Page 7 of A Baby for the Firefighter

“And don't feed him so much sugar again.”

I cringed as Eli reminded me of the last time Jake had been over at my place. He'd found one of my emergency snack stashes and ate it. All of it. After that disaster, I'd briefly thought about getting rid of my snack stashes, but really... who was I kidding?

“There might be a few cupcakes,” I said before I could stop myself.

“Cupcakes?” Eli's eyebrows shot up.

Damn.

“Is your friend coming?” Eli asked before I could take back what I'd said.

“We're just friends, okay? We're watching movies, that's all.”

“Right,” Eli said in a tone that told me he didn't believe me even a little bit. “Are you sure you want to have Jake over for that?”

“Can you please just believe me that nothing's going to happen?”

“Okay, okay.” Eli held his hands up. “Nothing's going to happen.”

“Thank you,” I said while quenching the nervous flutters in my stomach. I had no reason to be nervous. I was only meeting up with a friend. Right?

3

Dean

Flames lickedat the walls and the floor groaned underneath my feet. Smoke hung in the air, and even though I wore a mask, I still felt like it was creeping into my nose, carrying with it the sharp acrid smell of burned plastic. This house wasn’t going to last much longer. I knew how these things went. We’d gotten here too late and the fire was too powerful. Any moment now, I’d get the order to retreat.

But I’d heard a cry for help. Someone was still up here, and I wasn’t going to give up on them so easily.

I needed to get them out before the fire could consume them. That was my job.

The billowing smoke made it hard to see, and I couldn’t find them. Not even with the thermal camera.

Breathe, Dean. Keep calm.

The moment I lost my nerves, it was game over. Panicking was a rookie mistake.

But so was underestimating a burning building.

I took another step forward, and then the floor gave way.

With acrack, I tumbled down into the flames below.

And just before the fire could eat me alive, I woke.

Sitting up, I rubbed my face. It had been over a year now since I’d crashed and nearly burned, but it seemed I hadn’t quite recovered yet. At least these dreams had become a lot more infrequent since I’d returned to Oceanport. There was just something about this small town that put my mind at ease, and it wasn’tjustmy cute omega friend, although I’ll admit he played a huge part.

Stretching, I got out of bed, the dream already fading in the morning light. I had a full day of activities ahead of me, and an evening with my best friend to look forward to.

Nothing could really make me feel bad when I had the chance to spend time with Griff. His smiles were so bright that even one would be enough to chase any nightmare away, and I knew just what to do to get one.

I was going to do a little baking today.

* * *

The timer pingedand I grabbed my oven mitts to get the fresh batch of cupcakes I was baking out of the oven. Immediately, the smell of sugar, cinnamon and chocolate filled the kitchen. I drew it deep into my nose as I put the cupcakes on the counter to cool. This was my third favorite part of baking.

My cousin came into the kitchen just as I was putting the icing on the cupcakes. “More cupcakes?” he asked. “I can’t believe you still haven’t given up on that strategy.” But even as he said that, he reached for them. “You can spare one for your cousin, right?”