Slow Burn (Forbidden Heat Book 3) Read online

  “No real complaints,” I said. “Of course, I could complain but that would just ruin other people’s good time, right?”

  “Right you are,” Charlie teased. “I sure as hell wouldn’t want to hear it.”

  I laughed. We both ordered a few beers when the pretty, female bartender came over. Charlie, the consummate bachelor, was all over the flirt game with her. He immediately gave her the eyes with the smirk, and then teased her about her name, which was Wendy.

  She laughed good-naturedly in a way that told me she was far too used to guys hitting on her at work and she was rather immune to it. Still, she gave enough feedback to make it fun for the customer and to ensure a good tip.

  “She wants me,” Charlie said as the bartender walked away to grab our drinks.

  “Yeah, I could totally feel that,” I chided him. “You guys will be setting a wedding date any day now.”

  He chuckled. “Nope. No wedding bells for me.”

  “You say that, but I bet you will be married anytime now.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “It’s a weird gift that I have,” I said.

  “Well, I think your gift stinks. I decided as a young man that marriage just isn’t for me. It’s a thing that people do when they hate being alone. I love being alone.”

  “How can a guy who spends as much time trying to get women into his bed as you do, love being alone?”

  “I don’t. I usually go to their places. After we are done, I leave. Then I go home alone and I enjoy my privacy and my time. My life, my time belongs to me. No one else.”

  I shook my head. “You are a piece of work, my friend.”

  Charlie shrugged. “I’m just living my dream life, I guess.”

  The bartender gave us our beers and I sipped on mine. It tasted great after a good workout. Charlie was a good guy, but I couldn’t help but feel he was rather misguided in his priorities. He would be alone one day as an old man with no one. That was going to be a sad ending for him. To his credit, at least he never pretended that he was looking for anything else from women and he never lied to them. Still, he seemed to have an unreasonable fear of marriage and commitment. I wasn’t sure what happened in his background to create this phobia, but it was my hope that one day a good mental health professional would help him get right.

  A few minutes later, Max and Richie stopped by the bar. They greeted Charlie and we all moved to a table over by the pool tables. This was something we typically did at least once a week. It was a good time to hang out with the fellas.

  “So, did Gary here tell you about the new hottie we got down at the station?” Max asked Charlie.

  Charlie’s eyes perked up. “What? No, he did not. Please, fill me in.”

  “Oh, this girl is smoking,” Richie added. “She is tall, curvy, beautiful long hair, and she seems tough with it, but not in an evil, stuck up way.”

  “Wow, you’ve really analyzed Shelly, haven’t you?” I asked.

  Richie laughed. “Like you haven’t? Please. You know that if there wasn’t a big company policy, then all of us would be doing whatever it took to go out with her.”

  “What policy?” Charlie asked.

  Max filled him in. “There is this big policy that says we aren’t allowed to fraternize with anyone in the unit. We could seriously be fired. I’ve actually seen it happen. They are not joking about that shit.”

  Charlie laughed and shook his head. “Wow, that is a shame. So, what is really stopping you guys? I know my buddy Gary. He wouldn’t let such a thing stand in his way, would he?”

  Charlie bumped my shoulder with his cold beer bottle. I tried to play it off as a silly joke. Charlie loved to tease me about my Midwest upbringing and my core, old fashioned values. I was never going to be a man-slut like he was. I wanted to find the right woman and settle down. I wanted a family one day; although I was not in such a rush to do it that I pretended love existed where it didn’t. I would find the right woman, eventually.

  “I am not going to risk my career just to pursue a romance with a woman that probably won’t work out anyway.”

  “What makes you so negative?” Charlie asked. He was getting into this. “How do you know it won’t work out?”

  “Because most relationships don’t. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

  “I guess you got a point, but you have to wonder if this is the one. What if she turns out to be the one and you let her slip by because of some stupid company policy?”

  “Yeah, but I will never know that because I’m not going to rock that boat.”

  Max laughed. “You know what I think? I think that our boy Gary is actually afraid to make this happen. I think he has the extreme hots for Shelly. And I think he is a total chicken for not even trying.”

  “What?” I asked. “You guys are all afraid to do the same thing for the same reason. I don’t see any of you stepping up to risk your careers here, but you want me to do this just for your entertainment. What in the hell?”

  Max nodded. “That’s right. You are the senior guy. If they are going to give anyone a slap on the wrist about this thing, it would be you.”

  “I don’t have as much seniority with the company as you think,” I said.

  “That’s bullshit,” Richie blurted out. “The Chief loves you. Don’t you guys play golf together? I’m pretty sure he hopes his daughter will divorce that dud she married and marry you instead. Didn’t he try to set you up that time a while back with her?”

  “He did,” I said. “I decided that was a bad idea. You never date the boss’s daughter, for the same reason you don’t date your neighbors. If it goes bad, which it probably will at some point, then you are still in their world. Most people who break up never really have to see each other again. Unless they date friends of friends. Then that becomes an ordeal for the entire friend group to deal with from then on. That’s also a bad idea.”

  Max and Richie looked at me as if I had eggs busted all over my face. Richie shook his head and spoke. “Dude, you have way too many rules with this dating stuff. That’s why you are thirty and still single. That right there.”

  I gave him a look and started to tell him how wrong he was, but as I thought about it, the kid might have had a point.

  “Well, that’s hurtful,” I teased. I pretended to cry into my beer. The guys gave it a good laugh.

  We turned our attention to the baseball game that was starting. The Cubs were off to a rocky start this year, but we all had our hearts set on them having a winning season. We weren’t sure if it would be a pennant winning season, but if they could pull off a decent record that would work for me. I’d loved the game of baseball since I was a kid, and I’d even played throughout high school. In fact, if I hadn’t injured my pitching shoulder during one of the last games my junior year, I might have had a shot at playing college. And if I had continued to improve, maybe even a shot at pro ball.

  But it wasn’t in the cards for me. That was life. You had to roll with the punches and try not to take too long licking your wounds. That didn’t do much good for anyone. It just made those people in your life who cared about you sad.

  So, I dusted myself off and floundered around a bit until I found firefighting. This was where I was meant to be. I had no doubt about that. It was a job that not many people stayed in for the long haul. Either the stress got to you, or the fire beat you and you were gone from this world. I hoped to defy those odds and make it through, but maybe one day I would move up the ladder to be a Chief somewhere. Then I’d be able to do my part to help others by staying out of the blaze.

  But I had to wonder if I would ever be happy with that. There was a rush that grabbed me when I was in the thick of it. It was me against the fire and so far I had always come out on top. We were a strong team together. And I loved being part of a team.

  After the game I went home. It had been a fun night hanging with the boys, but a lot about what they’d said stuck with me. I had been thinking about Shelly basicall
y nonstop since I’d met her. I hadn’t felt so strongly attracted to a woman in quite some time. With her it was more than just the physical. There was an emotional component to it. I felt warm when I was around her, as if I already cared for her when I knew next to nothing really about her.

  I decided that had to change. Even though I felt a bit creepy about it, I decided to pull her up online and see what I could find out. It was perfectly acceptable nowadays to use modern technology to your advantage.

  I grabbed my laptop and sat down on the couch. After doing a few searches in a search engine, I moved on over to social media. It wasn’t long before I found a few accounts of hers. The accounts were pretty old, as if she never really used them. The last posts were from over a year ago. They were pretty bare. The privacy settings were set to high, so there was very little I could find out about her from this little searching expedition of mine. Bummer.

  I turned off the laptop and turned on the television. It was late, but I had tomorrow off, so I thought might binge watch a few of the horror movies in my streaming queue. Since I was a kid, I had been a big fan of low budget, cheesy horror movies. They were always good for a laugh.

  I was only about ten minutes into Microwave Massacre when I heard the noises from the apartment next door. Kenny and Chelsea were at it again. But come to think of it… Kenny was out of town. He was a truck driver and I’d seen him leave for a job that morning. I hadn’t noticed his rig in the parking lot when I came home either. Wow… Chelsea was a busy girl. I had that impression about her the few times I’d met her. She was always flirting with me, sometimes right in front of Kenny who seemed perfectly clueless. He was a really nice guy and I hated to see him get dogged out like this, but in the end it wasn’t my business.

  But I could laugh at the noise anyway.

  Seeing things like this could make you see how a guy like Charlie had some valid points. He would never be in that position like Kenny. Nope.

  But then again, being afraid to love because you were afraid of getting hurt was no way to live either. It could be a messy world, especially when you let your feelings get strong for someone.

  I wanted so badly to get to know Shelly better. She seemed so sweet, and interesting, but I could also see that there was a sadness to her, like life had done her wrong a time or two. I wanted to know about her pain, her sadness, and what gave her joy.

  But she had just got here. I didn’t want to suddenly come on strong and get her worried that she might lose the job she’d just started because some guy she didn’t really know had the hots for her. Maybe down the line something would happen between us, but if it did then it had to happen organically. It had to happen in such a way that we both wanted it and there would come a time where our guards would be let down. Then we would just give into it. We would surrender to our darkest desires.

  I had to laugh at the romantic in myself. I was getting a bit carried away. Hell, I had no idea if Shelly was really that attracted to me, let alone that we would have some romantic, intense scene in our futures that would resemble something from a Nicholas Sparks book. But it was fun to dream about.

  I listened to the sexual romp next door for a minute. “Yes! Ah! Yes! Right there!”

  I laughed and turned the television up louder. Did she not know that the entire floor could hear them? And maybe the others might not be so inclined to keep their mouths shut about this to her doting husband?

  I felt a bit guilty about not saying anything to Kenny, but I didn’t really know him well, he probably wouldn’t believe me anyway, and it would just cause chaos where there wasn’t any.

  I tried to lose myself in the movie, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Shelly and what would happen if I just asked her to have a drink sometime.

  If I made this move, it would have to happen on the down low, maybe outside of work.

  Maybe one day. But for right now, I just had to keep my feelings simmering under the surface.

  Chapter Four

  Shelly

  I swung the backhand hard and felt the racquet connect solidly with the ball sending it flying against the wall. The speed with which my strength propelled the ball through the air surprised me and in a flash it was ricocheting back at me like a bullet bouncing off a piece of steel.

  April stepped up front and swung her racquet hard towards the ball. I thought she was going to miss it at first, but the edge of the racquet connected hard with the small ball and sent it bouncing off the wall once more. I tried to pull the adrenaline through my body to connect with my tired, aching muscles and I ran towards the direction the ball seemed to be moving. I was pretty sure it was going to miss it, but somehow as I lunged for the ball I was able to bring my racquet up just in time to connect with the ball once again and send it back towards the wall.

  I tried to take a deep breath, but my chest was aching, my body was tired and hurting, especially in the legs. I’ve always been pretty active and athletic, but I’d only played racquetball a few times in my life, and it was the most intensely aerobic sport that I’d ever tried. I could feel that I might give up at any moment and just let the ball past me just so we could grab a quick break.

  But luckily my last shot was enough and April missed her chance as the ball rocket launched past her causing her to almost stumble to the hard floor beneath her feet.

  I jogged over to her and gave her a hand getting up. “Are you alright?”

  April laughed. “I think I’m dying on the vine over here.”

  “I hear that,” I replied.

  “Want to call it quits and grab that drink in the bar we were talking about earlier?”

  I smiled. “Deal.”

  I’d met April Dubchek at the station on my first day. She was a quiet sort, who didn’t seem to be real clique-ish with the other girls in the unit, but there was a quiet confidence about her that I found myself drawn to. As the new girl, it was easier to try to talk to someone who wasn’t surrounded by a huge group. It was like a nice baby step towards being accepted by the unit as a whole.

  I liked April from the start. She was a feisty, pretty girl with long auburn hair, a winning smile, and a slender, but athletic build. She had the long legs and swiftness of a runner, possibly a sprinter, but I was still surprised by her strength and athleticism. Her strength seemed to be generated more by speed than by brute force, but it was very effective.

  I was surprised when she invited me to the country club where her parents’ were members. It was a posh, swank place outside of the city. The golf course was immaculate. The pools were beautiful and pristine. And the people were genuinely nice and interesting. They seemed to accept me right away just because I was with April. I always expected people who were country club members to be snooty and stuck up, but these people weren’t like that at all. Most of them were doctors, lawyers, dentists, and entrepreneurs, and it felt good to be amongst them.

  April suggested we spend the day getting to know each other a bit and play some racquetball since we both had the day off.

  We finished our showers and then hit the bar area to have a few cocktails. I ordered a mojito and sipped it slowly. It felt refreshing after the grueling game we just had, of course I had polished off about two liters of water before hitting the shower to rehydrate myself. Now I was going to dehydrate myself once again with a few alcoholic beverages. It sounded like a great way to spend a Saturday.

  “So, how are you getting settled in?” April asked me.

  “Oh, it’s been fine. I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone, but I’m still trying to find the groove point.”

  “How many other fire stations have you worked in?”

  “This is the third one I’ve been to,” I said. “They all are a little bit different. Some place value on one aspect of the job, while others place value on the efficiency in another area. So, as a trainer I have to kind of fit into whatever mold I’m asked to. That can take a bit of time to get really secure with.”

  “Interesting,” April said
. “Why did you leave the last company?”

  I paused before answering. She was kind of putting me on the spot here. I knew that this would happen eventually. I just had to relax and take a deep breath. I knew the answer here. No one knew me in this new world. I could reinvent myself and be whoever I wanted to be.

  “The pay is better here,” I said. “That was really it. I was working in Detroit before, and when I found this job opening, I decided to go ahead and apply. The pay is better, and it was time for a fresh start.”

  I shouldn’t have said that last part. I cringed inwardly. And of course, April picked up on it instantly.

  “A fresh start? What happened?” April asked inquisitively.

  I smiled and tried to downplay it. “Oh, I’m one of those people who can’t be tied down too long in one spot. I have… what’s it called…? Wanderlust. That’s it. I like to move around, see different places, and eventually I would like to be in a good place financially that I can take a few years off and really travel and see the world.”

  “That’s interesting,” she said. “And is Chicago that much different than Detroit?”

  “It’s a little different, but the main motivator for moving here, as I said before, was money. And I’m a Cubs fan.”

  April laughed. “Good girl! That will put you in good with some of the fellas in the squad. Speaking of which, who do you have your eye on?”

  I was a bit put off by her question. “What do you mean?” The question sounded stupid coming out of my mouth, but I went with it. I was vaguely aware that I was just trying to stall.

  She smirked and gave me a bit of the twinkle in her eye. April had that sassy spirit that you could see when she was thinking something kind of raunchy or downright naughty.

  “You can level with me. We do work with firemen. Any woman who says she wouldn’t want to make it with a fireman is lying to you. That’s like one of the top three fantasy guys, right? Don’t they make a lot of female oriented porn about that? I’m not sure anymore. I’m kind of out of the loop on that.”