Anne Marsh [Smoke Jumpers 04] Smoking Hot (epub)

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.Chapter TwoKatie sucked in a deep breath.Think French.And sexy.Millions of people managed this on a daily basis, so why should it be so hard for her? An unexpected image of Tye Callahan popped into her head, all hard muscles, crouched by her feet.Just a tantalizing foot or so from her really good parts.Even if those parts were drying up from non-use.She opened her mouth and the syllables rolled out, smooth and sexy and very, very French.“Voulez vous coucher avec moi?”Commentary was immediate from the woman sprawled in the lime-green plastic Adirondack chair next to Katie.Abbie, the newly-minted Mrs.Donegan and self-styled bestie number two, chewed on her lower lip, clearly trying not to laugh.“I don’t think you use vous when you’re trying to get someone into bed.Unless you’re into that whole master-sub thing.”On the other side of Abbie, Laura nodded her head vigorously in agreement.Laura Carpenter might be bestie number one.She covered half the rent check for the bungalow behind them, but she’d never had any problem attracting men.Maybe neither Laura nor Abbie had never entertained any lovers on a vous basis, but God knew Katie didn’t excel at that happy flirting thing.It wasn’t from lack of trying.Men—well, they tended to pat her on the head and see her as the little sister they’d never known they wanted.That was certainly what Tye Callahan had done.She huffed out a breath.Yep.Kade had said: hey, swing by Strong—which had to be who knew how many miles out of Tye’s way—and check on my fiancé… and Tye did.There would be more to the story.Of course, he wouldn’t tell her those parts, because they’d be dark and gritty, the kinds of things men like him protected the little sister from.Frankly, she was surprised he’d even mentioned how he believed Kade had died.He hadn’t been overly descriptive.She had a feeling getting the man to speak more than a sentence or two would be a feat right up there with running a marathon—which was also on Kade’s bucket list, now that she thought about it.She couldn’t stop thinking about what Tye had said though.Imagining it was easy.One minute, Tye and Kade had been patrolling and the next… boom.Hostile fire.Friendly fire.Everything all mixed up and gone to hell, until that final explosion rocked her world and Kade was gone.Temporarily.Temporarily gone.As disturbing as Tye’s brief account had been, he hadn’t seen a body.The Humvee had exploded or otherwise come to an unexpected halt, but he and Kade had both gotten out.Gunfire had followed and the kind of firefight she’d only seen in the movies.She didn’t believe that Kade had died.She’d been handed a flag and a medal three months ago, but no fiancé.No body.She and Kade had always had a connection and she was sure she’d know if he was dead.And she was fairly certain he wasn’t.So, while she wrote letters to her Congresswoman and waited for Kade to hurry up and get his ass home so she could yell at him for making her worry and hug him for the next three years or so, she’d picked out a new project.She always did best when she had a project to focus on.She and Kade had swapped bucket lists while he’d been out in the field.Or, rather, she’d badgered him by email for his list until he’d sent her a list he claimed to have written when he was sixteen.He’d signed off with a rather snarky You going to take care of this for me? That had been one of the last emails she’d received from him, so, yeah, she was going to take care of that list for him.She’d work her way through his wishes and plans and, when she finally finished, he’d be back home where he belonged.Everything would be fine.All she had to do was believe.Abbie snapped her fingers in front of Katie’s face.“Earth to Katie.Attention!”Abbie’s accent sounded near perfect.Katie had no idea how she did it.It was almost too bad that her friend was happily married to a member of the Big Bear Hotshot team, because Kade would have loved her accent.She suspected that was why he’d put learning French on his bucket list in the first place.Kade certainly enjoyed dating and anything that gave him a leg up with the females.She’d teased him that their engagement would crimp his style, but he’d just flicked her on the nose and told her not to worry about it.After all, it wasn’t like they were really engaged.Even if all of Strong—and apparently most of the military—believed they were.Kade had “popped the question,” so to speak, in Ma’s, Strong’s one and only bar, when some I’m-just-passing-through asshole had pressed her a little too hard for her number.She was too nice, Kade said.She said no and piss off and guys heard yes, please sit down next to me and Rip my panties off, please?She wasn’t nice.She was an underemployed art teacher with a shoe fetish, for crying out loud.She’d plenty of practice saying no and you’ll get it when I get it, both to the good folks at the student loan offices and to Visa.But there was no getting around the fact that she hadn’t been able to shoot down the guy in the bar and Kade had been worried and shipping out.“We should totally do it,” he’d said.“Do what?” She’d watched the other guy lurch out of the bar, holding a wad of paper napkins to his nose—she probably should have gotten on Kade’s case for popping the guy—and she’d fully expected Kade to suggest a concert or a restaurant.Anything but what he’d said next.“We should get engaged.” Picking up her hand, he ignored the sticky patches from the bar, and looked her in the eye.“How about it, Katie Lawson? Will you marry me?”“You’re joking,” she’d announced, scanning the bar for cellphone cameras.Kade loved posting stuff on Facebook, the kind of pictures that haunted you in job interviews or you’d been using your parents’ computer and you’d forgotten to sign out.“I don’t think I am,” he said.“I’d marry you any day of the week and twice on Sunday.Besides, imagine what everyone will say.”He’d grinned.Kade had been a practical joker and this was the best joke of them all.Kade was her best friend.He’d been her prom date.They’d also been each other’s first kiss because that had made the kissing comfortable.Which had, over the years, also led to comfort sex.They were friends with benefits and a cubic zirconia ring she’d picked out on the Home Shopping Network.Now, everyone thought she was the grieving fiancée, and she? She didn’t know what she was, other than alone and more than a little lost.“Katie?” Laura rubbed a hand over her shoulder, jerking her back to the present.Yeah.No zoning out in the middle of the French lesson.“I’m here,” she said, then corrected herself.“Je suis.”Somewhere.She was somewhere.Abbie winced, reconfirming Katie’s theory that Abbie might actually know a thing or two about French.The problem was Katie herself had absolutely no ear for accents and the self-teaching thing wasn’t working out.Maybe she should sign up for French lessons at the local community college, even if it was a two-hour drive each way.She’d definitely have lots of time to listen to her Rosetta Stone CDs.“I’m trying,” she grumbled and snagged the last chocolate croissant from the plate.Maybe the language would rub off while she ate.Or not.Finding French snacks in Strong was proving almost as hard as learning the language.“This is just harder than I expected.”“Hey.” Abbie’s fingers slapped the empty plate.“I was counting on that croissant.”Laura eyed the empty plate [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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