Vonnie Davis - Pin-Up Fireman

“I need to pick up a case of chrome cleaner for the station. If you’ll walk along with me, I can help you load the fan and paint and stuff into your car, after we check out. Besides, my male plants are hanging from your cart watching your female plants.”

She rested her hands on her hips. “Oh? And how do you know yours are males?”

He slapped his chest with his palm and feigned astonishment. “Do you think a macho man like me would…” he leaned in to whisper in her ear, “choose feminine plants ?”

The way he’d uttered the word plants as if it were something utterly obscene made her laugh out loud. “Okay, I’ll walk along with you. Only because I think you need a keeper.” Well, there was also the thought of his leaning into the back of her RAV-4, loading her things.

Normally, she wasn’t one to play the weak woman role, but he wore worn jeans that hugged every curve and showcased every bunch and stretch of his thigh muscles as he moved. Was she a perverted woman for wanting to see him bend over in those jeans? It was a simple question and, frankly, Charlotte, she didn’t give a damn.

She walked him to her car and unlocked the hatch. He grabbed two cans of paint and bent over to place them inside.

Mental fist pump. Score!

Next, he grabbed the boxed fan and bent over to put it in.

Sweet Lawd, I’m going to hyperventilate in a second. What an ass he’s got!

He picked up a brass pot and a bag of soil she was going to use to repot a palm for one corner of her office.

Would he notice if I bit his ass? Just once?

With gentle movements, he set her plants inside.

God, if my panties get any wetter, I’ll have to swim to my door. Just look at how his jeans fit. Like lover’s hands.

Boyd turned to her. “Are you feeling okay? You’re flushed and breathing rapid.” He pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. “Are you a diabetic? Do you need to eat?”

Now, there was a loaded question if ever she’d heard one.

She waved an open hand. “Oh, I’m fine. Really. You can put the rolled carpet on my ass…er…seat.” She laughed weakly. I am such an idiot!

He stood there and stared at her as if he’d heard the last marble roll out of her head. “Graci-Ella, were you watching me a little too closely as I was bending over to load your car?”

Humiliation hopped in. “Of…of course not!”

He leaned next to her ear. “I hoped you hadn’t noticed I’m going commando.”

A couple seagulls cawed overhead. Graci-Ella gasped and backhanded his abs. “That was TMI, buster.”

“Now don’t get angry with me. If I offended you, I apologize. Other than the women at the station, I haven’t talked to many since my divorce. Obviously, I’m rusty as hell.” He glanced away for a few seconds. “For all I know, you’re already involved with someone. Although I’d like to think you’d tell me not to touch you, if you were.”

“I’m not seeing anyone. And, yes, I’d have told you to back off if I was.”

“I’ve got my beeper on in case there’s an emergency somewhere. Would you like to go to Ryder’s Health Bar for a fruit smoothie?”

“I’ve heard of that place, but I’ve never been there. Sounds great.”

“Ryder dates Ivy Jo. He’ll enjoy meeting you since you’ll be taking pictures of his Sugar Doll, as he calls her. I guess we should both drive our cars in case I have to leave in a hurry.”

“Okay. I’ll follow you then.”

He leaned and rubbed his cheek against hers the way he’d done last night. For some reason, she found it the most sensual action. Her hands slipped up his t-shirt over hardened muscles. “Sweetness, you need to think long and hard about dating a man with a child. Especially with a little boy, who has a physical condition that can ruin date plans at the last minute. There will also be times when we’ll have little privacy. Matt loves to be included. I can’t say he’s spoiled, but he is excitable. There’s no use in our starting a relationship if that kind of life doesn’t appeal to you. Take your time and think it through. My work hours are a hindrance, as well. I work forty-eight hour shifts and then have forty-eight off.”

He retreated and pushed the cart with his case of chrome cleaner and male plants to his gray Mustang.

She got in her car and closed the door, watching him in her rearview mirror as her female parts cooled down. There was something appealing about the man—his honesty, his sexuality and his devotion to his son.

Could she become involved with a man and his child? The kind of relationship she had with the man was more important. How he treated her. She’d always gotten along well with children and was the most popular babysitter in her hometown neighborhood when she was a teenager.

She followed him a few blocks to street with touristy shops. Boyd helped her out of her car, took her hand and opened the door to the cool interior of Ryder’s. Jamaican music whispered from the speakers. Ryder’s bald head rose from the plate of fruit he was fixing for a customer. A wide smile greeted them both. “Tiny, my man! Who’s the doll you’ve got your fingers locked with?” He jerked his chin to two empty stools in front of him. “Sit and introduce me.”

“Ryder, this is Graci-Ella, the photographer who’s doing the calendar for the fire department.”

Ryder wiped his hands on a paper towel and passed the fruit tray to a waitress. Then he crossed his muscled arms and leaned back against the counter where he stored the glasses and flavorings. “Oh, I know one little Sugar Doll who’s going to get her pretty ass smacked. She told me the photographer was an ex-Ranger and kind of cute.” He snatched a bar rag and wiped circles in front of them both. “She had me worked up into quite a jealous lather, me being an ex-SEAL and her main squeeze.” He grinned. “Oh, she will so pay.” He winked at Graci-Ella. “God, I do love my Ivy Jo. How come you women have to get us all worked up? Hell, it took three times to get me to calm down enough to agree to it. Had she told me someone like you was the person taking the pictures, I’d have agreed right away.”

“Maybe that’s why she fibbed a little. Look at what she got out of it.” Graci-Ella winked back. Boyd’s knee leaned against her thigh and her sex started pulsing.

Ryder laughed. “Yeah, you got me there. So, what are you two having?”

She knew a man’s blood could drop from his brain to his gonads, but she’d never experienced it herself, didn’t know it could happen to a women. So, she stared at the menu, trying to calm herself. Boyd ordered and she finally chose, too.

While Ryder made their icy drinks from fresh fruit, she asked Boyd questions about Matt. Boyd’s face brightened; the man dearly loved his son. “Sometimes he acts like an old man. It’s the strangest thing, the wisdom this kid’s got.” He waved an open hand. “And I’m not just saying it because I’m his dad and I’m prejudiced or anything.” His gaze turned to her and he gave her a sheepish grin.

“My grandma used to say a child who behaved or thought like that had an old soul and was destined for good things.” Graci-Ella suddenly missed the grandma who was always in her corner while her parents focused on Eli’s many activities.

Sadness swept across Boyd’s face like a hand smoothing sand. “If I can keep him alive between the asthma and pneumonia. Which is why I have to win the custody battle. His health issues really bother me.”

“Is Matt’s doctor going to be a witness at your hearing?” She sipped her lemon-lime drink.

“Yes. His pediatrician has agreed. Matt is in a pattern. Two, maybe three, days after spending the weekend with his mother, he’s in the hospital with a severe asthma attack that’s progressed to pneumonia. It’s too hard on him.” He took a long drag of his blueberry pomegranate smoothie.