The Bad Boy Firefighter's Secret Fling (Red Hot Reunions Book 3) (9 page)

“And to think I get it all for free,” she said with a naughty wink. “I’m a lucky girl.”

“You are,” Jamison agreed, cutting a bite of waffle and offering her the fork.

Maddie slipped the bite into her mouth with a sexy little purring sound. “Hmm…this is delicious. My compliments to the chef.”

“I can’t take credit for that,” Jamison said, cutting himself a larger bite. “Kiki brings the waffle mix. I’ve tried to get her recipe, but she won’t tell anyone what she puts in it.”

“Cinnamon and ginger for sure,” Maddie said, squinting up at the blue sky as she considered. “And maybe nutmeg, and something a little unexpected. I’ll need another taste to sort it out, but I will.”

“Think you can crack her code?” Jamison asked, impressed.

“You’re not the only one with spy potential.” Maddie handed him her fork. “Load me up. A few more bites and I’ll have it all worked out. I might even make you a batch tomorrow morning if you’re lucky.”

“So you’ve decided to let Lucy open on Sundays?” Jamison cut her another bite.

Maddie’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know that?”

“I told you, I know everything.” He winked. “I had a heart to heart with Lucy yesterday when I was scoping out the Saturday schedule. She feels she’s ready for more responsibility. Especially if the dough’s premade and all she has to do is load the pans and man the ovens. She thinks maybe you’re a little bit of a control freak.”

Maddie licked a bit of syrup from her lips. “Oh, yeah?”

“But I told her that’s not true,” Jamison said, leaning closer to her tempting mouth. “Because I know for a fact that you have fantasies about being tied up and blindfolded by a domineering man with an impressive love-rod.”

Maddie laughed, that low sexy laugh that felt like fingernails raking down his back. “You did not. The poor girl would have died. She would have blushed hard enough to set her hair on fire.”

“No, I didn’t.” Jamison admitted. “But I did tell her I’d put in a word for her, you know…next time I saw my friend Maddie.”

“You’re a good friend,” Maddie said.

“I am.” Jamison kissed her, confirming that her syrup-sticky lips were every bit as delicious as they looked.

“Yum,” Jamison whispered as they pulled apart.

“Cloves,” Maddie replied in a husky voice. “And possibly molasses.”

“You’re the sexiest food detective ever.” Jamison cut her another bite and delivered it directly to her mouth.

“You’d better believe it.” She closed her mouth around the fork in a slow, deliberate way that made Jamison’s thoughts turn to the way her lips had closed around something much more intimate last night.

He blinked hard and forced his eyes away from her lips. If he let his thoughts head in that direction, it wouldn’t be long before he’d be sneaking Maddie down to his Mustang for a drive into the country, out into the boonies until they found a deserted road where he could pull over and taste every inch of her.

Since she had to be back at work soon, that wasn’t a good idea. Besides, he was enjoying hanging out with her. Their relationship had changed in dramatic ways from a week ago, but she was still as easy and fun to talk to as she had always been.

“You’re not too bummed about missing out on the family meal are you?” she asked, taking another sip of coffee before offering him the mug. “I know you guys all love Saturday mornings.”

Jamison shrugged. “Nah, I’m good. I’ve had more than my share of brunches and, I don’t know…it didn’t feel the same this morning.”

“How so?” Maddie asked, brow knitting. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I guess it’s just…”

“Just what?” she asked, her warm gaze making it feel okay to be honest, to let her know that this was quickly becoming about more than sex for him. Way more.

“I like having you around,” he said. “A morning doesn’t feel right without you in it.”

Maddie’s eyes widened slightly before she smiled and dropped her gaze to the coffee mug. “That’s sweet.”

The words were right, but her tone was several degrees cooler than a moment before and Jamison couldn’t help but feel like he’d taken a misstep. He did his best to move the conversation back to safer ground—asking Maddie what he should get the baby for a christening gift and if she’d be up for a trip to the old drive-in movie theater that had just reopened over in Red Bank—but things still felt off. When Maddie stood a few minutes later and made her excuses to leave, Jamison wasn’t surprised.

Bummed, but not surprised.

She kissed him goodbye and promised to see him tonight, but there was something wrong, something that made Jamison’s chest feel tight and his last few bites of waffle taste like sandpaper in his mouth.

For the second time in his life, Jamison was falling for a woman, but his second matchup with love was starting to look like it might end the same way as his first—with Jamison out cold in the ring and the woman he’d fallen for slipping out of the arena, never to be seen again.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Maddie

Maddie paced back and forth in front of the apartment window overlooking the street with her cell to her ear, nibbling her thumb as she waited for Dawn to finish making sandwiches for her kids and get back on the line.

Maddie knew she shouldn’t leave Lucy alone downstairs in the bakery for much longer, but she needed girl talk so desperately she was willing to risk Lucy being overwhelmed by the Saturday afternoon rush in the name of gaining some peace of mind.

“Okay, I’m back,” Dawn said, sounding breathless. “The savages are fed and I’m all yours for at least the next fifteen minutes, or until someone spills something.”

“Thanks so much,” Maddie said. “I’d usually talk to Naomi, but I can’t talk to her about this and I’m so confused. I don’t know what to do.”

“Jamison troubles?” Dawn asked.

Maddie nodded, though she knew Dawn couldn’t see her. “I think I should just end it. Like, tonight. Tell him I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. Give us both a clean break before things get too complicated.”

“But weren’t you the one who said you didn’t want to date unless it had the chance of going somewhere?” Dawn asked, sounding as confused as Maddie felt.

“Yes,” Maddie said. “But that was before!”

“Before he started falling for you.”

“Or
acting
like he’s falling for me,” Maddie said, thinking about what Jamison had said on the roof this morning enough to make her stomach flutter with anxious butterflies all over again. “I’m not sure what to believe. I mean, I’ve known him for years as a friend, but I don’t know how he acts with women he’s dating. This might be his M.O.”

“In what way?” Dawn asked.

“Maybe it’s more than his magic love-rod that made all those women fall for him,” Maddie said, warming to her theory. “Maybe he gets them addicted to the love-rod, then turns on the lovey dovey charm to reel them in, and then—BAM! As soon as they start to lower their defenses and want to snuggle up and play house, he decides he’s bored and moves on.”

Dawn made a skeptical noise. “I don’t know Maddie. It doesn’t sound like he was being manipulative. It sounds like he’s just having a great time being with you. You’re having a good time with him, right?”

“Yes,” Maddie said around a mouthful of her thumb, her teeth digging into the skin so hard it stung. “The sex is so good I think I’m becoming a nymphomaniac.”

Dawn laughed. “Then why do you sound so miserable? You’re making problems where there aren’t any. Relax and enjoy things. Give him a chance. You might be pleasantly surprised.”

“Maybe. Or maybe not…I don’t know. I’m so confused.” Maddie turned back to the window, gazing at the firehouse across the street where only half an hour ago she had been happier than she could remember being in ages.

Argh! Why did Jamison have to start looking at her with mushy eyes and saying sweet things and ruin everything?

“I don’t know if I’m ready to jump into something serious with lots of feelings in it,” she continued, spinning away from the window. “Especially with a guy like Jamison. He’s been my friend since we were little and I love him, but I know what he’s really like. He’s the nicest heartbreaker ever, but he’s still a heartbreaker.”

“Now, slow down for a second,” Dawn said, but Maddie pressed on.

“I mean, I’ve never seen him in a relationship for more than a few weeks, and never anything serious.” Maddie paced faster, running a shaking hand through her hair. “He says there was this woman, Wendy, in Atlanta that he was ready to commit to at one point, but no one in Summerville ever met her. And how serious could it have been if he never brought her home to meet his family or friends?”

“Maddie, I think—”

“And what is wrong with him, anyway?” she continued. “To start saying things like ‘the morning doesn’t feel right without you in it’ to me right now? We’ve only been dating a week and I’m nowhere near as pretty as most of the girls he’s dated or as thin or as blonde. I mean, sure, I have big boobs, but that’s only because I have a big bottom to match, and I’ve never seen Jamison with a girl with a big bottom. What is he thinking? And why is he—”

“Maddie!” Dawn shouted, loud enough to make Maddie flinch and her mouth snap shut. “Stop this! You are being crazy.”

“No, I’m not,” Maddie said in a small voice, hurt that Dawn couldn’t try to see where she was coming from. “I’m trying to be rational.”

“Honey, love isn’t rational,” Dawn said gently. “I’m not saying you should jump in blind and ignore your reservations about Jamison, but bailing on him when you were the one who said you were open to something serious isn’t fair either.”

Maddie bit her lip. “Then what should I do?”

“Talk to him,” Dawn said, as if that were the easiest thing in the world. “Talk to him about your concerns and see what he has to say. He might surprise you. It sounds like there’s more going on in his head and heart than you’re giving him credit for.”

Maddie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, seriously considering what Dawn had said. Considering she’d been naked with Jamison nearly a dozen times, the thought of talking honestly with him shouldn’t have been that scary. But it was. This wouldn’t be witty banter or light conversation, this would be the real Maddie standing in front of him, dressed in nothing but her fear and insecurities.

But Dawn was right. Jamison deserved to know what she was thinking before she cut and ran.

“Okay,” she finally said. “I’ll talk to him. I’ll do it tonight.”

“Good,” Dawn said. “Now can I ask your advice on my latest trial of angst and woe?”

“Sure thing.” Maddie stood up straighter, immediately feeling more like herself now that the conversation was shifting away from her problems. She’d always been more comfortable being the strong shoulder than the one shedding tears on it.

“I’m thinking about moving to Atlanta. Like, in the next week,” Dawn said, triggering a squeal of excitement from Maddie.

Dawn had lived in Little Rock, Arkansas for years, far enough away that they only had the chance to see each other once or twice a year. Having another best friend close to home sounded like Christmas coming early to Maddie.

“Don’t get too excited yet,” Dawn continued with a laugh. “I’ve had a job offer, a good one, at a private college where I’ll make almost double what I’m making now. They need someone ASAP because their full-time art professor eloped with their part-time art professor. They both quit without notice to go follow a Grateful Dead tribute band across Eastern Europe. But if I move, then Dave and I will have to work out a new custody arrangement. He would have the kids for six weeks in the summer, and I’ve never been apart from them for that long. I don’t know if I could handle it.”

“Maybe you could break it up a little?” Maddie suggested. “Three weeks at the start of the summer, and three weeks at the end?”

Dawn made a considering sound. “That could work, but even three weeks seems like a lot. I was missing them like crazy after the singles retreat.”

“I can imagine,” Maddie said.

She and Dawn talked for a few more minutes—weighing the pros and cons of a potential move—and by the time they hung up Maddie felt like she had a much better sense of perspective.

Sure, she’d been through a terrible break-up, and maybe had a few more scars than she’d realized until confronted with another man acting like he cared about her, but at least she and Serge didn’t have to worry about custody or visitation. In many ways she was less encumbered by her previous relationship than her friends.

Now she needed to woman up and take her love life by the horns. She had to gather her courage and confront Jamison. If he was really as into her as he seemed to be, then he’d be willing to talk through her issues.

And if he didn’t seem inclined to listen, well…that would tell her everything she needed to know.

Maddie tucked her cell into her pocket and hurried down the stairs, feeling lighter than she had since she’d crawled off the fire station roof. She swept behind the counter, filling orders faster than Lucy could ring them up, concentrating on the work, refusing to glance at the clock or count down the hours until Jamison was due to give his secret knock at the bakery’s back door.