Taking the Heat (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 3)

Goddamn, that had been...heartwarming.

He grinned again as he headed out an hour early for work in the hopes of getting in on a pickup game at the fire station. He needed to work off some of this energy.

The surfeit of energy wasn’t ego, at least. It was something dumber than that. He was crushing. Hard. Veronica was cute and sweet and smart. And the sex was fucking fantastic.

Something about her made his mouth water and his cock throb. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew one thing: this relationship couldn’t work. Hell, maybe that was part of the attraction, that she was permanently out of his reach. He could touch her as much as she’d allow right now, but there was an end date to that. They could never belong to each other. He couldn’t risk falling in love with her.

So maybe that was part of the urgency to see her again as soon as possible. All he knew for sure was that he couldn’t wait for work to be over so he could meet her for dinner. More than that, he couldn’t wait for it to be an hour after that, walking her home or maybe watching her sip a martini and waiting to touch her. Waiting to make her come again. Waiting to watch her face melt as he eased into her body.

Damn. He couldn’t think about that as he was walking up to the municipal building. He shook off his thoughts of her and headed toward the back door of the fire station instead of the library. If William was around, Gabe would love a game. If not, he’d go for a quick run. A couple of the guys had already let Gabe know he was free to shower up at the station before work.

The door opened into a hallway and the first room he encountered was the locker area. The second was a large exercise room. One guy was lifting free weights, but it wasn’t William. Gabe followed the sound of voices down the hallway and ended up in what looked to be a huge living area. He spotted William right away, planted in front of a big-screen TV that was bright with the vivid green of a soccer field.

“William,” he called. “You like to play sports or just watch them?”

“Hey, Gabe!” the firefighter shouted. His eyes flicked down to Gabe’s shorts and the gym bag slung against his hip. “Did you come to get your ass kicked?”

“Something like that,” Gabe responded, “but not quite.”

William jumped up from his chair and headed toward Gabe when another firefighter called out from the couch. “Hey, Librarian, who was the hot blonde we saw you with last night?”

Gabe laughed and shook his head. “Just a date.”

“Nah,” William said, “she looked familiar. One of Lauren’s friends.”

“Maybe,” Gabe said, then cleared his throat, torn between protecting her privacy and not trying to sweep her under the rug. “Veronica,” he finally offered.

“Yeah?” William pressed. “I’d ask for an introduction, but you two looked pretty damn friendly.”

He shrugged, but his stupid face gave him away. The cavernous room was suddenly filled with echoing hoots. He waved them off and turned to head back toward the court but found his way blocked by an imposing man with a very stern look on his face. Gabe backed up a step, then recognized the man as the fire captain, Jake Davis.

“Morning, Jake,” he offered. Lauren had already introduced Jake as her boyfriend, and the guy had seemed polite and friendly then. He didn’t look polite and friendly now.

“Veronica?” Jake asked. “Veronica Chandler?”

“Yes?” Gabe started uncertainly.

“You’re dating?”

“We’ve gone out a couple of times.”

“So it’s...casual?”

Gabe wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. First, Veronica might be willing to be seen in public with Gabe, but that didn’t mean she wanted him discussing their relationship with other people. Second, the captain hadn’t exactly asked it in a friendly way.

Gabe glanced toward the roomful of men for help, but all their eyes were now locked studiously on the television, even William’s.

“It’s...um...” He wasn’t sure why he was nervous, but it seemed as if he was about to answer a very important question. He finally settled on a nonanswer. “I’ve only been in town a couple of weeks. Lauren introduced us.”

Jake Davis grunted and narrowed his eyes at Gabe, seeming unimpressed with the explanation. Gabe felt like squirming, though he didn’t know why. Probably something to do with the fact that Jake was old enough to be Veronica’s father and Gabe had done filthy, filthy things to her only hours before.

He felt heat creep up the back of his neck, but he held the captain’s gaze.

“She’s very young,” Jake finally said. “I’d better not hear that you’ve pulled any crap with her.”

“Of course not,” Gabe answered.

“She’s a nice girl.”