10. Aidan

CHAPTER 10

Aidan

“See you all later,” I say, giving a wave to my crew as I head for my locker. My twenty-four-hour shift is done and the new crew is on duty.

I’m looking forward to catching a little more sleep and then taking my little brother, who is still on winter break from college, curling. I’ve always thought it was a bit of a puzzling sport, but according to my brother everyone is doing it and I’m as competitive as the next guy. I embrace every opportunity to show my siblings who is the biggest and the strongest. In a friendly, we-love-each-other-way, of course. My family means everything to me.

I’m just grabbing my coat when I hear the call.

“Smoke detected from home security system. Books and Buns bakery,” the dispatcher says.

That gives me instant pause. That’s the bakery where Elise works. She’s talked about it in our text exchanges. There can’t be another bakery with that same name.

Dispatch gives the street address, but I barely hear it. I’m following the crew to the truck.

“What the hell are you doing, Burke?” Shelly asks. “You’re off-duty.”

We don’t work together often, but Shelly is around thirty-five and looks very sweet but is an absolute beast in the gym. She’s American Ninja Warrior level athletic. But she isn’t going to stop me from riding along on this call.

“I know a woman who works there. I need to make sure she’s okay.” I shoot Shelly a look that brooks no argument.

She doesn’t want to waste time debating it. “Fine. But you know you can’t go in.”

“Got it.” I can’t battle any blaze, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get eyes on Elise to see for myself that she’s unharmed.

Two minutes later, we’re roaring down the street. I text Elise.

Saw the call. Are you okay?

She doesn’t respond. I call her, worried she is still in the building. Which is irrational. If the business has a security system that goes directly to 911, surely it alerts employees, and has both an alarm and sprinklers. She doesn’t pick up, hopefully because she’s busy exiting the building or isn’t even at work, but is blissfully unaware of what is happening from the cozy comfort of her own apartment.

There is no visible smoke coming from the building when we arrive, indicating either a small blaze or one that’s already been contained.

I hang back to let the crew do their job, but I can see immediately through the large glass windows that Elise is standing in front of the door. She looks fine.

Then the door is opened by a man wearing nothing but boxer shorts.

Immediately, my colleagues usher the man and Elise out of the shop and make entrance.

I call for her when she comes out, tears in her eyes.

“Elise! Thank God you’re okay.”

She’s dressed in flip-flops and lounge pants and a tank top. I’ve heard of casual Friday at work, but this is next level. It’s also January, and fucking freezing outside, so I peel my coat off as I make my way to her.

“Aidan!” She swipes at her eyes. “I don’t know what’s happening. I started the croissants this morning and the muffins and I was tempering some chocolate for Luna, and then I went upstairs and the alarm went off. We didn’t go into the kitchen, so I don’t know what’s happening and I’m freaking out that there might be real damage.”

She pauses for breath and looks up at me. Her lip is trembling, and she’s shivering from the cold. Her nipples are tight pebbles beneath her cotton tank top.

All I can think is how damn happy I am to see her. Not one single hair on her head appears to have been harmed. Sighing in relief, I put my coat around her shoulders and pull her up against me.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I tell her gruffly. “And I don’t see any smoke, so I’m sure whatever happened, it’s not that bad.”

Then I glance over her shoulder and see the man who unlocked the front door. He’s dressed—or mostly undressed—in only boxer shorts. He’s running a hand through his hair when we make eye contact.

I almost suck in a breath at the sudden and unexpected instant attraction I have to him. His eyes widen and the corner of his mouth turns up, slowly. His gaze sweeps over me, taking in the way I’m comforting Elise, but more than that, he’s checking me out.

The feeling is mutual. I’m intrigued by that strong jaw, the straight nose, and a lean, but muscular chest. Under the circumstances, his stance is fairly casual. He seems confident that all will be well, in spite of a fire crew having just pushed past him, and the fact that he’s standing in nothing but his underwear in January. He has a muffin in his hand. A muffin, for fuck’s sake. It’s thirty degrees outside and he looks like he’s stepped outside to start his day in his private garden.

I find that confidence sexy as hell.

“I take it you two know each other?” he asks.

He’s British.

Until right fucking now, I never knew I had a thing for British guys.

But I know now.

At least this one.

He’s older than me by about a decade, also not my usual type, but I never argue with the power of attraction.

“We met on New Year’s Eve.” I reach my hand out around Elise’s side. “I’m Aidan.”

“Simon.” He grips my hand.

It’s a firm shake. And it lingers too long.

His fingers are long and cool, and he gives just the slightest small stroke across my palm before he releases my hand.

My cock reacts, hardening. Elise’s thigh is pressed against me and the way I’ve turned to reach Simon’s hand, my coat has slipped off her right shoulder and her nipple is brushing against my chest.

He’s shifted closer, right behind Elise. We’re all in a tight cocoon.

I glance down at Elise. Her lips have parted. She can feel my erection against her, has even leaned into it a little. Confusion clouds her expression.

“Wait—” Elise pauses and looks back and forth between me and Simon. “Oh.” Understanding dawns on her. “ Ooohh .” Then she grins. “Well. This just all got a lot more fun.”

“It certainly did,” Simon says.

His voice is husky, but amused.

And while my body reacts positively to that, and to Elise snuggled up against me, my brain is struggling to catch up.

“I’m confused.” Not by the obvious—she and Simon clearly just rolled out of bed. But the logistics are baffling to me. “How…why are you here in pajamas?”

“I live above the bakery. I guess I didn’t tell you that since we just met.”

Now it all makes sense. “Got it. So you put some baked goods in the oven and then went back upstairs?”

She nods. “Exactly.”

“She brought me a sample to taste.” Simon waves the muffin in his hand. “Then the alarm went off.”

“Aren’t you cold?” I ask him. He’s not even wearing shoes.

“Freezing my bloody balls off,” he agrees cheerfully.

“Here, take Aidan’s coat.” Elise tries to give him my coat, but he waves her off.

“You keep it, love. Can’t have every man on the street staring at your chest.”

“I agree.” There is a crowd gathering now. A woman walking her bulldog, an older man with a newspaper tucked under his arm, a couple of guys in their twenties in chef’s pants.

“I’ll get you a blanket,” I tell Simon, stepping back and heading to the truck.

It doesn’t bother me that Elise spent the night with Simon. If anything, I find the idea hot as hell. Especially since they both seemed happy to acknowledge we all share an attraction. But I’m not sure what any of that means.

I grab a blanket as Shelly is coming out the front door. “No one inside,” she tells me. “Just a small stovetop fire. Kitchen towel. It had already gone out on its own.”

“Good. So no real damage?”

She shakes her head. “No. Just a saucepan as a casualty and some minor smoke.”

“Elise said something about chocolate.”

Shelly nods. “Glad your friend is okay.”

“Me too.” I return to Elise and Simon and shake the blanket loose so I can drape it over his shoulders.

I could have handed him the blanket to wrap around him himself, but I want the opportunity to invade his personal space. To cement for him my intention.

It’s a miscalculation though, because once I have my arms wrapped around him and we’re staring into each other's eyes, I want to kiss him. I want to walk him back up against the brick wall and claim his mouth with mine.

His eyes darken before drifting down to my lips.

“Thanks,” he says, huskily. “I’m impressed with the fire department’s prompt and thorough efforts.”

I release his shoulders. “I’m not even on duty. Just got off for the day.”

He grins. I realize the way my words sounded.

I clear my throat and Elise reaches out and squeezes my hand.

“I didn’t know you have a boyfriend.” I want to ask point-blank if it’s an open relationship, given she was kissing the hockey player in the elevator the other night and texting with me, but I wait for her response first.

“This just happened. Simon used to be my boss. Now he’s more,” she says simply.

“Much more,” Simon adds.

She looks at Simon, who gives her a go-ahead nod. She turns back to me. “But I still want to get to know you, Aidan. If all three of us are okay with that?”

Simon gives me a charming smile. “I’d love to get to know Aidan, too. What do you think, Aidan?”

I’ve never had a threesome just fall into my lap like this, because that’s clearly what they’re both suggesting.

It’s fucking amazing.

I’m very attracted to both Elise and Simon, and I feel like I’ve drunk six cups of coffee. Excitement is buzzing in my veins. “I’m free tonight.”

They glance at each other. Elise smiles at Simon and nods.

He turns to me and claps my shoulder. “I love a chap who doesn’t waste time.”

“It seems like we all know what we want.”

I’m fixated on both Elise’s tank top hugging her gorgeous breasts and the feel of Simon’s hand on my shoulder.

Damn. I can’t wait to be naked with these two.

“If I hadn’t almost burned down the bakery, this would be a perfect morning,” Elise says.

That makes me laugh. “Let me see what’s going on in there before Simon gets hypothermia. Wouldn’t want him to lose any important body parts.”

“God forbid,” Elise agrees.

Simon makes a face. “Christ.”

“I’ll be right back and then I’ll give you instructions on how to slowly warm up after your body temperature has dropped.”

“Cute and practical,” he says. “A winning combination.”

That makes me grin. “I’m the full package, what can I say?”

I squeeze Elise’s hip before walking away, feeling both their gazes pinned firmly on me.