Young Buck: A Slow Burn Small Town Romance (Green Valley Heroes Book 5)

Chapter 25

“Morning, beautiful.”

I didn’t tamp down my elation at the sight of a barefoot Loretta padding into my kitchen, more rested than I’d seen her in days. I wiped my hands on a dish towel and turned away from my stove long enough to open a cabinet and pull out a mug. I planned to let her rejuvenate with coffee, but not until I kissed her. I was hungry again for her lips.

“You’re making breakfast.” She gave a little yawn after stating the obvious.

“The guys down at the house love my French toast.”

I reached for the carafe and poured her a steaming cup. After grabbing the cream from the fridge and a spoon from the drawer, I left all three on the counter. From now on, I didn’t want coffee to be the first thing she thought of in the morning. I wanted it to be kissing me and feeling safe in my arms.

But when I pulled her close, the press of her breasts against my chest sent me right back to last night. She was wearing that sexy black bathrobe she’d had on when she’d showed up to my house. I wanted to take it off of her again. Instead, I lowered my lips to hers and gave her a kiss designed to leave her breathless and remind her how good we were at this.

“You know what comes next, don’t you?” I murmured as we came up for air.

Loretta pretended to think. “A little sustenance, then back to your room for more amazing sex? Maybe we’ll even make it to the bed this time.”

“A definite yes to all of that.” I gave her a quick peck on the nose before returning to the stove to turn my toast. “But that’s not what I was going to say.”

“Don’t tell me I have to marry you now that I’ve stolen your virtue...,” she quipped, taking a seat at the bar.

“No...” I drew the word out, matching her wicked look with one of my own. “But I do think we ought to go out on a date.”

I reached my hand into the long bag and pulled a slice of bread from the loaf, taking a second to coat it in batter. The slice on the stove right now wouldn’t take long. When I lifted my gaze to hers in anticipation of another flirtatious response, I found the opposite. Whatever ease we’d found with each other just now...something in my question had caused a change.

“A date...,” she repeated. “Do we really need to put a label on this? I mean, labels can complicate things.”

“Don’t tell me you have a fear of commitment.” I kept my voice light, though the thought had crossed my mind. The woman made her living catching cheaters. Maybe it was more than just my age. Maybe she was jaded.

“It’s just, the timing is—” She shook her head and anguish entered her expression. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“So tell me when I take you out,” I said gently, even as something inside me wrenched to see her pain.

“That’s just it. I don’t want to mislead you into thinking I’m available.”

“Are you in another relationship?” I asked slowly.

Her brow was furrowed as she shook her head. “But that promotion I told you about? I decided to take it. It’s part of a bigger plan. I want to have a baby. Not someday. Within the next year. Last night was—” She stopped herself. “Amazing. But I can’t date you, Buck. I can’t be leading anybody on.”

Well there’s your answer.

Dan had told me to find out Loretta’s goals. She’d just handed them to me on a silver platter. Immediately, I could picture her as a mother. Loretta liked to nurture things. She was patient and kind, and fiercely protective of the things she loved. But now wasn’t the time to tell her that. Now was the time for me to say anything I had to, to make sure we didn’t end before we began.

In quick succession, I twisted off my burner and took my pan off the heat. Then, I walked to where she sat, looking closed off, as if maybe she’d expected me to recoil. I pulled her up off of the stool and into my arms, needing to restore our connection.

“Look, Loretta. I think you wanting kids is beautiful. One day, I’d like a few myself. And it says something about you, that you take it so seriously and respect me enough to tell me upfront. I think I’m like you that way. I think a few steps ahead. But I’ve thought ahead, too, Loretta. And this thing between us...it’s not a thing that we can wish away. I can’t see you every day without wanting to touch you. I can’t go on another stakeout pretending I don’t feel how I feel. I can’t live next door to you without wanting you in my bed every night.”

“I don’t want to wish it away, either,” she whispered finally. “I just don’t wanna lead you on.”

We were quiet for a long minute, though there was comfort in the closeness of our bodies, chemistry just from holding her close.

“I’m not asking for some long-term commitment,” I finally said. “Or for you to swear a blood oath that you’ll put me first. Next year’s a long time from now. Today, I’m just asking for a date.”

“Hey, beautiful.”

I fixed my cell between my shoulder and my ear seconds after I snatched it off of the coffee table at the Green Valley Fire Department. My hands were tied up with Xbox controls. Despite the rapid motion of my thumbs, I was not an asset to my team. Video games weren’t my preferred way to pass the time. But Call of Duty beat losing money to Grizz.

“So I’m beautiful now?”Loretta asked.

She couldn’t see me smile slyly.

“Not just now,” I informed her. “All the time.”

When she laughed in that cute way of hers, the smile that had bloomed on my face grew. I could hardly wait to see this woman again.

“What are you doing later?” She was as good as ever at blowing past my compliments. I planned to cure her of that.

“I’m off at eight,” I revealed.

“I was hoping if you weren’t too tired, you could take a look at my garage door. It opens, but it’s making a sound. I can pay you in butterscotch bars.”

Goddamn if this woman didn’t already know my favorite. “Butterscotch bars will do.”

I was still smiling seconds later after I bade her goodbye and tossed my phone back on the table.

“Did you say butterscotch bars?” Forrest Winters chose that moment to sit beside me. Until then, he’d hovered behind the leather couch watching our game. A quick glance over showed me he was on his second helping. I’d noticed that whatever official business brought Forrest to the Green Valley Fire Department consistently fell at lunchtime on taco day.

“I did,” I admitted vaguely, though even I could hear the pride in my own voice.

“Only one woman in town makes them halfway decent.” Forrest stated it as fact.

“What do you know about decent butterscotch bars?”

“I know Loretta Boggs brings them to the sheriff’s Fourth of July barbecue every year. And, if I’m being fair to her, they’re a hell of a lot better than decent. Sounds like the rumors are true.”

“What rumors?” My eyes were glued to the screen as my fingers pressed buttons rapidly.

“That you and Loretta Boggs are a thing.”

I paused the game. It caused a chorus of protests. I let my reproachful look make its rounds. Loretta and I seeming so friendly the day of the calendar shoot, in light of the tasing incident, had caused speculation about our relationship to abound.

“Y’all are worse than a bunch of old hens,” I accused. “Clucking over things you don’t know nothing about.”

“You could do a hell of a lot worse than Loretta,” Huey said matter-of-factly.

“I sure wouldn’t mind having a long drink of her iced tea.” That one came from Louie. I threw him a fierce glare, then slid it over to Dewey, daring him to open his fat mouth.

“Forrest knows what he’s saying,” Dan chimed in. “Ain’t nothing wrong with a woman who can bake. Loretta’s the one who made those whoopie pies.”

“And it sure was sweet of her to come by with pictures from the calendar shoot,” Huey pointed out.

Grizz strolled in from behind where we were seated on the couches. “Maybe now, Louie can get a date.”

I laughed along with the others and unpaused the game.

No one apart from Dan knew that I was actively pursuing Loretta. It wasn’t news I planned to share, mostly because it was none of their damn business but also because it was early, and uncertain. Still, I liked that all of them had warmed to her, due in no small part to her own kindness. She’d sent me to work three days after the shoot with thumb drives for all the guys.

Every single guy liked how their pictures had turned out. Firefighters could be tough, but they could also be vainglorious attention whores. Some guys really did use Loretta’s pictures for their dating profiles. Others were thankful to have been offered their portraits. I was not-so-secretly pleased. I’d rather they remember her for her charity and talent than for her tasing skills. Her butterscotch bars might make them forget it altogether.

The next hour of my shift passed slowly, with more than a little ribbing from the guys, and more than a little daydreaming about Loretta. I liked that she’d called me to take a look at her garage door. Asking me over to fix things was new, but it felt domestic. Already, I could see my life with this woman: her tending the gardens and mixing the drinks; me fixing our dinner and making the repairs; us talking about our cases at the end of a long day and cuddling together on her loveseat watching movies with our dog.

“For real, are you dating Loretta?” Forrest cornered me later in the kitchen to ask.

“I’m trying to.” I trusted Forrest enough to tell him the truth.

“’Cause Sierra really likes her...,” he continued. “And it wasn’t them who told me y’all were a thing.” He jutted his chin to the guys. “It was her.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What’d she say?”

“Nothing I’ll repeat.” Forrest rolled his eyes. “Women’s intuition. Anyway, Sierra’s been bugging me to get all of us together. Why don’t you bring Loretta to Poker Night?”

“Poker Night?” Grizz chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. “You ready to lose your shirt?”

He looked at me. It was true—I’d been at the house for two months and hadn’t yet partaken in the tradition. The one and only time I’d gone had been with Forrest, nearly two years back. I thought about how Loretta was wary of anything that felt too much like dating, how I’d do well to take things slowly. How Poker Night might feel casual and fun.

“Sheriff’s deputies come to Poker Night, don’t they?” I vaguely recalled that Poker Night wasn’t just fire.

“Grizz’ll take anyone’s money.” Forrest smirked.

I liked the idea of other folks from the sheriff’s office being present. I could position it less like a date and more like the natural convergence of our worlds.

“I’m in,” I finally said to Forrest, then turned my attention to Grizz. “When’s the next one?”

“Two weeks from Wednesday and don’t come empty-handed. Bring something to drink.”