Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“I missed you so fucking much,” he said, tucking his face into my neck. The words sounded desperate and strange.
I hugged him. “It’s okay. I’m here. We’re back.”
Even though we were both now covered in a variety of ick, I continued to hold him close and rub his back until I felt his body relax further.
“You okay?” I asked.
He pulled back and met my eyes, except he seemed to be looking into my fucking soul. “I am now, yeah.”
Was this how Judd was after a weeklong break from someone he cared about, or were these remnants of fear left from the man who broke his heart?
Either way, my plan was to reassure him and be there for him without pressing him to tell me more. We’d only just started this thing between us—hell, we hadn’t even had our real date yet—and I didn’t want to do anything to fuck it up.
“Come shower with me,” I said. “And then you’re going right to sleep. You look like hell.”
“I need to tell you about this weekend—”
“And you will. Later. Right now, you need to clean up and catch up on some zzz’s.”
It turned out Judd wasn’t the only one who wanted to give expert-level care. Part of me wanted nothing more than to protect and soothe the bear of a man.
And that wasn’t the only surprising revelation of the evening. Because for the ten minutes it took us to shower, brush our teeth, and get back in bed, Judd Kincaid—my grumpy, standoffish fire chief—was clingy.
24
KINCAID
DrunkenPoet: BBQ chicken or pork for pizza? Testing ideas for my sister’s birthday dinner.
IndexEcho: [No response]
DrunkenPoet: Index, you there? Get caught up on a long shift?
IndexEcho: [No response]
_____________________
When I woke up in Alex’s bed, he wasn’t there. Since there was a giant tractor-trailer in the back lot, I assumed he was getting an early morning delivery of some kind.
Unfortunately, Tavo was there, and I surprised him.
“Dios mio!” he yelped, jumping back and slapping a hand over his heart. “Chief Kincaid? What are you doing here?”
I’d been all ballsy last night, saying if we could keep Tavo’s secret, he could keep ours, but now in the bright light of morning, I didn’t feel nearly as in control.
In fact, everything in my life felt wildly out of control right about now.
“Uh, Alex said I could test his smoke detector,” I said stupidly.
Tavo looked unsure. “Okay?”
I stared at him. He stared back. Finally, he spoke. “Need me to show you where it is?”
I nodded.
He pointed up.
Sure enough, it was exactly where you would expect it to be. I reached up and pressed the Test button. It made a god-awful chirp that left a ringing in my ears despite the fact that I’d heard that sound hundreds of thousands of times.
“Works great,” I mumbled before getting the hell out of there.
I found my vehicle two streets over where I’d parked it and took off for the station house. When I arrived, things were already hopping. Thankfully, work stayed busy for the first half of the day, and by the time it slowed down, I’d chilled out a little.
I could figure this out. I’d think of a way to bring up our online history with Alex, we’d talk it through, and then we’d get past it. No problem.
My quasi-chill only lasted until I was called to the corporate office of Untrace for another small incident.
Once again, Will Wascomb had accidentally set his desk on fire.
“To be fair,” Hazel Marian said, staring at the twice-burned desk, “I did say he could still use a mug warmer at his desk.”
“Did you advise him to stop using paper at his desk while he used it?” I asked.
Ella Marian snorted from the doorway of her office, which was next to Will’s. “Critical oversight,” she murmured.
Will himself looked horrified and guilty. “I’m so, so sorry! What can I do to make it up to you, Ms. Marian?”
Hazel’s eyes widened. “Well, for one, you can stop calling me that. Since when do we do last names around here?”
Ella snickered and crooked her finger at me. “Now that the danger is gone, do you have a minute?”
I glanced at Sujo, who indicated he had everything under control, and then I followed Ella into her office. When she closed the door, I was surprised.
“How can I help?” I asked politely, reminding myself she had no idea I was in a relationship with her brother.
As far as she was concerned, I was the fire chief who gave her brother grief… not the fire chief who gave her brother dick.
I blew out a breath and tried to find my chill again, but it was gone.
“Who is my brother sleeping with?” she asked, folding her arms over her chest.
“Um, what?” I’d been wrong before when I thought I had no chill. Now I had actual negative amounts of it.