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“It will. I have faith in you, pumpkin,” my dad said, nodding. “It’ll be great.”
“Mm-hmm,” I said, not at all convinced. I had a million and one things to do and now had a failed fire inspection to add to the list.
“You’re going to have Mom’s lemon bars on the menu, right?” Josh asked.
I nodded, my chest tightening at the mention of Mom. It was hard sitting in her kitchen, eating dinner at her table, without her. The loss was still raw and one of the main reasons I’d resisted moving back to Peachtree Grove.
But my family needed me, so here I was, at the same table we’d shared for almost thirty years. Except she wasn’t here and it just felt wrong.
I pushed down this thought and forged ahead. “So, who’s going to help me pass my second fire inspection?” I looked first to Josh, then to Ben. “Any takers?”
“What were the violations?” Ben asked before shoving a giant bite of mashed potatoes into his mouth.
“Blocked passageway,” Quinn said, piping into our conversation. “Improper number of fire extinguishers, missing key in key vault, and no paperwork on emergency lighting test.” He counted off each violation on his fingers, then leaned back in his chair, a satisfied look on his face.
Josh shrugged. “Eh, easy enough to remedy, Lanie. Don’t worry about it. Like I said, everyone fails the first inspection.”
“Well, I wasn’t expecting to,” I said, my voice rising several decibels. “Maybe if I’d known you were coming...” I glared at Quinn and he grinned back.
“Sorry. Didn’t know I needed to give you advance notice.” He took a long drink of his water. “I told you I’ll come back tomorrow. Just fix those things and you’re good.”
I sighed. Sue Ann reached over and patted my arm. “It’ll be fine, Delaney. I’ll send Josh over bright and early tomorrow morning and you guys can knock it out before he goes to the station.”
Josh rolled his eyes at Sue Ann, but shrugged in agreement. “Fine. I’ll be there by six-thirty, Lanie. But don’t be late.”
“I live there, Josh. How could I be late?” I said, shaking my head.
“Still. Be awake.”
“Deal.” My stomach unknotted a tiny bit, knowing my big brother had my back.
Then I glanced across the table at Quinn, his grey eyes trained on me, and that tiny bit of cool relief whooshed right out of me.
I wasn’t so sure I’d pass the inspection.
Even more troublesome was the tingle tiptoeing down my body as a certain gorgeous firefighter eyed me. The one person in this town with whom I would not—could not—get involved with.
2
Quinn
Well, this was awkward. Figures that the hottest girl I’d seen in town in ages happened to be my best friend’s kid sister. No way could I hit that up. There was the bro code. Plus, we worked together at the station.
Sure, she was smoking hot. But it wouldn’t be worth it. Even for that bangin’ bod.
Nope.
But damn, she’d turned out to be gorgeous. Just the right amount of curve, spunky attitude, pretty face. I dug how her eyes said, “Don’t mess with me,” even while she gave off all signals to the contrary—jutting out her chest, swaying her hips, a cute pout on those pink bow lips.
No. Just no, Quinn. This is too low, even for you. It doesn’t matter how hot she is. Just stay focused on the job and move on.
I reminded myself of all the reasons to not get involved with Delaney as I stood in the fading light outside the rusty-colored brick building, ringing the buzzer to her bakery. I knew better than to just walk in. Didn’t want my jaw getting bashed again.
A tall, skinny guy with jet-black hair opened the door. “You must be the fire inspector.” He thrust a hand out. “I’m Marsden, Lanie’s right-hand man.” He made no effort to hide the fact he was sizing me up, eyeing me like a cat would a mouse.
“Yeah, I’m Quinn McCauliffe. Hopefully you guys have everything in order this time around. And I meet your approval.” I raised my brows, wondering if Delaney was even here.
“Delaney’s in the kitchen.” Marsden tilted his head towards the back. “Want me to grab her?”
