More Than a Fling [Uniformed and Blazing Hot 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (12 page)

“How is Sierra? She’s got to be ready pop pretty soon.”

“Two more months.” Davon raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m not sure if I’m ready for the little one to be born or not.”

Tanner grinned. “Getting the new daddy jitters already?”

“Damn right I am. Can you see me and Neil with a baby?”

Yeah, Tanner actually could. “More than I can Ryder. I overheard him, Blaine, and Maddie talking in the common room last shift about starting a family with Lesley soon.”

“No shit! Hell, I don’t know why I sound surprised. I can’t say I haven’t seen it coming. A-shift has turned into a freaking soap opera lately.”

Tanner chuckled. “Between you, Neil, and Sierra, Ryder, Blaine, and Lesley, Jax and Taylor’s breakup with Carly, and Maddie’s crush on the captain we should be in the running for top daytime entertainment.”

“And here you and I are standing around gossiping about it like a couple of females.” Davon shook his head. “How in the hell do you know about Maddie’s crush on the captain?”

Madeline “Maddie” Rafferty was Neil’s partner on Ambulance 42.

Tanner gave Davon a disbelieving look. “You really think everybody on A-shift hasn’t noticed the way she looks at him?”

Davon pushed a hard, audible breath from his lungs. “Neil and I warned her that was going to happen.”

“Hell, it’s not like any of us cares. Well, not anyone except for Casper, anyway.”

Davon’s brows etched together. “Why would Casper give a shit?”

Tanner shrugged. “He may not, but I’ve had a suspicion for a long time that he’s got the hots for Maddie.”

Davon shook his head. “And the saga continues.”

Tanner waited a beat as he slid his gaze slowly between his and Nick’s yard and Alyssa’s. “Let’s go with wooden privacy and the dividing fence. Get Alyssa’s up first and I’ll run it by Nick about putting one around our property, too. See what he thinks.”

Davon nodded and pulled a measuring tape off the tool belt around his waist. “Help me get some measurements. We’ll run down to the lumber yard and I’ll get you an estimate for her. If she agrees, I should be able to have it up by the end of our next forty-eight off.”

* * * *

Nick cursed a blue streak as he rolled a link of smoked sausage on the grill and caught sight of its charred state. He had burned the damn thing. Tanner would never let him live that down if he saw it. Lucky for him, Tanner had gone to the store to pick up a bag of frozen fries and buns for the hamburgers and sausage dogs.

Movement at his feet drew his attention down and a truly genius idea sparked. Careful not to burn his fingers as badly as he had done the sausage link, he clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth twice, got Precious’s attention, and tossed the sausage through the air into Alyssa’s yard. Precious barked once and bolted after it.

Nick felt himself grin. In seconds, the evidence of his absent-mindedness was gulped down by the dog. Determined not to ruin the remaining sausage links, he returned his attention to the grill and shuffled them around on the grate before closing the lid and adjusting the damper to cool the inside temperature.

Too bad his temper didn’t have a damper that worked the same way. It wasn’t the loss of the sausage link that ticked him off. There was more than enough of those still on the grill…provided he didn’t burn those, too, and he still had the hamburger patties to cook. It was the reason he had burnt the sausage link in the first place that had his temper sparking.

He couldn’t get her out of his fucking head. A beneficial friend, no matter how fantastic she was in bed, wasn’t supposed to monopolize his thoughts the way Alyssa had done all day. Forget that she was sexy as hell, funny, smart, and had shown him one hell of a good time last night. None of that should have been cause for him to spend the entire day fantasizing about the things he wanted to do to her tonight.

What he needed to do was stay away from her tonight. He would be back on shift by seven in the morning and would have twenty-four blessed hours before he had to worry about crossing paths with her again. By that time, he sure as shit should have his mind back on the right track.

He heard her car pull into the driveway next door. Precious barked at the sound of the driver’s door closing and Nick braced himself for the sight of her. He didn’t have to wait long. He lifted the lid of the grill, decided it best to take the remaining links off now, and plated them as his attention zeroed in like a laser on the image that stepped into his peripheral vision.

He had watched her leave her house this morning. The plaid skirt she had put on with the conservative, yet totally dick-teasing blouse, and three-inch stilettos had played major roles in his daydreaming about her since the moment she had walked out of her front door.

“How’s my baby?” Alyssa’s cooing tone traveled on the gentle breeze between the yards and had Nick’s heart picking up pace. “Did you enjoy spending another day with Tanner and Nick?”

Precious barked, ran a circle around her feet, barked again, and sat.

Alyssa laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“What?” Nick lifted his voice to be heard over the distance as he carefully places he hamburger patties on the grill grate. “You’re not worried about how your other baby is doing today?”

He closed the grill and looked her way, not missing the shock that overtook her angelic face as she turned toward him. He had to give her credit for her recovery. It happened far quicker than his did. Where the fuck had that come from? He had just been convincing himself he needed to stay away from her tonight. Then he went and said something like that! Son of a bitch. The damn woman tangled his tongue and his brainwaves.

“I was getting to you.” Her gaze stayed locked with his as she crossed the distance between the yards. There was no way he could miss the curiosity mixing with the caution in the depths of her olive-green eyes.

She stopped toe-to-toe with him, tilted her head back, and drew her bottom lip seductively between her teeth. She smelled annoyingly good, like flowers and soap and something he wanted to move toward. He didn’t like the feeling, but that didn’t stop his hands from framing her shapely hips.

“And how is my other baby today?”

He was apparently in dire need of a head examination, but he decided not to tell her that. She would want to know why he thought that, of course. That was a conversation he definitely didn’t want to have with her.

“I’m fine. Thanks.” He forced himself to release her despite the desire tightening the muscles in his hands to pull her even closer, to hold her sultry body against his, and crush his mouth to hers. “How was your day?”

He had asked the question to be polite, but damn if it didn’t send an icy wave of warning through his system. The whole scene felt way too fucking intimate. Even more so than when he’d had sex with her last night. Her coming home from work, him standing in the backyard grilling while waiting for Tanner to get back, and them exchanging pleasantries about their days… Those were the kinds of things that happened with people in a relationship, not a fling.

“It wasn’t bad.”

He gestured to the grill. “The smoked sausages are done and I just put the burgers on. Tanner went to the store for buns and frozen fries. Those won’t take long to cook when he gets back.”

“Is that your way of inviting me over for dinner?”

Nick met her gaze and saw amusement dancing in her eyes. “I guess it is.”

She put a hand on his bicep to steady herself as she lifted one foot and then the other and pulled off her heels. That hand had his heartbeat picking up pace all over again. “Good. I wanted to talk to both of you about a few things.” She made a considering face. “Actually, I have two favors to ask.”

Nick leaned on the handle of the lid. “What are they?”

“Remember I mentioned last night that I wanted to pick yours and Tanner’s brains about the fire service for a story I want to do on the centennial of the department?”

“You want to interview us?”

She nodded. “But not just the two of you. The second favor is I was wondering if I could drop by the firehouse tomorrow during your shift. The story, stories really, I’m going to do will be human interest pieces on the men and women that work the different shifts at the three city limit firehouses.” Her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth again. Nick wondered if he realized the effect that look had on his already aching cock. “I figured the two of you and A-shift would be the best place to start. That is if you think your coworkers will talk to me.”

So much for his twenty-four blessed hours of not having to worry about crossing paths with her. “I’m sure they will and I doubt the captain will mind you dropping by as long as you stay out of the way if we get toned out while you’re there.”

Alyssa’s luscious lips unfolded in a smile that rocked his world. “Trust me. I know how to get out of the way when danger strikes.”

Nick wished he could say the same about himself. He had always been one to rush head-first into danger and damn if he wasn’t apparently doing it now. “What is it you want to know?”

* * * *

Alyssa stepped back a few paces, pulled out her iPad, and put her shoulder bag and heels on the ground. She glanced around, noted the men didn’t have an outside table, and decided the grass would have to do. At least the sun had been out for a few days to dry the ground. She settled on her rump, rested her iPad on her bent knees, and gazed up at Nick.

“I would’ve gotten you a chair from inside the house if you had asked.”

“This is fine.”

“Aren’t you worried about staining your skirt?”

She glanced down at it. “Not really. It’s dark colors and, if it stains, I’ll just dye it something solid.”

He shrugged and lifted the lid on the grill. “Suit yourself.”

Alyssa studied him as he lifted the lid on the grill and flipped the hamburger patties. He had surprised her with the way he went about luring her over here. More, she was pretty certain he had surprised himself. Even so, he had rolled with it, making small talk until she brought up her need for a couple of favors.

He had put his hands on her, too. Her hips were still sizzling from the touch. She had considered kissing him again, but something in the way he had been staring down at her stopped her. She hadn’t quite put her finger on what it had been yet, but she would figure it out.

“I want to know about you,” she began. “Tell me what makes you tick.”

He shot her a sideways glance that was sexy enough to have every nerve ending in her body coming online. “I’m not a doctor or a paramedic, but I’m pretty sure that would be my heart.”

Alyssa gave him a sweet smile and rolled her eyes. “Duh. I kind of figured that. I’m not talking the organ that keeps you going. Give me something deeper. You’re a firefighter.”

“Otherwise you wouldn’t want to interview me for this story you’re doing,” he pointed out as he shut the grill again and went back to leaning on it.

“You told me you watched a house burn when you were young, saw the firefighters save the family, and knew you would be a firefighter someday. How did you know? Why did you want to?”

“I told you it’s not something I can explain.”

“Will you try?”

He pursed his lips as he pushed a hard, audible breath from his lungs. “All right. How about this? Some people say firefighting runs in the blood. For guys like Tanner, maybe it does. For me, it was more of a calling, I guess.”

“Like a spiritual thing?” Alyssa asked, not looking up from her iPad where she had started taking notes.

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t really call it that. I’m not a very spiritual person. Let’s say it was more like a strong urge I couldn’t ever shake. It stayed with me as I grew older, motivated me to do what had to be done, and compelled me to be what and where I am now.”

She did look up at him this time and met his gaze. “Good answer.”

He shrugged. “It’s the best explanation I can give you.”

“Davon, the guy you and Tanner mentioned last night. You said he does handyman work, sometimes for extra money and sometimes for charity, but more so because it give him something to do on his downtime.”

“He came by here today and talked with Tanner about putting up a fence for you.”

“Oh, great! What did he say?” Alyssa shot a hand palm out between them before he could answer. “Never mind. We’ll get to that later. Let’s stay on track. What do you do during your downtime?”

“Piddle around the house and be lazy for forty-eight hours.” The corner of his lips twitched at the look she gave him. “Dog-sit Precious lately.”

Alyssa frowned at him and he chuckled.

“All right. I keep myself busy, but not really in one particular way. I work out at the gym, hit the nature trails a lot, ride my bicycle, swim…whatever I can think of to stay fit so that when I am on the job, I’m at my best performance.”

She couldn’t help it. Her gaze slid from his and traveled slowly down his perfectly sculpted body. Even in blue jeans and a T-shirt, it was obvious there wasn’t an ounce of fat anywhere on the man. Of course, she had seen him naked last night and could easily attest to that.