9. Seth
Chapter 9
Seth
“Damn it,” I muttered, jogging to catch up with Marlee. She moved at a fast clip, with quick, purposeful strides that were just shy of an all-out run. “Marlee, come on. Slow down. Can we talk?”
“About what?” she called back over her shoulder. “I’ve seen everything I need to see today.”
Marlee stopped at the front desk, donning a polite smile for the receptionist.
“Excuse me. Could I use your phone to call for a ride?”
The receptionist nodded and passed the phone over. Marlee started punching in a number. She was slipping through my fingers, right in front of me.
“I can take you wherever you want to go,” I said. “I could drop you off at a motel. There’s a cute bed and breakfast at the edge of town, nice and quiet.”
Marlee ignored me as she called an Uber. When she was finished, she hung up and pretended like I wasn’t even there as she headed for the door. I was right on her heels, scrambling after her as she stepped outside.
“I had no idea Amy was the one behind these fires,” I said. “I would have warned you if I knew something.”
Those fucking cookies. I hated myself for eating them. I should have chucked them in the trash. Instead, I’d gloated about them in front of the guys, completely oblivious to the fact that Amy was staking her claim on me in the most toxic, dangerous way.
“Marlee, please—” I caught her elbow and hurried to stand in front of her. She regarded me with wary blue eyes. Shit, those walls were back up and twice as high than they were before. “I didn’t know about any of this, I swear.”
“I believe you,” Marlee replied.
The steadiness of her voice suggested she was telling the truth. Although the twitching muscle in her jaw proved she wasn’t happy about it. I smoothed my palms down Marlee’s arms and took her hands in mine.
“Now that Amy has confessed, she’s going away for a long time. We don’t have to worry about her anymore. We can rebuild your house, and you could even design it yourself. You can move in with me while you get back on your feet.”
Marlee didn’t look hopeful though. She looked…tired. Beaten down.
“I heard the other firefighters talking at the cookout, Seth,” she said. “You’re a player, a flirt. You’ve slept with half the women in this town.”
I stifled a grimace. Technically, that was true, so I couldn’t deny it. My stomach churned as Marlee brushed past me, moving a few feet away to stand at the curb, waiting for her ride.
After less than two weeks of being around Marlee, learning her little mannerisms and tells, I recognized that stubborn angle of her jaw and the straightness of her spine. She’d made up her mind that we were over. But I was a firefighter. I didn’t stop fighting, even when everything went up in flames around me, even when it seemed like it was a losing battle.
“You’re right,” I said.
Marlee flicked a sideways glance at me for a split second, then returned her attention to watching the road.
“When we first met,” I continued. “I saw you as a challenge. I admired how feisty you were.”
“So, you wanted to wear me down.”
“I wanted…” I paused and blew out a breath. “I wanted no strings attached, and you seemed like someone who would keep it strictly business as usual. Sex would purely be used to scratch an itch, then we’d mutually agree to move on.”
A flash of hurt darkened Marlee’s gaze as she turned her head away.
“But I don’t feel like that anymore,” I admitted. “I don’t know when my feelings changed. Seeing you huddled in that bathtub when the house burned down around you…it still haunts me every time I close my eyes. I almost lost you that day.”
Marlee crossed her arms. Wearing my oversized clothes and my heavy boots, she looked small, tender, and bruised. All I wanted to do was hold her, to protect her heart after everything she’d been through. Instead, I’d only added to her troubles with my ex-girlfriend-turned-arsonist.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t have any intention of getting serious with you either,” Marlee countered. “So, I guess it’s time we go our separate ways.”
Her throat worked as she swallowed. She wouldn’t look at me as she spoke. I shook my head.
“You don’t mean that,” I said softly.
“I do,” she protested, with a hint of her old sharpness coming back into her voice again. Marlee squared her shoulders. “I had an ex like you back in California. He was charming, too. Handsome. When we were together, he made me feel like a princess. I dreamed about settling down with him in a cute little neighborhood, having kids together…”
She paused. I waited silently for her to continue.
“While I was planning our wedding, he was sleeping with his secretary.” Marlee’s voice wavered but didn’t break. “While I was thinking about baby names, he was getting the phone number for every cute waitress and hot barista he came across.”
What a dick, I thought.
For the first time in several minutes, Marlee finally turned her gaze on me. She didn’t have to say anything because I could see it written all over her face.
Despite her plans to keep our relationship surface-level, she didn’t know how to do casual. But she was still afraid of falling, afraid of having her heart broken again by a man who didn’t cherish her the way she deserved.
“What if I asked you to marry me right now?” I replied.
Marlee blinked in surprise. Then she huffed and shook her head.
“I wouldn’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth.”
“So, what would it take to change that?”
Marlee took a breath to speak then let it out in a rush. She sighed and rubbed her forehead.
“I don’t know.”
Crossing the distance between us, I cupped Marlee’s face in my hands and tilted her head up until she met my gaze.
“I don’t want something casual with you, sweetheart. I want it all. I want a home you designed with our family in mind. I want to fall asleep next to you every night and I want to wake up by your side every morning. I want a sassy little daughter who looks like the spitting image of you. I want a son who is a holy terror, just like me when I was a kid. I never wanted this with anyone else, but when I’m with you, it’s all I can think about.”
Marlee bit her lower lip as her eyes turned misty.
“You’re just saying that because you know it’s what I want to hear.”
I held her gaze, unwavering.
“Do I look like I’m lying?”
She searched my face for several seconds. A dozen emotions flashed across her expression—worry, fear, hope, doubt, and something soft, fragile. Haltingly, Marlee brought her hand up to rest against my chest. Then she let her eyes slip closed and she circled her arms around my middle.
“I’m scared,” she said, barely above a whisper.
That must have taken a monumental amount of courage for Marlee to admit. She didn’t let anyone see the chinks in her armor for a reason. After a father who dismissed her hopes and dreams, and a cheating ex, it was safer to lock away her heart where no one would get to it.
The fact that she opened up to me now, especially after my ex-girlfriend had fucked up Marlee’s life, was a privilege I wouldn’t take lightly. I kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, and finally her lips.
“Then we can take it as slowly as you need to.”
She snorted.
“You’re a firefighter who runs into burning buildings for a living. You don’t know how to do anything slowly.”
A wry smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
“I told you before—I can be a gentleman when I put my mind to it. And if that’s what my girl wants, that’s what she’s going to get.”
Marlee opened her eyes and looked up at me. I traced my thumb along her lower lip.
“You really mean that,” she said, bewildered.
“Yeah. I do.”
She considered for a moment, circling her fingertip down my button-up shirt.
“What if we end up having two little girls and you don’t get the son you want?”
I shrugged.
“I’ll be ready when they start bringing boyfriends over for dinner.”
Marlee hummed in thought.
“What if we have all boys? Are you prepared to handle that?”
I cocked my head with a look as if to say, are you kidding me?
“I would pity you because your sanity would probably reach a breaking point. And I would teach them to treat their mama right.”
Marlee’s eyes sparkled and she ducked her head, brushing her lips along the curve of my neck. I swore under my breath. She knew how to unravel me in a heartbeat.
“What if childbirth changes me and my body so drastically that I’m not the woman you fell in love with?” she asked.
I raised my eyebrows, trying to wrap my head around that concept. She seemed to be…probing for something. Trying to trap me in scenarios that may or may not happen. Was she testing me? Or was she trying to push me away?
“I’m not going anywhere, Marlee,” I replied. “And I’ll prove it to you every day for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes. I’d be the luckiest man in the world to have you as my wife and the mother of our children.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Is that another one of your cheesy pick-up lines you use on all the girls in town?”
“No,” I countered. “I’ve never said anything like this to anyone. I…know that I dated around a lot, but I never made any promises I didn’t intend to keep. You’re the only one I’ve ever proposed to.”
Marlee gave me a friendly poke in the chest.
“Technically, you haven’t proposed yet. You wanted to know what my answer would be if you asked. That’s not the same thing.”
I took her hands in mine and held her gaze as I sank down to one knee. The pavement bit through the fabric of my pants, but I ignored the discomfort. It wasn’t romantic by any stretch of the imagination—outside the police station, lingering at the edge of the parking lot, with no ring, and nothing but the shirt on my back and my heart on my sleeve. For a woman who was accustomed to a more lavish lifestyle back in California, it was probably ludicrously disappointing.
“I don’t have a diamond ring or an elaborate proposal. I can’t offer you much on a firefighter’s salary. But I swear I’m a hard worker, and I’ll strive every day to be a husband who makes you proud. Will you build a life with me, Marlee? Will you marry me?”
She briefly pressed her hand to her mouth, her eyes shining. Then she nodded.
“Only if you promise to turn me into a small town girl.”
My grin grew from ear to ear.
“Oh, sweetheart, you can pull that off all by yourself.”