Vote Then Read: Volume I

by Carly Phillips

  My hand finds her shoulder and I let her vent as long as she needs to.

  “I’m sorry.”

  It’s now that I understand Mauro’s decision to not tell her about Jenna and Hunter. She already holds enough guilt, and although she shouldn’t hold any guilt that he cheated on her, let’s be real, she would dissect their relationship from beginning to its end.

  Mauro comes out of the kitchen and the two of us approach him at the same time. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that.

  “She said she just felt faint and that her heart was racing, but Luca said she seems good right now. He’ll make a doctor’s appointment for her. I guess it could have just been the heat in the kitchen.” Mauro doesn’t seem completely convinced and if I had to guess, he’s realizing that his parents are growing older.

  I hug him. “I’m sure she’s fine. I was sweating in there. It is really hot.”

  Mauro glances down at me a small smile in place. “I like you sweaty,” he says.

  “And that’s my cue to leave.” Cailin turns around as Mauro’s lips descend down on mine.

  For the entire meal, everyone’s eyes stay on Mrs. Bianco instead of their overfilled plates. The aunts don’t let her clean up one dish even though she seems okay by that point.

  Thankfully, Cailin and Devin leave right after dinner which gives me some time with his family without the awkwardness of feeling like she’s watching my every move.

  When we leave his parents’ house, I’m so exhausted I fall asleep in his truck, content and happy.

  29

  Mauro

  “Lunch delivery?” I ask Madison as she hands me a bag of food.

  “Well, I want to see where you work.” She steps into the garage. “You do eat lunch, right?”

  “I do.” I smile down at her.

  “So, are you going to show me all your cool tools?”

  She’s covered up today, thank God. Jeans, ankle boots, and a jacket. Perfect to keep what’s mine from being seen around here.

  I wrap my arms around her waist. “I think you’ve become well acquainted with my biggest and best tool.”

  She giggles, her forehead falling to my chest. “True.” I love the blush my comments pull out of her.

  “Do you want me to put on the sirens?” I ask, holding my arm out for her to enter the truck.

  She takes no time at all to hoist herself up and pretend she’s driving the truck.

  “Press the button right there.” She follows the direction my finger is pointing and the sirens blare. She quickly retracts her finger and covers her mouth with her hand, eyes wide.

  A few guys head into the garage, seeing her in the truck.

  “Bianco, you hiding gorgeous women from us today?” Lloyd calls out.

  I roll my eyes. “I’m hiding my girlfriend.”

  Madison climbs out and I catch her in my arms as she slides down my body before her feet land on the cement floor.

  “You make it impossible not to hold onto my hero complex. Just an FYI.” She kisses me briefly and then walks over to my buddies. “Hi, I’m Madison.”

  The guys each shake her hand in turn.

  “Jack.”

  “Lloyd.”

  “Trevor.”

  The three youngest members of our squad blatantly appraise her and I’d like to gouge their eyes out of their sockets.

  “You dating this guy?” Lloyd asks, running his hand through his short blonde hair.

  Madison looks at me, smiling widely. “I am.”

  “How did he manage to get you?” Jack asks.

  Madison scrunches her eyebrows. “I think you mean, how did I get him?”

  Trevor bends over laughing. “You’re a ten and he’s like a six.”

  I wrap my arms around her, my hands resting on her stomach. “Even so, she’s mine and don’t you forget it. We’re going to eat. The three of you, make sure everything’s ready to go in case we get a call.”

  The three probies walk past us and I grab my girl’s hand, leading her into the firehouse.

  “I agree with their line of thinking but…”

  I cage her against the wall, swallowing her doubt with a kiss. Her hands never miss a chance to thread into my hair and she does just that as she grinds against me, lifting one leg to wrap around my thigh.

  “Every night away from you is excruciating,” I mumble along her lips, closing our kiss.

  “I know, but the good news is that the countertops are coming in today.”

  I draw back. “Here I am laying my feelings out there and you’re thinking countertops?”

  We walk up the stairs and I drop the bag of Portillo’s on the table and take a seat. Patel isn’t on shift tonight so I expect dinner will be nothing special.

  “Well, you or the countertops.” She pretends to weigh the options with her hands teetering up and down like a scale.

  “I don’t think countertops can make you scream like I do.” I wink at her.

  She pretends to look at the ceiling, nibbling on her lip. The one move that drives me batshit crazy. “I might scream when they get installed. I’m really excited about them.”

  Standing from my chair, it falls down to the linoleum floor and I take her head in my hands, kissing her feverishly until her head spins. By the time I release her, her eyes are dilated and dark with arousal. Exactly what I was going for.

  “Okay, one point for Bianco.” She swipes an imaginary line in the air.

  I pick up my chair and unwrap the food she brought me.

  “Why is there nothing in here for you?” I ask, taking a second glance in the now empty bag.

  “I already ate.” She sits down and crosses her legs, placing her phone on the table.

  “What? A granola bar?”

  She cocks her head to the side. “I’m sorry, are you judging me?”

  I unwrap my beef sandwich. “I’m just saying you need to eat more. I hate that you watch everything that goes into your mouth.”

  She digs into her purse and wiggles the bag of M&Ms in her hand until some fall out, like that’s proving a fact.

  “Case in point. You don’t even eat the entire bag. You eat five in a sitting.”

  “Hey now, don’t ruin my M&Ms for me,” she warns.

  The conversation is turning to where it might not go the way I want it to.

  “One bite of my beef and I’ll leave you alone.” I smile at her.

  “You act like I have an eating disorder. I don’t.”

  I blow out a breath. There’s no turning back from this conversation.

  “I don’t think you do. I just hate that you worry so much about it. I’ll like you no matter what.”

  “You didn’t even notice me when I was ‘Fatty Maddy’ with braces and glasses, Mauro, let’s be realistic.”

  Anger boils inside of me. She just doesn’t get that I might not have noticed her back then, but that doesn’t mean it was right. That right now, in this moment, it’s not her beauty that has me, it’s her heart, her mind, her personality. I could list twenty things about her that I’ve fallen for but it feels like she’ll always see the most important of them as her beauty.

  “That’s so unfair.” I slide out my chair, patting my leg, needing to feel her body because I do not want us to spend a night apart in a fucking fight over how much she eats.

  “No.” She crosses her arms over her chest.

  “Come here, you know you want to.” I hold out my arms, inviting her.

  “No.”

  Stubborn, one quality that I haven’t fallen for. Yet.

  “I’m sorry, I just want you to see why I’m with you and how it has nothing to do with your perky tits and great ass.”

  A slight smile forms at the corner of her lips.

  “I need to feel you.”

  She looks around, stands and then sits on my lap.

  Moving her hair off her shoulder, my lips find the spot right under her earlobe that gives her goose bumps. She wiggles in my lap, stirring my dick in
my pants.

  “I’m sorry, baby, but I need you to know that I don’t care about your body. You’re so much more than just a beautiful woman and I want you to see that when you look in the mirror.”

  She nods, but I know she doesn’t believe me.

  I turn her face toward me and capture her lips with my own.

  My tongue slides through the part of her lips and the anxiety in my chest brought on by our fight diminishes. I know it won’t always be this easy to end our fights, but I’ll take what I can get tonight.

  My fingers push through her hair, the silky strands wrapping around my hand. I swallow her moan and my hand slides up the side of her ribcage.

  The bell goes off and I blink my eyes open to see Madison’s eyes shifting in every direction as men from all different areas in the house head in one general direction.

  She jumps up from my lap.

  “I gotta go, babe. Grab your things.”

  She frantically gets her cell phone, puts it in her purse and positions it crossways over her body.

  Some guys are heading down the pole and others the stairs. Madison runs down the stairs trying to stay out of everyone’s way before I even see that she’s left. I slide down the pole, then get my gear on. All the guys pile into the truck.

  I spot her off to the side so I race over to her.

  “Like I said…hero complex.” She smiles as I kiss her one last time.

  “This is just my job.”

  The horn honks on the truck, the sirens blaring.

  “Go.” She shoves me but I slide my tongue into her mouth one last time, my body not wanting to leave her.

  “BIANCO!” someone shouts.

  “Gotta go. Remember, no hero.” I shake my head.

  “Call me after?” she hollers out as the truck starts to leave and I grab on to the handle and climb into my seat.

  “I will.” I wink and she watches the truck race out of the station.

  I’m always concerned about returning whenever we leave on a call. But watching the look on her face as I race toward danger makes coming back feel that much more important.

  30

  Madison

  I was torn whether to be worried or horny watching Mauro hop on that truck as it was pulling out of the station. It was like a scene from a movie and he was the heartthrob hero.

  Pulling into my own garage, I climb out of my car and for the first time in a long time, I’m home at a decent hour. Walking the path from the detached garage to the back door I see my neighbors out in their yard.

  “Maddie,” the little girl says, jumping up and heading to the fence line.

  “Hey, Jade.” I see she’s holding a cute white puppy in her arms. “You got a puppy?”

  Her eyes light up, a smile so big I can see why Reed finally caved. Jade’s been begging for a dog for months.

  I pet the dog’s head, and it leans in already too used to getting a lot of attention.

  “I named him Snowball.” Jade holds him up in her arms.

  “He’s adorable.” I continue petting him thinking maybe a dog would be a good idea if I stayed in a house for any length of time.

  “I know. I can’t believe my mom and Reed agreed. My daddy brought him as a good luck in school gift this past weekend.”

  I cringe inwardly, wondering how pissed off Reed must have been.

  Speaking of the man, he walks out of their house and over to us in jeans and long sleeve t-shirt. He’s definitely an attractive man and talk about a potentially dangerous job. Assistant DA isn’t exactly a cakewalk either.

  “Hey Maddie, I see you met our new addition.” He drinks from his cup, staring down at the furball in Jade’s arms.

  “I did. Snowball is a cutie.”

  “Not so cute when he can’t figure out that he needs to pee and poop outside,” he says.

  “Not much of a dog person, huh?”

  “Reed says Snowball is going to ruin our house so he’s stopped all renovations until he’s potty trained,” Jade says.

  Reed shakes his head with a smile.

  “It’s a nice gift,” I offer.

  “From a person who doesn’t have to deal with it, of course.” He raises an eyebrow.

  Jade drops Snowball to the ground, following the puppy as it wanders around their small yard.

  “Sorry, ex-husbands, huh?”

  He shrugs. “Did you see her smile though? How can I argue with that?”

  “And Victoria?”

  “She’s the same as me. Jade’s got us wrapped around her finger. She’s wanted it and we’d thought about it. Pete just beat us to it.”

  Pete must be Jade’s father and if memory serves he lives in California. From what I can tell, they all get along pretty well.

  “I’m glad I ran into you, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.” Reed glances behind him to make sure Jade isn’t within earshot. Which is hard in our small yards but she’s so consumed with Snowball, I don’t think we have to worry.

  “What’s going on? If it’s about the sale, I’m waiting for another project to be finished and then I’ll be putting this house on the market. I’ll let you know what I list it at.”

  He waves off my concern. Usually I don’t know the neighbors of the houses I rehab, but Reed, Victoria, and Jade are outgoing and it’s summer so we’ve had more interaction than I normally would.

  “No, I saw a black truck picking you up and dropping you off a few times. Is that a new boyfriend?” I can tell he’s uncomfortable asking me.

  “He is.”

  “A firefighter? I saw the sticker in the back window.” He sips from his cup again, his eyes looking over his shoulder one more time.

  “Yes. Engine Fifty-Five.”

  “The one with Hunter Zaxby?”

  “Cut to the chase, Reed. I feel like you’re about to ruin my day.”

  He chuckles. “I’m not. The case is pretty clear-cut—it was arson that killed Hunter. I’m not sure if your boyfriend knows that yet. The case is finalized tomorrow, but I have some concerns, off the record.”

  He takes a deep breath. “I don’t think this was the owner of an abandoned building wanting his problems to burn up. Just tell your boyfriend and his buddies to be careful. We’re having another look at some other fires that were originally ruled as accidents, but his job might be a lot more dangerous than usual if an arsonist is using ingredients to make fires uncontrollable and unpredictable.”

  “Why would anyone purposely go after the fire department?” My stomach churns and my chest is tight thinking about someone trying to harm innocent workers who lay their lives on the line.

  “I don’t know, but I intend to find out. It could be anything from a disgruntled former employee to a psychopath. There’s just too much coincidence in what I’m seeing. I wondered if he’d be willing to sit down and talk at some point.”

  My hands grip the fence. Mauro’s in even more danger than he normally is?

  “I’ll ask him. Hunter was a good friend of his so I’m sure he’d do anything to help you figure this out.”

  “Reed, Snowball just threw up,” Jade calls out.

  Reed rolls his eyes. “Remind me to thank Pete again.”

  I laugh.

  “You can give him my number or if he’d rather you’re there, the two of you are welcome over anytime. I just really want to pick his brain.” He walks away from the fence line, placing his cup down and unwinding the hose.

  “I’ll ask him tonight and get back to you.”

  “Thanks, Maddie.”

  “Anytime.”

  The house is empty, which I already suspected since Lauren’s Fiat isn’t in the garage. I dig through my purse for my M&Ms and flip on the television to see if there’s any news about the fire Mauro had to run off to. Reed’s fears become my own that he’ll have the same fate as Hunter if there’s some crazy person out there setting fires to harm firefighters.

  There’s nothing on the news about it except what Reed already said
about the announcement tomorrow morning on the fire that took the life of a firefighter. No mention of arson yet. Once that’s decided they’ll start the investigation.

  I can’t help but worry about how this will all affect Mauro. Will it churn up feelings of anger toward someone he considered a best friend and betrayed him? One thing is for sure, our easy road of lovemaking and small disagreements is about to be turned on its head.

  I hope we’re strong enough to get through it.

  31

  Mauro

  “Your girlfriend seems nice,” Trevor says on our way back to the firehouse.

  The small kitchen fire wasn’t anything much, and it sucks that what one person could have easily taken care of stole me away from my lunch date with Madison.

  “She is and you can stop thinking about her right now.”

  He rumbles with laughter. The kid is overzealous to say the least. Always at a ten.

  “You worried I’m going to steal her away?” He moves his eyebrows up and down.

  “No. Because you wouldn’t stand a chance with her.”

  “I never said I wanted her. All I said was she was nice.” He holds up his left hand with a ring attached.

  Well, I’ve been fooled before. That piece of metal means nothing.

  “And I’m just confirming that she’s mine.”

  “Jeez, lay off the testosterone.”

  We sit in silence for the rest of the ride. I know I’m being a jealous prick. I’ve seen Trevor and his wife, Ariel. They’re much like me and Madison where they can’t keep their hands off each other. She’s all bright eyes and huge smiles, bouncing around next to Trevor when she comes in. That’s one thing Cailin and Hunter never had. They never did seem that happy, but they were married and in my opinion that held more weight than the affection they shared.

  The truck is about to turn into the station, a few passersby watching us as always. A little boy waves and Big Gus honks the horn. The kid’s face lights up.

  I’ll be thankful to get back to the station, call Madison and if I’m lucky, get each other off with some dirty talk.