The following day, I woke up with Susannah still curled up against me. At some point during the night, I’d slipped out of her. Yet, I could feel the damp heat of her pussy against my hip and my cock growing hard the moment I became conscious. So I took her again and then had to resist the urge to take her again in the shower. It was safe to say I couldn’t get enough of her.

She made coffee for me and offered to make breakfast, teasing that she needed to make do with tea for now. We were downright domestic. Yet, when I made a vague attempt to talk as she’d originally insisted we needed to do, she dismissed the idea.

If this were any other woman or any other situation, I wouldn’t get frustrated. Yet, everything with Susannah felt loaded. All of it tangled up in the reality that, in the foreseeable future, she would have our baby. The concept of domestic would take on a profound meaning.

I managed to keep a lid on it. If only because I sensed if I pushed, she’d bolt.

When I left to go to the station, she told me she’d see me there later. That was the only moment where I saw shadows pass through her eyes. Even if I didn’t want to face it, I knew she was right. We had to figure out the work situation.

My thoughts took a sharp turn here. Susannah was pregnant, and she was a hotshot firefighter. Sometimes I could be king of the obvious. Yet, I hadn’t considered these two facts together. My heart gave a funny little tumble in my chest, surprising me with the weight of emotion rocking me.

Shoving those thoughts away, I went to work.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Cade and Beck came to meet with me for the planned meeting with Chad. The meeting went about as well as you would expect. In short, it was shitty.

“Fuck you,” was Chad’s response.

I didn’t need Beck and Cade to take the heat for me, but I was damn glad they were there. They had the background that I didn’t with Chad and with the crew.

I held Chad’s flat brown gaze. “You’re entitled to your opinion, but the decision’s final.” I didn’t care to enlighten him further, seeing as he’d argued every point thus far.

Chad flicked his gaze from me to Cade and then Beck, his lips curling in a sneer. When his eyes made their way back to me, he shook his head. “They know you got a thing for Susannah?”

I kept my expression level, but I was fucking pissed. “Not sure what your point is,” I countered.

“Whether he has a thing for Susannah, or anyone here, frankly has nothing to do with this,” Beck said flatly. “We just outlined the reasons for our decision. Taking it out on Ward isn’t going to help your case. If Ward wasn’t here, we’d still be firing you.”

Cade nodded affirmatively. If he had any reaction to Chad’s comment, it didn’t show on his face.

To my relief, Chad didn’t choose to drag it out further. He stood, kicking his chair back. “Fuck you guys anyway. Be good to get the hell out of here.” He slammed out of my office.

I stood, quickly striding after him. “You’ll need to get your stuff and leave.”

Chad muttered something over his shoulder, but he didn’t fight me on it. He went straight to his locker, got his gear and left.

The timing was good, if only by chance. None of the crew happened to be in the back area when he stormed his way out. Walking back to my office, I found Beck returning from the hallway with three cups of coffee balanced carefully in his hands.

“Here ya go,” he said, sliding all three cups onto the round table in the corner of my office. I sank into one of the chairs at the table with a sigh and grabbed a cup, taking a long swallow.

“Thanks,” I said, tilting my cup in his direction.

Beck nodded. “No problem. Coffee’s always good after a shitty meeting.”

“That it is,” I replied, my focus elsewhere. I was contemplating whether I needed to bother addressing Chad’s comment about Susannah. The thing was, I didn’t give a damn what anybody thought. Not about me. But I knew Susannah would care. Whether I wanted to care or not, there were some team dynamics to address.

I trusted Beck and Cade, despite only knowing them a short time. I figured I might as well cut to the chase. “Thanks for sitting in on that with me. I don’t mind him being pissed at me, but it was good to have the back up from you guys since you have more history with him.”

Cade nodded, taking a sip from his coffee, his gaze considering. But he didn’t say a word.

Beck, the more chatty of the two, shrugged. “He behaved exactly as I expected. His attitude is why he should’ve been fired a hell of a lot sooner.”

Glancing between them, I took a sip of coffee and set it down. “Mind if I ask you guys for some advice?”

True to form, Cade simply shook his head. Beck, on the other hand, flashed a grin. “Oh, we love giving advice. Throw it our way.”

“That comment he made about Susannah? It’s true. We trained together years ago. I never thought I’d see her again. Hell, when I took this position, I didn’t know she was here until after I accepted it. I’m trusting you guys not to say a damn word to anyone about this. She’ll have my head and probably more than that if she finds out I spoke to you guys about it. To make matters more complicated, she’s pregnant.”

Beck almost spit his coffee out. Cade was snapped out of his generally calm demeanor, his eyes widening and his mouth falling open slightly.

“Damn,” Cade said. “Not what I expected you to say. Is the baby yours?”

“Definitely.”

Beck scrubbed his hands through his hair, for once not teasing. “Holy shit. What the hell is she going to do?”

“She wants to have the baby.” The moment I said that, my heart tightened, emotion thickening my throat. I tried to shake it free because, while I trusted them, I wasn’t ready to get all emotional with them. Definitely not my thing.

Cade had collected himself and tilted his head to the side. “Well, there’s the obvious issue that you two are about to have a baby. That’s kind of a big deal. On a practical note, there’s crew stuff to deal with. But it might be simpler than you think.”

“What do you mean?” Beck interjected, conveniently asking my question for me.

Cade shrugged. “Well, Susannah can only work for so long in this type of job when she’s pregnant. Haven’t checked the protocol in a while, but I think after she’s past the first trimester, she’s not even supposed to go out in the field. That might solve your problem for you. When she returns, might be better if she’s on a different crew.”

I shook my head sharply. “No.” I didn’t care to contemplate Susannah being apart from me for weeks at a time. Simultaneously, I didn’t care to consider what that said about me and how I felt about her.

Beck arched a brow. “You think you’re going to tell Susannah what to do? Don’t think that’ll go over well.”

I chuckled. “You think she’ll fight me on it?”

“You mean staying on your crew?” he asked

At my nod, Cade spoke up. “I’ve known Susannah for years. She does not like being told what to do.”

The reality of this conversation hit me like a brick. I was carrying on as if it was a done deal Susannah and I would be together. I was screwed. It was like a train plowing into my life on a track I hadn’t even known existed. I had no fucking idea what I was doing.

Something must’ve shown on my face because Beck glanced between Cade and me, a sly smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You’re looking like you had no idea she might mean that much to you. Take it from me, just go with it. Susannah is awesome, and you look… What’s the word?”

“Whipped,” Cade offered helpfully.