My lips twitch at Hayley because a) she is definitely well on her way to being drunk and should probably switch to water soon, and b) what I wouldn’t give to see Renee relax and give me an in. I’m just as mesmerized by her as I was the first time I saw her, after we crashed to the ground with her on top of me.
Renee shakes her head and turns her attention back to me. Her expression goes from “yes, I’m open for business” to “cautious and suspicious” in the blink of an eye. What caused the sudden change? “So . . . Mr. Rossi. Caught any other realtors this week?”
“Haven’t had much time. I’ve been too busy working and wondering if my damsel in distress might call,” I say with a half smirk, hoping a little charm might get us back on track. It doesn’t.
“Working as a lieutenant?” she asks.
“Yes . . .” I say cautiously, sensing a sharp edge in her tone.
“Where?”
Scotty inserts himself back into the conversation, breaking our confusing face-off. “Marco here is my boss. We’re firefighters at Firehouse 101.”
“Is that so?” Renee says, crossing her arms over her ample chest, instinctively drawing my eyes there. Her body language tells me we’ve now moved on from cautious and shot straight to dead and buried.
“My sister doesn’t like firefighters,” Blondie announces, sounding a little disappointed at that fact. “Bad past with—”
“Hayley . . .” Renee warns, but Hayley is too far gone. Her lips tip up into a lopsided grin as she steps forward and loops arms with Scotty. “But that just means more for me.” She looks between the two of us and waggles her brows suggestively. “I’m always up for some fun.”
“And then I lost her . . .” Renee murmurs with a resigned sigh, and I have to agree with her.
Scotty has never been one to shy away from fire bunnies, and when he straightens and steps out of my hold to move close to Hayley, I know he knows he’s snagged himself a live one.
“So,” Scotty says, slinging his arm around Hayley’s shoulders and grinning down at her. “Does my fire bunny wanna dance?”
I groan, my head dropping back and my eyes going to the roof. His line seems to work though, ‘cause Hayley nods and buries a giggle into Scotty’s chest.
Renee reaches for her sister’s arm, brows knitted together, but Hayley just grins at her while Scotty nuzzles her neck. “I’m just gonna go . . . over there, Ren” she announces, melting into my drunk friend. Hayley looks between Renee and I, and flails her arm in the air, gesturing between us. “You two should get acquainted. You know . . .” She leans in, not being subtle. “See what pops up.”
Renee grimaces and shakes her head with absolutely no amusement there at all. Wow. I wonder who shat in her Wheaties. I’m rethinking my first read on the woman.
“Hayls, remember the rule. Text me if you’re going to leave.”
Blondie turns and grins at her sister. ”Yes, Mom.”
We turn and watch Hayley and Scotty stagger onto the dance floor, both of them laughing and hanging off each other. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that those two are a sure thing for the night. There was a time years ago when that would have been my main goal when going out to a club too. Nowadays, not so much. I’m definitely a quality-over-quantity kind of guy. That comes with age and experience, I guess.
“Should we be worried about those two?” I ask, trying to break the icy aura now surrounding this brunette goddess.
“She’s fine. Your friend seems harmless. Hayley is big enough to make her own choices, however misguided they might be.” Her tone is flatter than the Indiana plains, and there’s no doubt in my mind that any interest she felt for me has waned. But my mama didn’t raise a quitter, and I’ve always been a fan of mysteries. I never give up until that last piece is in place and the riddle is solved.
“So . . .” I look down to the ground and spot the same silver heels she was wearing a week ago when we first met. “Fallen into any buyer’s arms lately?”
I’m aiming for a lip twitch but get a clenched jaw instead.
I’ve never seen such disdain shown for my profession before. Not an obvious one, anyway.
I study her while her attention is on her dancing sister, looking for any sign at all that there’s a way to get the night back on course. I’m not quite ready to give up on her yet.
“Have you been to ladies’ night before?” I ask, trying to scale the wall she’s surrounded herself with.
“Hmm?” she asks, absentmindedly, not even flicking a glance my way.
“Do you come here often?” I say without thinking. Oh shit, talk about cliché. I open my mouth to take it back, but she beats me to it.
Her narrowed eyes snap to mine. “Seriously?”
I try to muster up some charm in the beautiful face of animosity. “What I mean is, I haven’t seen you here before.” That earns a new quirked brow. She’s totally not going to make this easy for me. She’s a challenge, and I’m hooked on figuring her out.
“Do you come to ladies’ night and try to use your big muscles and suave moves often? Or maybe you just say ‘I’m a firefighter; I’ve got a big hose and I know how to use it’ and wait for women to swoon and fall at your feet?”
My lips curve into an amused smirk. “Would it work on you? Because my next move is to take them to the firehouse and show them my big truck. Then, if they’re really good, I’ll let them slide down my long fireman’s pole.”
Her eyes widen, and I don’t miss the slight quirk of her lips. The fact I’m going toe-to-toe with her seems to have surprised her. It also makes me want to do it again and again.
“Just so you know, I came tonight with my crew because we had a hard night last night. It just coincided with ladies’ night and some of them were coming anyway. I know the owner, so yes, I’ve been here a few times before, but I’ve never seen the ice queen in the corner shooting daggers at me all because she thinks I’m a player without any good reason,” I reply.
“I’m sorry, but your friend is currently pawing all over my sister. I’m not sure the good-guy, knight-in-shining-armor routine you’ve got going on is gonna fly if that”—she points over to where Scotty is indeed acting like an octopus with Hayley—“is the kind of guy representing your crew.”
“Scotty is one of a kind. He’s genuinely harmless, but he is good people.”
“And what about you?” she asks curiously, her hazel eyes pinning me in place. God, that look on her face is doing bad, bad, good things to me. Something about her sass and attitude is hitting all the right buttons.
“What about me?”
“Are you a player?”
“I don’t have time for games.”
“Pity,” she says dismissively.
I frown, completely confused. “Why?”
“Because then I’d have a reason to throw a drink in someone’s face.”
I scoff and shake my head. “So you’re judging me before getting to know me?”
She turns and faces me dead-on. “Look. I might’ve been open to the idea, but Hayley is right, I’m not exactly gung-ho when it comes to guys in uniform. It’s probably better just to end our night here and now. I’m sure you’re a nice guy, Marco, but you might as well quit now and save yourself the trouble.” She returns to her perch, leaning into the table and watching the people dancing in front of us. Why is this woman so damn intriguing to me? I’m like a dog with a bone now.