Page 24 of The Fireman and the Flirt

Cary led me into the en suite bathroom which had mirrors on the walls and ceiling, projecting unlimited versions of us. It was straight out of the ‘70s. The design of this house truly made no sense, and I feared for the sanity of its current inhabitants. He pointed to the shower stall, which had a bench installed.

“This is a nice shower. It’s huge!” he said.

“That’s the mirrors playing tricks on you.”

“It’s true! This is a great, big shower. Look at all this space.” Cary stepped inside and spun in a circle. It might’ve been big for a slender guy like him, but for me, it was a place where a wrong elbow move could put a hole in the tile.

“It’s a normal shower.”

“It’s not! It’s bigger than your average one.”

I quirked an eyebrow. Maybe the mirrors were throwing me off.

“Check it out for yourself.” Cary waved for me to join him.

“You want me to go in there?”

“So you can see for yourself.”

This guy was weird city, but to his credit, I was intrigued.

I stepped inside, momentarily impressed it could hold both of us. A small amount of space sat between our bodies, a space that made my heart pound in my ears.

“See?” he said, his voice echoing. “There’s enough space for two people.”

Electricity hung in the bits of air that separated us. I cleared my throat.

“So?”

“Well, that’s a great thing.” His eyes went wide. I was so close, I watched his pupils darken. “In case you don’t want to shower alone.”

“Why wouldn’t I shower a…Oh.”

An unsettling fog of silence coated the air. I became very aware of the quiver of his Adam’s apple, the emerging stubble prickling his neck, the red of his lips.

“I mean, if that is your thing.” He gulped back a lump.

Then I gulped back a lump, suddenly thinking about showering with another person, and that person being Cary. A flash of soaping down his smooth skin flitted in my mind, sending heat coursing up my neck.

“I think…I’m going to pass on the house.”

“Understood. There are plenty to see.” Cary wiggled out of the shower, his tight frame brushing against me and zooming back into the Shrek-inspired bedroom. “Onward.”

8

CARY

Ineeded a cold shower after that session with Derek. How ironic.

“Hannah, have you ever accidentally flirted with a client?” I asked my partner when I returned to the office.

I found her in the breakroom hunched over her laptop. She was uploading pictures we had taken for an upcoming listing. We worked with a photographer and staging company to make every property look flawless. Too bad the house I took Derek to didn’t follow our example.

“How does one accidentally flirt?” She took off her chic, oversized reading glasses.

“Funny story.”

“Why do you always have funny stories when it comes to Derek?”

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