To Tame a Wild Firefighter (Red Hot Reunions Book 2) (9 page)

“I haven’t been kidnapped,” Mick said, rolling his eyes. “I probably forgot to lock the door when I ran up to grab my toothbrush and stuff. It won’t stay closed unless you lock it with the key.”

“Then you should fix it,” Maddie said, her voice still thin and half an octave higher than usual. “You’re a handyman for God’s sakes. You almost gave me a heart attack thinking something horrible had happened.”

“I’m sorry. Thanks for calling to make sure I’m still alive.” Mick knew better than to tell Maddie not to worry about him. Worrying was part of Maddie’s genetic code. “I’ll fix it as soon as I get home.”

“And when will that be?” Maddie asked. “And why do you sound so wide awake at four in the morning?”

Mick filled her in on the situation as Faith took the exit to stay on the I-10 West leading down to New Orleans.

“What’s the plan after you get there?” Maddie asked, the clanking of pots and pans in the background signaling that she was starting a batch of something while they talked.

Maddie opened the bakery four out of six days a week, arriving at four in the morning and staying until Naomi relieved her sometime between ten and noon. In four hours she somehow managed to make enough bread, cookies, and cakes to replenish Icing’s shelves for an entire day. Maddie said it was simply a matter of being organized, but Mick suspected there was black magic involved. He couldn’t make a single batch of edible cookies in four hours, let alone a few dozen.

“We’re going to pick up Faith’s mom, and head back home,” Mick said, meeting Faith’s eyes, and mirroring her shrug. They hadn’t discussed the plan in depth, but obviously they were both on the same page.

“Oh, no, you’re not,” Maddie said. “You can’t drive that many hours all in a row. You’re going to have to get some sleep first.”

“Maddie, it’s fine,” Mick said. “We’ll figure it out. Maybe her mom can help drive while we sleep or—”

“No way,” Maddie cut in as Faith gave an exaggerated shake of her head that made it clear having her mom drive would be taking their life into their own hands. “I’m going to book you a hotel room.”

Mick sighed. “Maddie, please, we don’t want to spend a day sleeping off a road trip in New Orleans.”

“Especially not with my mom in the same room,” Faith whispered, with a shudder. “She’ll drive us both insane by supper time.”

“And Faith isn’t up for quality time with her mom right now,” Mick added, hurrying on when Maddie tried to argue. “Faith and I are both responsible adults. Remember, we had this discussion. So trust me. We’ll pull over and rest if we need to. It’s going to be fine.”

Maddie sighed. “I’m calling Naomi.”

“Don’t call Naomi,” Mick said, rolling his eyes. “She’s still asleep and—”

“I’ll call you right back,” Maddie said, ignoring him.

The line went dead.

“Great,” Mick muttered, tossing the phone into the cup holder.

“So she’s calling Naomi.” Faith hummed beneath her breath. “That means Jake will find out, too, and he’s a huge hairy stickler for safe driving. I mean, for obvious reasons, but still…he’s going to give me shit if we don’t stop to rest.”

Mick nodded. “Back when they were in high school, Maddie and Naomi had a friend fall asleep at the wheel after a study date. She flipped her car and almost died. It made them both take the driving-while-tired thing pretty seriously.”

Faith sighed. “What do you think? Should we get a room?”

“We could get two rooms,” Mick suggested. “Your mom could have one, and you and I could share the other. Platonically, of course,” he hurried to add. “Just so you can rest, you know…if you don’t think you’d be able to sleep with your mom around.”

Mick knew he wouldn’t be able to rest with Faith lying in a bed next to him, but at least she and her mom might be able to get refreshed for the ride home. He could get three rooms, he supposed, but it seemed a little ridiculous to spend that much money on beds they wouldn’t even be using overnight.

Faith ran a hand through her hair. “Oh man, I don’t know. That’s going to be so expensive, and I’m already feeling broke after Christmas.”

“Then let me cover it,” Mick said. “Like I said, I just finished a big kitchen remodel job and they—”

“No.” Faith shook her head. “A fancy steak dinner was too much for a casual date, let alone two hotel rooms. It’s nice of you to offer, but I can’t accept that. If we get bullied into getting a room, I’m paying for it.”

Mick cursed himself for opening his dumb mouth. All his talk about not wanting a serious relationship had accomplished was to make things awkward, while doing nothing to weaken the pull he felt whenever he and Faith were together. “Listen, I seriously don’t mind. I’ve got the money to spare and I—”

“What did you mean on the phone just now?” Faith asked, scowling at the darkened highway stretching out before them. “About you and Maddie having had a talk about you and me both being adults?”

Mick sighed. “You don’t miss a thing, do you?”

“Nope.” Faith glanced at him, a vulnerable look in her eyes that made him want to rewind their relationship and start over. “So, what did that mean?”

“Maddie and Naomi were…worried,” Mick said, wishing he were a better liar. But he wasn’t, and Faith deserved the truth. “They didn’t want me to hurt you.”

Faith nodded, but the frown returned to her face. “That’s nice of them, but I don’t need anyone to protect me. Not from you, or anyone else.”

“I know that,” Mick said, hating the hurt in her tone. “That’s what I told them.”

Faith sniffed. “But at the same time, I think they had a point. Because this is dumb. I never should have gone out with you tonight. I knew better.”

“What do you mean?” Mick asked, surprised at how much her words stung. “I thought we were having a good time.”

“We are having a good time,” Faith said. “A great time. But one minute you’re putting your arm around me, and the next you’re saying we’re friends, and I don’t know what the hell is going on. But I do know that this isn’t anywhere on my list of things I want in a guy, or a relationship. I’m not into hot and cold, or head games, and I… Well, I think it’s best if we end this before it gets started.”

“Wait a second,” Mick said. “I’m not into head games, either, I just—”

His phone honked again, making Mick curse beneath his breath.

“Hold on,” he said, answering the phone with a terse, “Hi, Maddie.”

“Okay, we’ve got things all sorted out,” Maddie chirped in an upbeat voice, oblivious to the fact that Mick was in the process of getting dumped. “Jake had Faith’s mom’s information, so he jumped online and booked her a flight back to Atlanta. It leaves at nine a.m. So you two can drop her at the airport, and then head to your hotel. The rooms are already booked and paid for. I’ll text you the address and confirmation number as soon as we hang up. And Jake is going to pick Faith’s mom up in Atlanta this afternoon and bring her home, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“You shouldn’t have done all that.”

“Just say thank you and promise you’ll drive safe,” Maddie said.

“Thank you,” Mick said, figuring what was done was done. “Tell Naomi and Jake thank you, too.”

“I will,” Maddie said. “Say hi to Faith for me.”

“Will do.” Mick hung up and turned to Faith, not sure how to pick up where they’d left off. Finally he said, “Maddie says hi.”

“Yeah, I heard that.” Faith shook her head, blowing out a long stream of air between her pursed lips. “I heard the rest of it, too. I don’t know how in the world I’m going to pay Jake and Naomi back for all that. A last-minute flight must have cost an arm and a leg.”

“You don’t have to worry about paying Naomi back,” Mick said, cutting in when Faith started to argue. “She has more than enough money, and she likes to use it to help people. If you fight her about it, you’ll only make her mad.”

“I don’t care,” Faith said. “It doesn’t feel right. Nothing about this feels right.”

“Apparently.” Mick sighed, glancing down at the phone as Maddie’s text with the hotel name and address came through.

He stared at the screen for a long minute, hating the awkward silence in the truck, but knowing it was his fault. He’d been a fucking idiot. This wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to hold a woman he cared about at a distance, and he wasn’t the type to think about getting girls out of his system like they were some kind of virus that needed to be wiped out with a mega-dose of Vitamin C.

He couldn’t blame Faith for not liking the way things were going.
He
didn’t like the way things were going, and he wasn’t real thrilled with the person he’d become in the aftermath of his last, disastrous relationship. He didn’t know if he’d ever be the optimistic person he was before Bridget, but he didn’t want to stay like this, and he didn’t want to lose his shot at something real with Faith.

They had a connection, and it was way more than physical. Sure, he wanted to make love to her, to get her out of her clothes and into his arms, calling his name in that smoky voice of hers, but he also loved to make her laugh. He admired her work ethic, her commitment to helping the people she loved, and her fiercely independent spirit. She was a force of nature, but easy to talk to, and so fun to be with that not even an all-night drive was all that painful.

It had been fun, actually.
She
was fun, and sweet, and surprisingly vulnerable beneath all her tough talk. He knew she was afraid of letting her guard down with a guy, but she’d still taken a chance on him, a chance he had to make sure she didn’t regret.

“I got out of a really bad relationship last year,” he said, sensing his only chance to salvage things was to be completely honest. “It messed me up pretty bad.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that the other day.” Faith’s eyes remained firmly on the road. “And I’m sorry about that, but it’s not really my problem.”

“You’re right,” he said. “It’s not. It’s my problem because I’m letting all that bullshit ruin my chances with you. I meant what I said that night at the ball—I haven’t felt the way I feel when I kiss you in longer than I can remember. Maybe never. And the time we’ve spent together since then has proven that the attraction isn’t just physical. At least not for me.”

“For me, either,” Faith said softly, still not taking her eyes from the road.

“I really like you,” Mick said, not enjoying the fact that they were driving while having this conversation, but knowing they probably couldn’t afford to pull over, not if they were going to get Faith’s mom to the airport in time for her flight.

“I have so much fun with you,” he continued when Faith didn’t respond. “And I don’t want to lose out on the chance to see where this could go. I’m sorry I got us off to such a bad start, but if you’ll give me another chance, I promise things will be different. I won’t screw up again.”

Faith was quiet for a long moment before she said. “I used to hear that all the time.”

“Hear what?”

“Promises that this time things would be different.” A sad smile twisted her lips. “My mom was always telling me—‘this time it’s going to be different, punkin,’” she mimicked in a sugary voice. “This time, the guy was going to be perfect. He was going to be like a dad to me, and her prince charming, and we were all going to live happily ever after together. Like a real family…but that never happened.”

“I’m not your mom, Faith,” Mick said, gently, wishing he could banish the pain from her past. “And when I say I’m going to fix something, I do it.”

“I know you’re not my mom,” she said, glancing over at him. “That wasn’t what I meant. I guess I just…”

“You guess what?”

She took a deep breath as she turned her attention back to the road. “I guess what I’m saying is that I
know
what it’s like to be messed up by bad things in your past. I’m not exactly peachy-keen with mine, if you know what I’m saying.”

“I do,” Mick said.

She shrugged. “So maybe, between the two of us, there’s too much baggage.”

Mick thought about it for a moment. “Maybe, but to me that feels like letting the dark stuff win.”

Faith’s brow furrowed. “How so?”

Mick hesitated. It wasn’t easy to talk so openly about things like this—about how fucked up and scared he had been last year—but at least Faith was willing to talk, unlike Bridget, who had shied away at the first sign that things were about to get heavy.

“Well,” he said, dampening his lips, screwing his courage to the sticking point, “if I back away from what I feel for you because my last girlfriend made me feel trapped and helpless, then the darkness wins. And I stay the person I am now…a person I don’t really like very much, to tell you the truth.”

“Why not?” Faith asked in a voice not much louder than whisper.

“Because I’ve let myself stay broken,” Mick said, his throat tightening as he realized how true the words were, and how much he regretted it. “I’ve held onto the hurt and copped out on doing the work it would take to get over last year and move on. And because of that, I wasn’t ready when the kind of girl I’ve been hoping to meet for years finally came along.”

Faith turned to him, eyes wide. “Are you for real?”

“I’m for real,” Mick said, heart beating faster. “I’ve never felt anything like the pull I feel every time I look at you. I shouldn’t have ignored that. I should have been fighting to win you over from day one, not hedging my bets or trying not to get in too deep.”