Four Weddings and a Fireman by Jennifer Bernard Read Free Book Online

she subsided as he stalked from the room. It was one thing to live with your mother, take care of her, entertain her. He’d accepted his lot in life long ago.
    Discussing his “hormones” with her was another matter.
    As soon as Ginny had eaten her dinner, he’d head for Firefly and see what trouble he could get into. His mother was all wrong about that part. He loved to party; he needed to party.
    Hell, if not for his firehouse buddies, he’d have blown a fuse long ago.

 
    Chapter Four

    I f Cherie were to be completely honest with herself, she’d started falling for Vader the first moment she’d ever seen him, more than a year and a half ago.
    She and Jacob had decided to spend Thanksgiving playing pool at the local dive. Vader and a ­couple of his firehouse buddies had stopped in and immediately lit up the place. Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her eyes off him. He was so . . . big. His muscles were enormous, his chest broad and solid and bursting with strength. He looked as if he could bench-­press the pool table—­for that matter, all the pool tables in a big pile. His appearance pleased some primal part of her; she kept stealing glances his way, confirming that someone actually looked like that.
    But it wasn’t just his muscles. She was also fascinated by his exuberant personality, the big smile he beamed around the grungy pool hall, the warmth in his deep-­set eyes. They were brown, she’d noticed when he leaned into the light for his first shot. A burnt-­sugar brown, somewhere between caramel and milk chocolate, a brown that allowed no room for coldness or doubt. The phrase “hunk of burning love” popped into her mind and wouldn’t leave—­even before she knew he was a firefighter.
    He must have caught her staring, because next thing she knew he was standing over her, blazing his smile down on her like sunshine and asking if he could buy her a Thanksgiving drink. “Cuz I’m giving thanks I laid eyes on you,” he said with a wink.
    Jacob had groaned and rolled his eyes, but she tuned him out. It wasn’t hard. The force of Vader’s personality made everyone else fade away. It was unnerving, really. It gave her the sensation of stepping into a whirlpool that could sweep her off somewhere she’d never been. Like Alice in . . . Vaderland.
    He’d taken her home, but of course they hadn’t slept together. She made him molasses cookies in the middle of the night and let him try every trick in the book to talk her into bed. And some new ones—­fireman-­style.
    â€œThis house of yours is Victorian era,” he said, kissing the inside of her wrist, the heat of his breath making her squirm. “They weren’t as strict about fire exits back then. If a fire broke out, what would you do?”
    â€œI’d call 911.”
    â€œAnd guess who’d come? Me. So we’re ahead of the game. I’m already here. And I don’t have a bunch of other firefighters right behind me. So we can skip that whole step. And we can skip the step where you realize you could have died and you figure out what’s really important.”
    â€œLet me guess. You?”
    â€œYou and me, baby. You and me is what’s important. Life. Fun. Live it up. Drink it in.”
    She burst out laughing. He grinned widely. “That’s a start. I like how you laugh. That little Southern accent of yours is adorable.”
    â€œNo one has an accent when they laugh.”
    â€œYou do. It’s sexy. It’s the kind of accent that makes me want to flip you over on this couch and find out what’s under that blouse you’re wearing.”
    â€œTake it easy, big guy.”
    As soon as she said that, he stopped teasing. “Am I scaring you? I don’t mean to. I know I’m large. I can intimidate ­people even when I’m not trying to. If I make you nervous, just say so.