Fireman's Filthy 4th: An Older Man Younger Woman Holiday Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 22)

by Flora Ferrari

  I’m anticipating that fax so bad I’m literally sweating.

  I flip on the TV in the lounge and the waiting game continues.

  Ten minutes later my foot is tapping the floor uncontrollably as some show I’m paying no attention to plays on the tube.

  I hear the beep and the sliding of paper. I jump up out of my seat, causing the folding chair to fly back, sliding across the floor.

  “Somebody’s anxious,” comes from the guy who’s stretched out on the cot next to the fax machine. It’s his job to watch incoming calls tonight.

  “Just want to make sure everyone’s okay,” I say.

  I grab the piece of paper and scan it with all the intensity in the world.

  “What’s wrong?” Johnson, the cot commando asks, as I wad up the paper and throw it straight down into the trash. It hits the can so hard it bounces right out.

  “Some marketer got our number. Mortgage refinancing B.S.”

  “Those guys are relentless.”

  “Tell me about it,” I say.

  “I don’t have to. You’re about as relentless as ten pit bulls lined up together trying to protect the last T-bone steak on the planet.”

  “It’s that obvious?” There’s no use fighting it at this point.

  “I’m not even going to get up off this cot in fear of you possibly biting my hand off when that fax comes through. It was that g—“

  The fax beeps again and the spool turns. The paper starts turning and I see the time stamp at the bottom. Page one of seven.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” I say as the pages print out as slow as molasses.

  “They’re not going to print any faster with you hovering over them. You’re probably scaring them for Pete’s sake.”

  I look up at Johnson, who raises both palms in my direction. “My bad,” he says. “I was just going back to my nap.”

  He rolls over, just as the sheet of paper I’m waiting on rolls out of the machine.

  I nod my head up and down, as I smirk so hard my face about cracks. “There it is. There…it…is,” I say slapping the paper with the back of my hand.

  I’ve got the number and I’m good-to-go. But now for the real question…

  “Amy,” I say, reading the name of the girl listed as “daughter rescued via swimming pool.”

  “What a beautiful name,” I say under my breath. “It couldn’t be more perfect.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Amy

  I pull into the parking lot of Mel’s Diner, the meet-up place he suggested. I’m not sure if it’s because he doesn’t want anyone else to see us, or he has something else in mind. There’s a park just out back of the diner and everyone in town knows that park as one thing and one thing only…the place where you go to make out in high school, and often lose your virginity.

  Does he have a fetish for younger girls like me? I don’t consider myself that young, at twenty-one, but I’m definitely a lot younger than he is.

  But that’s not the biggest thing on my mind. I considered not accepting his invitation, but I have to meet with him to so we can set one thing straight before this becomes even more awkward.

  He’s my best friend’s dad, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen him that I forgot what he looked like. She always came to my place in high school, and now that we’re in college we just meet out somewhere. We couldn’t go to her house because her dad was often there sleeping, or there was no-one home. He didn’t want two girls home alone with no adult supervision back then. I remember that he’s a protective guy, and he’ll do anything for Laura, but that’s about all I remember. I haven’t seen him for years…until last night.

  The last thing I need is him telling Laura that he’s met a girl that’s my age, only for her to realize it’s not just some girl, it’s me.

  I open the door and see him immediately. He’s in the corner with a glass of water sitting in front of him, and two menus. I try not to giggle that a firefighter has a long, tall glass of water, or the thought that all I want to do is drink him up right now…which I do with my eyes.

  It’s the first time I’ve seen him out of his fireman’s suit since Laura’s thirteenth birthday. Has it really been eight years? You certainly can’t tell by looking at him. He’s aged well, if in fact he’s aged at all. I guess rescuing young damsels in distress from fires keeps you in shape. It certainly has him.

  The moment he sees me he stands. Everything’s happening so quickly, and I’m still a little bit nervous about meeting him, but I do file that away in the back of my mind. I don’t remember a guy ever standing when I showed up for a date, let alone just when I walked into a room or public place. I guess chivalry isn’t dead just yet.

  “Thanks for coming,” he says. “You look beautiful.”

  This is not going to be easy. What would be easy would be to sit here and take in a few more of these compliments. I know I don’t look beautiful, as a matter of fact I was barely able to sleep last night and I know my eyes are puffy and I look like a hot mess. It’s nice that he didn’t say I look, “tired,” or one of those other comments people make when they think you look like hell.

  “Thanks. You look…fit. And awake. Very awake after finishing what I guess was a long shift.”

  “Forty-eight hours,” he says.

  “I know,” I say.

  “You know?”

  “Yeah,” I begin. This is the part where I tell him because I know just how he is and how Laura used to say her dad was on “for the next forty-eight.” Her dad of course being him. Does he even recognize me?

  I think back to that party and realize he was off with the adults most of the time. He may have never even seen me before yesterday, come to think about it.

  Surely Laura mentioned my name before, or maybe she just referred to me as her friend, her bestie, her BFF, or who knows what other word she used for my name in place of Amy.

  Regardless, he doesn’t seem to remember me.

  I know I’m going to have to tell him who I am, if he hasn’t already figure it out first. I thought he might have already if there was some sort of paperwork, but even then it might be tough.

  We’d just moved into that house where we live now, so the location wouldn’t ring a bell with him. Not to mention the house was in my mother’s name. She was a real estate broker and had been the one who closed the deal. It was easier for her just to register the house under her name, and also she mentioned something about it saving the family money on taxes and home improvements. I can’t believe I just remembered that.

  So he definitely doesn’t remember who I am, and he didn’t invite me here to tell me we have to keep this to ourselves.

  I was expecting him to be the man, and to admit what we did was wrong and that we couldn’t do it again. Well, he’s definitely a man, but he’s a man with no understanding of the significance of our pasts and how they intertwine. Then again, I guess our pasts don’t really cross paths much at all.

  So wait a minute then…why did he invite me here?

  “So you know a thing or two about how a fire station runs?”

  “Not much really,” I say. “Just a thing or two.”

  There’s a long pause before he says, “About yesterday.”

  “Yeah, I—“

  “That was out of character for me,” he beings.

  Perfect, I think to myself. I’m going to get out of this scot-free. He’ll never know who I am, but he’ll end it now all the same. What a relief. And it’s not like I’ll be going over to Laura’s place anytime soon, which is a shame now that I know who’s sleeping in that back room.

  It should feel relieved right about now, knowing what’s about to happen…but I don’t. There’s something about those hazel eyes of his, and the intensity with which he looks at me. I walk around most days feeling unnoticed, and when I do talk to somebody it feels like they spend half the time looking over my shoulder. It’s like they’re passing time with me until the person they really want to talk to shows up. Not him.
He’s only focused on me. You can even see it by the way he sits. How he positions his body directly towards mine. How his body language says he’s confident and he’s here to see one person and one person only…me. And not only is he here to see me, but he wants to be here with me. He’s proud to be here with me. And I’m definitely excited to be here with him. But I guess this can’t continue, whether I think it should or not. He’s about to set things straight, so I prepare for the blow and play the role. At least it’s how I expect these type of things to go. I’ve never had an experience like what I had last night, and certainly not an experience like the day after which I find myself in at the moment.

  “Me too,” I say.

  “I could tell,” he says.

  “You could tell?” I’m not sure what to make of that comment.

  “Yeah, I mean, I was the one who came up to your room. I could see that you were shy and nervous. The thing is that there’s just something different about you. Something that made me climb those stairs, when I shouldn’t have. To do a lot of things I technically shouldn’t have.”

  “Technically?”

  “At least not in uniform,” he says.

  I look across the table and remind myself not to let my eyes drift down too much to that massive chest of his which is busing out of his white button-down shirt, as he is currently not in uniform. Gulp.

  “I’m responsible. I’m older than you. I’m a professional, well, I guess I wasn’t acting with much professionalism at the time, but I’m supposed to.”

  “Okay,” I say, feeling he’s considering wrapping this up again and sending me on my way.

  “But experience has taught me that it’s not always about what you’re supposed to do, it’s about what you want to do. You can’t deny yourself what you really want.”

  “Uh huh,” I say, realizing the train is right back on track.

  “And what I want is you.”

  “Me?”

  “At least to give it a shot,” he says. “I’m the type of guy who knows what he wants and goes for it with everything I’ve got. I can be too intense for most people at times, but I’m working on it.”

  “It’s best just to be yourself, right?”

  “I think so, but it’s also important not to hurt those who are close to you and to rub everybody the wrong way.”

  “Right, you wouldn’t want to hurt anyone who’s close to you,” I say, visualizing Laura throwing a vase across the room if she ever got the news of what went down between her father and I.

  “Of course not.”

  I don’t say anything. I’m treading on thin ice here and I don’t want to fall in. He’s rescued me once already, and I’m not about to press my luck.

  “But experience has also taught me that you often don’t get a second chance. When you get an opportunity, you’ve got to take it. It’s likely not going to come around again.”

  “And you see an…opportunity?”

  “I see an opportunity for something more. Last night was last night. I don’t regret it at all. But what I will regret is if we don’t see where this can go. We only get one shot, and I want to take it, with you.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Amy

  “Did you always want to be a fireman?” I ask, as I reach down and pick up a banana peel, placing it in my cleanup bag.

  I’d heard about the beach cleanup days around California, but had never participated. Helping to clean up the beach always sounded great, but waking up early always managed to keep me from joining in. I was surprised when he suggested it after our breakfast, and knew it was the perfect time to finally give it a shot. I was feeling good already. It felt nice to help out the area where I live.

  “Since I was a little boy. I loved the idea of helping others, and was always enamored by the sight of a campfire.”

  “So it made complete sense,” I say, taking note of how easily he used the word loved and a little surprised that he used the word enamored. I guess the idea of fireman being big, burly guys with a limited vocabulary wasn’t exactly true, at least not when it came to him.

  “Complete sense,” he says. “And part of being a fireman means being fully involved in the community…not just when you’re wearing the uniform.”

  “Which is why we’re here today, picking up trash.”

  “That’s it exactly, and although nothing beats the rush of running into a building that’s on fire and saving a life, I still get a rush from something as peaceful as this. I mean this also involves saving lives. Someone could step on one of these bottles and cut themselves really bad, and worse yet this plastic winds up in the sea where it endangers a lot of fish and wildlife.”

  I don’t know if he was trying to melt my heart, but it was definitely working.

  How did I never meet this guy before now? All this time he was just over at Laura’s house sleeping in the back bedroom, yet our paths never crossed.

  He must be lonely. He’s either at work with all those guys or he’s at home in the little bedroom cave he created trying to sleep during the day. I remember Laura telling me how he put up blackout blinds and wore earplugs so he could sleep while the rest of the city was creating chaos all around him. He was still a light sleeper though, which explained why we never did anything at her place.

  But he’s a good-looking guy…a really, really good looking guy. And he’s in great shape. He must have women beating down his door. Why would he be after me?

  “Do you like animals?”

  “Love them,” he says. There’s that word again. “Are you familiar with the Pacific Marine Mammal Center?”

  “No. What’s that?”

  “They rescue seals and sea lions. They bring them in, fix them up, and once they’re ready they release them back to the sea.”

  “Oh my gosh. That sounds so cute and wonderful.”

  “It’s incredible. There’s rarely a dry eye the mornings they release them back to their natural habitat. Sometimes they don’t want to go.”

  “Oh my gosh,” I say again. I’m about to cry myself right now.

  “They have to be careful. The center wants to rehab them, but they don’t want them to get too comfortable or they won’t want to leave. That and they don’t want them too comfortable with humans, because it could endanger them after they release them.”

  “That’s here in L.A.?”

  “Down in Laguna Beach. We can go sometime, if you’d like.”

  “Yeah, I would like that,” I say, realizing I’ve just agreed to spend more time with him. But is it really just “time,” or is it another date?

  Who would have ever though picking up trash and releasing rehabilitated seals and sea lions would qualify as dates, but then again who would have ever though I’d be developing feelings for my best friend’s dad.

  And what feelings he was giving me. Last night was hot and heavy, and today he was melting my heart with all this charity work he was involved in. The way he made it seem so effortless and enjoyable made me want to get involved too. And all the other people who were out this morning picking up trash were so friendly, positive, and a pleasure to be around. I need to get out more, with him. He surrounds himself with great people, people making a difference. It made me realize maybe I haven’t been doing enough, and more importantly what I’d ever done without a guy like him.

  But there weren’t other guys like him. Hunky fireman? Check. Community activist? Check. An insatiable wild man in-between the sheets? Check. I laugh to myself realizing we haven’t even actually gotten physical in a proper bed yet.

  And there was nothing sexual about today. I could feel the bond we were starting to build together. Sure, it was just the beginning stages, but I liked it…a lot as a matter of fact. Too much, and that’s what scared me the most.

  CHAPTER 10

  Benjamin

  “The city closed the Beachwood Canyon access back in March,” I say.

  “So we’re going to get the scenic route?”

  “We sure are,” I say
realizing the dual meaning of her words. We’re going to have some of the best views of L.A. as we hike up to the Hollywood sign, and I’m going to have some of the best views of her, in those skin tight yoga pants she’s got on.

  I’ve had a blast with her today. After pulling a forty-eight I’d normally go home and crash, but not today. I’m full of energy and ready to complete this hike with her. It’s hard to believe she’s lived in L.A. this long and has never hiked up to the sign. Then again, most Angelenos haven’t.