Hot Nights with the Fireman by Lynne Silver Page B

down like a hose turned off. They stared out the window, both lost in thought. Finally he admitted, “It’s really competitive. And you have to be mentally prepared. You see some scary shit on the rescues.”
    She took her eyes off the road for a brief second to assess him. “You look like you’re tough enough to handle it.”
    Her compliment meant a lot to him. “Thank you, but it’s tough to make. Maybe this year I’ll get lucky. The process starts in a few weeks.”
    “Well, I’ll wait to congratulate you on making it, but I’m sure you can do it.”
    She said the words easily, as if she had no idea what they meant to him. She was so smooth and cool, driving her fancy car earned from money from her fancy job, which she’d gotten from her fancy Ivy League education. She had no idea she was the only one in the world who knew he was considering applying for the rescue team.
    It took half the time to make it back to the fire station, where he’d left his car. He kept his fists clenched on his lap, trying and failing to stop thinking of kissing Valerie at the end of the night. At various points in the evening, he’d decide to honor her request about ignoring their mutual attraction, but then she’d go and say something so damn cute, like her dolphin trainer comment. Or the fact that she totally believed he could make the USAR Team 1, no doubts whatsoever. And then he was right back to wanting to touch her, to kiss her.
    In a few minutes, she’d pull into the fire station parking lot, and the night would be over, and it felt as if there were a ticking bomb in his body. His gut instinct told him that if he let her go tonight without making a move, he’d be shunted strictly to the friend zone with no chance of getting more. He glanced at her driving her sweet car so competently, and wished he had boyfriend privileges to put his palm on her lap or stroke her soft hair. Earlier tonight, he’d succumbed to temptation and wrapped a strand around his finger. It had been every bit as soft as he’d imagined.
    He watched her for the rest of the ride, until finally, obviously feeling his gaze, she took her eyes off the road to frown at him. “You’re staring.”
    “You’re beautiful,” he said, the words falling easily and sincerely from his lips.
    “Don’t…”
    “Don’t what? Tell the truth?”
    She pulled her gaze back to the road and murmured, “We shouldn’t do this.”
    “Do what? Talk? Hang out?”
    “None of it.” But she frowned as if she hated the idea as much as he did. Within a minute, she pulled up into the parking lot, next to his car, and the time for good-byes and see-yas had arrived. The moment he’d been both dreading and dying for because he knew he was going to make his move and either get shut down or get the grand prize.
    He leaned across the gearshift as she turned to say good-bye. Pulling a move he hadn’t used since high school when his big brother taught him it, he dodged right then left as if going to buss her cheek, but planted one smack on her lips instead. He pulled back quickly to check on her reaction to his “accidental” lip lock, and one small taste had him reeling. She tasted as good as he’d expected, and she was looking across at him a little stunned. She touched a finger to her lips.
    “Sorry about that,” he said, inwardly smiling at her stupefied expression, though he imagined his own expression was identical. He’d gone for the surprise kiss, but had been the one to end up surprised at how his body reacted strongly to her nearness.
    “I—it’s all right,” she said, still rubbing her finger over her plump lower lip. If she kept it up, he’d grab the finger and suck it between his lips. The way she kept staring, almost as if she’d never been kissed, made him think he should do it again. He leaned forward and brushed his lips deliberately across hers. She accepted his kiss passively for a few seconds, but when her hands curled in his hair, he knew he was