Free Sex and the Single Fireman: A Bachelor Firemen Novel by Jennifer Bernard Page B

spread through her, as if at any moment a hot air balloon might lift her off the ground.
    That delicious state of mind disappeared the instant her shift ended and she spotted the beige Mercedes parked in front of the fire station. A man leaned out the window and called to her in his three-pack-a-day voice, “Munchkin! Over here.”
    She skidded to a stop. “ Max? What are you doing here?”
    “We need to talk.”
    “You shouldn’t be here.” She looked desperately over her shoulder, where the other members of her shift were beginning to filter out of the station. How did he know where she worked? How had he found her, and why?
    Max grinned at her, his white capped teeth gleaming in the sunshine. “Better get in if you don’t want anyone to see you.”
    “This is kidnapping.”
    “Semantics, my little munchkin.” His raspy laugh sounded like coffee percolating. “You look fabulous, by the way. I always told them they should let you grow up on the—”
    Sabina yelped and ran to the passenger side. “Don’t say anything. I’ll get in if you shut up until I say you can talk.”
    “Your wish is my command. Haven’t I always done whatever you asked? Didn’t I get you that tutor—?”
    “ Shut up! ”
    Max cackled and put the Mercedes into drive. It purred forward like a beige panther in heat. Sabina ducked down to avoid the openmouthed stares of the B shift.
    “Sorry for the ambush. You forced me into it. Bad idea, ignoring my calls and texts. A power player like me isn’t used to that.”
    Sabina cursed at him, using every inventive swearword she’d picked up during ten years on the fire lines.
    Max cocked his head, showing off the sculpted waves of his artificially chestnut toupee. “Now that I am used to.”
    Sabina peered out the window and saw they’d put a healthy distance between them and the firehouse. She sat up. “Okay, what’s the deal, Max? This is completely out of line. How’d you even find me?”
    Max gave her a thorough, appreciative once-over. “I have to hand it to you, Sabina. I wouldn’t have recognized you if I didn’t know better. Where’s the adorable imp Taffy McGee, that chubby mischief maker, the modern-day Shirley Temple with curls like morning sunshine, according to USA Today ? See how I still know all your reviews? My God. The most famous child actress in America, hiding in plain sight in a California firehouse. Who’da thunk it?”

 
    Chapter Eight
    S he should have known. She should have known . Of course ignoring a manipulative Hollywood agent wouldn’t make him leave her alone. “What do you want, Max?”
    “I take it your Bachelor Firemen don’t know who you are? Love the concept, by the way. Bachelor Firemen. Mmm. I bet Lifetime would snap that up in a second.”
    Desperation ate at Sabina’s gut. “If I promise to play nice, will you forget about the station? My life has nothing to do with Hollywood anymore. And I don’t want them knowing. Please, Max. You were never an asshole. Well, you were, but not about everything.”
    “Make sure you put that on my tombstone,” he said in a dry rasp. “ Here lies an asshole, but not about everything. Where can I take you out to lunch that won’t blow your cover?”
    Sabina played with the end of her braid. The feel of it grounded her; as Taffy, she’d always had short curls. “We’ll have to get out of San Gabriel. And I have to be back by three.” Today she was taking Carly, her “Little Sister,” to baseball practice, but that information was off-limits to Max. “Mind driving to Camino Ranch?”
    “What’s another hour on the freeway?”
    “I’m going to nap until we get there. I just got off a twenty-four-hour shift and I don’t have the strength for this.”
    “Go right ahead, munchkin. When you wake up I’ll ply you with sweets like the old days. Hello, darling.” She started, until she realized he was now talking into his Bluetooth. He ought to get a phone chip implanted in his brain.
    She