Page 1 of Hot Response
PROLOGUE
RON ‘RONNIE’ JIMENEZ
I ranmy fingers through my hair a split second before I walked into the bakery, where my buddy, Logan, asked me to stop by to pick up a secret engagement party cake.Secret engagement cake.I shook my head. Never in a million years would I have guessed Logan, the most non-relationship guy I knew, would be doing this. To say he has it bad for Vi is an understatement.
I’d never do something like this. Not now. Not anymore. Not after…
I shook the thought away, not about to get in my head about what could have been. I’d had a great thing. The most perfect love I knew no one or any other relationship would ever measure up to. So, I didn’t even try.
Sara and I shared the kind of love that if you were lucky, you found once in a lifetime. And we’d had it for hers. It’d been too short, but that didn’t make it any less beautiful. My jaw clenched as I reached for the door and tried to bat away the memories that tried to inundate my head.Sara.For some reason, I stopped and looked over my shoulder and up at the sky. It had been a whilesince I’d done it. I glanced up, soaking in the perfect morning. Clear baby-blue skies with puffy white clouds.
Give me a sign, Sara, I asked before I shut my eyes. A sign for what, I wasn’t sure. That she was still out there in some way or form. A sign that I was living in a way she’d want. A sign of something she’d want for me.
But like usual, nothing happened.
I opened the door, and the scent on vanilla and sugar drifted into my nose, filling my lungs and making my mouth water. Damn, it smelled good. I stayed away from sugar, but this place had the potential of making me break my no-sugar rule, and I hadn’t even tasted anything yet.
A cute girl at the counter smiled as I told her I was there to pick up a cake. An even prettier one stepped out with a tray of cookies. She took the order slip Logan had given me and went to look for the cake but came out a little worried. Suddenly, it was like time stopped along with my regularly beating heart. From the back, a short but seriously gorgeous woman stepped out, all curves, radiating a beauty like I’d never seen.
The moment her dark eyes connected with mine, something happened. I wasn’t sure what; I’d never felt this way before. Not even close. She was talking to me, but I couldn’t hear anything over the sound of my heart pounding and blood rushing in tidal waves in my ears.Fuck, she is beautiful.Suddenly, not only was my body going haywire, but my skin felt too tight, too warm.Shit, am I coming down with something?
“Sir?” she called, snapping me out of my thoughts, and with that small three-letter word, my cock stood at attention. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Sorry.” I shook my head, trying to focus on something more than how pretty she was and wondering how she would feel in my arms.What the fuck is wrong with me? I don’t do this!I might have an occasionalhookup or fling, nothing serious, just to burn off excess energy, but I didn’t do feelings. As I stared at her, that’s all I felt.
A tsunami of feelings.
“Long morning?” Her eyes glittered, shining brightly in a way I wanted just for myself. My brows bunched together as a jolt of betrayal washed through me. I wasn’t supposed to feel this kind of shit. Not again.
“Something like that,” I mumbled. It wasn’t a lie. I had just come off my shift with one too many heavy calls. As a paramedic, I saw a lot. From stomach aches to gun shots and everything in between.Maybe I am sleep deprived?“If I could get the cake?—"
“That’s what I was explaining.” She winced. “We had a little bit of a problem.” I blinked.
“A problem?” I repeated, and she looked at me like she thought I might be slow. Fuck, she must think I’m an idiot.
“Like I was explaining, the frosting was a little damaged. Nothing too bad that can’t be fixed. I promise you won’t even know there was a problem. If you don’t mind waiting a couple of minutes? Have an apple fritter and coffee. On the house, of course. We should have it all ready to go, better than ever, in less than twenty minutes.” I wanted to tell her no. A big red flag of self-preservation waved in my frontal lobe, but I like a stupid, stupid man, I ignored it. Anything to spend a little more time around her.
“Only if you sit and have one with me.” The smooth words tumbled past my lips in a flirty tone I didn’t know I had in me anymore. Her eyes widened, and suddenly, a pink tinge bloomed on the apples of her cheeks and even the tops of her cute little ears.
“You want me to have coffee with you?” Her brow rose, challenging me to back down, but something inside me felt alive for the first time in, hell, a long time.
“Yeah. You know, keep me company for the inconvenience?” Jesus, was I flirting or just sounding like a creep?How the hell am I this bad at it?
“Wow!” She crossed her arms over her chest, and my eyes dropped to take in the more-than-a-handful globes, and for some reason, my hands ached to touch them, hold them, find out what exact shade her nipples were. “Who do you think you are?” she asked. My eyes rose to hers. If looks could kill, I’d be six feet under with the daggers she glared in my direction.
“Excuse me?”
“Such a guy,” she breathed under her breath. My lips twitched. Fuck, why did I think she was so damn cute!? “You’re getting married, literally picking up a cake for your engagement party, and you’re asking me to have coffee with you? What is wrong with you?” I could have sworn actual smoke was coming out of her ears.
“Whoa!” I put my arms out in self-defense, all while trying to calm my quickly hardening dick down. “Let’s clear something up. First, I’m not the one engaged. I’m just his friend who happens to work at the station down the street and was asked to pick it up after his shift.”
“Station down the… you’re a paramedic?” she asked, and I nodded.
“I am,” I confirmed, watching the way her shoulders started to relax, “Now, let’s be really clear, if I were engaged, there would be no way I would look at any other woman, much less ask her to coffee.”
“Oh.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m sorry.” She winced. “I don’t know why… I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions and gone off on you.”
“I’ve had a long morning, and I’m guessing you have… trust issues?” I asked, probably a lot bolder and intrusive than Ishould have, but I knew I was safe when her pretty, red-stained lips started to twitch like she was trying to hold back a smile.
