Page 8 of Firecracker

The air in the apartment thickened, and Tyler’s blood heated at her perusal of his anatomy.

Then she blinked and added, “You were a pretty scrawny kid.”

Okay, maybe thathadn’tbeen sexual interest and a flirtatious comment. And her reminder that she’d viewed him as a kid was even more deflating. “Huh. Yeah, I guess I was. I work out a lot now; we kind of have to stay in shape to do our job.” He scratched the side of his neck.

“You’re a firefighter, Jamie says.”

“That’s right.”

“That’s a hard job.”

“Sometimes. Sometimes it’s also boring as hell.” One corner of his mouth cranked up. “But I work with a great group.”

“I understand I have you to thank for getting my stuff unpacked.” She waved a hand.

“Partially.” He grimaced. “I helped. Mila’s the one you should thank. She was all concerned about you feeling comfortable when you get here. I’m afraid Jamie and I were kind of clueless males.”

“Well, it did help, so thank you.” She sipped her coffee.

He wanted to say something about her husband, but fuck, this was awkward. He swallowed. “I’m sorry for your loss…of your husband. Jamie told me about it.” He cleared his throat. “Of course.”

Yeah, he was smooth. As smooth as Lake Michigan in a winter windstorm.

“Thank you. It’s been a tough year.” Her mouth tightened and her eyes flickered, but she kept her head high.

“I’m sure. But you made the right decision to come home. Family’s important.”

She blinked at him and nodded. “That’s true.”

“Jamie’s been worried about you.”

“Aw.” She rolled her eyes and lifted her mug to her lips again. “Yeah, I know. Truthfully,I’vebeen worried about myself.” The corners of her mouth quirked up.

Her humor in the face of adversity made his chest warm.

“But I’m fine,” she added. “So…you said you needed some measurements…?”

“Right.” Christ. He was distracted watching her, kind of blown away by the fact that he was standing there with Arden Lennox. Er, Arden Hughes, now. “Yeah, I can do that.” He set his cup down and grabbed his other things, then booked it into the bathroom.

Here that scent was even more evident…warm and feminine and sexy, the air still slightly steamy from her shower. He paused a moment to breathe it in. Damn. Letting out a long, slow breath, he checked out the room. Yeah, it would be good to get this done. He started measuring and jotting notes, ignoring the dripping pink puffy sponge, the bottles of shampoo…his gaze fell on the body wash. Bombshell. That was the scent. Jesus Christ.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and refocused on work.

The sound of thudding feet up the stairs reached his ears, then voices in Arden’s apartment as Jamie and Mila returned. He heard Jamie shout, “Hey, Ty! You up?”

“He’s here,” Arden told her brother. “In the bathroom. Measuring something.”

Seconds later, Jamie appeared in the bathroom door. “Dude. You want waffles?”

“Hell yeah.” Tyler slid the pencil back behind his ear. “I was afraid you forgot about me.”

Jamie grinned. “Nah.”

Tyler followed the scent of bacon back to Arden’s kitchen, where Mila was making herself at home per usual, pulling out plates while Arden opened the bags of food.

“From the Waffle Shack,” Mila announced. “Best waffles in town. And bacon. We don’t go thereeverySunday, but…”

“We go there a lot,” Tyler said.

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