Bad Boy's Kiss (Firemen in Love Book 2) (4 page)

Me? I knew better than to give him a second look.

But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a tiny bit curious...

“Something wrong? You seem dumbstruck.”

“It's just so weird seeing you back here after all this time, I guess. Hey, you have a bathroom in here?”

He pointed. “Right there. Door on your left. I gotta say, it is
nice
not having to stop for a piss at those filthy rest-stop gas stations.”

“A piss.” I rolled my eyes. “How sweet.”

He made no apologies, just laughed as I gratefully shut the door behind me. That was another thing that hadn't changed about him – he was just as crass as ever.

By the time I finished, we'd come to a stop. Outside, I found Max checking out my truck. Except he wasn't peeking under the hood. No, he stood several yards away, staring at the chickens with wide eyes.

“You okay?” I gently touched his arm.

He jumped. “Man, I don't like those things. It's like they're glaring at me.”

Now, it was my turn to laugh. “They're only chickens, Max.”

“Never cared for 'em. They're dirty, they stink, they crap everywhere and make noise all day long. Kinda like kids, actually.”

I gazed at my slightly rounded belly. He didn't seem to notice.

“Guess that means you don't have children, then.” I checked his hand for a wedding ring and saw none.

“Hell no. Being handed a baby is one of my greatest fears.”

“I find that hard to believe. Aren't firemen supposed to be brave?”

He scoffed. “Yeah. Jumping out of a burning building I can handle. Rugrats? Not so much.”

I popped the hood open for him, and he dodged the clucking hens to take a look. As he stood there working under the hot sun, hunched over the smoking mess of parts with sweat beading on his brow, I couldn't bring myself to take my eyes off him.

I knew he was trouble. Knew that after what happened to me with Rich, I shouldn't be thinking about getting laid – not so soon, anyway.

But the pregnancy hormones were driving me truly crazy. Max had the most mouthwatering body I'd seen in a long time.

It was a dangerous combination. If I gave into my lusty needs, I was certain to regret it.

“Any luck?” I called to him.

“I ain't much of a mechanic, but I'd say you got radiator trouble. Not much I can do here. Probably need a tow to a garage.”

I peered over his shoulder. “You can't do anything? I have to get this order to Taylor today.”

“I'll give you a ride into town since I'm going that way. It's still pretty early. Bet they can get a tow truck out here quickly enough.”

Several dozen chickens began to squawk loudly as if in protest. When I patted one's head, she nipped my finger. That's how I knew the heat was severely stressing them out.

“I can't just leave all these birds here. They might not survive.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You're seriously fretting about the lives of chickens?”

“Max, this is a three-hundred dollar order for me. They die, I kiss the pay goodbye.”

And with a baby coming, I was going to need all the extra money I could get. Making ends meet as a single parent was going to be very hard. I couldn't count on anyone for help, least of all the child's deadbeat father.

Max sighed and ran his hand through his tawny hair. Then he glanced my way again.

“I know I'm going to be sorry for this,” he muttered. “Come on, let's get these damn things into the RV.”

He untied the rope keeping the crates secure, heaved a box of hens over his shoulder with ease, then opened the back door of his RV. The poor birds flapped madly as he dropped the crate on the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“What's it look like? We're taking your chickens to Taylor.”

I handed him another box. “I thought you hated them.”

“You bet your ass I do. Stop arguing and help me out before I change my mind.”

He was brash and rude, but beneath that rough exterior, I sensed a hint of a gentleman. He hadn't forgotten his country roots, evidently.

Unfortunately for me, nothing turned me on faster than a good old-fashioned southern boy. What this one lacked in manners, he made up for with pure charm.

We manged to stuff all five boxes into the back of the RV, then we headed off north toward Taylor. When we got to the farm, Max unloaded all the crates by himself.

“Chicken delivery,” he grunted as he set the birds down in the yard. “Would have been better if they were battered and deep-fried first, though.”

The buyer gaped at him like he had two heads. I forced a smile and kicked him while she dug through her wallet.

“If everything looks to be in order, your total comes to three hundred and nineteen dollars, fifty-seven cents.”

She paid up, then we got back in the RV. Soon as the door shut, I let him have it.

“Do you ever stop running your mouth? You could have just cost me a client with your sarcastic remarks.”

He shrugged as we pulled back onto the highway. “What can I say? I'm a jerk. Probably why I'm still single.”

He offered no further explanation. As we drove toward Bastrop, I had to wonder why, exactly, he
was
still single. Sure, his good looks meant he could nab almost any woman he desired, but he wasn't in high school anymore.

Max drove me back to the house. I gave him a little smile as I hopped down from the RV.

“Hey, thanks for helping me out. You didn't have to do that, and I'm really glad you came along when you did.”

“Maybe it's destiny, eh?” He winked. “If you really want to thank me, I know of a couple good ways.”

He didn't hide the fact he was gawking at my boobs. I couldn't really blame him, either. I was barely three months pregnant and already I'd gained half a cup size.

“What ways are those?”

He killed the engine and came down to my level. For a moment he said nothing, as if waiting for me to figure it out myself.

“You're the only girl who's ever turned me down,” he said at last.

I laughed. “I should have figured it was about that. Tell me you haven't been dwelling on it for the past eleven years.”

He stepped closer. “Not really. But every now and again, I think of you and I wonder why.”

“You... You think about me?”

To be honest, Max hadn't crossed my mind in years. If ever he did, it wasn't in a good way. Any guy who'd date three women at once – without any of them knowing – wasn't a decent man in my book.

“I wasn't used to being denied back then, and I'm certainly not now.”

“Still have an inflated ego, I see.”

From out of nowhere, a pair of honeybees zipped by me, buzzing loudly as they danced in the air. One of them collided with Max's forehead. He slapped at it, jumped back, and shrieked like a little girl.

“What the hell?” The bee dive bombed his head again. “This thing's trying to kill me.”

“Stop smacking it, and it will go away. They don't sting unless they're really agitated.”

“They?”

I gestured to the handful of hives out in the field. “Trust me. I work with these guys all the time. I've only gotten jabbed twice.”

He blanched. “You keep
bees
as pets? I thought the chickens were bad. Jesus, Anna.”

The angry bee lost interest in him and flew off to pollinate some flowers. Max looked so shell shocked that I had to laugh.

“They're not pets. I harvest their honey and sell it at market.”

He cocked his head. “Never imagined you'd turn out to be a farmer. Back in high school, you were always talking about how sick of Bastrop you were. You had dreams. Planned to be a lawyer in the big city.”

I frowned as memories of my former life in New York came back to me. “That's exactly what I did. But being an attorney was a soul-sucking experience. When I couldn't take it anymore, I broke down and came back home.”

“And started a chicken farm? That's quite a change in career.”

We strolled the path that led from my house to the garden. In the spring, it would be full of tomatoes, lettuce, all kinds of tender vegetables and herbs. Not much grew in this heat except for squash, okra, hot peppers and the like.

“When I got back here, I didn't know what to do with myself – but I used to like helping on the farm back in the day. My parents owned this property back when dad was in the ranching business. They don't live here anymore, so he's letting me use it.”

“It's impressive. You sure have put a lot of work into this.”

I glanced at him. Couldn't tell if he was giving me a sincere compliment or just trying to get in my pants.

Not that I would've minded the latter, even if sleeping with this playboy was sure to be a mistake.

“Thanks. So what about you? Last I heard, you were bragging about going to college on a football scholarship. You were going to be a pro player.”

He hesitated. “Well, you know. Things don't always work out the way we planned. My best buddy, Jayce, joined the fire department. He said it'd be cool if we worked together. And that was pretty much that.”

We followed the trail around the house, all the way back to his RV. Maybe I was crazy, but I didn't want him to go just yet.

I'd felt so alone since Rich abandoned me almost three months ago. Since that day he came to see me and I broke the news: he'd gotten me pregnant.

He wasn't happy, to put it mildly. He had some news of his own for me.

He was a married man. Yes, he'd been cheating on his wife with me but now, he wanted nothing to do with me – or the baby – ever again.

And that was the last I heard from him.

“You should probably call that tow truck, huh?”

“Oh. Yeah.” I fished my phone out of my pocket. “Thanks again for the lift. Guess I'll probably see you around town if you're gonna be staying for a while.”

“I sure hope so.”

My heart drummed loudly as he came closer. He stood just a couple of feet away, near enough for me to feel his warmth even in this hundred-degree heat. His deep blue eyes sparkled, the way they'd always done when he was about to cause trouble.

I wanted him, damn it. I wanted a good man to make love to me, to ease the pain of being abandoned when I needed help the most. Sex wouldn't make it all better. It would just help me forget for a little while.

Max was
not
a good man. Still, he was the sexiest guy I'd ever laid eyes on. Maybe right now, that was all I really needed.

“Like I said, if you really wanna thank me for my help, there are... ways.”

His gaze was too piercing to endure for long. “I don't know what you mean,” I said. Although I did, and he knew it, too.

“I'm still a bit ticked about you turning me down back then. I hate losing.”

“As if girls are a prize to be won.”

I dialed the garage with trembling fingers. He patiently waited for me to finish the call. This whole mess had me so rattled, I could barely tell the driver how to find my truck.

“At least tell me why you said no.”

I gaped at him. “Seriously? You were the biggest playboy in town, and everybody knew it. You slept with probably every girl in our senior class.”

“All except for you.” He grinned. “A shame. You're the one I wanted most of all.”

I resisted the urge to kick him in the crotch. “Whatever. How about your cheating on my best friend?”

“Who?”

“Becky Harmon.”

He puzzled over the name for a moment. “Doesn't ring a bell.”

“Of course it doesn't. With all the women you've screwed, remembering so many names must be a problem for you.”

“Ouch, that hurts.” He clutched his gut as if I'd punched him. “For the record, I didn't 'cheat' on your friend. I wasn't anyone's boyfriend. At best, I'm good for a quick fling. Commitment just isn't who I am.”

“So nice to see you're admitting your flaws. And you wonder why I wouldn't sleep with you?”

He stared at my chest again. The man was brazen, I'd give him that. Should have slapped him for being so rude.

Except I didn't quite mind being ogled like this. At least it was a reminder that
someone
still wanted me.

“You wouldn't back then.” He licked his lips. “How about now?”

“I don't know. Have you grown up, or are you still a reckless jackass who can't keep his penis in his pants?”

“The second one.”

“Then my answer is no.”

He groaned. “What the hell's the problem? It's just sex. I need to get laid, and it's clear as day you want me too.”

I could
not
believe we were having this conversation. And here I thought I'd be in for a day of picking vegetables and sweeping out the chicken coop.

“You're unbelievable. You think I want you?”

His wicked stare sent shivers up my back. Only a man as handsome as him had a right to be so bold.