When the Smoke Clears (Interracial Firefighter Romance) (15 page)

Then a dark sound came from my side. “Kassie.”

I turned to him. Rich rushed his way and tried to hi-five him. He’d had Lorenzo’s hat on his head the rest of the day, refusing to take the thing off.

Rich waved. “Hey, Lou!”

As if finally realizing my son stood on the beach with us, he blinked and looked down to Rich. “Hey, buddy. I see you’re taking great care of my hat.”

“Yeah, Mom wanted me to keep it at home, but I said I couldn’t.”

“Yeah. . .” Lorenzo looked like he was going to say something else, but then, returned his attention back to me. “You look. . .”

“Thank you.” I grinned and tried to fix my face, but nothing would work. Why did he do this to me?

Lorenzo continued to stare.

Uneasiness hit me. Sighing, I shifted my weight to my other foot and pointed behind him. “So, where did you all camp out?”

Lorenzo blinked again. “What?”

“Where’s everybody?” I asked.

“Oh.” He ran his hand over that smooth tanned head and lead us off to a crystal blue ocean where several bulky men pranced around and danced while the black guy from earlier strummed his guitar.

“Oh, cool. I see you have some entertainment.” I kept my pace with Lorenzo’s while Rich rushed in front of us.

“Rockstar had to cover half of somebody’s shift today. The guy came back and relieved him so, he decided to provide us with some tunes.”

We got closer and I caught some of the notes.

“Fire and flames. Fire and flames.”
Rockstar had a mellow voice and he had a keen awareness to sound.
“It’s on and off again. Fire and flames. Will we be together? Can it ever be the same? It’s on and off again. Fire and flames.”

“Did he write that?” I glanced at Lorenzo and caught him checking out my hips. My skin buzzed with energy. I would’ve done anything to have him hold my fingers or touch me. Being near him was making me horny. But I tried to play it off. Hoped to stay strong.

“Really?” I rolled my eyes. “You’re just going to ogle me?”

“What? Oh, I’m sorry.” He rubbed his own eyes and tried to take erase the smile from his face.

“That’s DeShawn!” Rich yelled out and pointed to a boy kicking a beach ball near the shore.

“Who’s DeShawn?” I asked.

“He’s in my class,” Rich mumbled something else and sped off.

“Eh!”

“Oh!” Rich paused and turned back to me. “Can I go over there and play with him?”

“Yes, but stay where I can see you.”

“And our names will explode, and our love will be untold.”
Rockstar’s strumming sped up.
“And I’ll love you until the end. Even if it’s more a sin. Fire and flames.”

Lorenzo pointed to the boys. “I forgot that Brady’s son DeShawn goes to Rich’s school. That’s cool that they ended up in the same class together.”

“Yeah.” I kept my attention on Rich as we continued toward the group of firefighters. Several good-looking women sat near them. And almost all of them wore bathing suits that would make mine appear professional.

Well, at least, I won’t be too sexy and underdressed. These girls are rocking these tiny bikinis. Love it.

“Oh, baby. Fire and flames. Will I ever love again?”
Rockstar’s voice filled the air as he began to hold each lyric a little bit longer, making them rise and fall into a lovely melody.
“Fire and flames. Will our hearts ever see an end? Fire and flames.”

“He really can sing.” I put my focus back on Lorenzo.

Once again, my fire starter was checking out my form. Heat blazed all over me.

“You’re a wicked pervert,” I whispered.

“I’m starting to learn that about myself.” He sighed. “And trust me, it’s not like I’ve never seen a woman before. I just see something. . .I just see something more, when I look at you.”

“You’re just a butt man.” I tried to play it off. “Let’s not make it any deeper than what it is.”

“But it is deep.” He bit his lip and glanced at my bottom again. “So deep. Is it? Fuck. Don’t answer that. In fact, let’s pretend like I didn’t even say that. You were talking about deep conversation, and here I am. . .let’s move on to something else.”

I blushed. “Agreed.”

Tons of kids ran around all of us. Lots of them worked on sand sculptures. I spotted a huge hut off in the right with an elaborate moat glittering with seashells. Two little girls were the artists. They continued their excavation, shoveling up white sand and smoothing a path that flowed with water.

“Those are my twins.” Lorenzo gestured to the girls I’d been staring at.

I checked out their faces. Both had Lorenzo’s hazel eyes, but skin almost as dark as mine. Their hair hung over their heads in huge bushels of pony tails. They had the good stuff. Those thick, strong black strands that could deal with anything that came close to it. I bet Lorenzo spent many weekends combing and detangling their lovely manes.

“They’re adorable,” I said.

“Thank you. They keep me busy, but my sisters help out, a lot.”

“You’re lucky.”

“I’m blessed.”

I gave him an odd look.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“It must’ve been something. You had a weird expression on your face.”

“I was just wondering if you were super religious,” I said.

“I’m not really that spiritual, but I try to go to church when I’m off. It’s good for the girls, at least that’s what my mother says every Sunday when she’s dragging me and them there. I don’t pray as often as I should, except when I’m in the middle of a fire, but I do pray.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I believe there’s something greater than me.”

“That’s deep.”

“Very deep for a first date.”

“Wait a minute.” I waved my hand. “This isn’t a first date.”

“Of course not.” He walked me over to a large orange blanket with a large blue umbrella, providing shade. A big wicker picnic basket sat at the foot. “I made several ham and cheese sandwiches. Then, I wasn’t sure if you ate pork. So, I made a couple of turkey ones. There’s also fruit and chocolate—”

“You made this for me?”

“Well,” he rubbed his hands together as if giving himself something to do. “I don’t know. I could come up with a rational reason, but the fact remains that I’m trying to impress you. So, yes. I made this for you, hoping you would come. Are you impressed?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He gave me his hand. “Please, sit down.”

I checked on Rich, again. He’d made his way to the little boy and they were now kicking the ball back and forth, and apparently doing some sort of Kung Fu kick flips as they did it.

Boys are so weird.

“He’s fine,” Lorenzo said.

“Yeah.” I glanced at Rich one more time and sat down. “I didn’t realize how much he would love the beach. I have to bring him out here some more.”

“I have the twins out here at least twice a week. Think of the beach this way. It’s a massive playground that is sure to provide four hours of entertainment and it’s completely free. I get the girls back home and their covered in sweat and sand, and completely exhausted.”

“Good times.” I winked at him.

“Good times.” He opened the basket. “What would you like?”

“I’m actually not hungry. I cooked before we left.”

“What did you make?”

I stretched my legs out and drew circles in the sand with my toes. “Thai coconut shrimp soup and basmati rice.”

He shut the basket back. “Damn. You’re a good cook, too.”

“No. I can’t cook, but I can follow a recipe.”

He frowned. “Don’t do that.”

“What?” I paused from my circles.

“Don’t lower your worth.”

I rolled my eyes. “Are you about to hit me with another Dr. Phil act?”

He chuckled to himself. “Probably. I’m a Virgo. We tend to know everything there is about everything. The good thing about me is that you can tell me to shut up, and I’ll listen. Should I be quiet?”

“No. You’re fine.”

“Either way. You’re a good cook. Don’t diminish it. Not many people decide to throw together a Thai Coconut Shrimp soup on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I bet it tasted good.” There was something about the way he said those words and gazed at my lips. “I bet it tasted. . .amazing.”

My breathing grew heavy. “It did.”

“You’re beautiful, Kassie.”

I shouldn’t have, but I blurted it out, “I love it, when you say that to me.”

“Good, I’ll make sure to tell you that every day.”

“You’re going to be calling me, every day?”

“Or visiting.”

“You don’t have my address.”

“This is a small, beach town, Kassandra Jones.”

“You’re being creepy, again. How should I deal with that?”

“I’m not sure. I’m usually not this creepy with women.” He winked. “I’m usually pulling them off of me.”

I crossed my legs. “I bet.”

“You’re beautiful. Jesus.” He shook his head and cursed under his breath. “Anyway. . .so I want to read something you’ve written?”

“No way.”

“I can’t read any of your works?”

“No. You’ll know too much about me.”

“Hmmm.” He pulled out his phone and began messing around with it.

“What are you doing?”

“Searching for your books.”

“Hey! Don’t do that.” I tried to grab the phone from him.

He blocked my hands. “No. I must find out everything there is to know about you.”

I laughed. “You might not like what you read.”

He held the phone high in the air and kept my arms down with the other hand. “I bet I’ll get addicted to your words just like everybody else.”

After a few more seconds, he released my arms and tapped some more into his device. “There we go. I’ve bought three books.”

“Oh, God. Which ones?” I covered my face with my hands.

“
Hot Seduction
,
The Nanny,
and
The Wench’s Tail
.”

“Just awesome.” Embarrassment blazed all over my face. “Those are my freakiest books.”

“I know.” He beamed. “These books were recommended on the. . .” He checked the blog’s name. “This is
Slutty Reader’s
top three picks.” He shook his head. “Women and their books. You all can be such nasty creatures when you’re alone with words.”

“Words do make people nasty.”

“Yes. They do.” He turned off his phone and set it on top of the basket. “I’ll have some hot reading tonight, while I lounge in my bubble bath, stroking my little duck.”

“Wow. That’s so good I’m going to use that for a character’s dialogue.”

“The hero or heroine?”

“The villain.”

“Ouch.” He fake pouted.

Rich raced over to our blanket, getting a little sand on my legs. “Mom, can I go with DeShawn to the sand bar?”

“Uh.” I twisted my lips to the side and rose to see where it was. Far out, people stood on top of it several feet from the shore. “I don’t know.”

“But DeShawn can swim and I can swim and—”

I stopped him before he continued his argument. “Still, let me just come out there with you two.” I pulled off the straps to my dress. The fabric fell to my feet. I’d forgotten about the sexy swimsuit I had on. I could’ve sworn Lorenzo cursed behind me. By the time I turned his way, he’d jumped up and yanked off his shirt.

“I’m coming, too” Lorenzo announced.

“We’ll be fine.” I stepped out of the dress. The breeze blew against my flesh and tickled me.

God, this is a really beautiful day.

Rich had already rushed off to the water. His friend stood on the edge, gripping two small surf boards. Once my son got to him, he handed the incredible hulk board to him and they dove into the crystal blue, paddling with their hands and racing to the sand bar.

“Rich, hold up!” I rushed their way, not wanting too much distance between us. I’d lost a good friend to water. My childhood buddy, Keo, had died at the age of eight. The whole situation had never sat well with me. Kids weren’t supposed to die so fast and so easily. At one moment, him, four other kids, and I had been playing next to a pool. My mother called us in. We all ran that way, never looking behind us. In those moments, Keo had slipped in. No one knew when. But it didn’t matter. He couldn’t swim.

That summer, the whole neighborhood made it a point to teach all the kids how to swim. I kept that theory in my head, when I became a mom. Rich knew the breast stroke by five years old. By now, he could outrace me in the water. But that still didn’t keep my heart from booming fast in my chest, whenever he got too close to the dangerous sea.

“You’ve got a good soul,” Mama Ganga had said, “But you’re all types of broken. I can smell the fear coming off you like you haven’t washed in days.”