EPILOGUE | OLIVIA
One Month Later
“HELP!” Gia Rogers hissed desperately as she grabbed my arm and pulled me to her side.
“What is it?!”
“He’s here!”
“Who?!”
“The most beautiful man that I’ve ever seen in my entire life, that’s who!” Gia twisted her face into a tortured expression, then she not-so-subtly gestured towards the opposite side of the room.
I glanced up and my eyes immediately locked onto Duke.
“You mean Duke?” I frowned. “I mean… I’m not sure ‘beautiful’ is the right word, but--”
“No! Not your boyfriend,” Gia grunted. “I mean the guy he’s talking to!”
I glanced back at Duke, then forced my eyes over to the guy standing next to him.
“Oh, that’s just--”
“Mr. May,” Gia Rogers finished for me. I recognized the man as one of Duke’s colleagues from the firehouse, but Gia clearly knew him based on his saucy spread in the Firehouse 56 calendar.
“He’s so beautiful,” Gia pouted. “I think my vagina is weeping.”
“Go talk to him!” I encouraged her. “He’s not going to bite.”
“No way!” Gia shook her head. “Nope. Not going to happen.”
“Come on!” I looped my arm through hers and started dragging her across the firehouse vehicle bay.
Today was the annual Firehouse 56 summer picnic. The event was typically hosted in one of Hartford’s public parks but, due to the threat of imminent rain, today’s festivities had been relocated to the firehouse vehicle bay.
There were nearly thirty guests in total, including the twelve Firehouse 56 crew members and their assorted friends and family. Luckily the bay was spacious enough to accommodate the crowd.
A few trucks from the fleet had been rolled out of the garage to make room for folding tables, which were covered with gingham tablecloths and loaded with a mismatched assortment of snacks.
Since it was impossible to find a cooler big enough to store the amount of alcohol necessary for a Firehouse 56 function, someone had gotten the genius idea to invest in a plastic kiddie pool instead. It must have taken over a hundred pounds of ice to fill the damn thing, but they had done it. Now the pool was filled with an assortment of beers and wines.
In the gravel parking lot behind the firehouse, the fire chief was overseeing grill operations: a couple of Duke’s colleagues had rigged a makeshift barbecue by dumping lit charcoal into a steel drum. Once they had a decent fire started, they covered the top with a wire rack that they had “borrowed” from the oven in the firehouse kitchen.
“Hey you!” Duke greeted me with a peck on the cheek once I managed to make it to the opposite side of the vehicle bay. Then he turned to Gia and grinned.
“I’m so glad Beck talked you into coming today,” he said. “There’s someone I want you to meet! Gia, this is Mr. May…”
After making introductions, Duke pulled me aside so that Gia and Mr. May could have some privacy.
I was glad to see Gia’s nerves slowly fade away. We had spending a lot of time together ever since I had returned to work at the fire department, and there had even been some talk about her getting off of desk duty and joining my route as my new partner out in the field.
Gia had really been there for me when I needed a friend, and I was grateful to have her. She was my first real friend in Hartford. Well, besides--
“I’ve been wondering when I was going to get you alone,” Duke whispered into my ear, kissing me again.
“I think we should do it now,” I whispered back. “I think now’s the right time.”
“As you wish,” he smiled, then he took me by the hand and led me back to the supply closet at the edge of the vehicle bay.
“Ladies first,” he teased. I rolled my eyes as I pushed open the door and slipped inside, immediately followed by Duke.
As soon as we stepped into the closet, Cooper started yapping excitedly from his puppy pen.
“Hey little guy!” I stooped down on my knees and wiggled a finger through the metal fence. “Are you ready to make your big Firehouse 56 debut?”
Cooper sniffed my fingers and jumped up on his little front paws.
“I swear he’s doubled in size since we checked up on him twenty minutes ago,” Duke joked, giving the pup some side eye.
It was hard to believe that this little brown mutt was one of the puppies that Duke had rescued from the storm drain. Those puppies had barely filled the palm of Duke’s hand when he had pulled them out of the sewer… now, he was twenty pounds of pure energy.
After spending a few weeks in the vet’s care and being nursed back to health, this little guy and the rest of his litter had been cleared for adoption. The vet offered us first dibs, and we had both immediately fallen in love with the same pup: a loveable brown dog with long gangly legs, paws that were too big for the rest of him, and white spots over his eyes. We had named him Cooper.
And today, Cooper was making his big debut at the Firehouse 56 picnic. We had kept him stowed away in the supply closet with a mountain of toys to keep him occupied, but now it was time for him to meet the crew.
“Come on, Coop!” I reached down and lifted the puppy out of his pen, then I hugged him to my chest as I followed Duke back out to the vehicle bay.
“ATTENTION!” he shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. “WOULD ALL FIREHOUSE 56 CREW MEMBERS, FRIENDS AND FAMILY PLEASE GATHER AROUND!”
Duke’s voice echoed through the brick walls of the vehicle bay, and an immediate hush fell over the crowd as everyone milled towards us.
“I’ve got an announcement to make, guys,” Duke said.
“What’s going on?” one of the crew members wanted to know.
“You’re having a kid, aren’t you?! I knew you’d be next!”
“Pipe down!” Duke grinned. “I’d like to introduce you all to the newest member of the Firehouse 56 family: Cooper!”
He turned around and pointed to the puppy in my arms, and I waved Cooper’s paw to greet the crew.
All I could hear was one big collecting “Awwwww!” as a stampede of people rushed towards me to greet the puppy.
“Look at you, getting all domesticated and settled down!” Brady Hudson said, slapping Duke on the shoulder. “Who would have guessed that Duke Williams would get a dog before me?!”
“Well there’s plenty more where he came from,” Duke told him. “A whole litter, in fact. They’re all available for adoption.”
“Don’t get any ideas!” Brady’s wife, Cassidy, said sternly, pointing a finger towards him in warning.
Brady smiled and looped his arm around her shoulders:
“Well I guess we could just have another baby, if you’d prefer--”
She rolled her eyes, but she seemed a lot more intrigued by that suggestion.
“I think we’ll stick with the puppy for now,” I winked up at Duke.
“For now,” Duke grinned down at me. Then he tucked his head next to my ear and whispered: “But I definitely plan on putting some babies in you, Olivia Beck.”
I sucked in my bottom lip, and felt that fire come alive inside of me.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” I smiled.
After making the rounds with Cooper, we led him outside so that he could do his business in the patch of grass behind the gravel parking lot.
Josh Hudson was outside, scrubbing char off of the oven rack that had been used for the makeshift grill.
The storm clouds were building in the sky and it was about to rain at any moment, but in the meantime there was a welcome breeze scuttling through the air and blowing away the end-of-summer heat.
We had made a lap around the lot when we spotted dark figure leaning against the side of the firehouse, knee propped up on the brick wall. He looked like a greaser straight out of an old movie, down to his jet-black James Dean coif and the cigarette dangling from his lips. Both of his arms were covered in tattoos, he had a grizzly beard, and he was glaring over a pair of black Wayfarer sunglasses.
“Who the hell is that?” Duke asked, glancing at Josh.
Josh glanced up from the rack that he was scrubbing.
“Oh, that guy?” he sniffed. “That’s Rory McAlister.”
“Who?”
“Rory McAlister,” Josh repeated. “You haven’t met him yet?”
“No, why would I have?”
“He’s one of the new hires,” Josh shrugged. “Chief hired him last week.”
“That guy?” Duke frowned in disbelief. “He looks more like an arsonist than a firefighter.”
“Based on what I’ve heard about him, I wouldn’t doubt it…” Josh muttered under his breath.
“What do you mean by that?”
“The guy has one hell of a story,” Josh shrugged. “Just wait until you get to know him…”
The three of us glanced back at Rory, but he was already gone. All that was left of him was a ribbon of white smoke coiling into the air from the cigarette butt that he had flicked down onto the gravel.
***
Hi Beautiful,
Thanks for reading March Heat, my second romance novel. If you want to know more about me, you can join my publisher’s fan group on Facebook . I stop in sometimes and visit.
You should also to get a preview of April Ignites, the next book in the series. If you you get a FREE copy of February Burning, the second book in the series. I won’t email you about anyone else’s books ever. Just me and you. I can’t wait to show you more.
Until our next happily ever after,
Chase