2. Poppy

TWO

POPPY

"Looking good Poppy. What sweets do you have for us today?" Brian holds the door for me as I walk through. I smile and shake the bag I'm holding while balancing the tray of cookies sent from my cousin Marigold at Cakeology. The guys at the firehouse all gather round the moment they hear my car pull up. I added a sound effect to my car horn that plays ‘Party in the USA' by Miley Cyrus whenever I hit it. So if the song doesn't announce my arrival, the color would—my pink mini cooper is hard to miss.

Just like me, it's one of a kind.

Ted, Brian and my cousin's fiancé, Maddox are the crew on call today. Their chief, Ryan Donnelly waves to me from his office. He's a good looking man, tan and toned with shaggy dark hair that could use a cut. But the fifth man to complete this crew today is the one I really came to see. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to notice me.

Jace Sullivan is sex on stick. With thick dark hair that falls to the side, big brown eyes and lips that are just begging for a kiss. Sully, as the boys at the station call him, is the hottest twenty-one year old I've ever seen. The fact that I'm thirty years old doesn't mean a damn thing to me, but I've a feeling it's why he hangs in the back and shies away from me. My big personality doesn't always sit well with others, and I'm sure I make him nervous. But even though he's young, he's got an old soul. I can sense it just by the way he carries himself. Security and intense strength and a body I could quite happily wrap myself around completely.

"Probie!" The guys snap out his nickname for being the probationary fireman. From what my cousin told me, you're considered a probie for the first year you're at the fire station. He's got about five months left before he stops getting picked on. Poor guy. "Don't you want a taste?"

As Maddox pesters him, I glance his way seeing his face blush. His eyes drift up my body, and he takes me in as I walk over to where he stands in the kitchen. He quickly comes to my aid, taking the tray from my hands and slides it onto the counter.

"Make sure you get some of what you like, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replies with his eyes downcast as he places the tray on the counter.

"Ma'am!" I screech out and he tosses a look over his shoulder at me. "How many times do I have to tell you, Sully?"

I should be ashamed that now I'm part of the "embarrass Jace club" but the fact I'm seeing a reaction from him, turns me on.

"It's a habit, not an inclination of your age." His eyes flutter to me. "Won't happen again … ma'am." His lips twitch and my heart races.

"Probie! The firetrucks aren't going to wash themselves. Quit flirting and get to work."

His eyes flick over my shoulder and narrow the slightest on Maddox before he brings them back to me. "Thanks for the sweets. I love your cousins' shop."

He turns and heads for the truck bay before I have a chance to say anything more. But as fast as he's gone, Maddox is in my ear.

"He's a baby, Poppy," he teases.

I shake my head and say, "It's always the quiet ones that know how to work it, Maddox." When I turn to face him, I reply, "You shouldn't be so loud." I pat his chest. "I'll tell my cousin you said hi."

I belt out a line from NSYNC's Bye, Bye, Bye and wave to the guys, chuckling to myself as I walk away from Maddox and back out to my car. Getting inside and turning the key I notice Jace with his shirt unbuttoned showing off a toned chest while wearing dark aviator sunglasses. He looks like a goddamn movie star. He's so hot that I have to force myself to look away and back out from the station before I do something stupid.