“Me too, Clara.”
He was smiling like he wanted to kiss me. I could feel the tension in the air, just like in a scene from the movie. The moment beforethe moment.
But there was a question on my mind, and I was too curious not to ask it.
“What made you finally do it?” I asked. “I’ve been delivering to your firehouse for a year now, since we lost our other two delivery guys. You’ve had plenty of times to ask me out before now.”
Jordan shrugged his massive shoulders. “I dunno. I finally worked up the courage, I guess.”
“Come on,” I said. “What’s the real reason? Were you dating someone else before now? Is that why?”
“Nah, I haven’t been in a relationship in about a year. I…” He trailed off as if searching for the right words. “You want to really know why?”
“As long as it doesn’t have to do with your third nipple,” I replied.
He smiled for a moment, then grew serious. “The guys I work with? They have huge crushes on you, too.”
I gave a start. “Really?”
“Yeah, Taylor and the Chief. Derek. We’ve kind of had a running joke about who was going to ask you out first. Well, I’m pretty sure they were bothreallyclose to asking you out, so I jumped in before they could.”
I could hardly believe what he was saying. Going out with one heroic fireman was great, but finding out thatthreeof them had crushes on me? It was overwhelming.
I thought about the other two for a moment. Taylor was the cute blond guy, who was just a probationary firefighter at the moment. And Derek was ruggedly handsome—despite being close to forty. I’d never had a thing for older men, but an exception coulddefinitelybe made for him.
Jordan was waiting for my response to this information, so I made myself grin up at him. “Well, in that case, give me Taylor’s number so I can call him.”
Jordan chuckled. “Not interested in the Chief, huh?”
“I’ll save him for last, after I go out with Taylor. You think he’ll try to steal my M&Ms?”
“Taylor doesn’t share food,” he replied with a laugh. “If you tried to take a handful of his popcorn, he’d probably make you walk home from the theater!”
“Good thing I went out with you tonight then, huh?”
“A very good thing,” he agreed.
We smiled widely at each other. Jordan leaned a little closer, the fingers of his left hand twitching. I saw everything that was about to happen in my mind. He was going to cup my cheek and give me a long kiss. His thin beard would feel nice and rough against my smooth skin. I would lean into him, pressing my body against his warmth.
Do it, I begged him with my eyes.
Suddenly his phone rang. He flinched, ignored it, then let out a long sigh.
“I’ve got to answer that. Technically, we’re all on-call in case… Yep, it’s the station.”
I tried not to let him see me groan.
“Hey Chief, yeah, I’m here. Sorry, I must have missed the others because I was in a movie, and… Okay. I’ll be there.”
He hung up and gave me an apologetic wince.
“I’ve got to run. Some sort of emergency at the firehouse. If the other shift can’t handle it…” He started to turn away, then abruptly leaned back into me. He gave me a soft, respectful kiss on the cheek. For a split second, I savored the sensation of his beard against my skin, even though it wasn’t the kiss Ireallywanted.
“I’m so sorry,” he said as he began to jog away. “I’ll call you!”
Damnit.
I gave him a little wave as I watched him go.