Charming the Firefighter (19 page)

“Leo.”

Pops, saying his name, bringing him down from the ledge. Good thing or else he would have made a huge mistake and he couldn’t let this snot-nosed kid do that to him. “My office,” he told Drew. “Either you walk there on your own, or I drag you there by the scruff of your neck. You have two seconds to decide. One.”

Drew snorted and crossed his arms as if it would take a bulldozer to move him.

“Two.”

Leo had barely gotten the word out when Drew started walking. Leo turned to the people watching, handed his whistle to Pops. “Could you run the practice until I get back?”

Pops nodded. “Keep your head.”

He would. He wouldn’t let Drew push him into doing something he’d later regret. He found the kid inside his office, standing as rigidly as a statue, his hair mussed, his pants dirty.

Leo shut the door and went behind his desk. Sat down. “You have a problem with me? That’s fine. But you also have a responsibility to your teammates not to act like an idiot while on the field. I let you back on the team because you begged to be on and now I’m regretting that decision.”

Drew just smirked.

Leo leaned back. “You think you have a right to act that way?”

“I’ve got a right to my feelings.”

“Damn right you do. You can be pissed and unhappy, but that’s no excuse to have such a shitty attitude. Then again, that’s your thing, isn’t it? Giving your mother grief all the time, acting like an asshole. Yeah, you got a shitty deal when you were younger. It wasn’t fair you were so sick, and it’s not fair you could get sick again, but you can’t hide behind it forever.”

Drew flushed angrily. “I’m not hiding from anything. And this has nothing to do with my being sick. I want to get past all that, but Mom won’t let me.”

“Bullshit,” Leo said mildly. “You hide behind that illness, let Penelope take care of you like she always has, and then you act like a spoiled, selfish, resentful brat. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t take and take and take from someone and never give back. Look, there’s no shame in being afraid—”

“I’m not afraid,” Drew said quickly. But his lower lip trembled.

“But there is shame in using people and being selfish.”

“What’s this, Coach?” he asked, saying the word
coach
the way most people say
rat-fink bastard
. “Playing daddy?”

“I’m not your dad and don’t want to be,” he told him honestly. “But I was hoping we could, eventually, be friends. To tell you the truth, I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea now. I’m not so sure I want a friend like you.”

Drew flinched, but the kid still had more resentment inside of him, because he stepped forward. “You’re nothing but a hypocrite. You tell me I’m using people, that I’m taking advantage of my mom? Right. What are you doing? I’m not the one using her. You are.”

Anger simmered in Leo’s veins and he slowly got to his feet, kept his gaze on Drew’s, his voice low. “Your mom is a wonderful, bright, beautiful, caring woman. If you can’t see that, if you can’t appreciate her for the person she is and don’t understand why I enjoy being with her and appreciate her as well, then you’re an even bigger idiot than I thought.” Leo pressed his mouth together, knew what he had to do next even if he hated it. “Clean out your locker.”

The kid’s head whipped up. “What?”

“Your locker. Clean it out. Anything you don’t take will be thrown away at the end of practice.”

“Why?” Drew cried, his face white.

“You’re off the team.”

The kid’s eyes about popped out of his head. “You can’t kick me off the team!”

“Want to bet? I can do whatever I feel is necessary for the benefit of the team as a whole. And I think it’s better, for all of us, not to have you as a member. So pack up your stuff and go. And don’t even think about coming back.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I
T
WASN
’
T
FAIR
.

Anger zipped through Andrew’s body, making his blood hot, his heart beat too hard, too fast. He picked up his pace, his duffel bag bouncing against his back as he walked home. He was a block away from his house, hadn’t wanted to call his mom to get him, could barely even look at her after what he’d walked in on yesterday.

Who the hell did Leo think he was, kicking him off the team? They needed him a hell of a lot more than he needed them, that was for sure. Asshole. And he wasn’t the only one. You’d think Andrew’s friends could have had his back, too, instead of standing there like sheep, blindly following orders.

He walked around the rear of his house, dug his key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock.

“Hey,” Gracie said breathlessly as she crossed the yard. As if she’d noticed he was home and had rushed over. She smiled. “Done with practice already?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t usually hang out with Gracie in the afternoon, only at night when he snuck over to her room. Those visits were their little secret. He checked his phone. His mom wouldn’t be home for almost two hours and he really didn’t want to be alone. “You want to come in?”

Her smile brightened. “Sure.”

He let her in first, then shut the door and tossed his bag on the floor. Stuck his hands in his pockets only to take them out again. Hell. He was nervous. Which was dumb. It was just Gracie. And this wasn’t the first time he’d been alone with a girl in the house before. He and Estelle had hung out in his room for well over an hour. Almost as long as it had taken him to work up the nerve to kiss her.

He’d kissed her and she’d brushed him off. But this time was different. Gracie already let him kiss her. Whenever he wanted. And she’d let him do other things, too, had let him put his hand under her shirt, touch her boobs through her bra. Yeah, this time was different. Maybe because he already knew Gracie liked him. Maybe because he was so edgy and amped up. He didn’t know.

Didn’t care.

“Want a drink or something?” he asked.

“Sure. Whatever you have is fine.”

“Except milk, right?” he asked.

She looked at him as if he was some sort of genius for remembering she was a vegan. “Right.”

He grabbed two bottles of juice. Would have given one to her so he could hold her hand but his palms were sweating. “Come on.”

She followed him up the stairs to his room. He winced. For the first time, he wished he’d listened to his mom’s nagging about keeping it clean. He shoved clothes off his bed, then handed her a bottle. “I need to jump in the shower. You can watch TV or whatever.”

“Oh. Okay.”

He grabbed clean shorts from his drawer and crossed to the bathroom, his palms still damp, his heart pounding. He liked seeing Gracie on his bed, her colorful clothes a bright contrast to his dark bedspread. He wanted to see her lying on it, he realized, but when he imagined it, he got hard.

Shit.

He took a cold shower, but as he did, he wondered if this wasn’t an opportunity in the making. He got out and dried off, and put on his shorts, but left his shirt off. Gracie liked him, he reminded himself. It was obvious in how happy she was every time she saw him. How she always seemed to be waiting for him to tap on her window.

He just hoped she liked him enough.

He went back into the room. Her eyes widened and her cheeks turned pink when she took in his bare chest. He’d worked hard to develop some muscle tone, and now had ridges and hard planes instead of a sunken chest and too-skinny arms.

He sat next to her, drank deeply from his bottle of juice, then set it down.

And kissed her before he lost his nerve.

She kissed him back, hesitantly at first, but then with more eagerness. He kissed her again and again until they were lying on his bed, side by side. He shoved her hair aside and kissed her neck, loving how soft her skin was. She tipped her head to the side and made a funny little sound, as if she liked what he was doing, her hands kneading his bare shoulders. Emboldened, he slid his hand under the hem of her shirt, skimmed his fingertips over the silky material of her bra, praying she couldn’t tell how badly he was shaking.

She squirmed, started running her hands up and down his arms. It felt so good, having her touch him. Her letting him touch her. He reached behind her and unhooked her bra then cupped her breasts.

She grabbed his wrists and tugged his hands away. “Andrew—”

“It’s okay,” he whispered, his voice unsteady. He wanted, more than anything, to touch her there again. To brush aside the bra and maybe even kiss her there. Instead, he kissed her mouth, her chin. “I really like you, Gracie,” he told her, trailing his fingers over the skin of her stomach. It was so soft. So smooth. “I like you a lot.”

She sighed, her body softened. “I like you, too, Andrew.”

Good, that was good. He went back to kissing her until she relaxed again, then he moved his hand up, up some more until he tugged and she let him pull her shirt off. She was beautiful. Her hair a riot of curls, her skin so pale and creamy. Excitement battled with reason inside of him, but there was a girl on his bed wearing only her jeans and an undone bra, and she was kissing him, so excitement won out.

They were both breathing hard, and she kept wiggling under him, but not like she wanted to get away from him. More like she really liked what he was doing, so he kept doing it. He gently rubbed his palms across the front of her bra and she made a sound in the back of her throat. It wasn’t enough, though. He wanted to touch her, more of her, skin to skin, wanted to kiss her, all over, wanted to see her naked.

Mostly, he wanted to have sex with her.

“Andrew,” she gasped, stopping him when he went to unbutton her jeans. “Wait.”

“What’s the matter?” he asked quietly. She was driving him crazy, her hands touching him all over his shoulders and back, down his chest. She was so soft and curvy and she smelled good, like mint. “Don’t you want to?”

“I...” She licked her lips and he got even harder imagining her licking him. “I’m not sure...”

“It’s okay,” he assured her, talking fast, trying to sound convincing. “My mom won’t be home for hours and I have condoms.”

She swallowed visibly. “It’s just I’ve never...you know.”

He hadn’t, either, but he didn’t want her to know that. “We’ll take it slow.” Though his body urged him to hurry up. “We’ll just...we’ll keep doing this and if it doesn’t feel good... Or if you...you really don’t want to, you tell me and I’ll stop. I just— I really, really like you, and I think about you all the time.”

She stared at him, eyes wide. “You do?”

He nodded. He did. Yeah, he thought about other girls, too, but she was the one he liked the most. “We won’t do anything you don’t want to do. I promise.”

She bit her lower lip. “You really like me?”

“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “I think...I think I love you.” He wasn’t sure that was true, but it seemed like the right thing to say at this moment. Especially if it convinced her to go all the way. Really, he wasn’t sure what love was or how you knew, for certain, when you were in it.

She sighed and then smiled up at him. He’d never seen anything as beautiful as her. “I love you, too.”

And though he wasn’t sure he’d meant it, not like he should have, she obviously did, because she kissed him sweetly, then let him do what he wanted. On that afternoon when his life was in the dumps, when he’d been kicked off the team and was pissed at the entire world, and wanted nothing to do with his mother, he lost his virginity with the girl next door in his bed.

Only after they were done and Gracie was cuddled up next to him did he realize he’d just made a huge mistake.

* * *

“C
ARE
TO
TELL
me what that was all about out there?” Pops asked Leo after practice while they walked to Leo’s car.

“Not particularly.” He unlocked the doors, climbed in and waited for Pops to do the same. He felt like calling his brothers, having a beer with them, but they’d know something was wrong and would bug him until he spilled the details.

“I suppose an old man could guess,” Pops said, buckling up. “You tell me if I’m close. You and Andrew’s lovely mother have gotten closer and Andrew is less than thrilled with that turn of events.”

“That sums it up.” Leo pulled out of the parking lot. Tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Andrew has a hard time being told no and not getting his own way.” Leo just hoped getting kicked off the team taught the kid a lesson.

Pops laughed. “Sounds like a typical teenager to me.”

“Bree isn’t like that.”

“She’s only twelve. Give her a few more years. Oh, I’m not saying she’ll turn into some juvenile delinquent, but she will have moments where we’ll barely recognize her or when we’ll wonder what’s gotten into her. And just as quickly those moments will be gone and she’ll go back to being her usual self.”

“Yeah, well, I never acted that bad.”

“You had your own moments. Besides, we’re talking about you and Penelope and your future with her.”

“Actually, we were talking about Andrew.”

“Now we’ve moved on. Keep up, boy.”

Leo glanced at his grandfather. “Don’t start reading into things. Penelope and I are seeing each other, casually, that’s it.”

Pops snorted. “Didn’t seem so casual to her son. And by your reaction, to you, either.”

“Yeah, well, that’s Penelope’s own definition of what’s going on between us. Her definition. Her rules. I’m just trying to stay in the damned game,” Leo muttered. “Though I’m starting to wonder if I’d be better off forfeiting.”

“What’s this? You’re thinking of giving up? That doesn’t sound like you.”

Maybe not, but he also didn’t fight battles he couldn’t win. “Things between Penelope and I are complicated.”

Pops snorted. “Complicated. Life is complicated. When you find someone you care about, you make it work.”

“You shouldn’t have to make it work,” Leo said. “It’s either right, or it’s not. And maybe, in this case, it’s not right. Penelope has a teenage son who isn’t thrilled with me, and a lot going on in her life.”

“You telling me you’re going to walk away from a woman you obviously care a great deal for because her son is acting like a brat? You run into burning buildings and you can’t face one sixteen-year-old kid?”

Leo strangled the steering wheel. Imagined, for a brief second, it was Pops’s neck. “I never said I couldn’t handle Drew. It’s just, being a parent is a lot of work. I’m not ready to settle down.”

Wasn’t seriously considering settling down at any rate. Though the idea of doing so with Penelope didn’t seem so bad. Seeing her every day, waking up with her, going to sleep with her. Kissing her when he wanted, making her laugh.

His throat tightened. No, that didn’t seem like a bad thing at all.

“I haven’t had feelings this strong for anyone before,” Leo said. “I’m not sure how to handle it.”

Pops clapped him on the shoulder, almost causing him to drive off the road. “The first step in getting what you want is figuring out what you want.”

“I want Penelope in my life.”

“Why?”

“Because...” His throat got tight.

“Don’t overthink it, boy. Just spit it out.”

Overthink? Leo almost laughed. Pops was accusing him of the same thing Leo had accused Penelope of doing. “Because I want to be with her.” Because he thought of her all the time. Missed her when they weren’t together. “But it won’t work. It’s already too difficult, too complicated. Relationships should be easy and fun and without conflict.”

Pops laughed so hard, he ended up gasping for air.

“What’s so funny?” Leo demanded, wondering if it would be considered elder abuse to drop off the old guy here and make him walk the mile and a half home.

“You sure have a skewed vision of what a relationship is like,” Pops said, still chuckling. “No one ever said life was easy or fair. I know you weren’t brought up to believe that, so why would you think you wanted a relationship that wasn’t complicated? Complicated women are the most interesting, if you ask me.”

Penelope certainly was complicated. And fascinating. “I’m not sure I’m up to being with a woman who already has a mostly grown son.”

“Do you care for her?”

“Yeah.” And admitting that wasn’t so hard, after all.

“Do you care for Andrew?”

He sighed. Even when he was pissed at the kid, he still cared about him. He nodded.

“You’ve forgotten what your brothers and sister went through before they were able to work through their problems with their significant others,” Pops said, counting off Leo’s siblings with his fingers. “Maddie had to forgive Neil and accept her part in what happened between them. James had to convince Sadie to give him a chance as her lover and not just her friend. Eddie and Harper are still working through her grief and guilt over being with Eddie after her husband’s death. Life is constantly evolving. You go from being single to falling in love to getting married and maybe having kids. And every step of the way you have to figure out who you are as a husband or wife, a father or mother. You have to compromise and communicate, mesh your parenting styles, how you feel about spending money, where you want to live, values, beliefs, everything.”

“That’s what Penelope said,” Leo told him, pulling into Pops’s driveway. “She said couples need to be compatible in every sense.”

“I’d say it’s more important that they be willing to compromise and work through their issues. To care for each other enough to set aside preconceived notions and be willing to bend a little bit.”

Pops climbed out of the car, then leaned down. “I asked your grandmother to marry me three times before she finally said yes. Those rejections hurt, bruised my heart and my pride but I didn’t give up, thank God. It was worth it...
she
was worth it. The most important things in life are worth the effort. Besides, since when do you give up on something because it’s hard? Because it might be difficult or take extra effort on your part?”