Page 10 of Striking the Match (Redwood Bay Fire #3)

It takes a couple more minutes to finally grab Rocky by the collar.

I probably could have managed it sooner if I’d gotten serious and told him to heel the way Lochlan showed us from his puppy training classes.

But I enjoyed playing chase with the excitable dog for a while and didn’t want to spoil that.

Hopefully I haven’t derailed his training too much.

But it seems worth it by the way his tail doesn’t stop wagging the entire time I’m drying him off with a towel.

By the time we’re done, most of the team is back in the common area, the TV is on, and Del and Yara are in the kitchen, preparing lunch and some kind of baked goods respectively.

I’m on my way to offer any help if they need it, but before I can get there, Captain Valentine leans over the railing from the second floor where his office is.

“Foster,” he calls down, getting my attention. “Telephone.”

I stop and frown. “For me?”

“No, for Elvis,” he replies, dead pan.

I laugh and jog toward the stairs. “Okay, okay,” I say as Lili and Sawyer jeer at me.

But I’ve been here for over a year now and I don’t think that I’ve ever had anyone call me on the landline. If they had, Nancy would have answered in her office then pulled me in there to take it. If Cap spoke to them first, I’m guessing it’s official.

Oh…no. Am I about to speak to the chief or something? Have the One-Two-Two made a complaint about me interfering with their rescue of Miss Kitty-Flow?

Am I about to get canned before I’ve even qualified as a fully-fledged firefighter?

Shaking my head, I reach the captain’s door and let myself inside where he’s waiting by the phone.

Why do I always let my imagination run off to the worst places like that?

I haven’t done anything to warrant a complaint or getting fired, I’m certain.

But Valentine doesn’t give me any clues as he passes over the handset, which makes my stomach tighten despite my best efforts to keep calm.

“Um, hello? This is Teddy Foster speaking.”

“Teddy, hi!” the man’s voice cries out from the other end of the line. Cap nods at me before slipping out of his office to give me some privacy.

I’m glad he did, because I am completely unprepared for the next words to hit my ear.

“It’s Cassius Garda. We met at the animal shelter the other day.”

I’m even more glad no one else is around to see my jaw go slack and my eyes bug out of my face. Wait— what? No…it can’t be…

“Hello?” he asks uncertainly.

I clear my throat and scramble to collect my spiraling thoughts. “Uh…hi. Hello! I mean…uh…”

Why is he calling? This can’t be happening, can it? Not again. I barely survived last time.

“I’m sorry, am I bothering you?” he says. “You’re probably busy. It’s just?—”

“No!” I blurt out before I can stop myself.

As surreal and confusing as this is, there’s a part of my brain that recognizes that it’s also completely awesome. I never thought I’d get the chance to speak to him a second time. Whatever the reason, I’m grateful. And excited. And a little dizzy.

“I’m not busy, but I’ll have to go if the alarm sounds,” I explain.

“Of course,” he says warmly.

“Is, um, everything okay with Flow?” I ask, thinking that’s got to be the only reason he’s calling.

He chuckles, sending delicious shivers down my spine. “Her name’s Kiki now—short for Tequila Sunrise. And, yes. She might be spicy and grumpy and an expert hide and seek champion, but she seems fine.”

“Oh, good,” I say, genuinely relieved. “And that’s a much better name.”

“I know, right?” he says happily, and something within me eases. If I can forget that he’s a football legend, he becomes just a great guy that I’m chatting with. He makes me feel like I’m in on a secret with him, even though we’re not really saying anything of much importance.

I really do prefer Kiki to Flow, however. Having that little tidbit of updated information actually does make me feel like I’m in on a secret with him.

“I hope you don’t mind me contacting the station,” he carries on. “I didn’t want to come across like a weird stalker or anything, but I meant what I said about getting your number so you could visit Kiki if you wanted.”

I blink, my heart immediately thumping harder in my chest. “Really?” I say in barely more than a whisper.

“Yeah,” he replies. There’s so much kindness held in just that one word. “In fact…if you’re not busy, would you be able to head outside for a minute?”

It takes me a second to understand what he’s just said. “Right now?” He hums in confirmation. “Uh, sure. I’d have to hang up, though.”

“That’s okay,” he says, but doesn’t elaborate further.

“Right, okay then,” I say, still confused. “Um, bye then.”

I put down the receiver and give myself a moment to process what’s happening. Then I leave Captain Valentine’s office and head downstairs, hoping no one stops me along the way.

Everyone’s engrossed in their own business, so I manage to slip outside unbothered. When I shield my eyes from the sunshine, I realize the same fancy truck from the shelter is parked in front of me, just out of the way if the rigs need to tear out on a call.

That impresses me. Not everyone who visits the station is always that thoughtful.

But if that Ram Longhorn is here, then does that mean…?

Sure enough, the driver’s door opens, and out steps Cassius Garda.

Jesus Christ. He’s even more gorgeous than I remember.

Brown, glowing skin and defined muscles are on display in the shorts and tank he’s wearing.

His smile is full of perfect, white teeth, but it’s the sparkle in his hazel eyes that really takes my breath away.

His strong, square jaw has just a little stubble on it, and the way his hair is styled with a fade around the sides into short curls at the top makes his oval face seem a little longer.

For the briefest second, I imagine what it would be like to run my fingers along that jaw or against that hair. What it would be like to kiss those smiling lips.

Then I force my feet to start moving again, dragging me back to reality once more. He doesn’t want me ogling him. I’m sure he gets more than enough of that. Just because I know of him doesn’t mean I know him at all.

But what I do know is that he’s here, in front of me, for a second time when the first seemed too impossible to begin with.

“Hello, again,” he says cheerfully. I stop in front of him, unsure what to do with my hands. “I hope showing up like this is okay? Your receptionist said people do it all the time.”

“Yeah,” I croak, then clear my throat before speaking again. “We like to be a friendly point of contact for the community, day and night.”

“I like that,” Cassius says with a nod, looking the building over.

“Well, I know you could get called away at any moment, so I just thought you’d like to say hi to someone?

” He opens the backdoor of his truck where a cat carrier is sitting, wide blue eyes looking back at me from behind the wire mesh.

“Kitty!” I cry in delight, holding out my fingers for her to sniff if she wants. I’m surprised when she inches forward, putting her face closer to my hand. “I wonder if she remembers me.”

“I bet she does,” Cassius says. He’s stepped closer to look at Kiki with me. That means he’s also closer to me. Damn, he smells good. Sweet like vanilla but with something a little woodsy as well, so the scent isn’t overly cloying.

I want an oversized hoodie drenched in it. I’d never take it off.

“We’re actually on the way to a checkup at the vets,” he explains. “She’s having her spaying operation soon.”

“Oh, we don’t want any bad boys getting her in trouble, now, do we?” I joke. But I’m still amazed when he laughs. I did it again. That’s crazy.

“Exactly,” Cassius agrees. “As we were on our way, I thought I’d call ahead and see if you were in. I’m so glad you just got back. Apparently, there was an incident involving maple syrup?”

“Soooo much syrup,” I inform him with a grimace, earning yet another laugh.

“But…yeah,” Cassius continues. I glance back at him and see that he looks…well…nervous. How is that possible? He’s Cassius Garda. “If you’re not interested, I understand. But I’m sure she’d love a visit when she’s in recovery from her hero Uncle Teddy.”

I stand up and subtly shuffle back a bit to put some space between us so I can think straight.

Because I’m finally starting to think that he really means it.

He’s inviting me to come see her. Maybe even at his house.

It seems insane and utterly impossible and yet this is, what?

The third time he’s specifically mentioned it.

Would he really keep pushing the issue if he didn’t mean it?

And then there’s the fact that not only would I love to see her…I’d love to see him. I might have been able to talk myself into a rational interpretation of what happened when we met at the shelter, but there’s only so much I can deny what’s happening when he’s right in front of me again.

For whatever reason, he seems to want to be friends. With me.

“I’d love that,” I eventually manage to utter.

“Yeah?” Cassius says, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree. It makes my heart summersault in my chest.

“Yeah,” I murmur.

He’s already pulling out his phone, eager to get my digits. Mine’s in my locker, but he shows me when he’s sent a text.

And just like that, I have Cassius Garda’s phone number.

Except, in my mind he’s slowly becoming simply Cassius. A real man. Not a famous football star.

“Let me know when Kiki wants some company,” I say, feeling lightheaded. “I’ll come feed her some grapes.”

He smiles and bites his lower lip. “If her human wanted some company, too, how would you feel about showing the new guy around town?”

“But you grew up here,” I blurt out, then curse myself. He just asked to hang out. With me. Teddy Foster, the baby, the probie, the one always getting left behind and forgotten.

“Oh, yeah,” Cassius agrees, looking unfazed by the foot I just shoved in my mouth. “But I left almost twenty years ago when I was a teenager. I’ve been home a lot for the holidays and stuff, but I haven’t lived here as an adult. I’ve never even been to any of the local bars.”

He’s not…he didn’t just ask me for a drink, did he? No. That would be ridiculous.

“There’s lots of cool stuff around here,” I say sincerely. I know some people prefer to move out to the big cities, but I really do think that Redwood Bay has a charm of its own. “I could, um, show you around a bit if you like?”

I want to snatch the words back as soon as they leave my mouth. A multimillionaire surely has all kinds of people that could help him out if he needed. But before I can cringe at myself, he’s already nodding.

“I’d love that, Teddy.”

Of course that’s when the tones sound. “Shit,” I cry, whipping my head around.

“Go!” he says with a laugh, shooing me off. “I’ll message you, okay?”

“Okay,” I say breathlessly, sharing one last look with him before sprinting back inside the station.

The crazy thing is…I believe him. I believe he wants to message me and wants to hang out. I might not understand why, but as I throw myself into clean turnouts, I can’t find the will to care.

Cassius Garda doesn’t just know who Teddy Foster is. He wants to be friends.

There’s no way I’m running away from that a second time. If anything, I’m going to run toward it, just like this fire we’re now on our way to tackle. There’s a chance I could get burned by both.

But that’s a chance I’m willing to take.