Page 50 of Love Songs

“You know this isn’t going to change our relationship, right?” I said, my voice thick.

“Please.” He rolled his eyes. “Like you’re ever going to get rid of me.”

We both laughed and while not with our usual heartiness on his part, some of the weight of the moment slipped from my shoulders.

“Anyway.” Kirk shrugged, his jacket squeaking from the movement. “I knew this was coming the day you got that phone call about Jaylin.”

“I guess,” I said.

“Bro.” Kirk put his hand on my shoulder and gave a little shake. “We’re good. We’ll always be good.”

Kirk left a few minutes later, after scheduling a time to sit down with management and the label to officially dissolve the band. The second the door closed behind him, I grabbed my phone. My insides felt like they were vibrating, and adrenaline pulsed through my veins. I couldn’t wait a second longer to share the news with Jaylin and Conor.

Whoa.Conor?

I dropped onto the couch with the phone clutched in my hand and a fluttery feeling in my belly.

Absolutely, I wanted to see Conor again when I went back to Caldwell Crossing, see where we might go, but that he was at the top of myshare-all-the-good-news-with-firstperson, right there beside Jaylin, threw me for a loop.

Was it even possible to grow that attached to someone in so short a time?

Why was I even asking that question when I had a real-life example in Kirk’s parents who’d done just that?

The moment I’d seen Conor inspecting the pyro set at our Founders Day show, I’d been drawn to him. Even after he’d ripped into me for setting the stage on fire, he’d been hot. As hot as the flames that had licked up the backdrop curtain. Then he’d shown me his caring side, his funny side . . . his loving side. I wanted to know every side of Conor Holliston.

I thumbed through my contact list to Conor’s name and tapped on it. The call connected and my anticipation rose with every ring—until I got voicemail instead of him and the bubble popped.

I disconnected before leaving a message, swapping from my phone to the text app.

Me:I’ll be in town for May long weekend. Want to meet up?

I held my breath, staring at my screen for what felt like hours, waiting for those three little bouncing dots to show because Conor was writing a reply, but they never appeared.

“It’s okay,” I told myself.

I stood and started pacing. He was at work, maybe out on an incident, and couldn’t answer yet. I didn’t even know if hecouldhave his phone with him while on the job. Pretty sure texting while firefighting was cause for dismissal.

A glance at the clock told me it was too early to call Jaylin—she was still in school—so I distracted myself by starting the ball rolling to end the Dallas Blade Band.

It wasn’t until after nine when my phone rang, and Conor’s name flashed on the screen, that I realized he’d never texted me back.

“Hey, Conor,” I answered before my phone could ring a second time, not caring how eager that made me look.

“Hey, Dallas,” he replied, setting off a fluttering kaleidoscope of butterflies in my stomach. “I’m happy you called.”

Shit, I’d missed the sound of his voice. I knew then and there that I needed him in my life, and I was going to do everything I could to make that happen. So long as he felt the same.

“You sound tired,” I said, hoping he hadn’t been out on a call like the apartment fire when I’d been in town, where people had died and a firefighter injured.

“Long day at the office,” he joked, though even his humor carried a weariness to it. “We had to rescue a horse stuck in a tree.”

“Uhm . . . What?”

How did that even make sense?

He chuckled, deep and throaty, and the sound curled around me like a warm blanket. The only thing that would have made it better was if he were here in person and his muscular arms were the blanket wrapped around me.

“Did you know horses think they’re only as big as their heads?” he said and grunted.

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