Cherie winked from behind her rhinestone-studded glasses. “Let’s get us some wine, honey. Sabina, is that your fiancé, Chief Roman?” Roman was beckoning to her through the diamond-shaped window of the kitchen door.
“Not a chief anymore,” growled Vader.
“Whatever he is, he’s something else,” sighed Cherie.
Sabina agreed wholeheartedly. “And more so every time I set eyes on him. Be right back, you guys. Enjoy the party.”
From behind the swinging kitchen door, Roman watched his beautiful fiancée pick her way through the mob. Even though she no longer needed crutches, she still favored her left ankle. But she did it so gracefully that she could probably set a trend. People would be copying her sexy moves even if they had no injuries. But they couldn’t mimic that vivid glow in her eyes, that naughty promise that made him groan at the thought of everything he’d do to her later that night.
He beckoned her into the kitchen, where Luke was waiting with his proposal. “Luke has an idea he wants to run past you. A fund-raising idea for Amarinda’s rehab bill. Since I’m not with the department anymore, I can’t really give him a yes or no.”
Sabina aimed her bright smile at Luke, who beamed back. All things considered, he’d adjusted pretty well to Sabina’s presence, though Roman made sure he and Luke still did things like batting practice together.
“Sure, what’s up, Luke?”
Before Luke could speak, a knock sounded at the back door. Captain Brody and Ryan Blake stuck their heads in. “Fire department here,” said Brody. “All your fire extinguishers in order?”
Ryan winked. “Nothing personal, but I always feel the need to check before I eat anywhere.”
Roman had heard about Katie’s bar, and the series of mysterious fires that had kept Ryan busy. He beckoned them inside. “What are you so worried about? I heard the Hair of the Dog fires brought you and Katie together.”
“Yep, they helped me break the curse.”
Luke piped up. “You’re both still firefighters, right? San Gabriel firefighters?”
“Yes,” answered Brody. “Why do you ask?”
“Because my baseball team would like to hold a special fund-raising event to help out the mom of one of our teammates, Carly Epps, I mean, her mom’s name is Amarinda and she’s been in rehab. Now she has to pay the bill but we want to help her out because we’re a team, you know?” Luke’s speech came out in a tumbling rush, a little nervous, a little excited.
“Teammates ought to help each other. So we were thinking maybe we could have a bake sale, but not a regular bake sale. We’d make the recipes from your cookbook, Cooking with Heat. And maybe some of you guys could come help out on the bake sale day, and then all the TV stations would come too, and then more people would show up. And it would be good for the fire station too because the bake sale customers might want to buy the cookbook, which would mean more money for the 9/11 fund, which is good too.”
“Kid,” said Ryan, visibly impressed. “That’s some genius thinking.”
“You like it? Can we do it?”
Brody spoke in his measured, authoritative way. “I’d say the firehouse should put it to a vote. But I’m sure they’ll say yes. Sabina, what do you think?”
Sabina’s vivid eyes shimmered mist-green with tears. “I think they’d love it. We’d love it. Count me in. Great idea, Luke. Makes me proud to be a San Gabriel firefighter.”
Roman’s chest swelled with emotion so intense, it hurt. How could one man feel so proud and happy? He put his arm around Sabina and she slid into his embrace like a fish into water. Exactly where she belonged. By his side, forevermore.
Luke ran off to tell the team the good news.
Still riding that wave of emotion, Roman scowled at Brody and Ryan. “While you’re both here, I’d like to put this curse rumor to rest for good. Look at me. I was a poor, lonely, single guy until I came to San Gabriel. That’s when I got my woman.”
“Your woman?” Sabina squirmed under his arm, but he tightened his grip; she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Yes, but didn’t you have to quit to get her?” said Ryan.
Sabina spluttered. “Excuse me, I’m right here. I have a name and it’s not ‘her.’ ”
“We’re just making the point that Roman was no longer with the San Gabriel Fire Station when he sealed the deal with you. In fact, he had just announced his resignation when you barged in and told everyone you loved him.”
Roman smiled broadly. Best moment of his life.
“But I was still a firefighter,” Sabina pointed out. “I didn’t have to quit to get my man.” She poked him in the ribs with her elbow.
“True,” said Ryan.
“A helluva firefighter,” agreed Brody.
“The best active-duty firefighter in the Roman-Jones family.” Roman felt another poke in the ribs, followed by a warm hand nestling into his.
Then Brody spoke, slowly. “But hang on a second. You weren’t on active duty then, Sabina. You had a broken ankle.” They all looked at one another.
“It’s spooky, you gotta admit,” said Ryan.
But then the two waitresses rushed in with the first orders. Roman gave Sabina a long, hard kiss on the lips—for luck, and because he loved her with all his heart. Then he sent everyone out of the kitchen so he could concentrate on making Lucio’s the spectacular success it deserved to be.
As he filled a plate with veal piccata, he kept thinking about the “curse.” Did it really matter if it was real? Then he remembered his father’s advice to never ignore a curse.
Why tempt fate?
“Constancia Sidwell and Virgil Rush,” he muttered. “Sorry it didn’t work out for you two.”
The sous-chef gave him a suspicious look over his sauté pan of veal reduction.
“But Sabina’s stuck with me. You’ll just have to go curse someone else. And you might want to go a little easier on the next guy. Then again . . .” He filled a plate with penne al’arrabiata. “Do whatever you have to do. It was all worth it.”
About the Author
JENNIFER BERNARD is a graduate of Harvard and a former news promo producer. The child of academics, she confounded her family by preferring romance novels to . . . well, any other books. She left big city life for true love in Alaska, where she now lives with her husband and stepdaughters. She’s no stranger to book success, as she also writes erotic novellas under a naughty secret name not to be mentioned at family gatherings.
Visit her on the Web at www.JenniferBernard.net.
www.avonromance.com
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Romances by Jennifer Bernard
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Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
SEX AND THE SINGLE FIREMAN. Copyright © 2013 by Jennifer Bernard. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Epub Edition FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780062089007
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062088987
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