Page 26 of Only You

“And what would you know about that?”

Emmett apparently wanted to be verbally beaten to a pulp.

“Why do you think I dated Patrick?”

Yeah, that had been fun. Patrick had been his sous chef before returning to the West Coast broken-hearted over his breakup with BeeBee.

“Because he cooked for you?” His brother sounded incredulous.

“That and he had very talented hands and, man…that tongue.”

“Please, not in front of me,” Declan said.

She smirked at him. “Take her food.”

Then she rose out of her chair and left them, but Emmett…he was irritated. “You know she said that just to get me mad.”

“Why would you get mad, Em?” Connal asked.

“I…” then his mouth snapped shut. “Whatever.”

Then, he left Connal and Declan alone.

“Do you think he will ever get his head out of his ass?” Connal asked.

“Maybe?”

They all knew BeeBee and Em were half in love with each other, but neither of them would act on it. He got it. They’d been friends for twenty years, so he understood why his brother didn’t want to make a mistake with her.

“That doesn’t sound like you’re convinced.”

He glanced at his brother. Connal was studying him in that way he had. He was the quiet brother who took time to notice things around him. Declan didn’t like it one bit.

“What?”

“So, Eileen is the detective on the case?”

He nodded. If Connal was going to ask for her contact information, Declan would refuse and then punch him.

“When are you going to getyourhead out of your ass?”

The fact that he asked the same question about Emmett was not lost on Declan. He could pretend he didn’t know what his brother was talking about. But Declan knew that was a stupid move.

“I’ve tried asking her out several times.”

Connal frowned. “She turned you down?”

He shook his head. “I said I tried to ask her out. Didn’t do it.”

There was a beat of silence between them, filling the air as he listened to the other firemen move around the house. It was never quiet when you had a bunch of men and women who made their living by fighting fire.

“You’re afraid to ask her out.”

He sighed. “Not really, I just think it needs to be right. I know she has men hitting on her all the time.”

He’d watched it in his bar. Since Fitzpatrick’s was known more as a fireman bar, they didn’t get a lot of cops. She was one of the few who was a regular, and men always tried to ask her out. Even some of the firemen he had known for years had a thing for her. The male badge bunnies were the worst. It was like the women who showed up at the bar looking for a night with a fireman. The job attracted them.

“Do what BeeBee told you to do.”

---