Hope Falls: Hearts Afire (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Julie Prestsater Page B

just want her to shut up and screw?
    “You know like when you’re watching a movie or something?” She clarified for him. “You know what’s going to happen and you just want the writers to cut to the chase and get the couple together long before the last five minutes.”
    Movies? They were talking about movies. He rolled his eyes at his own train of thought that was barreling in the wrong direction.
    “Katie, I don’t really watch romance movies. I’m more of an action kind of guy.” Thankfully, they’d reached their destination. He killed the ignition, got out of the truck, and rounded it to her side. She was already out of the cab with her feet on the ground.
    Now she rolled her eyes at him. “Figures,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re a firefighter. You guys are always looking for the action.”
    Katie took off in the direction of the trail, so he followed, thinking it was the segue he’d been waiting for since they met.
    “So what do you have against firemen?” he asked as they fell into step with each other. “I mean, who hates firefighters?”
    She looked up at him with a confused expression, the skin between her brows all scrunched together. “Who told you I hate firemen?”
    Casey smiled, wondering if he should reveal his source. “Sue Ann.”
    It was Katie’s turn to smile now. “Okay, I’ll answer your question if you answer one of mine.”
    He had to admit, she looked like a woman out to kill. Wondering what she could possibly have to ask scared the shit out of him, but not as much as he wanted to know the answer to his own. “Fine, I’ll bite.”
    “So, I don’t hate firemen. That’s impossible. I grew up surrounded by firefighters. My brother is one and some of my closest friends are.”
    “Really?” He wasn’t expecting that. “Your brother?”
    “Yup, my bro is a fireman. He was a hotshot too for a good chunk of time, but he’s on squad now.”
    Hotshot, huh. He could respect that. “So what’s the deal then? Why does Sue Ann think you have a thing against our kind?”
     

KATIE
     
    Conversation usually came easy between them, but now Casey was asking about her affliction toward firefighters. For the first time, Katie was at a loss for words. Did she really want to tell him about Brendan? About her failed relationship? Would he even want to hear it?
    Well, he did ask. And he was waiting for an answer.
    What did she have to lose? They were friends, right? Maybe he could shed some light on why men seemed to run from her as if she had an infectious disease. Who knows? He might run too after hearing the story. That would be okay, though. Their friendship was only temporary anyway. She’d be leaving as soon as her book was finished.
    “So, I don’t have anything against firefighters, per se. I just won’t date one.”
    Casey threw up his hands and shrugged. “Why not?” he asked as if he was offended. This made her chuckle a bit.
    “Because.” She realized that she sounded like a child, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Because .
    “Because why?” Apparently, that wasn’t a good enough answer.
    “My last boyfriend was a firefighter. And like all the men in my life, he left me for”—she held up her hands and gestured with air quotes—“the action.”
    “What does that even mean? The action.”
    After a few steps in silence, Katie continued. “Small town firefighters are always looking for something bigger, something better. They’re never satisfied with small grease fires or saving a cat from a tree.” She laughed. “They’re always looking for big city skyscraper fires to battle or blazing acres of forest. That always seems to take precedence over a relationship. I don’t want to play second best to the need to be an action chaser.”
    Katie could almost see the wheels turning inside Casey’s head. His silence was killing her. It felt like she was literally dying to know what was on his mind.
    “It might sound dumb to you,” she