After walking up the brick steps, I take a deep breath and rub the back of my neck while trying to figure out what I’m going to say to this woman. I ring the doorbell and wait and wait. I’m about to give up and leave when the door opens, and I nearly swallow my tongue. No wonder old man Jacobs had a heart attack. The sight of this girl makes me forget my reason for coming to her house. She’s short and perfectly curvy, with wavy, pink-tinted, blonde hair. There’s a flush covering her heart-shaped face, and I’m not sure if it’s from the earlier sun exposure or if I’m making her blush with my blatant staring.
Her cornflower-blue eyes widen for a second before she finally asks, “Hello, is there a problem?”
What is happening to me? I’ve never felt anything like this in all my life. There is a problem—a huge problem. I want to grab her shoulders and give a little shake as I tell her, “You just changed my entire life and left me reeling.” But she’d think I’ve lost my mind. I don’t want my soon-to-be wife and the future mother of my children thinking I’m crazy on the first day we meet. I’ll let her figure out my little idiosyncrasies along the way. I mean, these quirks just showed up when she opened the door, so we’ll learn them together.
Pulling myself together, I look up from the fluffy, pink robe covering her and hold out my hand. “I’m Trace Remington, and I live on Reardon Heights Circle. Would you mind if I come in and speak with you?” As she looks up and smiles shyly at me, I’m impressed at how normal my voice sounds. You’d never know my world is completely off its axis right this minute.
“I’m Paige Reilly. Please, come in.” She holds her door open after shaking my hand, and I’m still recovering from the electrical current shooting through my body. It takes me a second to realize she’s stepped back and is waiting on me. Looking up, I notice one side of the robe has slipped off her shoulder a tiny bit, and a groan almost escapes from my mouth. As I follow behind Paige, I force myself to ignore her beauty and instead look around the home.
“Please, have a seat.” She points at the leather sofa, and I force a smile past my clenched jaw and sit across from her. She sits and I take a deep breath, trying to remember my reason for coming here. I blink when she smiles and turns her head to the side. “So, Trace, you said you needed to speak with me?”
I look into her concerned blue eyes and nod. “I don’t know if you heard all the commotion, but your elderly neighbor had an emergency today.” My mind is still on overload, and I’m having trouble processing my thoughts.
Paige shrugs and shakes her head. “No, I’m sorry. After working in the house, I put on headphones and sunbathed on my back deck.” She raises her hands in front of her, and I can see the confusion run through her eyes.
After running my hand down the back of my neck, I try to explain, “Mr. Jacobs, your neighbor, uh…” Wow, this is more difficult than I expected. “He was in his attic watching you sunbathe, and he went into cardiac arrest from your beauty.”
As Paige’s eyebrows shoot up, her mouth pops open to form a perfect O. She blinks several times before standing and pacing the room. Paige turns and opens her mouth for a second, and I wait as her eyebrows pull together in a frown. She shakes her head and stomps off to the kitchen. When I follow her, I find her fighting to open a bottle of wine. I lay a reassuring hand on her arm and take the wine from her.
“Let me help you.” As I take the bottle from her, our hands touch and electricity again shoots through every nerve in my body.
After I open the wine, Paige snatches the bottle out of my hand and shocks me by drinking it right from the bottle before turning back to me. She throws her hands out to the side, sending wine sloshing from the open bottle. “It’s not every day you hear you’re responsible for someone’s heart attack.”
“You’re not at fault. He shouldn’t have been spying on you.”
Her blue eyes flash a second before she spins and paces the kitchen. “I still feel horrible.” Paige drops onto the barstool and bites her bottom lip. “Is he okay?” She sounds worried.
“He’s going to be okay. The paramedics resuscitated him before flying him to the hospital in Denver.” She sits back and silently stares at the countertop for a few minutes.
I rub the back of my neck and grab the bottle of wine off of the counter, and almost take a sip until I realize I’m still on duty. I’m really losing it. I put the bottle down and look up at the ceiling. “What a day.” It’s not every day you fall for a girl the second she opens the door. The same girl who just gave her neighbor a heart attack. This should make for a great story to tell our grandkids.
As Paige looks up at me with a raised eyebrow, I shrug and point at the wine bottle. “I can’t drink since I’m on duty. Have a little for me.” I wink, and she smiles before taking the bottle and sipping a little. “Now, since we’re in this crazy mess together, can I interest you in dinner later this week when I’m not on duty?”
Paige leans against the counter and thinks for a second, then smiles. “I was planning to try out a new recipe tomorrow night. Are you free to come over for dinner?”
I was hoping to bring her over to my place and pull out all the stops to impress my girl, but I’m willing to take whatever I can get. “That sounds great. Then I’ll return the favor soon.”
We agree on a time, and she walks me to the door. I kiss the tip of her nose on my way out, and I’m so caught up in my Paige fog that I almost forget the China Garden on the way back to the station. This girl has completely taken over my thoughts.
Chapter Two
Trace
It’s the longest evening and night of my life. It’s like everyone at the firehouse is trying his best to get me to lose my mind. My brother finally realizes I’m barely hanging on and steps in to control the other firemen. I’m standing on the back patio, trying to gather my thoughts when Rory walks out.
“Man, you need to go get your girl so we can get back to normal. The guys are asking for hazard pay.”
As I’m about to tear into him, it hits me that I’m so twisted in knots by my feelings for Paige; I don’t know what end is up right this minute. Running my hand down my face, I sigh. “I know. She’s the one and I don’t want to mess this up.” I blow out the breath I’ve been holding and look up at the dark sky. “I have to take my time with her, and I’m so twisted around I don’t know what end is up.”
My brother pats my back sympathetically then heads for the door. He turns before walking through and smiles. “Please, just kill me before I fall in love. This is for the birds.”
I spend the rest of the night watching a clock that hardly moves and picturing my girl. Pictures of her run through my mind as I imagine our life together. What is happening to me? Yesterday, I was happy with my bachelor life, and today, I’m ready to settle down with one woman forever.
After a sleepless night, I spend the day counting the minutes until six o’clock. I’m like a teenage girl. It takes me two hours to get ready, and I change clothes three times before deciding to wear the first outfit I had on my body. This girl has me tied in knots. Roger sits on my bed and stares at me like I’m crazy. At this point, I have to agree with my roommate. I’ve completely lost my mind over this girl. He’s one lucky feline. Since he’s fixed, he doesn’t care if females are attracted to him or not.