Read Fahrenheit for Free Online Page B

either of them.
    “Good.” She could tell he was going to reach out and place his hand on her arm, but just as quickly as his hand started the motion, he stopped. Obviously he remembered where they were, and what they were supposed to be doing. “It’s good because my dream is to become a smokejumper like my brother.”
    “You’ll have to tell me about it someday. I’d really love to hear about your plans to make that dream a reality.” She looked past his shoulder to the men who were now closely watching them both. “You should get to work.” She nodded in the direction of the rest of the fire crew. “I’m just here to take the pictures.”
    “I guess I should.” He looked her over from head to toe and back again. “You’re sexy, even when you’re dressed down.” He winked at her before leaving to join the other firefighters.
    Eve checked out the man she had come to like—a lot—in just a short time. She didn’t know much about him, but what she did know told her he was kind. He cared enough about people to risk his life to save their life. He cared enough about her to make sure she had a pair of shoes, that she had some things she needed from her apartment, and that she was okay. He was clearly patient. Even with several dates interrupted by her brothers being there, and even last night, he was still interested enough to stay the course. He was smart. There was no way he would get through his firefighter training if he wasn’t. And he was cute—very cute. She liked him, maybe more than she should because she knew what she needed to do was get to know him, let him get to know her, and then decide whether or not they both wanted to invest the time and patience into the relationship that she was sure it was going to take.
    She shot pictures of the men working, of the fire that was now almost extinguished, the fire line that had served its purpose and kept the fire from being much worse than it could, and of Adam. He was working hard, like the rest, but there was something about him that made her keep snapping pictures. His eyes had to be at least some part of that something; she was sure of that. He had the most amazing eyes she had seen on a man in a long time, and they stood out because of his dark hair—not that one could see much of either due to the hat. But there was a brief moment where he had looked up at her, right into the lens and she snapped the photo. That was a photo she wanted to hang on her wall—when she had one to hang it on. Before she knew it, every photograph seemed to have him in it. She laughed to herself. “Make sure to get these off before you hand it over to Mitch,” she reminded herself. She could leave a few, but she shouldn’t give all of them to him. Mitch was a bloodhound when it came to finding the facts, and she wasn’t sure she wanted him to know about her budding relationship with Adam until it had actually budded.
    When she finally wrapped her portion of the day she verified the meet location for dinner with Adam. She wanted to get back to the hotel and shower first, so she did. Mitch might not have liked it, but fifteen minutes in the shower would be far better than showing up smelling like smoke and sweat. She felt dirty and there was no way she was going anywhere, not even the office, in that condition.
    “I told you to come straight here,” he complained.
    “Would you really want me so close to you if I smelled badly?”
    He laughed. “We’ve been in worse, Eve. But you’re right; smelly women aren’t my thing.”
    She laughed and shook her head. They might not have been his thing while he was sober, but she was fairly sure he would bed just about anything when he was drunk. Fortunately, Mitch wasn’t a heavy drinker—most of the time anyway. When a story blew up in his face all bets were off. She learned that the hard way. She told herself, good guys have faults too, but it was one fault she wasn’t willing to surround herself with. She just