Page 8 of Fire Fight

“Toots?” Aspen asked.

“She’s warming up to you.”

Aspen snorted. “Well, I hope everyone else in town warms up as quickly.”

“Dusk Valley is the best. I’m sure they will.”

“Did you grow up here?”

“Sure did. Born and raised.”

“How long have you been a firefighter?”

“Since I was eighteen.”

“And how old are you now?”

“Thirty-one.”

Her eyes widened and brows raised. “Your captaincy is impressive at your age.”

“You can’t be much older than me.”

“Thirty-three,” she admitted.

“Exactly.”

“So you joined the fire department here right out of high school then?”

I grimaced at the memories her words unearthed. She couldn’t know the bruise she’d pressed on, reminding me of a time when I’d been a stupid kid and not the mostly well-adjusted man before her.

“Not exactly,” I said. “I applied for the Chicago Fire Department early on in my senior year, and miraculously, my name was drawn in the lottery. After graduation, I moved to Chicago, went through the academy, and worked there for five years.”

“And you’ve been back here since?”

“Nope,” I said proudly, popping thepdramatically. “I spent almost three years in Northern California fighting campaign fires before ultimately moving home and settling in at the DVFD.”

Aspen leaned back in the booth and crossed her arms over her chest. “So you’re a hotshot too. Doubly impressive.”

I raised a brow. “You know what a hotshot is?”

“Please,” she scoffed. “I’ve seenFire Country.”

I couldn’t help it; I tipped my head back and boomed out a laugh. This woman—she was something else. And I was only scratching the surface.

Glancing down at myself, I flicked my gaze up to her and smirked. “You comparing me to Max Thieriot?”

Aspen made some dismissive, disapproving sound in the back of her throat. “Definitely not. You look nothing like him.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “I’m obviously way hotter.”

“You’re incorrigible. And we’re not here so you can flirt with me, Captain.”

“Is that what we’re doing, Miss McKay? Are we flirting?”

God, I fucking hoped so.

“No,” she clipped, far too quickly to be believable.