That Hot Night: A Firefighter Romance

by Piper Sullivan

  “I think that’s everything.”

  Hope laughed again. “Thanks for your help Janey. You always find a way to make the colors pop perfectly.”

  “That’s what I do,” I told her honestly because it was the truth. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else for a living and I didn’t want to, not for a moment.

  I waited patiently for Hope and her models to leave the studio before I closed up shop and made my way down to Big Mama’s Diner for a nice big lunch. I’d skipped breakfast to take my time editing a few shots before sending the packages to my clients and my stomach was rebelling.

  The place was mostly empty since the lunch rush had ended more than an hour ago, which meant no one would gripe about me taking up a booth so I could work while I ate.

  “What’ll it be Miss I’m-Too-Busy-To-Look-Up-And-See-The-World?” Big Mama’s gruff voice startled me out of my thoughts.

  “Good to see you too, Big Mama. I’ll have the chili cheese fries with a Caesar salad and a tall ice water. Please.”

  “All right. Coming right up. With lemon?”

  “You got it,” I told her with a smile, and turned back to the photos I’d taken recently. The Hometown Heroes photos were coming along incredibly and I couldn’t wait to see the finished product. My photos all glossy and beautiful, available for purchase.

  Sure, I made money taking photographs of people. It was my job. My career, and I loved it. But I wanted to take photos, artistic photos that said something big, something important. Something that made people feel things. Made them feel enough to pay for my prints.

  It was a dream I worked hard at every single day, but it felt no closer than it had almost a decade ago. “Baby steps…”

  “You’re too much woman for baby steps.” Rafe’s deep voice was a low rumble that instantly had my lady parts twitching, even though I refused to look up at him. Well, I refused for as long as I possibly could.

  But I did laugh. “Nice line. Hope you didn’t pay too much for it.”

  God, he had such a great laugh. It was rich and deep and well used. It encouraged you to laugh right along with him, even if it was at his expense. “Nah, it was free. I think it was a great deal.”

  “Of course you do. How’s it going Rafe?”

  “Good,” he flashed another of his panty melting grins that did exactly what they were meant to. “Better now that I ran into you.”

  Oh boy, here we go. “Yeah? Why is that?”

  “Because I wanted to ask you something.” He looked suddenly nervous, and I found that interesting. “You want to have dinner with me? Friday at eight?”

  Okay, that wasn’t what I thought he’d say. And I responded before thinking it through. “Um, yeah?”

  “Are you asking me, or answering me?”

  Dammit. I sighed and leaned forward, doing my best to look calm and cool. “Yes Rafe, I’d like to go on a date with you. I think.”

  “I think you will more than enjoy it, Janey. But it’ll be more fun when you realize it for yourself.” He flashed a handsome smile, and with a wink, walked away.

  Rafe

  “You look beautiful. Did I tell you that already?” I couldn’t remember if I complimented Janey or not when I picked her up fifteen minutes ago, and saying it again just seemed creepy. Or inattentive, I couldn’t be sure, but it just didn’t feel right. “Well you look hot. Really hot.”

  She blushed prettily and tucked one thick black lock behind her ear, looking up at me with heavily lined green eyes that took my breath away. “Thanks, Rafe. You know you look hot too, but you do.”

  I sat back and smiled in relief. “It’s nice to know you think I look good.” That was more than true. Having women appreciate my physical attributes was never a hardship, but when that attraction came from a complex, sharp woman like Janey, now that was intoxicating.

  Her lips curled into a slow smile that hit me right in the center of my gut. “A hot boy and fresh salsa, what more could a girl ask for?” Janey looked around the familiar local Tex-Mex restaurant, Texican’s. They served excellent food here, but it wasn’t exactly the place for romance.

  I could tell she meant what she said, but that only made me feel worse about choosing casual dining for our first date. And dammit, I wasn’t used to feeling like I was on the back foot with a woman, and I didn’t like it all that much.

  “I wanted to cook for you, but I didn’t want you to think that I was making a statement by not taking you out, or inviting you to my place. I didn’t want you to think I meant anything bad. At all.”

  Janey stared at me like I’d grown another head, which she should have, because I sounded like a rambling idiot. “Are the women you date typically too good for Texicans? Because I love the fresh chips and salsa. Plus, they have big ass margaritas.”

  My shoulders fell at her efforts to put me at ease, and I flashed a grateful smile. “Planning on getting me drunk so you can take advantage of me Janey?” I arched my brows and leaned in with a flirtatious smile that had her biting her bottom lip.

  Eager to play along, Janey leaned in as well and let a slow smile spread across her face. “Do I need to get you drunk? And would it really be taking advantage, considering those recent kisses?” Her skin turned a very pretty shade of pink.

  I nodded seriously at her words, happy to hear that she’d been thinking about our kisses too. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about kissing you either.”

  Janey shivered, and for once she did nothing to suppress it. Then she shook her head and pointed at me, doing her best impression of a buttoned up school teacher. “No. None of that. Food. We’re here to eat. And to talk.”

  “And maybe kiss,” I added just as the young waiter showed up to take our order. “Maybe,” I clarified. “If you’re so overcome with passion that you can’t help yourself.”

  She rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the waiter who looked like he was ready to bolt. Janey placed her order and turned to me with a mischievous grin. “How about a passion fruit margarita, Chief?”

  The little minx laughed with her eyes, leaving me to making a clumsy explanation to the kid. “You’re wicked.”

  She shrugged. “And you’re too smug for your own good.”

  It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that. “But still, a passion fruit margarita?”

  She nodded. “They’re delicious, and it shows that kid that even a big manly guy like you is confident enough to order a girly drink. Consider it the cost of teaching a young boy a valuable life lesson.”

  “If you weren’t so damn cute, I’d call bullshit.”

  The laugh that exploded out of her was enough to have me joining in, red in the face as the restaurant started to fill up with the Friday night crowd.

  “Rafe, so good to see you. Where have you been hiding?”

  My shoulders fell at the sound of a familiar voice. “Katie. What a surprise.” Considering she lived halfway between here and Austin, that wasn’t too far off.

  She smiled and put one hand to her cleavage. “I know, right! I was just thinking about you the other day, and then here you are, what are the odds?”

  “Pretty good since he lives here,” Janey said into her oversized margarita.

  “Oh, how rude of me. Is this your sister or cousin?” She leaned close to me, making absolutely sure Janey got the wrong idea about us.

  Janey laughed and shook her head. “Silly girl, Rafe doesn’t have female friends. Well unless you count Reese which is strange, but a true friendship,” she rambled on for a bit, finally stopping with a nervous smile. “I’m guessing you’re one of his former friends?”

  Katie glared and shook her head. “Rafe who is this person?”

  My hackles raised at her tone, and just how rude she was being to Janey. “This person is my date. The woman I asked out, picked up and hoped to enjoy a meal with. The question is, what are you doing here?”

  She floundered for a moment, but recovered quickly. “I saw you over here and figured I’d co
me say hello, to see if you wanted to catch up. Again.”

  I laughed. “And you thought the best time to do that was when I was out on a date with another woman? Have a good night Katie.”

  She froze and then frowned. “I’ll talk to you soon?”

  “Have a good night.” Was this really the kind of woman I spent my time with? More like wasted my time with all these years, especially now. Especially in comparison to a woman like Janey.

  “Fine. If you think you can call me up later…” she began in a huff.

  “I’m sorry, I won’t.” I flashed a sympathetic smile at her before turning back to Janey. “Want to split a fried ice cream?”

  Her lips parted slowly, curving up into a half moon until the smile reached her eyes. “I have a pecan pie cheesecake in the fridge. With whipped cream.”

  My hand flew in the air. “Check, please!”

  Janey

  I can’t believe I invited Rafe back to my place after our date. For cheesecake.

  Was it even a date? I mean he’d asked, and like he told that awful Katie woman, he picked me up and we laughed and flirted. It was a good first date. If it was a first date.

  It was all very confusing.

  “Make yourself comfortable,” I told him while I pulled the cheesecake from the fridge and grabbed the leftover bottle of white wine in the back.

  “Does that mean take my shoes off, or undress down to my underwear?”

  Just like that an image of Rafe in nothing but a pair of skintight boxer briefs danced in my mind. Then another image, one of me licking caramel off his chest. His abs.

  “It means have a seat and grab the remote, Rafe.” The man worked so hard to rile me up I almost believed he got some kind of twisted pleasure out of the whole deal. “I don’t have any sports packages. Sorry.”

  “That’s all right. I’m sure we’ll find something to watch. Any preferences?”

  I searched for glasses to use, instead of the mason jars I used when I was alone. “Maybe music. Something unobtrusive so you can tell me about why you chose to run into burning buildings for a living.” It was a bold question, but if I wasn’t going to sleep with him, and I really wasn’t, then I needed to keep our minds and mouths occupied.

  Rafe was silent for so long I thought maybe he’d fallen asleep. “We’re starting with the easy stuff, then?” There was amusement in his voice and it made me smile.

  “That should be pretty easy. You obviously have a passion for it since you moved up the ranks, so tell me why.” It took two trips but I managed to get two giant slices of cheesecake and two overfilled glasses of wine to the coffee table without spilling.

  “I guess I do, but I don’t know where it came from. It just seemed like something I’d be good at, helping people. Without a gun.”

  “Guns make you squeamish?” That would be a twist down in these parts.

  “No, just prefer that no one is shooting at me from one day to the next. But I wanted to help the community in some way, and firefighting seemed like the best option.”

  I snorted. “It’s one of the most heroic jobs there is, put a little bit of love in your voice.”

  “I do love it, and not just the rush of going into a fire and conquering it before it caused too much damage or wrecked too many lives. But it’s not some adrenaline rush, it’s a job. It’s a calling.”

  Swoon. Was this guy for real, and where was the Rafe Montgomery I thought I knew all these years? “See? That’s what I’m talking about, there’s that passion!”

  He flashed a smile at me and I swear my knees buckled even though I was sitting down. “Yeah? You like that?”

  I shrugged. “It’s a cool job and all that, but it matters why you do it more than the fact that you do it.” And it was a turn on.

  “What about you? Did you have dreams of becoming a paparazzi or one of those famous fashion photographers?” He shook his head with a wistful smile on his face. “I remember you always hid your face behind a camera.”

  “You remember that?”

  He nodded, a small smile on his lips. “I do.”

  That surprised me, but it also pleased me. A lot. “Interesting.”

  “Yeah?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I mean to know the great Rafe Montgomery was lowkey stalking me back in the day, it’s quite the ego boost.” Even though we both knew he needed no such boost. And he most definitely never stalked me.

  “Stalking? Who said anything about stalking?”

  “Not me. That was all you.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the put out expression he wore, like he was personally offended by the idea. “But it is nice to know.”

  “I noticed you back then alright, but right now, I’m intrigued Janey. Very intrigued.”

  “Me too, but is that a good enough reason to break your dating in town rules?”

  “Is that some open secret around town?”

  I shrugged. “Either that, or you know, you bat for the other team.” It took a moment for the words to register and when they did, I burst out laughing. “You asked.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I’m not. But you’re so pretty we all assume you have a bunch of ships in the night kind of thing going on.”

  “It’s not a rule, just a preference. But that’s before I realized I was wrong, and there are interesting women here in Tulip.” There was heat and sincerity in his eyes and I knew it was time for Rafe to go before I did something stupid.

  “Now, that is definitely a line.”

  He shrugged, “Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. Only time will tell, right?”

  That sounded like a promise and a threat all rolled into one deliciously wicked package. “I suppose so, but now it’s time to go to bed. Alone.”

  Rafe flashed a fake pout and helped me take the dishes and leftover cheesecake to the kitchen. “I had a good time tonight, Janey.”

  “So did I.” I wasn’t all that surprised to realize I was telling the truth. Rafe was a charming date who gave just the right amount of flirting and compliments.

  “You sound surprised. I like that, knowing I can surprise you.” His lips curled up into an irresistible smile and I took a step forward.

  “You’ve done nothing but surprise me since Santa Fe.”

  Then his lips were on mine in a slow, drugging kiss that stole my breath and for a few seconds. My good sense too, because I clung to him, holding on tight while he devoured my mouth. When Rafe pulled back, his smile was the only thing capable of cutting through the dense, dark desire in the room.

  “Hopefully that’s a streak I can maintain. Night Janey.” I watched him walk away, long legged stride confident and sexy.

  I didn’t know how much longer I could resist him, and I was having a hard time remembering why I should.

  Rafe

  What in the hell was wrong with me that I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss? Janey’s kiss. Again, she’d knocked me for a loop on our date, taking the choice of restaurant in stride, flirting like we were new to each other and then…inviting me back to her place. It was almost perfect.

  Almost.

  Then again, I knew the wait would only make it sweeter when we finally did come together again. I knew we would, it was only a matter of time, which I could speed up with a little bit of encouragement.

  What are you wearing? I smiled at the question and tapped send, knowing it would get a rise out of her.

  The answer came quickly, just as a knock sounded at my door. Nothing.

  That was the last thought I needed in my mind as a duo of young firefighters crowded into my small, untidy office, with Jase Callahan following behind them.

  “Come in, guys. I’m not busy at all.”

  The two newest recruits at least had the decency to look sorry for invading my office, Jase on the other hand wore a smirk that said he was just here to make trouble. “Good. The guys have a few questions.”

  My gaze turned to the newbies and they fired off a series of questions about everything f
rom gear to training and bed assignments. “Hold it. One at a time,” I told them, glaring at Jase who I knew had orchestrated this little game. For some reason.

  I gave the firefighters most of my attention and turned the rest back to Janey as I answered each question. Prove it, I wrote back to her with my heart tripping.

  You wish.

  She was right, even more than she realized. “Jase will be happy to let you shadow him over the next week to answer any questions you guys have. Anything else?”

  “Eddy and Helen were just here. Dropped off some delicious chocolate coconut cookie thingies with a side of gossip. Some pretty interesting gossip, I’d say.”

  I kept my body as still as I could, careful not to let any one movement give away my thoughts. “What else is new? Those old girls are always gossiping about something. Or someone.”

  Jase nodded, his smile growing by the second. “Definitely a someone. A very specific someone, well two someones actually. Eating together. At Texican’s.” At that moment the recruits and Jase burst into a fit of laughter that left me frowning.

  “People eating at the most popular Tex-Mex joint in town is that hilarious? I must be missing something.”

  “Nice try,” Jase said and shook his head. “So, you and Janey, huh?”

  I knew taking her to Texican’s wasn’t exactly under the radar, but hell no place in Tulip was. “Janey and I ate a meal together, yeah. What’s the big deal?”

  Jase turned to the new guys with an arrogant grin as he stepped between them and wrapped an arm around a shoulder each. “Now you see fellas, that is a world class non-denial denial. You’ll have to work hard to get there.”

  He met my middle finger with another laugh. “How’s Bo?” His smile faded, as I knew it would. “Because all they do is gossip,” I told him to make my point.

  Jase shrugged. “But they aren’t always wrong.” His smile lit up as he thought of his best friend turned something more. “Look at us.”

  Well, damn. I’d expected him to deny it, but Jase surprised me. I guess falling in love will do that to a man. “No comment. Anything else?”