. Don’t swear off firefighters; don’t swear off anyone. Eventually you’re going to find the right guy.” He squeezed her shoulder and held her even closer to him. “And he’s going to stick around. The thought of him leaving you would make him sick to his stomach and being with you would be what he desired more than anything.” He released her and ruffled her hair. “You’ll find him someday, Katie.”
If it weren’t for the cold, Katie would have cried right then, but she was sure her tear ducts were frozen. She tried to swallow the emotions that were stuck in her throat. Casey would never know what those words had meant to her. He didn’t make her worries, her fears, or her feelings seem insignificant. He validated them and made her feel like it was okay to feel what she did.
With both arms, she reached around his waist and gave Casey a hug. “Thank you,” she said. “Now it’s your turn.”
CASEY
He was losing his goddamn mind. Casey had no idea what the hell possessed him to pull Katie into a hug and tell her she’d find her Mr. Right someday. For the first time, he completely understood where she was coming from with her children’s books. She was writing from her own experience, hoping to help kids get through what she hadn’t been able to. But dammit, he hated that she felt like she wasn’t worth sticking around for. He knew better than anyone how it felt to be abandoned by a parent. Her dad had no idea how it would haunt her for the rest of her life. Every time some asshole like Brendan broke up with her, she would just chock it up as one more time she wasn’t worth someone’s time. Hell, she was worth it. She was completely lovable. She needed to know that.
Hope Falls: Hearts Afire (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 5