Hot & Cold: An Ignited Romance Read online

  “That sounds great,” she relaxed her posture, settling in to the idea of a night out with a handsome man, who seemed to have good intentions.

  They headed downtown, and Scott flipped on the radio. “Normally, driver picks the music, but since you’re so beautiful, I’m gonna let you pick today.”

  His flattery caused an involuntary giggle to escape from her lips. “Oh yea? I’ll take it. I think 80’s rock is for us, what do you think?” She started to flip the channels looking for what she wanted to hear.

  “Sounds like music to my ears,” he caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye, taking in how much he already enjoyed having her there with him. He wanted her to be comfortable, and to enjoy spending time with him. Clayton hadn’t told him exactly what had happened to her, but he knew that treading cautiously would be important if he stood a chance with her at all.

  Dani found a classic rock station she was familiar with, and leaned back in her seat, enjoying the moment. She was slightly surprised at how relaxed and comfortable she felt with Scott, and while she still wanted to be cautious, she wanted to truly enjoy the night getting to know him. She couldn’t help but be attracted to him as she casually tried to look him over unnoticed. The sleeves of his green and white striped button down were hugging his biceps, causing her to want to grab onto them. As she thought about those massive arms wrapping around her, they arrived at the restaurant. As they pulled into the valet parking, the attendant opened her door to let her out.

  Scott quickly handed over his keys, and practically jogged over to her side to walk her into the new restaurant he’d found online. He chose it because they had awesome patio seating, but also, it seemed more intimate than some of the other places he knew about, and he wanted them to be able to get closer and not have to yell to each other all night.

  It was a perfect night to sit outside, the weather was warm but not hot, and they’d be able to enjoy a nice breeze. “This place seems really nice,” she said as she leaned into him while they waited for the hostess to greet them.

  “I’ve never been here before, but it seemed like a place we’d both like,” he replied. “Walker, I have a reservation for two,” he turned his attention to the hostess.

  “Right this way,” she replied. Scott placed his hand at Dani’s lower back, guiding her to follow the hostess ahead of him. He caught a whiff of her perfume, and that same scent of fresh flowers, caused him to inhale deeply and sigh. He had immediately loved her smell, and it made him want to get closer to that beautiful long neck of hers where he could bury himself in it.

  “Thank you,” Dani replied to the hostess as she was seated at a small table in the back corner of the patio.

  Seating himself, he asked, “Does this work for you?”

  “This is wonderful,” she replied, still unable to take her mind off of how sexy she found him. He had a freshly shaved face, accentuating his strong jaw, and his hair was a bit longer in the front and casually styled back from his face. He was also such a gentleman, chivalrous even, something she wasn’t used to. She hadn’t been dating in a while, but when she was, she hadn’t come upon any guys that were so thoughtful.

  They immediately placed their drink orders and perused the menu quietly, waiting for the formalities of ordering to commence so they could spend some time talking uninterrupted. Scott hated this part of dating, it was awkward, and he really wished that they were alone instead of having to even engage with the waitress. His only interest was talking to Dani, and acquainting himself with her. That, and staring at her, while trying to keep his dick in check, which had noticed how sexy she was as well.

  “So how was your day Dani? Read any good books lately?” He tried to make a joke, remembering how she’d teased him with the books she read.

  “Not really, I mean I didn’t read anything today. I was distracted today,” she smirked.

  “Oh really? Distracted you say? What was on your mind besides reading the romance and… what was it? Erotica?” He asked, trying not to think of the erotica, and how it was making his cock come alive under the table.

  “Well you know, I had a date to think about. I didn’t want him to think I was some kind of weird introvert, at least not right away,” she giggled. She had been out with people in the past who found out what she did for a living and immediately thought it was strange or odd that she mostly sat around reading and writing about romance novels; they judged her and usually negatively. Scott didn’t seem to think twice about it.

  “Weird is not something I would ever use to describe you Dani,” he replied seriously. “I think you’re extremely interesting, and have I mentioned beautiful?”

  “You’re very kind Scott,” she blushed. “So, let’s do this,” she said with a smirk of her own.

  Surprised, Scott didn’t know what she meant. “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s really get to know each other tonight Scott, no bullshit. Let’s skip the first date shenanigans of pretending to be on our best behavior and just be real?” She raised her glass of Jack and Coke to toast, hoping he’d be up for cutting through the formalities and just being themselves out of the gate.

  A grin spread across his face revealing his perfectly straight teeth as he lifted his beer to toast, “Let’s do it.”

  9

  Agreeing to cut the shit and get real had worked out well from Dani’s perspective. She was able to relax, and not pretend to be someone who’s particularly prim and proper. Wanting to be attractive to him was obvious, but she knew she had issues, she knew that Scott had an idea that she had some hang ups, and she didn’t want to dance around them. While she didn’t bring up her attack, she also didn’t think it was appropriate first date conversation, regardless of what being herself meant. Dani sensed that Scott was someone she would be able to share with in the future, maybe even soon, but she still wanted the date to be fun, and not wrapped in the tragedy of what had happened to her. After all, she was trying to move on.

  Scott was thoroughly impressed by Dani’s proposal to skip the formalities of the evening, and they spent their entire dinner getting to know each other without inhibitions. He didn’t bring up her attack, or why she was staying with her brother still; he didn’t even know how long ago the attack happened, but he felt like that was something she should bring up when she was ready. They spent the majority of the evening talking about their families, what some of their goals were, and then they jumped right into why they were single. In the interest of full disclosure, Dani had simply said that she hadn’t been ready to date for a while, to which Scott felt honored she’d gone out with him. Scott had been honest as well and informed her that he simply hadn’t made the time to date for a very long while since he’d been working long shifts with the fire department while still in school.

  After dinner they went for a walk around the downtown area, looking in shop windows and chatting. Scott was beginning to feel like she was someone he’d like to spend a lot more time with, and hoped she was feeling the same. She leaned into him and sighed while they were standing in front of a pet store window looking at some puppies pawing at the glass.

  “You all right?” He asked, looking down at her, debating as to whether it would be a good time to put his arm around her.

  “I’m quite well, thank you,” she smiled, leaning in slightly more, giving Scott the signal he was looking for to get his hands on her, at least a little bit. As he put his arm around her shoulders, she settled in a bit, resting her head on him and placing her hand on his abs as they watched the puppies play. Her touch sent chills down his spine, and as he pulled her a bit closer, he caught the faintest whiff of her perfume again, increasing his desire for her.

  “You want a puppy?” He asked, trying to think of something to say and hoping she didn’t seriously want a puppy; he’d have to get it for her if she did. He couldn’t resist her.

  She giggled, “No, I don’t need something to take care of besides myself. Although it would be pretty funny to bring one back
to Clay’s house; he’d lose his ever loving mind with a dog in the house.” She thought of how funny it was to give Clay a hard time, and how much he didn’t care for animals in houses, laying on his things.

  Scott knew it was getting late, and as much as he didn’t want to take her home, he knew he should. “You ready to make our way back?”

  She sighed, knowing that they probably should. “Yea, I guess you’re right. It’s getting kind of late, everything does look like it’s closing.” She didn’t want the night to end, but she hoped it had gone well enough that they’d get another one sooner rather than later. Scott removed his arm from her shoulder, but let his hand gently down her side to take hers, weaving their fingers together.

  As they walked hand in hand quietly back to the car, Scott considered how the evening had gone, and smiled to himself at how at ease he felt walking along holding hands with this beautiful woman. It had been so long since he’d felt truly close to someone that while it was foreign, he was still washed in a contentedness that left him not wanting the night to end. He gave her hand a light squeeze and glanced down to see her smiling in what could almost be considered a grin.

  When they got their car from the valet, Scott waited to let her in, taking in how delicate and yet gorgeous she was. “Thank you,” she replied as he gently shut the door before making his way to his side.

  “Did you have a good time tonight?” He asked, reaching across the seat to take her hand again.

  Taking his large hand into both of hers, she gazed softly at him, noticing the hint of green in his hazel eyes again. She found herself hypnotized each time a passing car’s lights shined in them. “I can’t remember the last time I had such a nice date Scott, thank you.” A bit of sadness swept over her they got closer to Clayton’s house. She didn’t want to leave Scott; there was something about him that made her feel safe. The same security that she felt when she was hanging around Clay all day, but somehow different, more tender, which was unique and attractive, as well as endearing.

  When they pulled up to the house, Scott parked in the driveway, shutting the headlights off. “So Dani, I don’t even want tonight to end, so what are we doing tomorrow night?” Scott knew she’d had a nice time, but he didn’t know how interested in going out on a regular basis she was so he thought the direct route of not leaving her an option was the best possible way of getting time with her again.

  She let out a laugh, admiring his directness. “Well played sir. Well played…” She teased, “I can rearrange some things in my very busy sched--”

  He leaned over, unable to help himself any longer, planting a kiss on her soft lips, shutting her up immediately. Surprised, she sucked in a breath before relaxing into the kiss, feeling the warmth of his tongue touch her lips, igniting butterflies in her chest.

  As Scott deepened the kiss, goosebumps raced down her spine and she unknowingly shifted herself closer to him across the front seat. Scott placed his hand on her hip and brought her closer with his other, becoming consumed with her and what he defined as the perfect kiss.

  Suddenly a nervousness arose from within Dani’s mind, causing her to shiver and shy away from him. Part of her wanted desperately to stay in that moment, but a fear and need to flee took over as she pushed him away and opened the car door abruptly. “Scott, I can’t.. I’m sorry... I… uh.. I have to go. I’m sorry,” she cried out as she took off toward the front door.

  “Dani! Wait! I’m sorry!” Scott called after her, getting out of the car to go after her.

  “Scott, no. I… I just can’t. I’m sorry,” she quickly disappeared, leaving Scott standing in the driveway, confused and troubled that he’d done something wrong.

  As Dani entered the house, scurrying past Clayton who had fallen asleep in front of the TV wearing his case files as a blanket, the slamming of the door behind her woke him.

  “Yo! Where you off to in a rush? How was your date?” He yelled up the steps after her.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she cried. She felt so foolish and immediately regretted running away in a panic the way she had. Afraid he’d never go out with her again, she racked her brain for a way to fix this quickly.

  Scott had driven away, disappointed, and desperately tried to figure a way to remedy the situation himself. As he contemplated his options, his cell phone lit up the center console with a text message from Dani.

  Dinner. I’m cooking. My house, not Clay’s. Tomorrow at 7.

  Scott drove the rest of the way home, completely relieved and with a contented grin.

  10

  Scott spent the next morning reading detective Moore’s files, trying to figure out a link between the fire and the homicide and working on his report and his side of the investigation. Forensics was a required class for his degree, and as he thought back to the course, he decided to grab his textbook off his shelf and look at the section on homicide investigations. As he poured over the book, running his hands through his dark hair, he got stuck on how a bullet could be ejected from a weapon with the velocity to kill someone, but not be powered in the traditional way a gun works.

  He decided to mull it over for awhile while typing up his formal report. Distracted by the thought of his date with Dani, he found himself unable to type properly at all that day. Every time he tried to type the word magnesium, the autocorrect on his computer changed it to magnet, which was getting downright annoying. Feeling aggravated by the unknown factors in the case, and with an inability to get his report written in a timely fashion, he decided to go visit the fire department and fill in the Chief in person and have a visit with his old buddies. A chat with his boys was just what he needed to clear his mind for a bit.

  He knew it was early on to be so into someone, but Dani’s sharp wit and stunning looks had him hook, line and sinker. I’m finally going to really give this some attention; she’s a keeper. She makes me laugh, and I can barely keep my hands off of her. It’s time I focused on my day to day happiness after all.

  Another beautiful day, Scott pulled up to the station to see the engine bay doors open, and Jax doing something to the rescue truck.

  “Hey man! What’s goin’ on?” He yelled out.

  “Yo! Scotty! Just fucking around with the equipment here. How’s downtown treating you?” Jax replied as he continued pulling tools out of the compartment he was standing in front of. The rescue truck had several compartments on the side that a variety of tools were housed in, generally by the type of equipment. Traditionally they were held in place with hooks and velcro, but Jax was removing the tools and the stuff that held them in place.

  “Downtown is great. Working that arson right now, it’s a weird one, I’ll tell ya. What have you got going on down here?” Scott waved his hand at the pile of tools.

  “That fire was a sonofabitch man. You figure it all out yet?”

  “Not yet, working with this detective Moore on it. He seems pretty cool,” Scott replied.

  “Keep us posted on that. And as for what I’m doing here,” he took a step back and huffed. “I am taking all of this fucking equipment out, with all these straps and bullshit that keeps them in place. Then, I have the pleasure of reinstalling them all with big ass magnets.” Jax raised an eyebrow, thinking over what a pain in the ass job this was, but how helpful it would be to be able to grab a tool on scene without having to unstrap and unhook it.

  “Magnets?” Scott asked. “How strong are these magnets man?”

  “Well, they’re pretty fucking strong. I mean strong enough to hold shit in place, but not so strong you can’t yank the shit you need off of the plate here. The idea is to not fuck with all these straps and shit that tend to get tangled up. We’re gonna try it with this compartment that holds the axes and haligan bars and a few other tools and see how well it works for a bit before we install them in all the compartments,” Jax explained.

  “You think it’ll work?” Scott was intrigued by the magnet setup, and chuckled to himself that magnets were coming up again.


  “Yes I do, but it was also my idea,” Jax laughed. “So, you know I’m committed to it. You know me.” He was all about trying to find new ways to make firefighting more efficient, and even if it only saved a moment of time by not fucking around with the tools on a scene, he wanted to try it.

  “Cool, let me know. Sounds like it’ll make it cleaner in there,” Scott replied.

  “So what else is new, you got anything else going on? Viv asked about you the other day, told her I saw you at the fire. She said she’s got a friend if you’re interested,” Jax teased.

  “Actually, funny you should mention that, I had a date last night,” Scott felt himself get a little flushed thinking about it. “And we’re going out again tonight.” Pleased that he finally had something to report in the way of his love life, Scott didn’t mind sharing with Jax, they’d always had a good relationship in that way.

  “Well, look at you Scotty. Finally taking your nose out of your books to dip your stick?” Jax mocked him playfully.

  Laughing out loud, Scott replied, “Well I wouldn’t say that exactly. But it’s a second date, which hasn’t happened in forever. She seems like a nice girl; I like her.”

  “Well man, that’s all that matters. You know I wasn’t exactly the settling kind until Viv came along. When you know, you know. You’ll figure it out. It’s good to see you socializing though; all that studying you’ve been doing, it’s time for you to get out. We’ll have to have ourselves a poker night or something soon.”

  “Yea that would be great, let me know. My time is definitely freed up since graduating, and I could use a night out for sure.” Scott reflected back to when Jax was definitely not a one woman man and how much he’d changed when he met his girlfriend Vivian. Something about her turned him into a different man; not in a bad way, he just became a better man somehow. Scott wanted that for himself. Someone that he could confide in, come home to. He was already hoping Dani might be that person for him; he was drawn to her softness, her depth and of course her beauty. They’d only spent a little bit of time together, but when they kissed, he craved her. He didn’t want to stop and he was thinking of ways that he could make her more comfortable with him. His desire for her had him anticipating ways to touch her that night.