It's a Wonderful Fireman: A Bachelor Firemen Novella (The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel) by Jennifer Bernard Read Free Book Online Page B

table.
    “You’re Freddie Breen’s little sister, aren’t you?”
    No sentence could have infuriated her more. She’d spent her whole life being people’s “little sister.” “I wouldn’t phrase it that way, but Fred’s my brother, yes. What’s wrong with that?”
    “You shouldn’t be flirting with the new probie, that’s what’s wrong. If Fred was here, he’d tell you.” He looked very sure of that fact—arrogant, even. She assessed the bump in his nose, the way his biceps bulged from the sleeves of his T-shirt, his air of absolute assurance. Another girl might be intimidated, but she’d grown up with four brothers who’d become soldiers and a firefighter. She’d outgrown intimidation by the age of six.
    “Fred knows better than that. I’m a grown woman.” Since something about Mulligan made her wild and reckless, she added, “If I want to have sex with the new probie, I will.”
    His face darkened. “The hell you will. We don’t even know him yet.”
    “ We? The only person whose opinion matters here is me. Besides, you’re almost as new as Ace is. He’s from the South and he’s sweet.”
    “Sweet?” His eyebrows drew together. She noticed a white scar bisecting one of them. “That’s what you like? Sweet?”
    “Who doesn’t?” Although right now rough around the edges was looking pretty good to her. Too good, the way her belly kept fluttering. She lifted her chin, determined to stand her ground. “Ace is also very polite and charming.”
    “He’s trying to charm you into bed.”
    “So what if he is? I’m twenty-four years old. I know what I’m doing.” Of course she had no intention of sleeping with Ace, but that wasn’t Mulligan’s business.
    “So, you shouldn’t fall for his act.”
    “Why are you so suspicious of Ace? He’s part of the brotherhood, isn’t he?”
    “Not yet,” Mulligan said with decisive finality, as if everything had now been settled. “You stay here, and I’ll tell him to get lost.”
    “You will not!” She grabbed his arm as he brushed past her. It felt like grabbing a log, that’s how thick and strong his forearm was. “It’s none of your business.”
    “It is my business. Freddie’s my business. We’re tight.”
    “If you were that tight, you’d know that his only involvement with my love life is feeding me ice cream after a breakup,” she snapped. “Stay out of it, Mulligan. You have some nerve, you really do. I’ve never even met you before, and you’re trying to tell me who to sleep with.”
    He stopped dead. She kept her hand on his arm because it felt so good. His tendons tightened under her touch, and she saw his jaw flex.
    A quick flick of his wrist, and suddenly she was pressed against him, chest to chest, thighs to thighs. Sensation poured through her; it felt like standing next to a volcano. “I’m not telling you who to sleep with. I’m telling you who not to sleep with.”
    “Oh, really?” she snapped, furious. “Who should I not sleep with?”
    “Anyone but me.”
    Then he kissed her, ferocious and searing, as if his lips were a branding iron. For a moment she froze, but then her body took over, responding like fuel to a match. The kiss stole her breath, left her trembling, her heart just about jumping out of her chest. Even though the meeting of their lips was a physical act, it felt more than physical, as if he was pouring some kind of intense, wordless communication into the contact.
    When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, they stared at each other in shock.
    Then he set her aside and stalked back into the bar. They didn’t speak again for a month.

Chapter Four
    W HEN M ULLIGAN CAME to again, Dream Lizzie was gone. Feeling fuzzy-headed, he assessed his situation again, but nothing had changed. The Christmas tree lay diagonally on top of him. Even if he could roll out from under it, he was surrounded by other pieces of unidentifiable charred junk.
    Flames still flickered at the edges of the room, but