Free Flirting With Fire (Hometown Heroes) by Kyra Jacobs Page A

with another towel. “But I
hate that you’re so far away. And wasn’t there some alley fire not too far from
your office just this week? Fort Wayne is so dangerous!”
    “It’s really not
so bad on my side of town, Sarah. Heck, if I were any further west, I wouldn’t
even be in town. And those fires have all been pretty minor. Probably some dumb
kids or something.”
    “Still…”
    “Trust me, I’ll
be fine.”
    Her eyes
narrowed to mere slits for a moment, then an evil grin blossomed on her face.
“You had a hot guy come in, didn’t you? Why else would those fires not bother
you?”
    “Hey now, you
know I don’t look at my clients like that.”
    “Liar!” She
squealed. “Oooh, look at your face turning red! Ha! I knew it!”
    I put my hands
on my cheeks, more to test their temperature than shield them from view. Warm,
of course, which meant I was guilty as charged.
    Sarah snagged my
arm, dragged me toward the table, then pointed at a seat. “Sit.” She took the
seat across from me and leaned in. “Now dish.”
    I glanced past
her, making sure the coast was clear. The last thing I wanted was for Mitch to
hear this. That man was relentless when it came to teasing, especially about my
love life—or lack thereof. “Okay, so maybe there was a guy who wasn’t too bad
on the eyes…”
    “You’re holding
back. What did he look like? Tall? Beefy?”
    “Beefy?” I
laughed. “Who says beefy anymore?”
    “Stop avoiding
my questions, damn it! I need details!”
    This was the
most excited Sarah had been about any of my jobs since…well, ever. Maybe if I
could convince her that I stood a better chance of finding Mr. Right in Fort Wayne, she’d be more supportive of me working there. And hopefully, eventually me
moving away as well.
    “Okay, okay. He
was tall. And lean. Nice arms, broad shoulders.”
    I paused to
savor the memory.
    Sarah giggled.
“Oh, somebody is definitely crushing on her new client.”
    “Am not. I
just…enjoyed the view.”
    “So, was this
view nice enough to renege on your silly ‘no dating clients’ rule?”
    “Nope, not gonna
happen. Come on, you know me better than that. Besides, he’s got a girlfriend.
Who works at the spa with me. So enjoying the view is all I’ll be doing.
Though, maybe he’s got some hot friends he could set me up with…”
    “Or maybe you could try to lure him away from your coworker. You’ve got six months to
try, right?”
    “Ha! I don’t
think so. He’s totally out of my league.” I looked away from the dirty look she
was giving me and sighed. “And his girlfriend is a total you-know-what. I don’t
want to piss her off.”
    “Well, unless
she’s a masseuse, too, the cards are definitely stacked in your favor. I mean,
who wouldn’t want to marry hands as talented as yours?”
    At that moment, Mitch
walked in with one last dinner plate. Hallelujah, I’d been saved. Now maybe we
could get off the Torrunn topic and Sarah’s attempt to plant traitorous ideas
in my head.
    “Sorry, don’t
let me interrupt.”
    I jumped up and
took his plate, then tossed him a look of mock irritation. “Thanks a lot.”
    He just smiled
and headed for the refrigerator. I tossed my towel over one shoulder and crossed
the room to drop his plate into the murky remains of our soapy water. As I
watched it disappear beneath the surface, I realized my only hope of escape
from this conversation was a solid diversion. But what could possibly trump hot
guy talk?
    I plucked a glass
from the drying rack and opened the cupboard directly above me. The one that used
to hold all of their glasses, but now contained nothing but bowls, aligned by
both size and color. “Uh, did you move the drinking glasses?”
    Sarah pointed to
a cupboard on the other side of the sink. “Over there.”
    And there it was—the
perfect detour from our prior conversation. “Hmm, I thought nesting didn’t
start until the second trimester. Or was it the third?”
    Her eyes grew to
the size of