"Isn't this like, your fourth date in less than a week?"
I couldn't fight the giant grin that instantly took over my face. Ella and I were tidying up the bar before we opened and she was taking it as her opportunity to grill me about Bennett Sullivan. Not that I really minded. There was plenty to gush about.
We'd seen each other three more times since that initial date night. He'd made good on his promise for a fancy dinner the very next night and then, two days later, we went out to lunch before he had to report for another thirty-six hour run. Now here we were at the end of that, and Sully had promised to come in after he finished up. I'd tried to tell him he should likely go home and rest instead, but he insisted, and selfishly, I didn't put up much of a fight. I wanted to see him. As of late, I always wanted to see him. Somehow, I already missed him. And as much as it annoyed my usually black heart, this man gave me butterflies like I'd never felt before. I wanted to feel that as much as humanly possible.
"Does it count as a date if he's coming to my job?" I asked teasingly. You could bet you're ass I was counting it as a date, but Ella didn't need to know that. Toying with what she thought she knew was oh so much more enjoyable for me. "I mean, he literally works down the street. Not like he's going out of his way."
"Must be some insanely good D to have your commitment-phobe ass already this strung up," Ella mumbled with a smirk just as taunting as mine had been. We'd been friends since we were teenagers, she already knew the game I was playing, and she was intent to play it right back.
"Okay, A," I began, thrusting a sassy hand onto my hip, "I am NOT a commitment-phobe."
"Gi, you barely stay in one place longer than six months, let alone with one person. What's your record? Like six weeks?"
"Okay and? I'm a free spirit and, when it comes to dating, we can't all be an instant Happily Ever After like you and Derek okay? I just..." I trailed off, taking quick note of all the 'situationships' that resided in my past. There was nothing stable, nothing to write home about. Yeah, I'd met some nice guys, and if it was a different world, or I was a different kind of person, I definitely could've settled down with one of them by now. But there hadn't been any that made me feel like that was something I genuinely wanted to do. And who wants to settle when it comes to forever? "I just haven't found anyone worth committing to, okay?" Ella opened her mouth to respond but I pushed on. "And as for the first part of your insinuations, I know nothing about his 'D', thank you very much."
Ella cocked one offensively disbelieving eyebrow and let out a scoff that sounded more like a quack. "Bullshit."
"I'm serious!" I exclaimed. "We haven't slept together, I swear."
I mean, maybe I knew slightly more than nothing. Our lunch date ended with me straddling him in his truck, dry humping and making out like horny teenagers, but that was as sexual as things had gotten thus far. And truth be told, I wasn't upset about it. My libido wasn't exactly thrilled by the cage she was being kept in, but my heart was happy.
It was kind of nice and definitely a far cry from the kind of 'dates' I'd usually found myself on. Don't get me wrong, I was dying to get acquainted on a more... intimate basis with Bennett Sullivan's firehose, but it also felt really nice to know that I wasn't just some notch to be added to his bedpost. He definitely wasn't that for me, which was strange in and of itself, but I was really trying to just go with the flow of whatever was happening between us. He genuinely wanted to get to know me and I, him. He genuinely cared about who I was at my core and what I wanted out of life. He asked about my past, my adventures, my dreams for the future. He asked questions and he listened to my answers. He really listened. In the last four days, this man had put more effort into getting to know me than anyone else had in my twenty-odd years on planet earth. There was more gratification in that than any orgasm I'd ever had.
"Hello? Earth to Gigi."
Ella's sing-song voice snapped me out of my daze and I immediately felt my cheeks heat. "Sorry, I..."
"Got a little lost thinking about Captain Honey Buns?"
"Is that what we're calling him now?" I asked with a snicker.
"Look, I ain't trying to take your man, but..."
"Nah, he's got some pretty good buns," I laughed. "I can't deny that. Won't even try."
"Please. That man looks like he could bench press a fire truck. I'm betting everything on him exceeds 'pretty good'."
"You ain't wrong," I chuckled as my phone buzzed in my back pocket. Already tingling with excitement, I yanked the thing out like it was on fire, but my excitement quickly dissipated when I read Sully's words.
"We got a problem."
"I'll be right back," I stated, not even glancing at my co-hort as I headed back to the office, already dialing his number.
"That was quick," his deep once answered with a laugh.
"What's going on?" I questioned, panic already thrumming in my veins.
"Sweetheart, relax," the baritone I was already addicted to soothed. "The boys think they're tagging along tonight, that's all."
My panic swiftly gave way to mild annoyance. "Seriously? You got me all worked up because some firemen are coming to the firemen hangout spot? Is your next concern that it's cold out in January?"
"Worked up, huh?" Sully snickered, ignoring my teasing. "Tell me more."
"You're the worst," I retorted with an eye roll he could not see. "Why is the boys coming a problem?"
"Well, I mean, they all know your dad so..."
"Okay, well, I wasn't planning on fucking you on the bar top so I think we'll be okay."
"Well, damn. There's a visual."
I laughed but once again rolled my eyes. "You're so annoying."
"You love it," Sully replied with a grin I could hear. "I'm just saying, we gotta be... a bit more well behaved tonight than perhaps I'd like to be."
"Mm... that so?" I questioned, those giddy butterflies taking flight as I perched myself on the edge of my desk. "Maybe we should skip the bar and go somewhere a bit more private then."
"Dirty girl."
"Well, forgive me. We've been fairly PG13 so far, so I'm a little bit intrigued by your apparent dastardly plans."
"And you have no idea how very difficult that has been," Sully rasped, his voice suddenly sounding a full octave lower. "You're a dangerous girl when it comes to my self control."
"That so?" I taunted. I knew I was playing with fire, and that only added to the tingles I already had developing in all the best places. "You seemed pretty content sticking to making out the other day."
"I wouldn't say content," Sully argued. "Just way too old to hookup in the front seat of a pick up. Leaving you to go to work was already hard enough, didn't need to add muscle cramps and Charlie horses to the list."
"Mm. Hard you say? Just how hard we talking?" I was having way too much fun. I should've been out helping Ella finish up prep for our evening, but getting my own personal Fire Captain all worked up was so much more entertaining.
Sully groaned as if he was in physical pain. "You do know I'm stuck at the station for another four hours right?"
"Huh. Do I?"
"Walking a thin line here, Snow."
"Why's that, Captain? You feeling the heat?"
"Galena..." The second my name left his lips, I heard the station's alarms sound and my heart sank with disappointment. "Goddammit," Sully cursed.
"To be continued," I stated with a smile. "Go be a hero."
"You are terrible for my work ethic, you know that? All I wanna do is send everyone else out and stay here talking to you," Sully stated as I heard movement in the background. "I'll see you later, sweet girl."
"Be safe out there. Please," I stated, trying to ignore the little lump forming in my throat. "I'm kind of having fun with you."
I knew the dangers he was in every single day. They were the same ones my dad faced my entire childhood, but the nerves I felt thinking about him out there? Putting his life on the line to save another's? Those nerves were new, and a bit unwelcome. As a kid, I could kind of ignore the danger my dad was in. I never saw it and we were very lucky in the fact that it never hit our family directly, but now, as an adult, it was a bit harder for my brain to gloss over.
"Always, sugar. I'll see you soon."
"Bye, baby." I hung up and let out a girly, dreamy sigh, unable to dampen the joy this man brought out of me. We were treading dangerous waters. Less than a week since he decided to give this spark between us a chance and I was already slipping down the slope of falling. It wasn't a feeling I was used to and I couldn't help but wonder if this intensity of emotion was only happening on my end. I hoped it wasn't, but I'd been fooled before and I definitely wasn't interested in being fooled again.
Kindling was swamped. It didn't take long after we unlocked the doors for me to start mentally cursing myself for slacking off on prepping. It seemed like every firefighter in Detroit had decided to grace us with their presence that night, all except the one I was waiting on pins and needles for. Not that I really had time to think about his absence as I ran my ass off.
"We need to hire more help," Ella sighed, swiping the back of her hand across her glistening forehead once we finally got a moment of peace, or at least one with no orders to fill. "I can't run my ass off like this every night."
"I don't know what's going on," I stated, holding a cold water bottle against my neck. "And why the hell is it so hot in here? It's fucking January."
"I'm boiling too. I'll go check the thermostat."
I rolled my eyes as Ella headed toward the hallway. "My mom was here the other day. Probably cranked it up. Eighty degrees isn't warm enough for that woman."
"How the hell did she end up in Detroit then?"
I chuckled and shook my head. "If I only knew..."
The ding of the bell above the front door pulled my gaze and instantly put a grin on my face. Sure, it was a full hour after he'd said he'd be off, but it didn't matter. Sully had finally arrived and he was safe... and being followed by at least five other men, one being the grinning blond I remembered from our initial meeting.
Our eyes met over the heads of my other patrons and the heat there almost knocked the wind out of me. My Captain was all worked up, whether from our previous conversation or the adrenaline of whatever call he'd taken after it ended, I didn't know. All I did know was he was looking at me like I was a delicacy ready to be devoured. And I liked it.
Biting into my bottom lip as he sauntered toward me, it took everything in me to not run and jump in his arms. He was looking particularly kissable at this moment and I was about ready to say fuck the consequences, no matter how many people in this room knew who I was.
Sully's dark eyes glimmered in the dim bar light with every step he took. Motioning for his guys to grab a table, he continued toward me, our gazes locked and very much loaded. I could already feel goosebumps erupting across my heated skin.
This was going to be a fun night.