Forever Summer - Melody Grace Page 0,30

have a little black book full of women you still need to warn away?”

With other fake dates. And more epic kisses.

But Noah just chuckled. “No, you’re off the hook. I’ll be good now, I promise.”

Evie stifled a sigh. How was it that his promise to be good somehow made him even sexier?

Not that she should care. She wasn’t looking for a repeat performance, and in the bright light of day, she should be relieved that it didn’t mean anything to Noah. Because it hadn’t meant anything to her.

Nothing aside from a reckless slip-up, a reminder not to get swept away by lust and to keep her hormones under control.

Right?

“Well, I better let you go,” Evie said brightly, ignoring that last small question now dancing in her mind. “You probably have more emergencies to go handle.”

Noah grinned. “Believe it or not, this non-fire is about as close as we get to action around here.”

“Good,” Evie said immediately. Noah raised an eyebrow. “I mean, fires are dangerous. I wouldn’t want you getting hurt,” she added, then realized how it sounded. “All of you—you know, the whole crew. Thank you all for your service.”

Noah looked amused. “I’ll pass on your regards.”

“Great!”

“OK then,” Noah echoed with a grin. And then he sauntered away, giving Evie plenty of time to admire the view.

Which meant that she was still looking when he glanced back, and caught her still gazing after him. Evie jerked her hand up into a wave and then scurried back to find Brooke.

She was a bad, bad widow.

Was that woman everywhere?

On the ride back from the hotel, Noah barely paid attention to the banter from the other guys. He was still thinking about Evie—and how demure she’d looked, all dressed up in a chic patterned sundress and lipstick. She was a far cry from the rumpled, reckless woman who’d kissed him at the pub last night, all wild passion and simmering heat.

That woman had made his blood run hotter and stolen the breath from his lungs; kept him up half the night in a sweat replaying the soft press of her lips and lush curves of her body.

Dangerously hot.

A pesky kitchen fire had nothing on Evie Baxter-Jones, that was for sure, but it looked like their brief, sizzling encounter was already a distant memory. Evie had made it clear: it was all just in good fun. And Noah knew, despite the itch of disappointment, he’d had a lucky escape.

Because if she’d wanted more …

Well, he didn’t know what his answer would have been, but he had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t have been based on cool logic and rational thinking.

His brain had a nasty habit of switching off the moment she came around.

Luckily, the rest of his shift passed without any more excitement. He finished up, ran home to shower and change, and was standing on Poppy and Cooper’s doorstep at six, a bottle of wine in hand.

Poppy opened the door—and her face fell. “You came alone?” she asked. “I thought you might be bringing someone.”

“Gee, thanks,” Noah grinned, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Way to make a man feel welcome.”

She laughed. “You know you’re always welcome here. But if you ever wanted to bring a date … say, Evie?” she suggested with a hopeful smile.

It began to dawn on Noah that Marisa wasn’t the only one who’d gotten an eyeful the other night. And when he made his way through to the kitchen, he found that he was right.

“Hey cuz,” Mackenzie greeted him. “I hope you brought gossip with that bottle of wine, because there’s only one thing anyone’s talking about.”

“And we’re all dying for details,” his friend Cassie added, looking up from a pan of something that smelled delicious.

He groaned. “Really?” Noah turned to Cooper and Cassie’s boyfriend, Wes, for support.

“Don’t look at me!” Wes put his hands up in surrender. “Your business is your own.”

“Thank you!” Noah exclaimed, glad that at least one old friend had his back. “See? You ladies need to dial down the gossip.”

But Cooper gave a grin. “You know, it’s not just them,” he said. “Count me curious, too. Evie seems pretty great.”

“She does, doesn’t she?” Poppy agreed. “Funny, smart, beautiful …”

“I won’t argue with you there,” Noah said, hunting for a corkscrew. Something told him the sooner he started in on the wine, the easier this would be. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to date her.”

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it,” Mac said, smirking, and they all laughed.

“Come on,” Jake