Page 18 of Burning Love
He smirked. “Have you ever ridden one before?”
Her mother wouldkillher. “No. But I’d like to.”
“We can do that another time,” he said. “I’m not positive you can in that skirt unless you want to give everyone a show of what you’ve got on under it. You’d have to hike that baby up around your waist. Not saying I wouldn’t enjoy the sight.”
Oh boy, they were starting right off with the flirting.
His eyes were crinkled up while he had a smirk on his lips that might be dampening her panties.
She was going to have some major fun with him.
But she’d have to find out if that was all he wanted, and if so, would it work for her in the short term?
She hadn’t been dating much and felt rusty.
“We’ll have to figure a time out for it,” she said and turned to walk to the door. He grabbed it first and held it for her.
“You look nice,” he said. “Different from yesterday.”
“Yesterday was work. This is fun.”
“I like fun,” he said.
“You look different too.” She leaned in close. “Your uniform is pretty sexy, but you’re not half bad like this either.” Her eyes landed on his face, the rough growth of facial hair there. Hot damn, her lady parts were twitching slightly.
“I’ve heard that a time or two about the uniform. I guess we’ll find out if you’re one of those women or not.”
Her smile dropped. “I’m not like most women.”
“I figured as much.”
Talia didn’t know what he meant by that. She supposed she’d find out.
They were seated at a booth and ordered their drinks. A beer for him, a wine for her. The menus were left, she picked out what she was having and set it down. Might as well begin the conversation.
“So,” she said. “Where do we start?”
“I’m not sure. We both said we had things to talk about for another time. You assumed I knew about your family, but I don’t know much. You wanted to know why I became a fireman.”
She nodded. “Why don’t we start with you?”
“Sure,” he said. Their drinks were brought over and he picked his beer up for a sip. They placed their orders and once they were alone, he continued. “I tried college and it wasn’t for me. I worked construction for several years after that. I still do it on my days off from the firehouse, but I wanted something that I could do on my own. I like helping people. More of those in need. Maybe I was in the position of needing help as a kid and wanted to give back. I volunteered at a firehouse and EMT to see what it was about and here I am years later.”
“We have that in common. I like helping people too.”
“You get to play with a lot of money to do that,” he said, smirking.
“It’s a long story. I just started this job. I’ve been doing other things while I figure out my life.”
He laughed. “I’m sure there are a lot of things you could have done.”
He was lumping her in with everyone else because of her brother’s wealth.
“Before you judge me, let me give you some background. My father was in the army and died when I was four. I never really knew him. I’ve got seven older siblings. Six of them brothers and one sister. I’m not close with Laken. Or not how I would have liked because she was so much older. We are closer now.” She waved her hand. “West was eighteen and a senior in high schoolwhen my father died. He stepped up to be the man and has been acting like my father ever since. Not just to me but everyone.”
“So he takes care of you all still?”
“No. Not like people think. He busted his butt to get where he is with the help of Braylon and Laken. Those three are the closest in age and work together the most. Braylon is VP of Legal for West, Laken VP of Acquisitions. Then there is Foster, he’s VP of Technology.”
