I didn’t know what the hell was going on with Magenta, but I figured that after years of putting my life on the line saving life and property, the powers that be were finally rewarding me.

At least that’s what it felt like as we strolled the streets of New Orleans while the sun slowly sank behind the horizon. The trip alone had surprised me, but more than that was Magenta’s attitude. She was different, almost like the way she’d been when we first met. Open and a little more vulnerable, giving me glimpses of the parts she kept hidden, I suspected, from everyone.

Not laidback New Orleans Magenta, nope, this woman smiled a lot, she didn’t find a reason to let go of my hand in public, and she didn’t shrink away from my kisses. I let my hope spin out of control, even if I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that whatever had caused the change was a permanent condition. But I fully planned to soak up every moment with her, unwilling to spook her, but more than willing to press my advantage. We had a day and a half until I had to be back at the firehouse, which meant I would spend every second showing her how good we are together. How right we are.

“So,” she tilted her head up at me with a smile, “whatever shall we do?”

I couldn’t resist that mouth when she smiled up at me, her face unguarded, not classically beautiful, but stunning just the same. She gasped when our lips touched, but quickly sank into me and into the kiss. She moaned when I pulled back, moving forward to keep us connected. Yeah, I planned to savor every one of those kisses. Finally she pulled back with a sigh and an unstoppable grin. “I know just the perfect thing.”

An hour later I stepped on to the river boat with a practically vibrating Magenta glued to my side. “A river boat cruise! Please tell me there’s gambling?”

“Are you a secret gambler, Mags?”

Her husky laugh sounded, drawing several smiling stares our way. “Not even a little bit, but we have jazz, booze and Cajun food on a friggin’ river boat! All we need to complete the picture is a smoky gambling den.” She was so uncharacteristically giddy that I couldn’t help but smile at her exuberance.

“If not, I say we make a dirty wager to complete the image in your mind. Deal?” I struck my hand out and she eyed it warily before grabbing my wrist and bringing my hand to her mouth.

“Deal,” she whispered and pressed her lips to the center of my palm. “I’ll think of something disturbingly naughty.”

My pants tightened. “I look forward to it. For now, let’s grab our seats.” I took her hand, swelling with pride when she didn’t let go, but gripped me tighter as we slid between already tipsy guests on the boat. I felt a hand touch my ass and squeeze and I looked over my shoulder and down at a smirking Magenta. “Did you just…?”

“I sure did.” She snickered and slid around me to drop down in our seats right along the back of the boat. “You work hard for that butt, someone should appreciate it. Regularly.”

“Legally speaking, you are that someone.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I appreciate the hell out of it, isn’t it?”

“Damn straight. Drink?”

She gave a sharp nod. “Just like I like my men, long and strong.”

My gaze heated. Luckily I had on a patterned shirt that hung low enough to cover the effect she had on me. “Good to know,” I told her and left her with a smoldering kiss that had me wishing we were someplace a little less public.

“Now go get me a drink before I forget there’s fifty other people on this boat.” She winked and I took a step back and then another until I was far enough away that temptation could be resisted.

Not that I ever stood a chance at resisting Magenta, not since the moment I met her. She was lively and brash and full of color, she was exactly what I needed even though I hadn’t realized I needed it. And that hadn’t changed, no matter how much time we spent apart. When I returned with a bottle of whiskey, Irish because that was her thing, Magenta smiled up at me like I brought her jewels and gold.

“Thirsty?”

“Parched.” She held up a glass, blinking up at me through thick dark lashes. “Pour me a drink and tell me something I don’t know about you Davis.”

“I’m from a small town in Missouri called Oak’s Bluff. No idea why, since we have no oaks or bluffs.”

She laughed. “Well I am also a midwestern girl. Sort of. Mostly. I guess. I mean we spent a few years in Wisconsin when Mom went through her landscape phase, but mostly we lived in a Boston suburb. Nothing too exciting.”

“It was just me and my mother ,but she’s great. Happy I’m not smoke jumping anymore, but sad I’m so far away. It’s only for your sake that I’ve put off her requests for a visit.” She froze and I knew she was about to tear me apart. “Relax. The last thing you want is my mom in here asking about grand babies and trying to fatten you up.”

Her brow arched. “Fatten, as in food? I love food, Davis and I love food cooked by someone else more than any other kind of food.”

“So you’re saying I can invite my mom to come visit us?” I didn’t believe that for one second, but I took her at her word and shot off a quick text to my mother. “Now you can’t back out.”

“Moms generally like me. Probably not for their sons, but as a person.” She didn’t look nervous, but her attempt at casual with that comment failed.

“She’ll see how happy I am, and love you for just for that.” I could tell by her expression that she didn’t believe me and I shrugged. She would see for herself.

“You’re so cheesy,” she accused, but the way she blushed told me my words hand hit their mark.

“You love cheese.”

“Only the creamy French stuff, but you’re all right too.”

I leaned in close and nibbled on her jaw. “Keep on complimenting me, Mags, I feel my head swelling.”

With a wicked smile, she turned to me. “That’s another thing I love about you. A constantly swelling head.” Goddammit the heat in her eyes nearly tore me apart one hand gripped her thigh under the table because no matter how much I wanted to comment on the thing she loved about me, I knew now wasn’t the time.

It was a slip of the tongue. I knew that, but the hope inside of me didn’t. “Maybe don’t tell my mom that, yeah?”

She laughed. “She thinks you’re a virgin?”

“No,” I growled and squeezed her thigh harder. “Then she might feel compelled to share her own…tidbits.” That only made her laugh even harder.

“Good to know.” The mischief in her eyes was unmistakable and I knew that her and my mom together would be trouble. The best kind of trouble.

The kind I hoped would make her see our future together clearly.