Page 29 of Her Silver Fox Firefighters
It’s damn near impossible to hide anything from him. His dark brown eyes practically scan my soul as he comes closer and leans over the counter, beckoning me to meet him halfway for a quick kiss.
I welcome the reassuring sweetness of his lips, but his tightening grip on my wrist tells me I won’t get away that easily. “Nothing,” I reply, “just tired.”
“No, there’s something going on,” Dax agrees, narrowing his steely blues at me.
“What am I, some kind of open book?” I ask in genuine exasperation. “I’m fine! I’m just… fine.”
Beck gives me a surprised look. “Right, that’s why you’re literally on a razor-sharp edge, Olivia. Talk to us. What’s going on?”
“How about some coffee? You still have quite a few hours left on your shift, don’t you?”
He doesn’t give up easily. Instead, he moves around the counter and comes into the bar area while I nervously glance back at the kitchen door, worried that Jim might pop his head out for whatever reason.
“Relax. He’s probably scarfing down his stash of triple chocolate chip cookies while Melinda’s at home napping,” Beck reassures me. “What’s going on with you, Olivia?”
“Beck, I promise, I’m okay,” I manage.
Leo scoffs and shakes his head, taking a seat at the counter next to Dax. “That’s a lie. I thought we made it perfectly clear that we thrive on honesty and transparency, Olivia.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
I’m afraid to tell them, truth be told, because if I tell them about Chloe, they’ll want to know more. They’ll pick up on my dread regarding Marcus eventually because they’re smart and inquisitive men. They see things in people, things in me, though I work so hard to hide them.
It will just lead to the whole ugly truth.
They can’t know the whole ugly truth.
Because if they do, they won’t want to have anything to do with me.
I shake my head slowly. “I’m just really tired, okay? It’s been one hell of a busy morning. Maybe I’m PMS-ing a little. I don’t know.”
“You’re going to go with that excuse, huh?” Beck mutters, lips tickling my ear.
It sends a thousand tiny shivers along my spine as he glances down and notices my nipples puckering boldly through the fabric of my shirt. A smile slits his face as his gaze captures mine.
“It’s the truth,” I whisper. I don’t remember when my lastperiod was, but it’s to be expected. These men sure know how to scramble my brain into mush every damn time.
“Do you know what the mark of a good person is?” he asks in a low voice. I shake my head. “They are terrible liars. But you, Olivia, you’re a good and wonderful person.”
He doesn’t insist. He’s made his point. Dax and Leo don’t seem pleased about it either, but they relent as well. Beck pulls back and joins them at the counter while I take a moment to regain my focus. A second later, I place three white mugs in front of them, filling each with freshly brewed coffee.
The smell soothes me while I try not to crumble on the inside.
They know I’m lying. I know I let them down. Someday, maybe I’ll get a chance to make it up to them, but in the meantime, I need to figure out what the hell happened back in Devon.
I need to find Chloe.
“Crap,” Dax mutters as his phone goes off.
At the same time, we all hear the siren go off across the street. The fire station is alive; alarms wailing and red lights flashing as one of the trucks pulls out.
“That’s Engine. They need Squad and Ladder, too,” Leo reads the alert on his phone. “There’s another factory fire.”
“Another arson?” I ask in disbelief.
Beck heads for the door, his jaw locked as he prepares for the worst. “Possibly,” he says. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
“Be careful,” I call out as I watch them leave.
