by Mari Carr
“That’s right, George. What you did today was dangerous. And because you did it, your mommy ran back into a burning building to save you. So she was in danger too.”
George looked up at her, crying. “I’m sorry, Mommy.”
Her anger evaporated as quickly as it had come, and she started to take him back into her arms. Before she could do that, Jake spoke again.
“Come here, little man.” Jake wrapped George in a tight embrace. “Promise me the next time you hear a fire alarm, you’ll get out.”
George clung to Jake, and Hope was struck by the genuine caring that passed between them. “I promise, Jake.”
“You scared ten years off my life,” Jake murmured softly before placing a soft kiss on the top of George’s head. “What would your mommy do without you? What would I do without you?”
Hope was never going to stop crying at this point. Seeing how much Jake loved her son touched her more than anything else in her life.
“I’m sorry, Jake,” George said again.
They held onto each other for a few moments more, then Jake released him and George flew back to her. She lifted him, hugging him tightly, as he whispered another apology.
“Don’t cry, Mommy.”
“It’s okay, baby,” she said, trying to soothe him. “It’s okay. We’re okay.” Hope realized that reassurance wasn’t just for him.
Jake lifted his walkie-talkie. “Ike?”
“Yeah, bro?”
“You guys good back there on your own for a few minutes more? I need to do something.”
“We got this,” Ike said. “Ernie’s going to prop the doors open and set up fans to try to clear the smoke. I’ll deal with the hoses. Take your time.”
Jake took Hope’s hand. “Come on.”
They walked around the building to where the rest of the students and faculty were waiting. Now that the fire was out, the teachers had apparently declared an impromptu recess. The kids were playing, and Hope overhead the principal announcing to several teachers that school was canceled for the rest of the day. Apparently, an alert was going out to parents and the school busses were on their way back.
Ada ran over to them the second she spotted Hope and George. “Thank God,” she said, grabbing George from Hope’s arms and giving him the same face full of kisses Hope had just given him. “Georgie, my sweet Georgie.”
Hope had been in Bootlick two months and met some of the best people she’d ever known in her life. Somehow she’d managed to find she and George the perfect home.
“You mind keeping an eye on George?” Jake asked Ada. “Hope and I have something we need to discuss.”
Ada narrowed her eyes, but Hope put her hand on her friend’s arm. “It’s okay, Ada.”
Then, like a coward, Hope tried to think of some way to put off this talk with Jake. She knew it needed to happen, but her emotions were on system overload. She figured she was one second away from dissolving into a puddle of goo.
She officially had no more strength left. And strength was what she needed if she hoped to resist Jake, especially after seeing how much he cared about George.
Fortunately, Lauren appeared at that moment, and her backbone straightened as she recalled the other woman emerging from the fire station Sunday morning.
“There’s our sexy hero,” Lauren cooed, standing a hair too close to Jake, considering where they were.
“Lauren. Just the person I wanted to see. Come here.” Jake still had a firm grip on Hope’s hand, and it was clear that whatever he wanted to say to Lauren was going to happen with Hope as a witness.
“Jake,” Hope said, trying to pull her hand away.
“I need five minutes, Hope. Just five.”
She opened her mouth to refuse. At least until he looked her right in the eye and added the word, “please.”
His sad expression reminded her of the way he’d looked the day she’d laughed at the ball field. The day he’d asked “What about me?” and she’d laughed. The guilt she had suffered over that was enough to have her agreeing. It helped that numbness was starting to set in too.
“Okay,” she murmured.
Jake led Lauren and Hope to the side of the building, well out of the hearing distance of anyone else outside.
Jake turned to face Lauren. “Who did you spend last Saturday night with at the fire station?”
His question, directed at a suddenly red-faced Lauren, caught Hope off guard.
“I, um,” Lauren hedged, her gaze drifting to Hope. It was obvious she didn’t want to answer that question in front of her.
“Who, Lauren?” Jake’s tone made it clear he wasn’t going to back down.
Lauren might get knocked down, but she never stayed down. She threw her head back haughtily. “Ernie.”
Hope frowned. “But you said—”
“I know what I said.” Lauren cut her off.
“I know what you said too,” Jake added, turning to Hope. “I just found out about your visit Sunday morning an hour ago from Ike. I took Scott into Kansas City for the weekend for his birthday. We spent Saturday night in a hotel, then saw the Chiefs game on Sunday. I spent Saturday night with my brother. And only my brother.”
“You weren’t even home,” Hope said, torn between laughing and crying. Lauren had made a fool of her for the last fucking time.
Then she remembered the texts. “What about your date on Monday?”
“You should have stuck around and asked me about those messages,” Jake said.
She should have, but at the time, she’d been too uncertain of his feelings and too distrustful of her own judge of character. Even so, she said, “I’m not sure how I could have misconstrued what they said.”
“Where were we a couple of Mondays ago, Lauren?”
Jake seemed determined to straighten both Hope and Lauren out at the same time. And while Hope was starting to understand, Lauren was slower to learn her lesson.
“My house.”
Jake scowled at her. “Your parents’ house. Where you live. And what was I doing there?”
Lauren crossed her arms, her lips pursed tight.
“Lauren,” Jake said darkly, his tone pure threat. The truth was coming out, even if he had to drag it out of her.
“Filling their new indoor pool.”
Jake’s direction turned to Hope. “Filling a pool.”
Her mind flashed back on that final text. The one that had made her run from his bed.
I can’t wait for you to fill me up with your big hose.
Now it was Hope’s turn to frown at Lauren. The woman had gone out of her way to make her believe she and Jake were having an affair.
Before Hope could call Lauren every bad name in the book, Jake took charge once more.
“Lauren, I’m going to say this one last time, very slowly, so you hear every word and understand. All of this stops right here. You and I are never going to happen. Never. You’re going to stop flirting, lobbing sexual innuendoes at me, coming on to me, and lying to Hope. Got it?”
Lauren rolled her eyes, refusing to answer.
“Do. You. Understand?” Jake asked, enunciating every single word.
She huffed impatiently. “Fine. Whatever. I’m bored with you anyway. You deserve your little Nanny McPhee. I hope you’ll both be miserable with each other.”
With that, she spun on her heel and stomped back to the playground.
“What a cuntcake,” Hope muttered.
She expected—okay, hoped for—a laugh from Jake, but he was on a roll.
“Now,” he said, turning toward her, “as for you.”
She didn’t let him finish. “I’m sorry, Jake. I’m so sorry for everything. I don’t have a single good excuse for how I behaved, and I don’t blame you if you walk away from me right now. I’m an idiotic twenty-six-year-old near-virgin with zero experience when it comes to relationships. You’d be a fool to take on someone like—”
Jake gripped her face and kissed her hard, cutting off the rest o
f her words. The kiss lingered as his tongue touched hers. He tasted like peppermint, Hope’s new favorite flavor.
When they parted, she realized the noise of the playground in the distance had faded, the shouts and laughter of the kids had been replaced with silence. It was always that way with him. One kiss and the rest of the world vanished.
“As for you,” he started again. “We’re dating. I’m your boyfriend and you’re my girlfriend. Exclusively. No one else.”
He pressed on her jaw with one finger and she realized her mouth was open. “Flies,” he teased with a wink as he pushed it closed.
“Then,” he continued, “in a few months, I’m going to propose to you and you’re going to say yes, you’re going to let me be a husband to you and a father to that beautiful boy. By the way, we’re going to give him a brother and a sister.”
“I thought you didn’t want to get married.”
He sighed. “Still believing everything the gossips say?”
Hope laughed and shook her head. “No. They’re a terrible source of information. They’ve been wrong about everything when it comes to you.”
Jake gave her a sheepish grin. “Well, in all fairness, I wouldn’t say all of it was—”
She narrowed her eyes. “All of it,” she stressed.
He chuckled. “Okay. All of it. Pure lies.”
“Jake,” she said, aware there was one more thing she had to say.
“Yeah?”
“The other day at the ball field, when I laughed…”
“Yeah,” Jake interrupted. “Let’s fix that too. I believe you were telling me what you wanted from a man, so I’m going to ask you again. What about me?”
This wonderful, sexy firefighter was giving her a do-over, a chance to fix what she’d screwed up so badly.
“I think you’re the perfect man for the job.”
Jake kissed her, but this time, the world didn’t disappear. It returned full force with an explosion of applause and loud cheers. She and Jake broke apart, looking over to discover everyone on the playground watching them. Even Ike and Ernie had emerged, looking their direction from the back steps of the school. Ada and George had moved closer and as soon as her gaze connected with her son’s, he darted over to them.
Jake scooped him up in his arms, spinning him around as George giggled.
“Actually...” Jake put George down, kneeling in front of him. “I think it’s probably more proper if I ask the man of the house for permission. George, may I date your mommy?”
George nodded so emphatically, Hope feared he’d break his neck. “Yeah!” he shouted.
Hope laughed. “I knew you were going to be trouble.”
Jake stood up. “Hey, you’re the one ruining my reputation.” He tugged her toward him, as she jerked her head toward the playground.
“Jake. The children.”
“Are about to get a lesson in true love.”
He kissed her again, more chastely than either of them wanted, as George clung to their legs, his face one of pure joy.
“What are you doing tonight, Big Hose?” she murmured.
Jake winked. “Making up for lost time.”
Chapter 12
Jake stood on the porch with a bottle of wine in his hands. He was about to knock when he heard Elvis again, but this time it was “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
He’d spent the past several hours investigating the fire in the cafeteria, then helping clean up in the aftermath. It had been caused by faulty wiring in one of the large ovens.
It had only been a few hours since he’d seen Hope, since she’d agreed to be his girlfriend, but it had felt like years.
Before he could knock, she opened the front door. “Missed you.”
He opened the screen door and walked in. “Ditto. I was just listening to the music and feeling like the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet.”
Hope smiled, her face reflecting pure joy. She was so damn easy to please.
Jake followed her into the house and handed her the wine.
“Come on. We can open this and grab some glasses from the kitchen,” she said.
He glanced around the house as they walked through the front hallway to the kitchen. “No George?”
She shook her head. “Auntie Ada took him to the movies. Then they’re going to stay at her place. She’s hosting a sleepover with George, Scott, and her niece, Clara.”
His eyebrows rose as he considered the night Ada was going to have. “Remind me to buy her two bottles of wine tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll just offer her combat pay.”
Hope laughed. He hadn’t been in the house three minutes, and he was already overwhelmed by the need to touch her.
Jake took the wine from her and placed it on the counter. Then he grasped her hand and tugged her close, twirling her around the room in time with the music.
Hope never missed a beat, her arms wrapping around his neck as they swayed. She lifted her face to him and he was a goner.
Bending his head, he kissed her. It was long and deep, full of the passion he’d been forced to hold back on the playground.
“Hope,” he murmured against her lips.
She lowered her head slightly, her forehead pressed to his mouth. “I almost ruined everything,” she whispered.
Obviously, there was still some residual guilt lingering.
“No. Lauren almost ruined everything. The woman is a shit stirrer, spoiled and entitled. She might know what the word no means, but she’d never understood how it applies to her. I should have spotted her game. God knows I’ve been on the receiving end of her manipulations for years.”
“The two of you really never dated?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“She was like a woman scorned all afternoon after you set her straight.”
“She’s had the world handed to her on a silver platter since the day she was born. I’m pretty sure I was the first thing she ever wanted that she didn’t get.”
Hope looked up at him and gave him a smile he couldn’t quite interpret.
“What’s that grin about?”
She lifted one shoulder. “I’ve never been the girl who got the guy.”
Jake narrowed his eyes. “One attempt can hardly be interpreted as a failing track record.”
“I guess not. I’m sorry I painted you with the same brush as Alan. That was wrong of me.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It wasn’t. Before you came to town, I was more like Alan than I care to admit.”
“I find that so hard to believe. I mean…I kept hearing all the gossip, but when we were together, you were so different from the man everyone else was describing.”
The song ended, so they stopped dancing. While he wanted to keep holding her—hell, he wanted to do a lot more than just dance—he decided this was a good time to clear the air. And then, God willing, they’d move forward from here.
Together.
Forever.
Hope turned, intent on opening the wine, but he stopped her, clasping her hand and leading her to the kitchen table where they both sat down.
She looked at him curiously. “No wine?”
“In a minute. I want to get everything out in the open here, so you know exactly where I’m coming from. Maybe if I’d said some of these things earlier, you wouldn’t have been so susceptible to Lauren’s lies.”
She sighed. “Yeah.” Hope pointed to her forehead. “Pretty sure I have the word sucker tattooed up there.”
He grinned, leaning forward to kiss the brow she was pointing to. “Nope. That’s what I’m saying. Until I met you, I was the good time guy, hanging out at the bars with my friends, hooking up with women, while always keeping one eye on the exit. The second things took a serious turn, I got the hell out.”
“Why? It’s obvious you’re great with kids, and I think you’ll make an amazing husband one day too.”
Jake was touched by her belief in him. “You know my family’s story. I wasn’t much older th
an George when my parents split up. After that, it was a revolving door in terms of stepmoms and my mom’s boyfriends. She’d start dating all these guys and…I was just like George in a lot of ways. A tomboy with too much energy to spend. Her boyfriends would use me to try to win her over. Playing catch, buying me toys and ice cream, taking me to ball games.”
“How do you know it was all just an act?” Hope asked. “How do you know they didn’t really care about you?”
“Because the second she dumped them, they dumped me.”
Her eyes softened. “So today, at the school, when George said…”
“Everything George said nearly killed me. I’ve been paying extra attention to him at tee-ball practice, hoping that would be enough, but…” Jake swallowed heavily.
“You can always be a part of his life. I won’t keep the two of you apart, even if…”
Her words faded away.
He leaned back and crossed his arms. “Even if?”
She shrugged, refusing to finish the sentence, when she saw his face.
“Smart girl.” Jake reached out and took her hand. “We’re not borrowing that trouble because it’ll never happen.”
Hope had the prettiest smile he’d ever seen.
“What’s for dinner?” he asked.
She glanced toward the fridge. “I have a couple of steaks marinating.”
“Anything cooking already?”
She shook her head. “I was just going to throw those on the grill and toss a salad together.”
“Good.” He stood up, not relinquishing her hand. “We’ll have all that for dessert.”
“Dessert?” she asked with a laugh, not needing a response from him when he led her straight to her bedroom.
“I’m finished running,” he said to her, realizing there was one last promise to make. “I was serious about what I said earlier. I want to be with you. Always.”
Her eyes shone with happy tears. “I want that too.”
“Good. Now take off that blouse.”
Whatever shyness Hope might have felt with him at the beginning was long gone. She unbuttoned the blouse, her bra following.
Jake cupped her breasts, plumping the flesh, pinching her hard nipples. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, kissing her as he touched her.
