Free Let It Burn by Dee Ellis Page B

to fix my hair, which was piled in a purposely messy topknot, with wide bangs sweeping over my left eye. Adjusting my glasses, because I had no patience for contacts this morning, I noted how flushed I looked. I was nervous and for all the wrong reasons.
    Besides wanting to make a good impression on Sara, on the other staff at the library, I wanted to make a good impression on Cage. On the Coopers, really. I was so grateful for how welcoming they had been so far.
    When I had met Regan this past Saturday she had been warm and had laughed easily like her father. She talked a little about her sisters, Tegan and Gigi but hadn’t mentioned Cage. The girls had apparently taken charge of the decorating and in fact, seemed excited about it.
    As I adjusted my pencil skirt, smoothing my hands over my too wide hips, I realized I was anxious. I had heard little about Cage so it made me all the more curious. Making a face at my reflection as I dusted non-existent lint from my pink cardigan and matching tank, I silently reminded myself what curiosity did to the cat.
    “It killed the bitch.” I said aloud, squaring my shoulders as I headed back out.
    The atrium was much like a commons at a college; with sections full of couches and low tables, a corner with a winding low book case with comfortable loungers situated in front of it and another with high top tables featuring laptops, and a wall of study aids and text books. It was perfect for gathering small groups.
    Before I had gotten busy this morning, with library work then my brief and strange talk with Mr. Cooper, I had readied an area for today. I spent a lot of time prepping the lounge area; besides setting up pamphlets and posters detailing life as a fire fighter, I had spread drinks and snacks on the low book case. Sara was waiting there with the students, our speaker keeping her in rapt attention as they spoke.
    With his back to me, I saw immediately I had been a little right. He was every bit as imposing a figure as his father based on his massive size alone. Taller than Sara by at least a foot, which meant even taller than me, he was a mountain of a man.
    He was dressed dark in faded jeans, boots and a dark navy Chicago Fire Department t-shirt, a badge with 71 centered in it stretched over his wide back. Thick arms were bent at his sides, hands on his hips as he charmed Sara.
    I say charmed because she was gazing up at him much like she had his father days before. I noticed one entire arm was darkened with tattoos and I wanted immediately to know what they were. As they talked, he rocked on his heels a little, fingers drumming at his hips. Anxious too, maybe?
    Realizing I hadn’t moved since starting my sneaky once over of him, I silently cursed myself for being so silly. Then he spun and my eyes flashed to Sara’s and I watched hers widen, head tipping towards him. I frowned at her, my entire face turning up and then I focused on him again. He was smiling. Brightly, with the deepest, sexiest dimple in the left side of his cheek.
    Watching me as I watched him. I had not expected him. Well I had, but not... this him. If his father was a handsome, warm man I wasn’t sure what you might call Cage Cooper. Because handsome hardly did him justice and he was a whole hell of a lot more than warm. I felt hot and sticky even in the always cool air of the library.
    With dark hair, short on the sides and tangled and longer on top, and warm honey-hazel eyes, he was stunning. I thought I had always used that word properly before. I was good with words. But I had always been wrong. Because Cage....he was stunning. With a defined jaw that models would sell their soul for, a perfectly straight nose, that dimple and a smile warmer than the fields back home on a hot July day, he was fucking stunning.
    Not just stunning. Fucking . Stunning. The CFD shirt he wore seemed to be ill fitting, barely containing the mountains and valleys of his impressive chest and narrow waist. Massive arms like tree