Slow Burn by J H Croix

Author:J H Croix [Croix, J H]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781974552993
Published: 2017-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Cade

I walked into the fire station and leaned my elbows on the reception desk. Maisie was on the phone, her eyes flicking to me as if puzzled at my presence. It was midway through my second week on duty, and I’d determined I was going to kill her with kindness. It just goes to show how prickly she was that me, a man who’d worn my bitterness toward women like a badge for years, was trying to cajole her into being nicer.

But damn. She was like a cactus, and Carol had been more like a mother hen to all of us. It was difficult to believe Maisie was actually related to her. They shared the same wide brown eyes, and though my memories of Carol when she was younger were through the hazy lens of a little boy, I recalled her being pretty. Maisie could be if she stopped glaring at everyone.

I’d mentioned to Amelia that I missed Carol and couldn’t quite believe Carol had persuaded my father to agree to hire Maisie for dispatch. She’d looked over at me and sighed, reminding me Maisie had spent her childhood dragged all over the place with pretty much nowhere to call home. According to Amelia, Maisie had come to visit Carol when she was in hospice, and Carol had asked my father to give her a chance with a job. She’d then pointedly ordered me to be nice.

I figured if Maisie couldn’t pamper me and the guys, we’d kill her with kindness. In my short time here, I watched her ignore all the guys, studiously avoid anything resembling a friendly conversation and wear the chip on her shoulder as if it were a cinder block. She’d been so prickly, the rest of the guys avoided her at all costs with the exception of Beck who occasionally, very occasionally, eyed her and made some attempt at small talk. Beck’s exterior was like a non-stick pan—everything slid right off of him, so Maisie’s unfriendliness didn’t bother him much.

All in all, I was feeling magnanimous. The last two weeks had been about the best of my life. Being with Amelia was just short of heaven. Oh, we had some stuff to get through, and she was as stubborn as I remembered, but then so was I. The best thing about arguments was we knew how to have fucking awesome makeup sex. My libido, long sidelined to casual encounters, was getting a hell of a workout these days. Only an hour ago, Amelia’s mouth had been wrapped around my cock in the shower. That was after I’d been buried to the hilt inside of her right after we woke up.

There was my overall good mood and the fact I preferred to have my crew like and trust our main dispatcher. I didn’t worry Maisie wouldn’t be on the dot when it came to her job. She took it very seriously. Her attitude, however, left more than a little to be desired.

I leaned on my elbows and smiled at her when she finally tapped to end whatever call she was on.

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