Sean's Reckoning - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,11
said solemnly. “I have had a few incredibly steamy dreams about that woman.”
“You have steamy dreams about every woman you pass on the street,” Sean pointed out.
“This is different,” Hank insisted.
Sean rolled his eyes at the familiar refrain. “I doubt that, but you can do me a favor. I need a few minutes alone with Deanna. Can I count on you to show Ruby and Kevin around?”
“When have you not been able to count on me?” Hank demanded indignantly. “No matter how trying the task, do I not step up to the plate when you ask?”
Sean chuckled. “Then I take it the answer is yes, even though this is one of those trying occasions?”
“Yes,” Hank said, then added with exaggerated politeness, “And thank you for thinking of me. Those of us in the Boston Fire Department are here to serve and protect in whatever way we’re called upon to do so.”
“Try to remember that when you’re thinking about hitting on Ruby,” Sean cautioned, thinking of the way she’d neatly blackmailed Deanna’s boss. “Something tells me she could bring you to your knees if you get out of line.”
Hank made a show of swooning ecstatically. “This just keeps getting better and better. You know how I love a challenge.”
“Don’t make me regret this,” Sean said.
“Have I ever let you down?”
Ah, Sean thought, that was the thing. For all of his fooling around and his penchant for chasing anything in skirts ever since his divorce, Hank DiMartelli was the best buddy a man could have. There was no one in the department Sean would rather have at his side going into a raging inferno. Hank was fearless and loyal and smart. He’d won more citations for bravery than anyone else at the station, Sean included.
Sean punched him in the arm. “Never,” he agreed. “But there’s a first time for everything, and in your case this better not be it.”
Hank’s gaze narrowed and his expression turned serious. “Why all the paternal concern for a woman you barely know and aren’t interested in?”
Sean wasn’t precisely sure himself. “She’s Deanna’s friend,” he said, which was the closest he could come to summing it up. “And something tells me Deanna would be royally ticked if she thought I was throwing Ruby to the wolves, or to one wolf in particular. People seldom spot your finer qualities through all the bull.”
“Then by all means, I’ll be on my best behavior,” Hank assured him. “I won’t even try to cop a feel of those gorgeous breasts of hers.”
Sean grinned at the concession despite himself. “Something tells me that’s the last thing I need to worry about. I’m pretty sure Ruby can handle someone with roving hands. She’s probably had a lot of practice. Maybe you should consider getting to know her for her mind.”
“That body, and she has a mind, too?” Hank asked, his expression incredulous.
Sean scowled at his joking. “Go to hell.”
Hank laughed. “But if I do, who’ll show Miss Ruby and the kid around and get them out of your hair so you can practice seducing the lovely Deanna?”
“It’s not about seduction, and I’m sure I can manage on my own, if it comes to that,” Sean said. “In fact, showing them all around myself might be the smarter way to go.”
“Forget it. Ruby’s mine. You can have the single mom with the vulnerable look in her eyes. Just one question, though. I thought that was the type you tended to avoid like the plague. So what’s up with this Deanna? How did she get under your skin?”
Sean sighed, not even bothering to deny Hank’s claim that Deanna had gotten to him. “I wish I knew.”
The walk to the fire station a few blocks from the apartment hadn’t taken nearly as long as Deanna would have liked. She’d wanted to postpone this encounter with Sean Devaney for as long as possible, but with Kevin running ahead and demanding that she and Ruby hurry, they’d made it to the station in record time.
All the way over she had tried to prepare herself for the physical impact the sexy firefighter was likely to have on her again. She told herself that appreciating a man’s body wasn’t a crime, that it certainly wasn’t anything that required some sort of commitment. She even consoled herself that her stomach probably wouldn’t even flutter when she saw him again. It had probably been a one-time thing brought on by her overwrought condition on the day of the fire. Maybe he was really