Page 21 of Under Control
She leaned in.
Not a lot. But she shifted slightly toward him, leaning against his hand, and his fingertips pressed a little more firmly in response.
She’d worry about her carefully structured plan tomorrow. Which was probably what she’d told herself yesterday. But with Derek’s arm around her and a beer in her hand, she didn’t care.
* * *
As far as Derek was concerned, the fundraiser was a success. He didn’t need to wait for the official accounting to know they’d raised a lot of money for Village Hearts. And everybody was having a fun time, with not a single fight breaking out. While Tommy ran a pretty tight ship, anything could happen with a full house.
And, maybe most important to him, Olivia was having a good time. While she probably only saw the fundraiser aspect, for Derek it was more than that. These people were like family and Kincaid’s Pub was like an extension of home for most of the firefighters in the neighborhood, but especially for Engine 59 and Ladder 37. While he shied away from thinking too much aboutwhy, her liking the people she was meeting tonight mattered to him.
He didn’t stray far from her side over the course of the night, but sometimes she’d wander away in conversation with somebody and then he’d hear her laugh. Or he’d glance over to find her watching him and they’d share a smile. It felt good to have that connection again, and he could imagine them coming here often. Playing pool. Laughing. Enjoying the company of friends and each other.
If only she didn’t live on the other side of the city.
Scott walked over to him, an almost empty mug of beer in his hand. “You waiting to shoot some pool or is this just a good vantage point for watching Olivia?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Some guy actually asked me if I knew you, because he was concerned about the way you were staring at her.”
Derek snorted, but then he forced himself to turn his body so she wasn’t directly in his line of sight anymore. “Is Jamie here? I haven’t seen her.”
“No, she had to work. Did you and Olivia come together?”
“No.”
“You leaving together?” He scowled at Scott, who only held up one hand defensively. “Just making conversation. You guys are obviously a thing.”
“We’re not really anything.”Yet.
“Bullshit. Anybody who’s seen you together knows you’re a thing.”
Derek took a long swallow of his beer, unable to resist turning his head enough to catch a glimpse of Olivia over the rim of his mug. “You’re the one who said she’s out of my league. And she is.”
Scott laughed, drawing attention Derek didn’t want. “Dude, I was just busting your balls when I said that.”
“Doesn’t make it wrong.”
“You can’t be fucking serious right now. She seems like a cool chick and you guys obviously hit it off, so don’t be stupid.”
Scott shook his head and walked away before Derek could say anything else. Not that he would have, anyway, because Olivia was making her way back to him. As usual, seeing her made every thought except how much he wanted her fly out of his head.
“He looked annoyed, and you look serious all of a sudden,” Olivia said, nodding her head in the direction Scott had gone.
“He’s always annoyed, and I was missing you.”
She laughed and leaned against him. “I was ten feet away.”
“Having a good time?”
“Yes. Everybody’s been really nice, once they got the elevator jokes out of their systems.” Her chuckle let him know she’d taken it all in fun. “And Cait has the best stories. Being an EMT sounds...interesting.”
“Firefighters have better stories,” he felt obliged to say.
“You’ll have to tell me some, then, because I find it hard to believe you can top Cait’s.”
The more opportunities he had to tell her stories, the better, as far as he was concerned. “Challenge accepted. And remind me to start with the story about Cait pushing a firefighter down the stairs.”
