Page 48 of Fireworks
“My kids can’t know about us. Probably not my family, either.”
Oh, so that was it. He was to be her dirty little secret.
He gripped the wall tightly, jagged stone scraping his palms. He hadn’t been expecting for her to announce it to the world, but actively hiding it …Wasshe embarrassed of him? Or was it that she was still not sure she could trust him?
He tried to make light of it despite his churning gut. “Why? Afraid your brother will make my death slow and painful?”
“My brother just wants to protect me,” she said, eyes sparking defiantly. “And I want to protect my kids, okay? Their dad walked out on them. Sky and Saff barely know him, but Brook remembers what it was like to have a father. I don’t want him to get the wrong idea. I don’t want him to get attached. He already thinks the world of you, andyou’ve made all these promises that you’ll read with him … You’re good with them, Warren, and that’s the problem. We need boundaries.”
That, he supposed he understood, though it didn’t ease his tension the way it should have.
“And my family would make this more than what it is, too,” she continued. “I don’t want it to be a big deal. I just …”
He shifted closer, pleading softly: “Tell me.”
Her eyes lowered to his lips, darkening with the same lust he still felt. “The answer to your question is yes, we can do it again. I just don’t know when.”
Delicately, he drew his thumb over the back of her hand, fine hairs standing against translucent, freckled skin. “I’ll wait. I meant what I said. I’m not done with you yet.”
When her name was called behind him, Warren swore under his breath. Eiley cleared her throat, pulling the sleeves of her cardigan down and brushing past him to meet Harper. She was wide-eyed as she glanced between them, plucking a sycamore seed out of Eiley’s hair. “In thewoods? Really?”
“We were just talking. Sorting things out,” Eiley lied. Badly.
“Do you honestly think I cannot recognise a post-sex glow? Do you truly think that low of me?”
Warren raked his hair back just in case he’d also accidentally collected some souvenirs of their time together. When he thought of this news getting back to Fraser, he could see why Eiley would want to keep it between them. “I’d better get back to Nate. Let me know if you’d like a tour of the fire engine later.”
“Hm, yes, I’m sure Eiley is justdyingfor a ride,” Harper called as he strutted off.
Warren laughed and waved. God knows how a bloke as uptight as Fraser had managed to pull such a bubbly lass.
His good mood didn’t last long. When he returned to the truck, Nate’s face was stormy, phone clutched tightly in hand.
“Where the bloody hell have you been?” His voice was accusing, as though Warren had been gone for hours rather than thirty or forty minutes. Or fifty, according to the smart watch on his wrist.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been trying to get hold of you. A fire’s broken out over East Highland Way. They need as many extra hands as they can get.”
“Shite. On it.” Warren launched into action, ushering families back to clear the way and then jumping into the driver’s seat. His glance at Nate was filled with shame. He shouldn’t have left his station, even if it had been a civilian job. He’d dropped the ball, just for a second – but accidents always happened when people stopped paying attention.
He’d broken his own rules.
“I’m really sorry, Nate.”
“Here I was thinking you were the most serious officer on the job.” When Nate cracked a smile, Warren winced.
Adrenaline coursed through him as he started the engine and flicked on the sirens, sending some of the onlookers scattering. His focus fell to his wing mirror, Eiley’s tiny figure visible among the chaos.
Nate must have noticed as they rattled through Main Street, because he lifted his brows. “She must be some bloody woman. I take it you kissed and made up?”
“Could say that, aye.”
She was still watching as he made his way over the bridge, past the woods, and out of Belbarrow. He’d been right to name her Firecracker: his eyes might have been fixed on the road ahead, but his head exploded with flashes of her, her, her.
He would have to fix that: he couldn’t afford to be this distracted on the job. There were fires to put out and, for once, she wasn’t one of them.
21
