Firefighter's Virgin

But before I could answer, he was getting up and hurrying toward us. I could feel Ian’s energy change; the air suddenly seemed sharp, almost cold, although that was impossible—wasn’t it? It was the middle of summer. I glanced up at him and saw him staring intently at Noah.

“Daisy,” Noah said, shooting a wary look at Ian. “Who are you?”

“I’m Ian,” he said. He was several inches taller than Noah and outweighed him by at least twenty pounds. “Can we help you with something there, boss?”

“I was just waiting for you to get back,” Noah said, looking at me now. “I’ve been here for—”

“Do you want him waiting here for you?” Ian asked me.

“Noah,” I said. I no longer felt scared now that Ian was standing right there beside me, but I suddenly didn’t want anything bad to happen to Noah, either. “Noah, please, why don’t you just leave me alone? I’ve told you that I’m not interested. You’ve got to stop doing this.”

“Daisy, if we could just talk for a second—”

Ian let out a short, barking laugh. “I don’t think so.”

“I think that’s up for her to decide.”

“Yeah, and I think she’s already made it clear how she feels about it by asking you to leave her alone. She doesn’t want to talk to you; she doesn’t want you hanging around; she wants you to fuck off to wherever it is that you came from. Comprende? Now, I’m not the sort of person who likes to have to repeat myself, so if you are unable to get that message through your thick fucking skull, perhaps you need me to soften it up for you a bit first. And I’m referring to your skull, not the message. Daisy’s been far too nice with you as it is; I’m a lot less nice than she is. So about face, kid. Go find someone who’s interested.”

I could see Noah sizing up Ian, realizing that there was no way in hell he’d ever come out of any physical altercation with him on top. He gave me one last pleading look.

“Fine,” he said when I didn’t say anything. “I don’t know who you think you are, telling people how to live their lives,” he said as he started to walk away. “You don’t get to call the shots!” he shouted, right as he was about to disa

ppear around the block.

Ian stared after him, jaw clenched.

“Come on,” he said after a minute, “let’s get inside.”

Inside, Ian paced in front of the window. “That’s unfuckingbelievable,” Ian said. “How often does he do that sort of thing? Why didn’t you tell me? He could be dangerous. He is clearly completely unstable. I should beat his fucking ass next time he comes around.”

“I think it’ll help that he saw us together,” I said. “I’ve been trying to tell him that there’s nothing going on between us and he just doesn’t seem to be able to get the idea through his head.”

Now, Ian turned. “Is there? Or was there?”

“What? Something going on between us? No! We got a smoothie together at the gym once. And it was awkward and weird, and I figured that we were both relieved when it was over and we could go our separate ways and not have to speak to each other again.”

I could tell he was trying to restrain himself. “How was it awkward and weird?”

“I don’t know, it just . . . was. Our conversation wasn’t in sync at all. There’d be these long silences, and then I’d start to say something right when he would, and then both of us would stop, waiting for the other to continue, and then there’d be another awkward silence, and then it would basically just continue like that, on this horrible cycle, until finally it was over. And that was it.”

“Really?” he asked. “That sounds terrible.”

“It was. I didn’t . . . I didn’t feel this connection with him the way I do with you. It’s one of those things that hard to describe, I guess, and maybe doesn’t even make sense if you’ve never felt it before. But beyond thinking you’re the most handsome guy that I’ve ever seen, I really feel like there is this connection there.”

My words seemed to have a calming effect on him, and he walked away from the window and came over, putting his arms around me. “I don’t want some creep out there, stalking you,” he said. “That’s not okay.”

“I know.”

“I’m going to get a couple of the guys from work out here.”

“You don’t need to do that.” I started to say that Jonathan had already offered, but I stopped.

“I know I don’t need to, but I want to. At least until he gets the idea.”

He had a look on his face that told me no matter how much I argued it, his mind was made up. And there was a part of me that thought maybe it’d be a good thing, that maybe Noah would finally get the hint.

It felt like it’d been a little while since the last time I saw Caroline, so I texted her and asked if she wanted to meet up for a drink.