enjoying the attention, stood Chief Allan Stone himself. A tall man in his fifties, he had the air of an army general and commanded respect-even fear-on the job. But tonight he was smiling and looking more comfortable than Brooke had ever seen him.
But mostly all she could see was the cynical twist to Cristina’s lips as the female firefighter took the time to scrutinize Brooke from head to toe.
Brooke could only imagine what she looked like, and shifting uncomfortably, glanced down at herself. Yep, her dress was a wrinkled mess, not a surprise given that ten minutes ago it’d been rucked up to her waist.
Zach reached out and pulled something from her hair. A piece of dried seaweed. Perfect.
“I’d call the cute police,” Cristina said dryly, “but they wouldn’t know who to arrest first.” And with that, she turned and walked back to the fire.
“She knows,” Brooke whispered.
Well, she wouldn’t go back and change it even if she could. She’d be remembering tonight for many, many nights to come, and would undoubtedly get all hot and bothered all over again at the remembering, and maybe even ache over what might have been, but she wouldn’t take it back.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded, and they joined the crowd. Zach was immediately pulled away and put on barbecue duty, leaving her standing on the outskirts, a little bit anxious. Which was ridiculous. She’d just been bare-ass naked on a rock, she sure as hell could handle this.
Dustin came up to her and offered a plate of food. He waited until she’d taken a big bite of the burger. “Hungry, huh?”
She slid him a glance. “Yes.”
He nodded and said nothing else. Just stared a little glumly at the dance floor where Cristina was dirty dancing with someone Brooke had never seen before. “Why don’t you ask her to dance?” she asked.
“Because she’d think it was funny.”
“Funny that you have a crush on her?”
“I don’t have a crush on her.” He sighed. “Okay, I do. Shit.”
Sam and Eddie brought Brooke a drink. “To replenish the fluids,” Sam explained. Both men looked at her expectantly.
“What?”
“You tell us,” Eddie said.
Instead, she took another large bite of her burger.
“Don’t you have anything you want to share?” Sam looked hopeful. “With your two best friends?”
“We’re best friends?”
They both nodded eagerly. “So if something was on your chest,” Sam said. “And you just needed to, you know, get it off-”
“In detail,” Eddie added. “We’re all ears.”
Her burger congealed in her gut. “You know?”
“Oh, we know all.”
She looked at Dustin, who grimaced, then nodded. She handed him back the plate, and Eddie the drink, and then walked off. She stopped at the water’s edge.
“Stop sulking, will you?”
Brooke turned and faced Cristina. “I’m not sulking.”
“Pouting, then. Look, this is a fire station. We’re all walking God complexes who put our lives on the line every day, and yet socially? Immature as high school kids. Come on-” she snorted when Brooke scoffed “-we love to talk. You’ve given us something new to talk about. Deal with it.”
Brooke sighed. “How long will it last?”
“Until it’s over.”
“It is over.”
“Please.” “It is. It was a one-time-only thing.”
“Okay, now I know you’re crazy.”
“Why?”
“Why would you sleep with that man only once? That’s just a waste of all that hotness.”
“I’m leaving in a few weeks. We agreed it was just a letting-loose thing.”
Cristina stared at her, then laughed. “And let me guess. You’re already regretting that stupid decision.”
Brooke looked away, into the bonfire. “No.” Yes.
Cristina just shook her head. “Well, lucky for me, your shortsightedness is another woman’s gain.” And she walked away in her sexy little top and shorts, heading directly toward Zach, stopping to hug Blake.
Zach stood at one of the barbecues, holding a long spatula, flipping burgers and laughing at something Aidan was saying to him. Just looking at him, something happened inside Brooke. A clutch. A quiver.
What would it be like if she wasn’t leaving? she wondered.
But she always left.
Always.
Besides, she’d said no strings. She’d insisted. She’d come here tonight, just wanting to let go, to live and, oh boy, had she. She just hadn’t realized that in doing those things, something else would happen.
In spite of her promise, she’d begun to fall for Zach.
She watched as Cristina took the plate out of his hands and handed it to Aidan before drawing Zach over to where people were dancing, proceeding to grind up against him in tune to the music.
“Here.”
Brooke stared down at the proffered beer, then into Blake’s face.
“You looked like you could use it,” the tall, thin firefighter said gently.
“I…”
“Drink. Then we’ll dance. If it makes you feel better, you can rub all over me like she is with Zach. I’m a good friend like that.”
“I’m not jealous or anything.”
“Okay.”
“I’m not.”
He just nodded.
And she drank the beer, then took him up on his offer to dance.
Chapter 10
After dancing with Cristina, Zach moved to the coolers to get a drink. He pulled out a soda, then stood there with the waves at his back, looking for Brooke.
She’d been dancing with Blake, but now was with Sam, who was making the most of his time with her. Twice the firefighter’s hands slipped to her ass, and twice Brooke lifted them to her waist.
Sam grinned in a can’t-blame-a-guy-for-trying way, and Zach considered going over there and tossing him into the ocean, but he didn’t.
An hour ago, Brooke had been in his arms, panting his name as she came all over him. She’d let loose now. Washed him right out of her system and that was fine. Hell, that was great. He’d just move on, too, and-
“You holding up?” Tommy asked, stopping next to Zach, sipping a beer.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Haven’t heard from you in a few hours. Couldn’t figure out if I should be worried, or if it was because you were finally trusting me to do my job.”
Zach let out a long breath. “And how is that going? Your job?”
Tommy just took a drink.
“Shit. Don’t tell me it’s not going.”
“I’m not saying that. I’m not saying anything.”
