Page 5 of Smokin' Situation

We provided each other with companionship, whether that meant sex or just sharing a meal together, we both knew the score.

For all I knew, he could be with someone else on his business trip this week, and the thought of that didn’t spark jealousy from me in the least. Maybe that was the sign I needed to finally stop messing around with him. While it’d been a way for me to escape from having to invest emotions in a relationship when I needed it most, now it was just delaying the inevitable.

If I truly wanted to have a relationship like my parents had shared when I was a kid, I needed to put myself back outthere. But how did you tell the universe you were finally ready to meet your other half when you’d been hiding from it for so long?

“You okay over there?” an amused voice asked, my eyes widening before I glanced up at my grumpy firefighter. Wait, no. He was most definitely notmygrumpy anything. I’d only just met him and…

“Yeah, I’m good,” I squeaked, the heat in my cheeks doing the heavy lifting in dispelling the morning breeze that’d been making me shiver. Now, under his intense, but suddenly filled with mirth, stare, I was anything but chilled.

“You got another one of those weights for me?”

Redirecting my attention, I dug out the last few weights, trying—and failing—not to watch him bend over to fasten them to the legs of the shelter. I was suddenly craving cake.

My fingers fidgeted with a shot glass in my hand as he turned and aimed the full force of those penetrating eyes at me, the corner of his lip quirking into something that was decidedly not grumpy. I couldn’t recall a time I’d ever had such a visceral reaction to any man, much less one I didn’t even know.

He glanced around the booth, seeing the space take shape, and I was at a loss for words, afraid I’d start babbling again and scare him off, not that he’d be staying here with me. He was here to help with the event, not here to help me. Even if I was suddenly having visions of him pushing up the dark sleeves of his tech shirt and shouldering me to the side as he started pouring tasting shots to pass out to the hum of festival goers looking for a little buzz.

“I think you’re set here,” he said, voice even because he probably never got nervous like I felt right now. “Unless you need me for something else, I’m going to head back to the welcome tent and see where they need me next.”

Nodding absently, I watched as his head tipped to the side, his fingers reaching up to scratch the side of his neck. A flinch barely flitted across his features before it was gone, and he stared down at his hand with something that looked like irritation. I wanted toask him what was wrong, but swallowed the words as he returned his expectant gaze to me.

“I’m good, I can take it from here.”

“I’ll see you around then…” he trailed off, lifting his hand toward his neck awkwardly, then blinking hard and returning it to his side.

“Rhey,” I blurted, my eyes widening slightly as my grandmother’s nickname for me slipped from my mouth instead of what people had called me for over a decade. Everyone around here knew me as Annie, not Rheyanne.

He nodded, the smirk reappearing as he turned to go, catching sight of my sister’s arch nemesis, Baker, headed in our direction.

“You done, Tripp?” he asked, but Baker was looking at me, shooting me a secret wink and an eyebrow wiggle.

Shaking my head, I tried to get my act together, because despite his complicated relationship with my sister, Baker would tease the shit out of me if he’d seen how awkward I had been around his coworker. Annie, the bartender, wasn’t awkward. She was sarcastic with a quick wit and a no-nonsense attitude.

A bar full of unruly drunks never got my feathers ruffled in the way a single man I didn’t even know had during the last ten minutes. And I needed to get my act together if I was going to make it through the next eight hours with my mask in place.

Tristan

“Dude,youdon’twannago there.” Baker’s voice cut through the fog in my head, and I turned toward him with a frown.

“Go where?”

“Her, trust me. She’d eat you alive. The Thomas sisters are not for the faint at heart,” he replied with a significant nod toward the beauty in the cutoff denim shorts that’d scrambled my brain the second she jumped out of that big ass truck she drove.

“She can eat whatever she wants,” I muttered, suddenly cursing my brain-to-mouth filter.

Baker laughed loudly, slapping me on the shoulder, and I winced as the sensation of fire licked up my arm and across my back. Nerve damage was a fucking dick punch. I knew I was lucky that I could still feel it. My burns could’ve been worse. I could’ve been carrying around much worse damage than surface burns. My once smooth skin was puckered, pink, angry, and still hurt like a bitch, but I was grateful to still be alive.

“Trust me, there’re plenty of other available women in this town who would be interested in the brooding, mysterious new cowboy firefighter. Just start talking in a southern drawl and wear a cowboy hat when you’re not on duty and you won’t know what to do with all the attention you get.”

“Not interested,” I grunted, briefly glancing over my shoulder, my eyes meeting Rhey’s dark ones before she broke my stare, her cheeks flushing a deep shade of pink. I wanted to say it was the heat of the day, but there had been a vibe we’d both been dancing around while I helped her get set up. I’d been kind of a dick, tryingto keep our focus on getting her booth set up while she was just trying to be friendly.

Most people would say that someone driving a truck as huge as hers was overcompensating for something, but I couldn’t see a damn thing about that woman that didn’t set my brain on fire. But I was here to help today, to prove to the chief that I didn’t need a damn probationary period or to be “eased into duty” or whatever else bullshit he’d spouted off at me when he’d reluctantly hired me for the volunteer squad.

But I was having a hard time focusing, even though I knew I needed to. It’d been months since I’d touched a woman, and I wanted—no, Ineeded—to touch that woman. But it was probably also a terrible idea since I should’ve been focusing on getting my new life settled and trying to do whatever stupid bullshit the Chief wanted to get in his good graces.

Part of me also wanted to text my brother and demand the details on his employee, since she currently had his brand stretching across her ample chest. A chest that my baser instincts had imagined burying my face in while she was adorably rambling on the way to her booth.

“Yeah, your mouth might say that, but your eyes are undressing her, dude. Get it together. As far as I know, she doesn’t do relationships, and I’m not one to perpetuate rumors, but there are other reasons she might be off limits to you.”

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