Jude wanted to ask how Lyle could know anything about his mood since he hadn’t called but kept his mouth shut. If he reacted with venom when people
did
call him, they’d never want to do it again. And he couldn’t take that. Firefighting and the guys at the station were his whole life.
“E-mail me the details about where I have to go and when, okay?”
“Sounds good. Later.”
“Later.”
Sitting back, Jude settled his hands behind his head. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. At least it would break up the monotony of waking up, going to physical therapy, and feeling sorry for himself that his life had become lately, and he’d be doing something worthwhile rather than continuing to be the drain on society he felt like now.
***
Jude actually had a lot of fun at the shoot. In deference to his knee, the photographer, an absolutely hilarious man named Pedro, let him sit on a block. Pedro had suggested he wear just his pants, suspenders, and hat, and even though Jude felt pretty silly, he agreed, sending up another little thank you that his chest and arms were still in close to peak condition. Pedro snapped picture after picture and yelled ridiculous directions. “Give me more pout! Smolder, baby, smolder!” After the shoot, he said he did that to keep his subjects loose and laughing. Jude had to admit it had worked for him.
“The association’s got me on a pretty tight schedule.” Pedro fiddled with the lighting. “I’ve got a bride and a one-year-old coming in later today.” He flashed a sardonic grin. “I really wasn’t in the mood to tell either the bride or the baby we’d have to reschedule. Oh, and a bunch of pictures for a company’s annual report. Executives aren’t real keen on being told to cool their heels either.”
“Wow, long day for you.”
Pedro shrugged. “It’s the business. I work when there are things to be done, whether it’s at noon or midnight.”
“True. I’ll get out of your hair. Thanks for being so understanding about my injury.”
“No problem. It’s the least I could do, considering what you firefighters risk every day of your lives. Plus, I’m just happy I got to see a hot firefighter in his gear. Lawd have mercy.” Pedro fanned himself, and Jude was laughing when a flurry of white suddenly knocked him off balance.
He clutched at the door frame, cursing as pain shot from his knee up through his hip. He realized, as he managed to right himself, that the blur was a woman, and that both of them were covered in some sort of sauce.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” She began wiping at his T-shirt with her hand, which only spread out whatever it was. Judging by the smell, some sort of salad dressing. The woman turned huge, expressive eyes to him, and he about forgot his name.
“That’s okay.”
She made a derisive sound. “You’ve got oily dressing all over you.”
He shrugged. “It’s a T-shirt. I’ll wash it, and if it doesn’t come out, I’ll throw it away.” For some reason, he wanted to reassure this woman that everything was all right. She looked mortified, with twin spots of color intensifying on her cheeks.
God, she was gorgeous. Curvy, just the way he liked a woman, with long, wavy, dark brown hair and olive skin. Her eyes were also dark. Jude was instantly drawn to her exotic beauty.
“Michaela, what are you doing? I swear, you’re the clumsiest chef I’ve ever seen.” Pedro stood a few feet from them, his arms crossed over his chest as he grinned at Michaela. It was obvious the two had met before.
“My fault.”
Pedro’s gaze flicked to meet his. “Yes, I can see that, since you’ve taken a bath in Michaela’s special house dressing.”
“It’s no big deal.” Jude turned to her. “I’m Jude. Sorry about that. Do you need help bringing stuff in?” His knee protested the idea, but he ignored it. This was the most interested he’d been in a woman in months, and he couldn’t let something like pain stand in his way.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I insist.” Jude noticed the raised eyebrow from Pedro but didn’t spare the man more than a glance. Yes, his knee was killing him and, no, he had no intention of making her aware of that. He waved toward the door. “After you.”
“I need to wash my hands, but I’ll be right out.”
Thankful for the opportunity to make his way outside slowly, Jude concentrated on each step and tried to forget the heated look in Michaela’s eyes. Once at his truck, he pulled his shirt over his head, being careful not to get dressing on his face or in his hair, crumpled it up, and threw it in the back with his other crap. When he turned away from the truck, Michaela blushed and pivoted, reaching for the back door of her van.
Hmmm. Maybe she’s interested, too
.
***
Michaela very much feared she’d swallow her tongue when Jude took his shirt off. He was carrying firefighter gear, so she assumed that was what he did for a living. That would account for arms that looked like he could bench press a small car and a chest any woman would weep to have the chance to run her hands down. Dark brown hair styled in one of those unkempt I’m-trying-to-look-casual styles so popular these days capped off a tremendously appealing package.
Looking down at herself, she made a face, knowing she couldn’t keep her chef’s coat on. She’d only donned it for the ride over and back, since it was hotter than hell in her kitchen, but there was no way she wanted to be seen running around in just her tank top. The girls were barely confined in her DD bra as it was, but the tank top made them even more prominent. She sighed. It was either get dressing all over everything else or bite the bullet and hope she didn’t look too top-heavy.
She removed her chef’s jacket, folded it into itself so the slimy dressing wouldn’t spread, then surveyed what she still had left to bring in. Michaela had intended to deliver the dressing, say hi to Pedro, and maybe get him to help if he wasn’t busy. She had certainly not intended to run into a smokin’ hot guy—literally. She couldn’t regret that her actions had caused him to take off his shirt, though. A man with a torso like that shouldn’t be allowed to wear a shirt. Ever.
Jude lumbered over, and she frowned. Had he been injured when they collided? He was trying to hide it, but he was limping. Michaela swallowed. She’d never forgive herself if he got hurt running into her.
Jeez, considering his career, that would be quite a thing to happen, and just my luck
.
“Does everything go?”
Jude wouldn’t hold eye contact, focusing his gaze somewhere over her right shoulder. Michaela’s eyebrows drew down. Why wouldn’t he look at her? She got her answer when his gaze flickered over her boobs before he quickly looked away again.
Ah, I should’ve known. What can I expect? The girls are right in his face, and he is a man. All man
.
Michaela forced her thoughts back to his question. “Yeah. Pedro said he’s got a busy day today. I often bring food over, since that’s the only way he remembers to eat when he’s engaged in something.”
Quit babbling, you idiot
. He grabbed one of the trays. “Were you posing for the calendar?”
A self-deprecating smile crossed Jude’s expression. “Yeah. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. At least he didn’t make me get naked or something.”
Jude started to walk away, and she got an eyeful of a round, tight ass encased in long cargo shorts. “More’s the pity.”
He stopped and turned slowly. “What was that?”
“Nothing.” She cleared her throat. “I’ll be right there.”
Get ahold of yourself. You’re acting like he’s the first man you’ve ever seen shirtless
.
She grabbed another tray and followed him inside. As he turned to the side to hold the door open for her, she noticed some damaged skin around his knee and had to force herself not to wince. That looked pretty painful. He must’ve gotten that in a fire, she would guess, and pretty recently, from what it looked like. They went inside and she looked again, noticing some healing scars from what looked like knee surgery. Great, and here he was helping her bring stuff inside.
“Here good?” Jude jerked an elbow to indicate a table off to the side.
“Yeah, that’s perfect, thanks.”
He smiled and her hand crept over her heart. With a smile like that, Jude probably lit panties on fire wherever he went. Maybe that had pushed him to become a firefighter. “What’s so funny?”
“Huh? Oh, nothing. I think I’m a little punch-drunk. I’ve been up since four.”
“Four in the morning? Why?” Jude looked astounded, and she laughed.
“I own a café. We serve breakfast and lunch, plus dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. We make everything from scratch, so I need to be in pretty early.”
“Wow. So, wait. If you own the place, how can you be over here?”
“The café isn’t far, and I have a great assistant. She’s in charge right now.”
“We should get you back there, though. I’ll go out and grab the rest.” Her gaze was drawn to his knee and when she looked up once more, he was frowning. “Yes, it’s gross, and yes, I’m hurt, but I can carry a few trays of food, I assure you.”
“I didn’t…I wasn’t….”
Yes, you were
.
“Let’s just go.” His mouth was set in a tight line and her heart ached for him.
“I’m sorry, Jude. I-I thought maybe I’d hurt you when I ran into you. I saw your knee. Whatever happened, I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.”
They brought in the remaining items and then returned to her van. He slammed the back doors shut before turning to her. She didn’t want this to be the last time she saw him, and before her brain caught up with her mouth, she asked, “Why don’t I make you lunch?”
“Lunch?”
“Yeah.” She bit her lip.
Way to be suave
. “It’s the least I can do.”
“Are you sure? I mean, you’re probably busy.”
“I might be, but if you can hang out for a bit, I should be able to talk in an hour or so. Like I said, I have an assistant there. I might as well take advantage of that.”
“Okay. I’ll meet you there.” He hesitated. “Exactly where is ‘there’?”
Michaela giggled.
Now I’m giggling? Good God
. “Sweetness Seventeen.”
“Oh, I know the place. I’ve come in for coffee a few times after getting off an overnight shift.”
Not when I was out front. I wouldn’t have forgotten that face
. “Great, see you in a bit.”
***
When Jude arrived at her café, he’d replaced his soiled shirt with a clean one, and she couldn’t help but mourn the loss of that eye candy. Not that staring into his deep brown eyes or noticing how his full lips practically caressed his coffee cup was a bad thing. Plus, the health department would have a field day with shirtless patrons hanging around the place. Shirtless guys to drool over were not the way to take Sweetness Seventeen to the next level. Michaela needed to focus.
Her good intentions were blown out of the water when she got a free moment, though, and instead of going out to talk to Jude, Michaela skipped to her office and opened her laptop. Feeling a little guilty for spying on him but needing to know what happened, she did a search for recent news about firefighters being injured, and sure enough….
Wow
.
He’d rescued two children and a family dog then gotten disoriented. A wooden beam had fallen, pinning him. She gasped as she read. It appeared Jude himself had pushed the beam off and staggered out of the house. It didn’t say what his injuries were, but it was obvious his knee had taken the brunt of it.
Closing the laptop down once more, she put on a smile and went out front to his table. “How is everything?”
“So good. This grilled thing is amazing.”
Michaela laughed. “That’s a pesto chicken panini with asiago cheese.”
He smiled. “Yeah, that.”
“Do you mind if I sit down?”
Jude motioned to the other chair with his hand full of panini. “No, go ahead. You own the place, right? Not for me to say where you can and can’t sit. Besides, it’s nice to talk to someone other than my physical therapist.”
She sat, pulling at the bottom of the clean chef’s coat she’d put on as soon as she’d cleared the back door of the restaurant. “So, um….”
“You can ask what happened.”
“I assumed you didn’t want to talk about it.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter if I do or if I don’t. It won’t change anything. I won’t miraculously recover like nothing happened.”
“True. Well, all I really wanted to say is that I have a huge amount of respect for firefighters. I don’t know how you guys do it. Fire scares me. I’m a total chicken when working the grill in the back.”
“It’s unpredictable, that’s for sure. But someone has to do it.”
“You’re playing it off like it’s not a big deal, but it is to me. In fact, I think I’m going to start offering free coffee to all first responders. That would be police, fire, and ambulance workers, right?”
“Yeah. Are you sure you want to do that?” He stretched out his leg, rubbing near the top of his knee. “That could get expensive.”
“Well I would do just regular or decaf coffee, not all the specialty stuff. Do you think it would be okay if I excluded those?”
Jude grinned. “Anything is awesome, Michaela. I’m sure it would be appreciated.” He popped the last bite of his sandwich in his mouth. “How much do I owe you?”
“I’ve got it, remember? I spilled dressing all over you a few hours ago.”
He frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Completely.”
“Well um, could I take you to dinner tonight? It’s Wednesday, so I assume you’re not open for dinner.”
“We’re not….”
“But…?”
You idiot. Say yes. You can inventory anytime
.
“Nothing. Just needed to rearrange a few things in my head. I’d love to.”
“Where should I pick you up?”
“How about here at seven?”
That’ll maybe still give me time to get stocking done
. “I live upstairs so that should work out well.”
“Seven, it is.” He rose and flashed another grin at her. “See ya later.”
The afternoon crawled along. Michaela was excited about her date and found herself drumming her nails on the counter more than once, then felt guilty that she wanted to get out of the restaurant so badly. Sweetness Seventeen was her life, for good or bad. She loved the place and was pretty proud of herself for what she’d accomplished so far. But her future plans for the café would never be realized if she didn’t push toward them every day.