Page 76 of Almost Always

“As a volunteer, I have my hours, right? And because of Cal, I have an extra exemption, so I can refuse certain calls,” he explained and she nodded.

While she respected and admired him for doing this job, Daisy still wasn’t surewhyhe did it. Outside of what he’d told her that night on his porch, she still had questions about his decision. But she wasn’t going to voice them again. Knowing Rafferty, he’d quit on the spot if he sensed her worry. Firefighting might scare her, but she could tell that it fulfilled him.

“I don’t know if I ever told you this, but I’m proud of you.” She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, not bothering to wipe away the lipstick stain. She wanted to mark him up in as many ways as possible, because he was hers and everyone needed to know.

Honestly, her lips still tingled from the earlierdevouringand she was unhappy that her uterus chose that night to bleed profusely. Because if he kissed like that when he was so turned on, would he ravage her once he got her naked? She hadn’t thought that her outfit was anything special. It was comfortable and put all of her assets on display. Clearly it got him all riled up.

If anyone was dressed to impress it was him. He’d even worn a jacket over his light blue shirt. He’d taken it off when they got to the restaurant and spent a few minutes rolling up his sleeves while going through the drinks menu. The whole time, she watched and admired the flex of his muscles and the popping of his veins. She’d never paid attention to forearms before, but now she understood why the romances she read hyper-focused on that part of the heroes.

“Know what you want, sweetheart?” he asked.

She blinked away the thoughts of his hands undoing her pants and sliding into her underwear. Feeling slightly breathless, she shook her head. “Anything that has all the carbs.”

He chuckled, one hand landing on her thigh as he gave their orders. Biting her lip, her eyes followed the line of his jaw under that beard and down to his throat. He’d always been the kind of person who could make you do a double take. Now he made you stop and stare. In fact, she was sure there were a few guests at the restaurant who had done exactly that when they walked in.

“You’re distracted.”

She hummed in response, dragging her fingers over the back of his hand and wrist, then traced the flames inked around his wrists. “You see, I’m on a date with this man who kissed me like he wanted to eat me not too long ago.”

“Did you want to be eaten?”

“Oh yeah,” she breathed out, lifting her head to meet his gaze. “If I wasn’t bleeding extra heavily right now, I’d insist we ditch this dinner and make other plans.”

“Is it because of your PCOD?”

“You remembered.”

He nodded. “I did some more research to really understand what it was and everything said that it can sometimes be quite bad?”

“Badis an understatement. Some months, I skip my period entirely. Other months it’s like I’m bleeding to make up for what I missed.”

“Are you on any medication?”

She stared at him a moment, smiling at how thoughtful he was. It might not seem like much, but the fact that he had looked it up and understood what she might or might not need made her heart swell.

“I was. It would sometimes trigger migraines, so I stopped. There are all these methods to fight it, like a strict diet and exercise, but none of it works.”

Besides, diets were a gateway to the return of her eating disorder. She’d been eating and living healthy for fifteen years and there was absolutely no way she was going to throw it all away because some doctor told her it would cure her PCOD.

His lips brushed against her forehead. “Would you have preferred it if we stayed in tonight?”

“No!” She sat up with a firm shake of her head. “Going out withyouis exactly what the doctor ordered.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely.”

He nodded and nudged a glass of wine towards her. “How long have you had migraines?”

“Give or take about ten years? It’s not always connected to my period, but sometimes I’m blessed with both at once.”

“What do you do for them?”

“Meds and lots of sleep. Can we talk about something else?”

He smiled and squeezed her thigh. “What do you want to talk about?”

“You. Callahan. Anything.”

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