Page 17 of A Baby for the Firefighter
Dean
“How do I look?” my cousin asked, presenting himself in his outfit for the night about half an hour before we were supposed to pick up our dates.
“You look great.” My cousin was a handsome man, objectively speaking, and he'd picked out a good outfit. Well-fitting jeans with a blue shirt which accented his light eyes and ginger hair without making him look pale.
“Are you nervous?” I asked because I’d never known Shane to be one to fidget.
“Are you?” he gave back.
I shook my head. I had no reason to be nervous about this date. The only thing that slightly unsettled me was the way Griff had reacted when I'd told him about it. “I'm only doing this for you,” I said.
That didn't seem to satisfy him. “It's not like nothing good can come off this date for you.”
“I guess.” I sighed, rubbing my temples. Griff said he had no problem with me going on a date, even when I'd given him a chance to tell me not to go. That meant he was fine with me dating other people, didn’t it? So there was no reason not to make the most of this date, even if I didn’t really feel like it. And Ireallydidn’t feel like it.
“For what it's worth, you look nice too,” my cousin said.
“Thanks.” I gave him a smile. I'd put on nice clothes because I hadn't wanted to be disrespectful to my date. I could put in alittleeffort, at least. And I'd been told at least once that my ass looked absolutely edible in these jeans.
I wondered if Griff would agree with that statement. But tonight, I couldn't think about him. Shane was right; it was time to get over this silly crush.
* * *
We picked the Maden brothers, Edward and Leonard, up at their house. As Shane had told me, they roomed together to save on expenses. They'd been close ever since their parents died when they were young, leaving them with a rather old-fashioned grandmother. I sympathized. My grandmother still asked me why I hadn’t given her a grandchild yet every time I called, and my family wasn’t even that big on tradition. I got it from a lot of the seniors at work as well, and if I’d been raised by any of them, I would have clung close to my sibling too.
My date was Edward, the younger of the two. I had to admit, he was kind of cute. The brothers both sported black hair and deep brown eyes, but Edward was a bit shorter and he had a sort of boyish charm to him that I liked. He wasn’t Griff, no, but nobody was. It was unfair of me to expect him to live up to the omega who’d made my heart beat faster since my teenage years.
No, I needed to try to forget about Griff for tonight. As much as I didn’t want to believe it, the two of us mightneverbe more than friends, and if that was the case…
Shane lightly whacked me over the back of my head as we entered the restaurant he’d taken us to. “Stop looking so grumpy,” he hissed.
“I’m not grumpy!” I muttered, looking around the restaurant and hoping our dates hadn’t heard our exchange.
My cousin had picked the Bella Luna for our date. I say picked, but there hadn’t really been much of a choice. Oceanport didn’t have a ton of fancy restaurants. There was this, a diner, one or two cafés, and that one really fancy place that belonged to the resort a bit farther out, but only tourists went there, really.
Still, it wasn’t a bad choice.
The Bella Luna offered mostly Italian food, even though the owners weren’t Italian. The flair was nice, though. Everythinglookedexpensive, even when you knew it really wasn’t. When I stepped into the restaurant, I knew I was still in Oceanport, but I might as well have been taking a stroll in Milan. Whoever the owner was, they had a good sense for interior design. Griff would have loved this place; he had a great eye for design too, being an artist.
Ugh, I shouldn’t think about Griff tonight.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to focus on my date.
Make conversation.
“You and your brother, you live together?” I asked once we sat down at one of the tables by the large window front.
Edward gave me a smile. “Yeah, even though it’s a pain.”
His brother elbowed him. “Hey! You’re the one who’s a pain to live with.”
“I know that, but don’t make me look bad in front of my date!” Edward protested. “Don’t you want me to move out some day?”
I had to laugh, loving the light-hearted atmosphere these two were bringing to the table. “Why are you such a pain to live with?” I asked Edward, while picking up one of the menus.
“Because I like to get up early and Mr. Grumpypants over here doesn’t appreciate waking up to the sweet sound of my shower concerts.”
His brother sighed theatrically. “You have a good voice, but I don’t want to hear it at 6am.”
