Page 16 of Burn With Me

“Shit, am I really going to do this?”

Now that I was here, this seemed like the lamest excuse in the world to find this guy. I was positive he was going to see right through it like I was a fake twenty-dollar bill. I was staring at my phone as I thought, not really seeing anything, when a sharp knock sounded beside my ear.

“Shit,” I swore as I jumped, grabbing at my chest with a start.

I knew who it was before I looked, and sure enough, there he was—Hot Guy standing outside my car by my door.

Well, I guess that decided for me. Just play it cool, Vi, play it cool.

I gripped the door handle, and he stepped back so I could get out. “Hi there, just the person I was coming to see,” I said, trying for cool and unfazed.

West crossed his arms over his chest but didn’t say anything. Un-nerving much? His sandy blonde hair flopped messily around his face like he’d just had a shower and was letting it air dry. I instantly wanted to run my fingers through it. Was it as soft as it looked?

Clearing my throat, I continued, “I got assigned the apartment case. My boss thinks it might be connected to the serial arsonist that has been very active lately. I need to go back and investigate, but I was hoping to steal a firefighter to go with me.”

His lip curled up in a smirk. It was really not fair to command that much attention with one tiny lift of a lip, but fuck, it made me squirm inside. “And you chose me. Why?”

Leaning back against the Jeep, I refused to let him see that he was affecting me. The last thing I needed was for this guy to think I was begging for his attention, hell to the f-ing no. Hot or not, I wasn’t the type to beg for a man’s attention.

“You’re a captain and were there. You know the scene firsthand, who did what at the fire to put it out, and if anyone found anything of significance. You were simply the obvious choice.” I shrugged. “So why not you?”

My eyes raked over his body involuntarily like they had a mind of their own that wasn’t attached to anything smart or sensible. Placing his hands on his hips as if he was purposely trying to show off his wide shoulders and muscular chest, I had to stop myself from staring or letting my mouth hang open.

Stare into his eyes, stare into his fucking eyes.

He nodded toward my hand. “I see you went and had your hand stitched. How is it doing?”

I glanced down at the white bandage that made it look like I’d broken the thing and not had seventeen stitches instead. “Oh, bit stiff, but otherwise fine. I wasn’t going to go, but the paramedic guilted me into going.” I shrugged.

West chuckled, and the sound created all sorts of naughty images. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

He rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip, and I watched it like a fucking cat ready to pounce on a mouse, so of course, that was when my mouth ran amuck.

“Did you know that an average, single sprinkler head pushes out approximately twenty-one point two gallons of water per minute? Well, that’s technically only the first pipeline. Then as pressure decreases as it travels throughout a building, it reduces to fifteen gallons per minute.”West just blinked as he stared at me, so of course, I continued rambling. “The average toilet flushes one point six gallons in a single flush, so in reality, it’s like someone flushed nine-point-three-seven-five gallons per sprinkler head, per minute.” I paused which only made the nervous blurting worse. “I wonder if anyone else wonders how many toilet flushes it would take to put out a fire?”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to crawl under my car and die of embarrassment. What the hell was wrong with me?

He smiled wide, and I could feel my face heating to the point that I knew my cheeks and neck would be bright red. “Fascinating. Are you going to tell me about my hose next? Maybe how much pressure it can hold before it would need to be released?”

My mind went blank as my mouth fell open. I ended up sucking in my lower lip, as my throat went completely dry when he burst out laughing. “Alright, Violet Clarke, we’ll start with dinner. If you can convince me why I should help you, then I’ll do it.”

“Um…but I didn’t say anything about dinner.”

“Your eyes did. Meet me here tomorrow night at seven. I need to go home and sleep off my night shift, but I’m off tomorrow. We can pick a place to go then.” He turned away, walking toward a large pickup truck, and I was left standing there with my mouth open.

“Hey, do I get to know your name, or should I just call you West?” I called after him.

He gave me a cocky smile as he looked over his shoulder at me. “You’re the investigator, so investigate.”

Son of a bitch.

Violet

I was never letting Beck talk me into going shopping again. She dragged me into one store after the next until I would’ve agreed to purchase a Big Bird suit as long as it meant that she would let me go home.

Shopping and I were not friends. Much like dating and I were not friends either. Dating and I were like oil and water or vampires and sunshine. Nothing ever stuck. Not one relationship felt like more than I was passing the time with someone just to say that I had a boyfriend. So, my solution had been simple…scratch them all off the dance card, and I’d never be disappointed. So how the hell did I get talked into this nonsense again?

Dinner.