Chapter Four.
WAYNE
Dinner moved along quickly. The food was incredible, but what kept his attention was the woman seated beside him at the square-top table. Avery was beautiful but she was also funny and wicked smart.
“How do you know all of these things?”
Avery leaned into the table and held her wine glass by the delicate stem. “Reading. Lots and lots of reading.”
Wayne took a sip of his beer to give his lips something to do because he wanted to take that glass out of her hand and taste those fingers of hers. One at a time against his tongue.
“I know it seems... strange, but-”
“Strange?” He set his glass down after almost choking down the last swallow. “How so?”
She shrugged and her shapely shoulders made it harder to breathe. “When people find out that I’m a firefighter, I get a lot of those looks.”
He nodded. He’d been on the receiving end of those looks, too. When people found out that he was an athlete, they would nod and ‘ah’ at that as if being a talented athlete made him less apt to be intelligent, too.
“What books do you like to read?”
Her smile deepened and she sat back a little, the draped neckline of her dress dipping lower. “A little bit of everything. When Aiden was younger and started to read, we’d go to the library for story hour and then borrow some books to take home for him.”
Wayne watched as her gaze drifted across the tabletop and fixed on the delicate golden candleholder at the corner.
“I had a better memory with his books than my own. I’d forget to bring my books back and end up with late fees.
One day the librarian at the desk made an offhanded comment about the books they had on the table in the entryway.
Those were old books that they’d removed from the library lending catalog and were selling them for a dollar a piece.
“Well, money was tight, as it always is with me and Aidan. So instead of borrowing books, I’ll pick up a book for a dollar every time we went to the library.
” She swirled the wine in her glass although Wayne wasn’t sure she knew she was doing it.
“I don’t know what it was, but when I bought the book, instead of setting it aside during the week after Aidan would go to sleep, I’d read.
And started reading so much more than I had before.
It was crazy, but I enjoyed it. I still enjoy it. ”
“I’d love to see what books you have at home.”
She looked up at him and her smile lit up her whole face. “Is that like in the Victorian era when men would say they want to show you their etchings?”
He frowned a little at that. “I have no idea.”
She bit into her lip and shifted on her chair. She crossed one leg over the other, leaning on one arm. The movement gave him a great view of her calves. He was a goner for sure.
“It was something a man would say to get a woman to come and look at his art. Meaning he’d get her alone and they could... get a little frisky.”
“That I understand.” He smiled then, nodding. “I have some art at my place,” he took a sip of his beer and set it down, “happy to show you anything you like.”
“I... I don’t know if we’re at the ‘go over to your place’ part of our... I don’t think we can quite call it a relationship.”
“I don’t know...” Wayne leaned in against the table and covered her hand with his. “It might be a little early, but I’m interested.”
She smiled, looking more than a little surprised. “Really?”
“What’s so hard to believe about it?”
She moved her hand under his and he wondered if she was trying to get him to let her go, but when she stopped, he looked down and saw that she was brushing her thumb against the side of his hand. “I guess because it’s been a long, loooong time since a man has shown some serious interest.”
“That,” he narrowed his eyes at her, “I don’t believe. How is it that a beautiful woman like you doesn’t get any interest?”
She cleared her throat. “Most men meet me when I’m dirty and sweaty. Streaked with soot and smoke. It’s not exactly a turn on.”
He shrugged. “I spent most of my professional career sweaty and dirty.”
Her eyes brightened. “Huh, I never thought of that.” She reached out and picked up a piece of bread from the basket in the middle of the table and pulled a small piece off of it. “The few that have shown interest fall into two main camps.”
He raised a brow at those words as she put the smaller piece in her mouth and frowned a little. He wondered if that was because of the flavor and picked up the butter knife from the plate. He held his hand out for her bread. She smiled and gave him the rest of her slice of bread.
As he buttered it, he looked up at her. “What kinds of camps?”
“Those who think that me being a firefighter is something I’m just doing to ‘stick it to the patriarchy.’ Like I’d risk my life on a daily basis for that kind of reason.”
He nodded and handed her back the bread. She took it with a smile and took a bite from the bread, chewing happily.
“I can’t imagine that all of the training you went through and still go through is something you’d do to just ‘stick it to the man.’“
She nodded and lifted her hand to cover her mouth.
“See?” She chewed and swallowed and took a quick drink of water. “And the other? Well, they think I’m just trying to find myself a man to bring in the money so I can quit and be a housewife.”
He grimaced at that. “Neither option seems like you.”
“Really?” She laughed softly. “You’re right. Neither is me. That’s why I didn’t end up with any of them. I don’t fit their view of what or who I am.”
She took another bite of the bread and chewed on it.
He watched her for a moment before he buttered another piece of bread. “I think I might be outside of those camps.”
Avery watched him carefully. “Really? What’s your view on it? On me?”
“You?” He set down the butter knife and set the bread down on her plate.
“I think you’re fascinating. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this kind of connection before, to anyone.
While I don’t think you fit into either of those views, I think I’m going to like figuring out who you are. All of the different bits and pieces.”
Avery looked down at the buttered bread on her plate. “You keep buttering the bread for me like that and there won’t be any bits on me, they’re going to be big.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth she bit into her bottom lip and her face reddened to a shade approaching the color of her dress.
“That’s... I... I didn’t mean...”
He reached out and put his hand on her arm. “I like all of your bits and pieces, Avery. I doubt I’ll ever find something about that I won’t like.”
She turned away, dipping her gaze down toward the top of the table. “With enough time... there’s always something to find.”
“We haven’t even started,” he moved his hand on her arm, just an inch or so. It was enough to get her to turn her head back toward him. “I’ve got my share of bad habits that might scare you away.”
She looked up, meeting his gaze with her own.
“I doubt that very much.”
“Wayne.”
She frowned at that. “What?”
“Wayne,” he smiled at her. “It’s my name.”
The frown deepened, making a fairly decent furrow between her brows. “Yeah...”
“I just mean that you can call me Wayne if you like.”
She looked a little uncomfortable at the comment.
“Well, you can call me whatever you like.”
Her brows raised at that and her smile lifted. “Oh?” There was humor in her expression.
“So I could call you ‘sexy’ or ‘hot stuff.’“
Wayne lifted his beer, not because he was really thirsty, but because he was trying to hide his mouth for a moment.
“Then again with that thick beard, I could call you Papa Bear.”
He swallowed and tipped his glass to take a sip of his beer.
She leaned in, placing her forearms on the edge of the table letting the front of her dress dip down.
The candlelight from the table and the flickering of the faux oil lamps on the wall made for a deep shadow between her breasts.
It wasn’t the heat in the room, but the topic and the woman were making him heat up.
“Or,” her voice was deeper now, softer, too. “I could call you Daddy.”
He barely managed to swallow without choking on it.
She shook her head and leaned closer, patting him on the back. “I shouldn’t have said that while you were drinking.”
When he finally had it down, he looked back at her, barely managing to hold back his smile.
“You can call me whatever you want.”
“I feel like I should call you Coach Reynolds. The whole town calls you that.”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t take the whole town out to dinner.”
She smiled and looked like she was absorbing his words. “That would be a huge check.”
They were laughing a minute later as the waitress came over with the dessert menu.
******
As soon as she got back into his truck she groaned and put her hand over her belly. “I should have said no to dessert.”
Wayne climbed into the driver’s seat and looked over at her with a smile. “It was good though, right?”
She groaned and rubbed at her belly. “That would seriously do some damage to my waistline.”
He was quiet and she turned to look at him only to see his eyes looking down at her lap. Well, she was rubbing at her stomach. Of course he’d look.
Wayne looked up and met her gaze, his face reddened and he looked out of the windshield, starting the truck. “Sorry.”
She shook her head, even though he probably didn’t see the gesture. “No need to apologize. I kind of called your attention to it.”
He pulled the car out onto the road, following the one-way road around the block that had been turned into businesses. It gave her a chance to look at the other places along the way. “What’s your verdict on the restaurant? Should we go back in the future?”
“Absolutely!”
She hadn’t even taken a minute to think about it. She looked at his face and saw him smile. “Sounds like an honest opinion to me.”
“Honest and emphatic,” she agreed. “I’d love to go back.”
She sat back and looked out of the windshield at the passing streets. Smiling. She spoke again. “The company was even better.”
They continued to talk, but the combination of a full stomach and the warmth inside his truck had the effect of lulling her to sleep. She fought it, but in the end, she couldn’t help herself and dozed off.
*****
She woke up to the soft sounds of music and a warm, male voice humming along. She cracked open one eye wondering who was singing and realized that she was still in Wayne’s truck, in the passenger seat.”
He turned and smiled at her. “You’re awake.”
Avery let out a long, exhale. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” She drew in a breath and sat up straighter in her seat.
“Sorry. I hope I didn’t keep you out too late.”
She reached for the handle on her door.
“Wait.”
Avery bit into her lip and lowered her hand from the door handle. She turned back to look at Wayne.
“I don’t have anything to do in the morning,” he explained, “so you don’t have to worry about keeping me out late.”
“Oh,” she was completely awake now and her face was flushed with color, “good. I can’t believe I-”
“You don’t have to apologize, Avery. I was listening to some music while I waited. “If you didn’t wake up soon, I was going to take you to my place.”
She sat up even straighter at that. “Oh?”
“Well, I don’t know where you would keep a key on you. You don’t have a purse that I could see.”
Avery looked down at her dress and realized that yes, she hadn’t brought her purse. And she certainly didn’t tell people where she kept her key and her bank card when she didn’t.
Her hand reached out and touched her phone on the center console.
“I guess you weren’t in a mood to frisk me.” Her cheeks burned at the idea and when she looked over at him, he looked a little darker in the cheeks as well.
“So,” he nodded, “if I took you to my place, I could use the keypad and put you in my spare room, but I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about that.”
Avery nodded, thinking about that very thing. “Good call. I’m just sorry, I made you wait.”
She looked up at her window through the windshield and made an offer that she might not have made if she hadn’t been startled awake.
“You want to come up for some coffee? I... I don’t know where you live, but I’d feel horrible to send you off without something to keep you awake and safe on the drive. ”
Wayne smiled at her and reached across to cover her hand with his. “You don’t have to hard sell me. I’d love to go up and see what books you have at home.”
For a brief moment she remembered telling him about ‘etchings.’ Then she wondered if he was remembering the same comment she’d made. Either way she was sure of one thing. If he tried to kiss her and she didn’t want him to, she knew he’d stop.
No, it wasn’t something that he’d said or that someone had said about him. It was a feeling.
The same feeling she had around the firefighters at House Twenty-nine. They were all good men. She trusted them with her life. And in the same way, she just knew, deep in her gut that Wayne Reynolds was a good man.
“Avery?”
She looked up at him, smiling. “Sorry. I was just trying to remember if I left my underwear on the floor.”
She saw his smile and knew that he knew she was making an excuse. “Come on up. I have some halfway decent coffee.”
Before he let go of her hand, he lifted their hands and leaned in. He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “Let’s go.”