Page 51 of To Hold and Protect

“Why are you smiling?” That wasn’t the reaction he was expecting.

“Because you’re adorable.”

“No, I’m not.”Adorablewas for little girls and kittens.

“Oh, yeah, you are.” She set her beer on the table next to her, then stood, came to him, and sat on his lap. “I don’t want you to fall in love with me, and I promise not to fall in love with you. We good now?”

“I guess we are.”

“Great. You can kiss me.”

“I have a better idea. Hold on.” He slipped his arms under her legs and stood.

She laughed as he carried her back to his studio and that daybed he’d avoided earlier. He had been sure that she’d run for the hills after his information overload, but here she was, laughing as he locked the studio door behind them.

He wasn’t going to fall in love, she wasn’t going to fall in love, she hadn’t run away, and he’d been smart enough to put a daybed in his studio. Go him!

The next morning, an alert sounded at the station for a fire, then the dispatcher’s voice came over the speakers and on Parker’s phone. The location was a residence, one Parker and every Marsville firefighter knew well, and collective groans filled the air.

“It’s the newbie’s turn to go up the tree,” Greg said, coming up behind Parker.

“What the fu—”

“Carlton,” Greg said. “Don’t finish that. You know how the chief feels about cursing when we’re on duty.”

“But, Cap, there’s something squishy in my boots.”

“Figure it out when we get back.”

“Bananas?” Parker asked.

Greg chuckled. “Yep.”

“How about telling the guys that they’ve played enough jokes on Carlton.”

“Already told them when I caught them putting the bananas in his boots.”

There was no reason to go out on this call, but if he didn’t, Mrs. Stubble would call her dear friend Miss Mabel and complain that the fire chief wasn’t doing his job. Miss Mabel would then use that as an excuse to show up at the station and stick her nose into things.

He followed the ladder truck as it left the station for the same cat, same tree at least a dozen times now call. Parker was of the opinion that Mrs. Stubble purposely let the cat out—probably even had it trained to go up the tree so she could flirt with the “sexy firemen”—her words, not his.

He stopped behind the ladder truck, indulged in a long sigh, then told Ember to stay in the car. After rolling the windows down halfway, he headed for the handsy elderly woman who was already testing the firmness of Greg’s ass. As soon as he stepped next to them, Greg bailed. Not that Parker blamed him.

“Mrs. Stubble, you really have to keep Josephine inside.”

“I don’t know how she escapes, Parker. It’s so distressing to see her up there.”

Uh-huh. Knowing what was coming next, he prepared to catch her when she fell against him.

“Oh, dear. I feel faint.”

The scene never varied. He wrapped an arm around her back and supported her as they watched Carlton climb up the ladder. More than once in the past, Parker had been tempted not to catch her when she claimed to feel faint just to see if she’d really fall to the ground. But these calls to save her cat were the highlight of her day, so he always played along.

As soon as Carlton reached Josephine, the cat would race down the tree. Since this was Carlton’s first Josephine rescue, the crew were taking bets on the newbie’s reaction.

“Five dollars on Josephine climbing higher when that boy reaches her,” Mrs. Stubble said. “She’s petrified.”

Petrified his ass. The cat was loving this as much as her owner.

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