They closed at four and, despite her anticipation factor ramping up by the minute, she worked until five-thirty, then dashed upstairs to take a shower. Her best friend and assistant, Gina, had insisted they go out on a girls’ shopping night a few weeks ago when Gina had dumped her latest boyfriend, and Michaela could kiss her for that now since Gina had convinced her to buy the purple sundress she’d decided to wear tonight.
After doing her hair and applying some makeup—it had been so long since she’d bothered wearing any, she hoped like hell it hadn’t expired and gotten gross—she went to her hall closet to search for appropriate footwear.
Michaela knelt and started flinging shoes behind her, searching for something suitable. Her bell rang and she looked with dismay at the pile that had built up around her, freezing in place as she debated. Should she try to throw it all back in the closet? Scoot it behind the door? The bell rang again, and Michaela stood.
“Hi.” She blew a stray piece of hair away. “Come on in.”
Jude looked at the pile dubiously. “Doing some redecorating?”
“No.” She debated how honest she should be.
Screw it, he might as well know how crazy I am
. “Looking for something to wear.”
“Did you find them?”
“No. In fact, I didn’t find any shoes I can wear.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh, I’ll pick some because I’m starved, but I didn’t realize when I bought this dress that I didn’t have any footwear to go with it.”
“I’ll trust you on that.”
Michaela took a moment to drink in the sight of Jude in a pair of jeans that made him look so hot he could melt butter in the Subzero freezer at the café. A black T-shirt nicely complemented his hair and eyes and lent him a bit of a dangerous look.
“I’ll just, um, grab one of these.” She knelt and grabbed a pair of sandals before rising and slipping them on her feet. Michaela reached for her purse. “Ready to go?”
“Yep, all set. You look gorgeous, by the way.”
“Thanks, so do you.”
He grinned as if he could see the erotic movie forming in her mind, and heat suffused her face. She locked up her apartment and followed him out to his truck. Jude went around to her side and steadied her as she balanced on the running board to awkwardly climb inside, feeling guilty she was leaning her not-insubstantial weight on the poor guy. If she’d thought about it, she would’ve worn pants. There was no graceful way to enter and exit this vehicle in a dress. If Jude noticed her awkward scrambling, though, he made no comment.
He pulled himself into the driver’s seat. “So what are you in the mood for?”
“I thought we could check out that new place, Left Bank, over on Rhode Island Street. Does that work?”
“Sounds perfect.”
***
When they walked into the narrow, deep building, Michaela was instantly charmed by the aged mahogany bar and exposed brickwork. They were seated on a little rise with just a few other tables and given menus. She wondered if Jude would mind if she studied the menu. Sweetness Seventeen didn’t have the same vibe that Left Bank did, since she preferred to foster a friendlier, more casual atmosphere, but there was always something to learn, even from fancy places like this.
“What would you like?”
Michaela chewed the inside of her cheek. Would he balk at sharing things so they could have more of a variety? One way to find out. “I was wondering if you’d like to share several of the smaller plates. That way we can taste more of the dishes without having a ton of food or spending a fortune.”
“That sounds great.”
They decided on one of the restaurant’s famous flatbread pizzas, along with three other appetizer-type dishes. She couldn’t wait to taste everything.
True to its burgeoning reputation, the meal at Left Bank was delightful, and Michaela loved getting to know Jude better. He was charming and funny, but she could see shadows in his eyes, whether from the pain of his knee or something else, though, she couldn’t say.
“Would you like to order coffee or dessert?”
Jude shook his head. “I’d better get you home if you need to be in your café by four in the morning.”
“My assistant is opening for me, but I’ll still need to be there by six-thirty.”
They walked to his truck and shared an easy silence on the way home. Michaela couldn’t remember a time she’d been more at ease with someone she didn’t know well.
At her door, he pulled her to him. “Thanks for coming out with me. This was the most fun I’ve had in weeks. I’ll call you, and we’ll do it again soon.”
“I had a great time, too.”
“I’m glad.”
Jude lowered his head and kissed her, capturing her chin in his large palm and turning her mouth to more fully meet his. His other arm remained around her waist, tightening and bringing their bodies fully flush from chest to hip. He ran his tongue along her lips, and she opened to him with a moan. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew they were taking things really fast, but try as she might, she couldn’t think of a good reason to slow down. Their tongues tangled in an intimate dance before he retreated to his own mouth and she chased him, moaning again when he briefly sucked on her tongue.
His hand moved lower on her back, cupping her ample ass and pushing his groin into hers, making his erection obvious. They battled for control of the kiss, but Jude eventually won out, pushing the hand that had cupped her chin around to the back of her head to tilt her to his liking. Finally they broke apart, both breathing hard.
Jude gasped for air. “Holy hell.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We need to stop, or I’m gonna start begging to take you right here.”
“Okay.” At Jude’s expression of surprise, she realized what she’d said and had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at herself. “I meant, yes, we should stop.”
Very witty commentary
. “So you’re going to call me?”
Jude held up the phone containing her number. “Count on it.” He waited for her to open her door before backing away.
“See you soon, I hope.”
Famous last words.
Jude did call Michaela, and she called him back, repeatedly. Unfortunately, they kept missing each other due to conflicting schedules, and he would’ve been totally bummed if he hadn’t finally gotten clearance to return to work in a nonphysical capacity. Helping with paperwork and other mundane chores had never sounded so good, and he threw every ounce of energy not being used to heal into doing the best job he could and showing the chief how valuable he could be to the company even when he wasn’t fighting fires. With hard work and some good luck he wouldn’t be doing the job forever but for now, at least it was something.
Michaela had left him a couple of replies to his voice and text messages, mentioning that both a busser and a dishwasher had quit abruptly and she was up to her eyeballs in work. He thought about stopping by some morning for coffee, but figured if she had time to see him, she would’ve told him. His insecurities began to pop up when they continued to miss each other, and Jude began to wonder if she was really this busy or if she was blowing him off. As far as he knew, they’d had a great time at dinner, and the kiss afterward, wow, surely he wasn’t the only one who’d felt that zing.
Usually Jude was a pretty laid-back guy when it came to dating, but the combination of continuing to miss Michaela and the stress of not being able to work fighting fires impacted everything else around him.
The nightmares plaguing him since the fire became more frequent as his mood darkened. He was back at square one again, as if he’d never gotten control over them like he thought he had. When he went to physical therapy several days after meeting Michaela, Stacey mentioned how tired and pale he looked, and Jude knew things were bad.
“When can I go back on truck duty? I’ll be better then.”
“I have no idea. Your knee still isn’t stable, certainly not enough for a physically demanding job like firefighting. From what I understand about the reentry test, there’s no way you’d pass it in your current shape.”
He swore as his body illustrated perfectly what Stacey was talking about, his knee buckling as he climbed those infernal stairs again. Jude clenched his teeth against the pain. “Is this ever gonna get better?”
“It should. It’s already a lot better than it was right after you injured it.”
“Doesn’t feel that way. And you didn’t sound all that encouraging just now when you said I wouldn’t pass the test.”
“I didn’t say you never would. Don’t go throwing yourself a pity party just yet. Stay with me. Believe in what I’m telling you. Believe you can do it.”
Jude snorted. “Cut the rah-rah speech. You and I both know I don’t have a choice but to be here.”
“Exactly. So make the best of it. We’ll both be happier.” She tightened her dark brown ponytail, Stacey-speak for “this conversation is over and I want some action.”
He grunted before turning at the landing on top of the stairs and starting yet another descent.
When his PT was over, he went home, showered and changed, and made a snap decision to go to Michaela’s café. He couldn’t take not seeing her, which scared the hell out of him, considering how little they really knew about each other.
As soon as he walked in he spotted her behind the cappuccino machine. The moment she saw him was obvious by how her face lit up, and his battered ego soothed itself for the moment.
“Jude! You are a sight for sore eyes.”
“Am I?”
“Of course you are. Have a seat. Do you have time to stay for lunch? I made this awesome cold soup.” Jude must not have been as successful hiding his distaste for that idea as he’d hoped because she laughed and pointed to a stool in front of a small counter. “You don’t have to eat it, though I swear it’s really good.”
“I can definitely stay for lunch, but I think I’ll pass on the soup. Maybe another one of those grilled thingies?”
Michaela smiled and his breath caught. She wasn’t model-thin by any stretch of the imagination, her hair up in a messy bun, and wearing no makeup, but she still did something to him. Jude had never been a fan of skinny girls. He loved the softness of women, their curves, dips, and valleys. Michaela had all of those in abundance, and his hands itched to get ahold of more of her.
“A panini?”
“Yeah, one of those. I’ve seen them on other restaurant menus but I’d never tried one. I tend to be a creature of habit.”
Shut the hell up, you dork
. His cheeks heated and he looked down at the counter in front of him, not wanting to see her laugh at him.
She saved him from further humiliation, though. “Today’s panini is ham with Gruyère cheese.”
“What’s that?” He felt like a total idiot for not knowing about any of this food, but he liked his food simple. Meat, potatoes, veggies.
“It’s a variety of Swiss. I think you’ll like it.”
“Can I have mustard on it?” Jude wondered if that was tacky to ask, but Michaela just nodded.
“No problem. I’ll put that in for you. Coffee?”
Tea, me?
He shook his head to clear it. “I better not do coffee. I’ve got to work tonight and I don’t wanna be vibrating while I’m stuck at the station house.”
“Wait, they’re letting you go back to work? That’s great!”
“Not fighting fires, just helping out around the station.”
“But still, it’s something. I’m excited for you.”
Jude ducked his head, so Michaela wouldn’t see how pleased he was. Should her opinion and enthusiasm mean this much to him so soon?
She went in the back, presumably to drop off his order slip, then returned and made a couple of coffee drinks for customers before wandering back over. One of the other staff had dropped off a glass of water while she’d been gone, and he took a long drink as he watched her curves move with every step she took.
“It’s great you can go back to work, at least in some capacity.”
“Yeah. I mostly do paperwork, which is boring as hell, but at least I’m there with the guys.”
“Oh! I never asked you what you wanted to drink. I just walked away.”
Jude shrugged. “No biggie. One of your employees got me water.” He indicated the half-empty glass in front of him. “How about a ginger ale?”
“Good choice. I have this whole line from a local place that does microbrews. They make ginger ale, birch beer, and a bunch of specialty colas, like a really good cherry flavor. Let me get you some of the ginger ale. You’ll love it.”
Jude liked watching Michaela behind the counter as she scurried to and fro after dropping his ginger ale off. The work seemed effortless, though Jude was sure it wasn’t. She was a natural.
“This is really good.” He jerked his head toward the ginger ale when she stopped in front of him again. “It’s got a little something different, but I can’t pinpoint it.”
“Mint.”
He picked up his glass and looked at it, frowning. “Is that what it is? Huh. I wouldn’t think that would be good.”
“But it is, right?”
“Yeah, it’s great. You’re expanding my admittedly narrow culinary repertoire.”
“I’m glad I’m good for something.” Michaela winked, a smirk spreading over her face.
Jude leaned closer. “I’d like to find out what else you’re good at.” For a minute, he held his breath to see if she was going to slap him, but she threw her head back and laughed.
“I can’t believe you just said that right out here in public.” She gave him an obviously mocking frown. “Are you trying to shock me? ’Cuz you’re gonna have to do better than that.”
He smiled.
This could be fun
. Jude hadn’t gotten a good flirt on in far too long. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Such a temptation.”
“I’ll leave you with that. Your panini is probably up.” She walked away, and his gaze skittered down to her ass.
Baby got back, indeed
.
Shortly Michaela returned with his panini and what looked like homemade chips. “Thanks, this looks great.”
“Welcome. Gina’s cooking today. Those are her famous potato chips. Customers come in just to get them.”