Chapter 2
two
Denver
“Casanova?” I retort, the irony of that statement is not lost on me at all.
Okay, I’ve been around the block a few times and have been told I can be charming.
But I’m not just a nice guy to seduce women.
I like to think I am who I am because of my solid upbringing and my parents instilling into me good manners no matter what.
Okay, I am a man, and there’s been times in my life where I could have done plenty of things better, but I’ve never mistreated a woman in my life.
And I never would. I’ve also never used a woman for my own gain, or just for sex.
She shrugs. “If the shoe fits.”
I scrub a hand over my face, wondering how the fuck I’m going to get out of this one, or at the very lest, give her some inclination of who I am.
Does she really not know?
I was in my twenties when she last saw me… I’ve changed over the years. Maybe I’ve grown a little harder and a little more cynical. I’m stronger though, physically, more solid than I was back then. I grew up. Of course, I instantly regret not shaving today.
“Are you new around here?” I decide to test the theory, at least, for a minute or two.
“New to the city,” she replies. “Not to Chicago as a whole, but that’s a whole other story.” She waves her hand as I smirk. Her eyes catch mine again and hold them there, she narrows them slightly as if trying to figure me out. We’d need more than a few minutes to do that.
I wait for a moment to see if she’s suddenly going to laugh and ask me why the hell we’re making small talk like we’re strangers… but she doesn’t.
I mean, it’s dim in here and all, but I am starting to think I’ve changed more than I originally thought. “What brings you to the city?” I ask.
“Family,” she says, her eyes dropping to the bar for the first time.
I follow the fall of her face and instantly feel a dull ache in my chest, a familiar one that I really want to shake as quickly as possible.
The tinge of sadness seems to wash over her like a cloudy veil.
Even though there are gaps that let in the light, her light, she seems suddenly shrouded in darkness.
The lump in my throat makes me reach for my drink, emptying the last of its contents in one quick gulp. It doesn’t quite have the effect I was hoping for, but it was better than nothing.
“Among other things,” she adds.
And I instantly want to know what those ‘other things’ are. I want to know every damned thing. Suddenly, from where I’m standing, it seems like I know nothing at all.
I want to tell her it’s me, Denver, and ask her a million things about what she’s been doing these last ten years and if life has been good to her. A twinge of sadness hits me hard that it has been so long since I’ve seen her.
I watch as she pushes off the bar to serve some customers next to me. She moves quickly and fluidly, and I know right away this isn’t her first time behind a bar.
She knows what she’s doing with precision and grace… My mind idles back while I watch her carefully, still nursing the empty bottle and my friends rabbiting in my ear about the game that I am only half listening to.
She works her way down the bar, revealing tight stone-wash blue jeans and heels. Heels that make her short frame much taller. Her voluptuous figure is something new to me, and fuck, I like it. More than like it.
She’s halfway across the bar toward the other side, and I know there are other guys noticing her just as much as I am. Unease grows in my chest. When I can’t stand it any longer, I cup my hands around my mouth and call out over the music.
“Hey, Red Robin…”
She stops in her tracks, one heel kicking up as she pivots expertly and glares straight at me.
The fire in her eyes ignites all of a sudden—her face a wash of astonishment and…
confusion? Strutting back toward me, her brows furrow and her soft features suddenly turn more wary.
Her bottom lip snags under her straight, white teeth.
She leans on the bar and releases that lip, pressing them together as her eyes roam over my face.
I take the moment to give her a cheeky grin, liking the way she’s taking me in. It’s as if she’s seeing me for the first time.
“What did you just call me?” It comes out breathy and hitched. At least she can form words—I’m all out of luck as her eyes slide lower.
“Red Robin,” I repeat. It was something I’d always called her growing up because the American Robin was so familiar around our neighbourhood. That and its orange-red breast reminded me of her hair. The name just stuck, and soon, everyone started calling her that. “Don’t you remember, Adi?”
Her swallow has my eyes distracted for a second as they dip to her throat, then back to her face.
Clouds wash over her features, a haze forming behind her eyes, tears threatening to leak and drop onto her pink cheeks.
“Denver?” she murmurs on a breath, like she’s checking to make sure she isn’t making this whole thing up.
The grin etched on my face can’t be contained. After ten long years of not hearing it, I hadn’t realized I’d miss it. I’ve missed her.
To be clear, I’ve never had any inclination toward my best friend’s little sister, other than her being a family friend and someone I’d lay my life down for, and have.
“In the flesh,” I say, with a calm air in my voice that doesn’t quite match the way I feel on the inside. I’m euphoric. I have no real idea why these feelings are coming over me so strong and fast.
It takes her another moment to really register. “No way?” she says.
“Yes way.”
She studies me for a moment. “For a second I thought you looked familiar. I mean… Oh! You know what I mean, right?”
I laugh. “Yeah, I think so.”
But she goes one step further and pushes herself up onto a step from behind the bar and reaches her arms out for me, not caring about the customers waiting, or anyone else for that matter.
When I lean over the bar and her arms fling around me, her soft apricot and blossom scent encapsulates me.
It’s like we’re only two people in the bar.
“It’s so good to see you!” Her voice is muffled against the shoulder of my shirt as my arms wrap around her. “You must think I’m a total idiot.”
I laugh a deep rumble, neither of us willing to pull back first. “Nah,” I say as finally I feel her arms loosen. “But it has been a long time.”
“Too long.” When she nods, the tears in her eyes form like tiny pools at the rim, finally leaking over, spilling down her flawless face.
“Hey.” I reach my hand up to her cheeks, brushing her tears away with my thumbs. “It’s alright.”
Adelaide steps back but still holds onto me, her fingers clinging onto my biceps as I smile.
“Don’t cry,” I whisper. “I’m happy to see you, Adelaide.”
“I’m happy to see you too, D.”
Present day
Back at the bar
We’re all staring at her as Eric gulps in my peripheral and Brax chuckles into his beer.
I pique a brow at my buddy. “Yeah, Eric, who is the hottest girl in the place? Care to share?”
As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. Eric will fucking share.
I glance at Adi, like those sparkling sapphires have no effect on me whatsoever.
But that’s total bullshit. What I failed to mention to Daryl, or anyone else for that matter, is his sister is HOT.
And those capitals have earned their place.
Adi grew to be a hottie… So yeah, there’s that elephant in the room.
The last thing I probably need to be doing is crushing on the woman I helped pull through the window of a burning building when she was four years old.
Daryl’s sister. But I had no idea she was going to turn into the woman she is now, for fuck’s sake.
She was always a pretty girl growing up, but I was much older than her so the thought never occurred to me until that very moment three weeks ago when I first saw her again.
“If I share, your brother might kill me,” Eric quips.
“Is that right?” She breaks me from my reverie and gives me a knowing smile.
I watch as she wipes the bar’s surface with a cloth and rests both palms on top of it.
I never cared to notice the burgundy hue with cherry undertones to the wood before.
I’ve never noticed a lot of things until Adelaide was in my line of sight.
She looks like a goddess with her flaming mane in long waves down her back, one side of her hair pulled up with an antique looking pin.
“Yep.” I strain to keep my eyes on hers and not wander down to her ample cleavage.
Jesus, I’m turning into a fucking pervert.
It also doesn’t help that when we lock eyes like this, she never looks away first. It’s been the same ever since we got reacquainted three weeks ago.
I can’t say I’ve ever been intimidated by a woman before, but Adelaide is certainly a woman who plays by nobody’s rules.
It definitely isn’t supposed to be like this; me fucking crushing on her.
It’s certainly not what I promised Daryl in the days leading up to his departure.
The timing wasn’t perfect with Adi coming here to start her new life and to be closer to her folks and then Daryl heading off, but he’ll be back soon enough.
The pair still fight like cats and dogs, a lot like me and Abby, but deep down we love each other.
“How’s your week been?” she asks with a smile.
“Ah, you know, drills and paperwork,” I say. “A stuck elevator and a rollover on the Kennedy was about the size of it.” We take plenty of calls during our shifts, and maybe a few emergencies per week for actual fires which may lead to several minor call-outs. Nothing too major.
She seems to listen to my words carefully, not breaking contact, and nods.
We’ve never had the conversation of how I got involved in the fire department, and it could be my imagination, but a part of me wonders if she’s thinking that right now.
I mean, it’s no coincidence that the night their house was on fire really set the stage in my life for what I wanted to do.
It didn’t put me off, seeing the destruction as Daryl’s house all but burned to the ground before our very eyes.
It made me want to be part of something even bigger.
Something important. I wanted to help people.
Despite the events from that night, and putting my own life in danger, I knew from twelve years old what I wanted to do.
“Never a dull moment,” she finally says. “Would you boys like another round?”
“Sure thing.” I nod. “It must be Brax’s turn here to pay.” I slap him on the shoulder for good measure and he flips me the bird.
“I got the first round,” he clarifies. “If anything, it’s between you and Eric.”
“Touchy, bud?” I give him a nudge, the same time as I flash Adi a wink. “Having woman troubles again?”
Adelaide presses those big, full lips together with amusement laced in the crinkle of her eyes. She may have only been here a few weeks but she’s getting used to our ridiculous banter.
Brax glances at Adi. “Charge him double.”
That only makes me laugh harder.
“If there’s a third round, I’ll get the tab,” Eric adds.
I’m guessing there will be a third round because someone decided it was a good idea to re-run the Blackhawks NHL win tonight on the big-screen and I’m getting hungry.
I’ll eat at the bar so I can keep an eye on Adi and make it nice and convenient.
“I’ve had a big week, okay,” Brax explains.
He works in construction for a major Chicago building company.
He leads a team of workers and has quite a bit on his plate with a new housing development on the edge of the city.
Friday nights are his one chance to kiss a crazy week goodbye.
Much like mine. Though, with my shifts always changing, we don’t catch up as much as I’d like to.
I’ve just been lucky these past few weeks.
“In fact, we should all have shots, Denver’s buying. You in?” he asks Adi.
We all look at her in turn, her smile turning into a full-blown grin. “I’m in.”