Wet(25)

He treaded gingerly, not wanting to offend her, but always wanting to be honest with her. “I know, and as much as I love your show, sometimes I think your menu is a bit too complicated for the average Joe.” He rolled one shoulder and added, “Hey, there is something to be said for down-home cooking.”

She frowned, and mumbled under her breath, something about her viewership.

“What?” He tipped her chin to bring them eye to eye, and wondered why she suddenly seemed so distressed.

“Nothing,” she said. “It’s nothing.”

“Katy,” he pressed, wanting her to share everything with him.

“Come on. I’m anxious to get home, soak in a bubble bath and crawl into bed with my favorite firefighter.”

“You’d better be talking about me,” he teased.

Katy laughed, stepped away from him and pulled on her shirt while Trent finished getting dressed.

He held his hand out to her. “Come on, I’ll walk with you.”

“You want to be seen with me?”

“I’m sure as hell not going to let you face the wolves yourself.”

She smiled. “Firefighter and bodyguard,” she teased.

Once they were dressed, they slipped out the back and took the gravel path until it led to the main road. As soon as they surfaced, cameras were directed at them and microphones were shoved in their faces. Jesus, he hated being thrust into the spotlight like this. Deputy Veinotte controlled the reporters as Trent and Katy kept their heads down and hurried along the street. When they reached her cottage, Trent guided her along the lane, stopped at the door and ignored the questions being fired their way from the street.

“Aren’t you coming in?” Katy asked.

“Don’t want to sully your reputation, lassie.”

She angled her head and grinned. “So what, now you’re a pirate?”

He gave her a wink. “If you want me to be. I’m sure I can rustle up a costume.”

She laughed, went up on her toes and placed a soft kiss on his mouth. “I think I’ll stick to my fireman. He’s quite good at putting out fires and I don’t just mean the ones in my trash can.”

When her smile faded, he brushed his thumb along her mouth, knowing what was going through that pretty head of hers. “Don’t worry, Katy. You’re safe here. Brody said the noise was from loose shingles. I fixed them this afternoon.”

Her eyes widened, emotions passed over her face. “You did? Why?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

With that he bent and kissed her with all the love inside him. When she kissed him back, the press taking pictures from the end of her lane, he knew in his heart his Katy had found her way home.

Feeling alive for the first time in a long time, Trent couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. He turned to leave, knowing it was time to take their relationship to the next level. A plan began to formulate, and as he warmed to the idea, excitement rushed through his veins. From here on out, when he wasn’t working, he was going to spend every moment with Katy, making love to her and proving over and over again just how good they were together before he moved forward with the rest of his agenda.

As he made his way back to the fire station, the paparazzi tight on his heels, he tried to ignore them. Except when someone hinted that Katy was back in town simply to create a buzz, and had found the perfect hero to help her become America’s sweetheart, he stopped in his tracks.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Trent demanded.

“Come on, Trent,” the reporter said. “Who doesn’t love a firefighter? A down-home boy respected by men and wanted by women. You’re exactly what Katy needs to draw interest and get her ratings back up.”

Trent fisted his hands and worked to keep his anger in check. He resisted the urge to hit the guy only because he didn’t want it to look bad on Katy. “Take a hike, pal.” Trent turned and reminded himself the guy was nothing more than the damned paparazzi trying to get a rise out of him.

“Yeah, well when the story breaks, we’ll see who’s going to be taking the hike and who’s going to be the one left behind.”

Trent’s stomach tightened as old, painful memories resurfaced. As he mulled over that worry, a seed of doubt blossomed inside him and his pulse kicked up a notch.

They had to be wrong. They just had to be. Katy said she had nothing to do with the media’s sudden appearance and he believed her. She was honest and caring and would never throw her small town into the spotlight for her own selfish reasons.

But as he walked back to the station, something began niggling in the back of his brain, something Katy had said that he couldn’t quite put his finger on…