Page 99 of Burning for Alexander
“Yes, ma’am. Of course.”
She turned to leave while Kincaid glared at me. “You had to be a smart-ass in front of the state fire marshal? Really, Alex? Christ.”
Then he turned his glare to Juni. “You want to tell me what you’d do if the kitchen caught on fire right now? And don’t tell me it won’t because we both know shit happens.”
Surprisingly, my head chef looked a little remorseful. “There are other extinguishers.”
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “The citation will be in your email in the morning, and today’s your lucky day. It comes with more inspections. How fun for both of us.”
And then he was gone.
And Juni Song was lucky I didn’t have homicidal tendencies.
30
KINCAID
IndexEcho:Baby, I’m here.
[Deleted User]:[No response]
_____________________
I could have killed him.Moreover, I was mad at myself for choosing to take Fire Marshal Houle to Timber. I’d thought it would help Alex out during the winter slow season, but as soon as we’d sat down and other groups started flooding the place, I’d realized how wrong I’d been.
While I was happy for Alex that his business was doing so well, it was a reminder of how difficult it had been for the two of us to find time together.
It had been hard enough finding that time when we both wanted it, but now that only one of us wanted it, it was near impossible. And sometimes I just wanted an excuse to look at him.
Unfortunately, Marshal Houle had taken the seat in the booththat would have given me a view of him, and it had also given her a better view to see when something went wrong.
Now, here we were.
Two nights after the fire extinguisher yeeting, I saw Alex across the square at Legacy’s Mistletoe Ceremony. I was still angry at him for the immature way he’d handled the situation at Timber when I’d even tried to spare him the official consequences of Juni’s actions.
But now, watching him as he gazed longingly at the two men kissing under the lights of the giant mistletoe ball, my anger blew away like tiny snowflakes caught in a gale.
He was so fucking beautiful. Pink-nosed and bright-eyed. His neck was covered in a thick cranberry-red scarf, but his hands were bare. I knew because I’d caught him shoving them deep into his pockets every time he began gesticulating with them and then remembered they were cold.
I wanted to go over there and talk to him, but he was surrounded by his cousins and sister, and I was there with a few members of my crew and their family members. As soon as it was acceptable to beg off and head home, I politely excused myself and said my goodbyes.
The house was quiet but cozy. I warmed up with a hot shower and headed to bed with plans to get up early and catch up on some expense reports first thing in the morning, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, there was an angry knock on the door.
It was Alex.
“Alex,” I said hesitantly, waiting for him to lash out.
He didn’t make eye contact with me. “I’m still angry. I just need to get some sleep, okay?”
“Okayyy?”
His jaw muscles moved before he spoke again in a rush. “I can’tsleep, and I need to sleep here. With you. But it doesn’t mean anything, and we’re not having sex. Just sleep. No talking.”
And then he pushed past me and headed straight for my bedroom.
I watched him go, the stiff set of his shoulders mixed with the overall slump of exhaustion. Then I turned back to lock the door and turn out the lights before joining him in bed.
He’d brought in the smell of snow and the almost-metallic scent of winter air, but as soon as he settled into my sheets and warmed up, he smelled like himself again. Yeast and woodsmoke mixed with red wine.
