“Dammit. Now I wanna fuck you, and we can’t do that in the car on the side of the road. It would be just our luck for Gio to be on patrol and catch us.”
A giggle escapes my lips at that prospect.
“You’re mine too, Dee. I’m yours and you’re mine. That’s how this works. We’ll take it slow with the kids, but I can’t stop how I feel about you.”
“And how’s that?” I whisper, my heart pounding against my chest.
“You know I love you,” he says, like it’s a foregone conclusion.
The side of my mouth quirks up. “Well, considering I just worked out that I’m in love with you, too, that’s news to m—”
Rhodes shuts me up by slamming his mouth on mine and thrusting his tongue between my lips. I grip his shoulders, his jaw, and do everything possible to get as close as I can to him.
When we pull apart, I stare at him with wonder, my breaths coming hard and fast as I try to slow my heart rate.
Rhodes’s blue eyes roam my face as his perfectly parted lips suck in much-needed air. “I’m the luckiest bastard in the world.”
I shoot him my most wicked grin. “How about we go home and test out just how lucky you can get.”
Chapter 17
Rhodes
“I’m impressed that Dee is still sticking to the running,” Marco says as he drives the rig toward the elementary school we’re on our way to visit. “She’s not up to our distance, but considering we’re training for something specific and Ezra told me she’s not a running kind of girl, it’s surprising.”
My lips quirk up. “Maybe I give her good incentive to come with us.”
“Like?” Scotty pops his head between the two front seats.
“Your ears flapping?” I ask.
“Nope. Just looking out for my favorite lieutenant,” he says with a shit-eating grin.
Marco snorts and shakes his head. “Stop kissing ass just because Rhodes doesn’t give you as much crap as I do.”
Scotty shrugs, making me chuckle. “Maybe. Or maybe you’re already hooked up and happy, and I like seeing Anderson smile. He’s a bit easier on us when he’s not so . . . tense . . .”
“Damn, Scotty. Them’s fighting words,” Luca calls out from behind us. “He’ll have you on muck-out duty for weeks if you keep this up.”
“Nah,” Scotty replies, slapping my arm. “Rhodes has always looked out for me.”
“I could look out for you a lot better if you weren’t poking the Rossi bear over here and sat your ass back in your seat.”
“Damn, Lieutenant. That’s cold. I was being nice too.”
I roll my eyes and smirk at Marco.
“By the way, does Dee have a sister? I watched one of her videos, and da—fuck.” Scotty rubs the back of his head, and I turn my head to find him glaring at Luca. “Luc, what the hell was that—ouch. Quit it.” This time it’s Zach on the end of Scotty’s none-too-impressed glare. “Stop whacking my head.”
“Was seeing if I could knock some brain cells loose. You forget we know you, Jones. I’m not sure we’d willingly let you loose on any single woman.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he grumbles. “Must be good at something if Hayley came back for more.”
Marco growls and spears Scotty a death stare in the rearview. Hayley is Renee’s sister. She and Scotty had a one-time thing earlier in the year, but as far as we all know, it was once and done. Apparently not . . .
I glance at Scotty to find his hands up in the air in surrender, his eyes locked on Marco’s in the mirror. “Okay. Okay. No talking about that.”
“Smart man,” I snort before facing the front again.
Soon enough, Marco is pulling into a no-parking zone outside the front of the school. “Right,” he says turning round in his seat. “Cap says this is a straight demo and show-n-tell. Nothing flashy. Just take a group and give them a tour of the truck, let them turn the sirens on if they want, and then the teacher will get some photos of them in the driver’s seat.”
“How old are these kids?” Zach asks. “Seems a bit pre-K.”
“Nine and ten. This is a part of their careers-week curriculum I’m told. They each signed up for things they were interested in. This is the first-responder group.”
“All good. We all know how much Jake liked to hang around the firehouse when he was younger,” Luc says, bringing a smile to my face.
“Yeah. And now I barely see him ’cause he’s always out driving,” I mutter.
“That boy has goals. He’s not gonna fuck it up by doing anything dumb, and if he does, he’s got three firefighters and a cop to ride his ass. And that’s before Connor and Don even get involved,” Marco says with a smirk. “Anyway, he’s a good kid. He has to be—he takes after his godfather.”
“Say hello to my little friend,” Luc says in a terrible Al Pacino impression, holding up one hand and then two, and then making a show of slapping Scotty around the ears.
“Hey! Quit it,” the man screeches, making us all laugh, which we’re still doing when the front doors to the administration building open and a middle-aged woman appears, followed by two lines of kids, many of whom are almost pushing each other out of the way to look our way.
“Rhodes!” A familiar, excited voice says. I search the group and sure enough, there’s a wide-eyed and amazed Harvey waving then pointing my way and talking to the guys around him.
“You’re so gonna make his fucking day, aren’t you?” Marco murmurs.
I nod. “You’re right about that.” Then I step forward to greet the teacher and introduce us to the group.
Forty minutes later, all the kids have looked around the rig, asked a million questions, and taken turns at trying gear on. This is part of the job that never sucks.
“Harvey Duncan, can you come up to the front and help
