“Way to go, Sean!” Hank said, enthusiastically slapping him on the back. “I saw you with the only two females under the age of seventy in this entire neighborhood. Did you get the number of the hot blonde?”
“Like I really wanted it,” Sean scoffed. “She’s your type, not mine.”
Hank regarded him with disappointment. “How about the brunette with the kid?”
“Nope.”
“Two gorgeous women and you struck out completely?” Hank asked incredulously. “Man, you are slipping.”
“I didn’t strike out,” Sean told him patiently. “I never even got in the game.”
“Why the hell not?”
Sean wondered about that himself. Maybe it was because one woman was definitely not his type and because the other one struck him as being just a little too needy and vulnerable, despite that streak of stubborn pride. It was one thing to rescue someone who’d just lost her home. It was quite another to allow himself to get emotionally entangled. He always tried to keep his protective instincts on a short leash.
Hank sidled up to him and held out a metal toy fire truck. “It’s not too late,” he consoled Sean. “This probably belonged to the kid. Hang on to it. Unless you’re a whole lot dumber than I think you are, something tells me one of these days you’re going to be looking for an excuse to see his mom again.”
“No way,” Sean said fiercely.
But even as he uttered the denial, he took the truck and tucked it into his pocket. He told himself it was a reflexive gesture simply to keep it out of Hank’s hands, but the truth was, his partner had him pegged. Despite all the alarm bells in his head, Deanna Blackwell’s vulnerability tugged at him like an invisible rope.
He glanced back toward the spot where she’d been standing, but she was gone. He was surprised by the intensity of his disappointment.
Then he caught a glimpse of the flashy blonde disappearing into a building across the street, and something akin to relief spread through him. If—and that was a really huge if—he ever lost his mind and decided he wanted to see Deanna Blackwell again, Ruby would know where to find her.
He grinned as he considered whether Ruby would be inclined to give up that information, or whether, like Kevin, she’d choose to be tight-lipped. Only one thing to do if that happened, he concluded. He’d introduce her to Hank, who could wheedle information out of any female on earth.
Now there, he thought with a chuckle, was a match made in heaven. Maybe one day when he was really bored, he’d get the two of them hooked up together just to watch the sparks fly. And if he ran into Deanna Blackwell in the process…well, that would just be an accidental act of fate.
Chapter Two
“That man was so into you,” Ruby teased Deanna as they climbed the steps to Ruby’s third-floor apartment, which was going to be home for who knew how long.
“He was not,” Deanna said, grateful for the teasing because it was, temporarily at least, keeping her mind off the fire and her uncertain future. “No man ever looks at me twice when you’re around.”
“This one did,” Ruby insisted, leading the way into her one-bedroom apartment with its tiny kitchen and a bathroom no bigger than a closet, which it probably had been before the house had been converted to apartments. She grinned at Deanna. “And you’ve got something I don’t have.”
It was hard to imagine anything that the sexy, self-confident Ruby didn’t possess, especially when it came to the sort of attributes that appealed to men. Sadly, far too few of them took the time to look beneath Ruby’s flashy looks and impressive chest. It infuriated Deanna that they never saw the kind, generous woman who would do anything in the world for a friend, something she was proving right now by inviting Deanna and Kevin to stay with her.
Deanna regarded Ruby with curiosity. “What on earth could I have that you don’t?”
Ruby ducked her head into the refrigerator so that her reply was muffled, but Deanna had no trouble hearing her.
“Kevin,” she said. She stood up, held out a soda and met Deanna’s gaze. “I watched the two of them together out there. Fireman Sean is definitely daddy material. Something to think about, don’t you agree?”
Deanna sighed and accepted the soft drink. “Ruby, we’ve been over this a million times. Unlike you, I am not looking for a man to make my life complete.”
Ruby scowled at her. “Not complete, just easier.”
“I can take care of myself and Kevin,” Deanna insisted.
“When it comes to being a loving, wonderful mom, you’re the best,” Ruby agreed. “But the way I see it, Kevin could sure use a daddy to replace that scumbag who left the two of you. Not that I don’t think you’re better off without Frankie, but he has left a huge hole in Kevin’s life. Even you have to see that. The kid asks a million and one questions about his dad on a daily basis. That one snapshot he has of Frankie is practically worn bare from his constant handling.”
“I know,” Deanna admitted. If she hadn’t seen it for herself, she had Ruby to point it out with disgusting frequency.
“Well then, don’t you owe it to Kevin to take another look at fireman Sean?”
“I’m not getting involved with some guy just so my son has a father figure in his life,” Deanna said impatiently. “Besides, he has Joey.”
Ruby nearly choked on her soft drink as she let out a hoot of laughter. “You want Joey Talifero to be your son’s role model? Are you nuts?”
“There’s nothing wrong with Joey.” Deanna reacted defensively as she always did when Ruby said something disparaging about her boss. “He’s a perfectly respectable businessman.”
“I’ll give you respectable, if by that you mean he probably hasn’t deliberately broken any laws lately. But he has
