What the hell is happening?
Blake lingered back in the hall as Kristen walked past them both into the kitchen. Reggie had yet to leave, too, and from the corner of his eye, Blake watched him slide a gaze over Kristen’s petite frame.
“You’re really not dating her?” Reggie asked in disbelief.
Ah hell. “No, we’re not dating. We’re just friends.”
“Right.” Reggie grimaced. “I mean, I should’ve realized. She’s nowhere near your type. Seems way too sweet.”
And then his friend disappeared into the kitchen, following Kristen to the food.
Blake waited a minute before following, struggling with the conflicting emotions running through him.
Kristen was in the process of making herself a taco and laughing at something Reggie had just said.
“You do not ban people for eating too many beans.” She shook her head and looked over at Reggie, eyes dancing with amusement.
“We do. Have a room in the back for it, don’t we, Chuck?”
“Sure do.” The captain joined in the little joke.
Blake, usually up to his neck in this kind of bullshitting, grew more irritated.
By the time they were seated around the table and eating, everyone in the room—his fire fam, as he called them—was engaging in conversation with Kristen.
Talking about her degree, her family up here, and how she knew Blake.
“You’re just friends with Blake, then?” Amber, the one female firefighter in the group, asked in dismay. “I didn’t know Blake had friends that were girls.”
“Ha. Super funny.” Blake grabbed his water glass and damn near broke it with his grip.
“Yeah, just friends,” Kristen murmured before taking a bite of taco.
Reggie cleared his throat. “So…are you single?”
She just about choked on that bite, and her eyes widened. When she finished swallowing, she gave a small nod, her cheeks pinkening.
Maybe she was inexperienced, but she was clearly aware—just like everyone else in the room right now—that Reggie was interested.
Before she could reply, the buzzer went off, announcing a call for dispatch.
“That’s us.” Blake rose along with his partner, Chad.
He glanced over at Kristen as he headed out of the kitchen. “I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone—”
“We’ll keep her company while she finishes eating,” Reggie volunteered. “See you in a few.”
Well, that wasn’t awkward or anything. Chances were Kristen would be gone by the time they got back.
Chad and Blake climbed into the medic unit and headed out to the call. It was a fairly easy respiratory distress call that had them back at the station within twenty minutes.
When they arrived, Blake grabbed his half-eaten dinner that someone had been kind enough to cover with aluminum foil. There was no sign of Kristen, just as he’d predicted.
Damn. He still hadn’t gotten her number or given her his. They had to get better at this exchanging info stuff.
“Thanks for the tour, Reggie.”
Blake froze, his taco halfway to his mouth as Kristen and Reggie walked back into the kitchen.
“Oh, you’re back.” Her gaze landed on him, and there was a hint of guilt in her eyes.
“We just got back.”
“I was just about to go,” she admitted and glanced around at the group. “It was great to meet you all.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Blake dropped his taco again as everyone called out a goodbye.
“You didn’t need to do that.” She glanced at him. “You’ve barely had a moment to eat.”
“Don’t usually. We stay pretty busy.” His mouth thinned. “Especially in Seattle. Anyway, you need your shoes.”
They walked over to his truck in the lot, and he unlocked it and grabbed her heels from the floorboard in the front passenger seat.
“Thanks.” Her gaze wouldn’t quite meet his as she accepted them.
Something was up. Premonition had the hairs on the back of his neck lifting.
“Reggie asked me out while you were out on that call.”