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his problem by spreading it around, which created its own set of problems in the form of disgruntled lovers with disappointed expectations.
    As for the Fire everyone couldn’t shut up about, he’d give his left nut to forget it.
    So no, he wouldn’t be making a move on Jan. He might be jealous as all hell, but he was also proud of her, and truly glad she was shedding her old skin and showing the world the incredible woman he’d always known her to be.
    The last thing he’d do is saddle her with a failed firefighter who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. Even if she wanted him.
    Which she didn’t, or she would’ve made a move on him long ago.
    Wouldn’t she?

 
    Chapter 4
    T HE WARM BREEZE snuck up under Jan’s skirt like fingers, tickling her bare thighs, an unfamiliar and wonderfully sexy sensation.
    She liked it.
    She liked Mick’s arm around her waist too.
    Not that he meant anything by it. He was simply keeping hold of her, not easy to do at ten o’clock on Duvall Street. People streamed along the sidewalks in both directions at once, jostling and stumbling, detouring in and out of bars so jammed they overflowed onto patios and balconies.
    It was insane, more crowded and rowdy than St. Paddy’s Day in South Boston. Not usually Jan’s kind of scene. But tonight she kept moving, enjoying the guys checking her out for the first time in her life. They traveled in pairs and in packs, making eye contact, grinning suggestively, even wolf-whistling.
    Had Mick noticed the attention she was getting? Probably not, with so many pretty girls to look at instead, batting their eyes at him, brushing against him accidentally on purpose.
    She glanced up at him. Surprisingly, he was ignoring the girls, eyeing the guys instead. And the look on his face said, Fuck with me and die.
    She elbowed him, and he dropped his narrow gaze to her. “What?”
    â€œYou okay?” she asked.
    â€œFan-freaking-tastic.” He went back to threat-assessing the crowd.
    She stopped walking and swung around to face him. The current tossed them together in a chest bump, then sucked them apart. He leaped after her, wrapping her up in both arms.
    â€œThis place is a fucking zoo,” he snarled. Pinning her to his side, he shouldered through the worst of it until he could push her up against the wall of the nearest bar.
    Beside her, people poured in and out through the wide-open doors, and music spilled into the street, adding to the din.
    Bracing his hands on the wall on either side of her head, Mick caged her with his body, taking the bumps so she wouldn’t have to. “What’s the problem?” he wanted to know. “Why’d you stop?”
    She touched her wrist to his forehead. No fever, but his eyes burned too bright. “Are you sick?” she asked.
    â€œI’m sick of fighting this mob.”
    â€œMr. Cranky. Do you want to go back to the room?”
    â€œHell yeah.” His smile broke out like sunshine. “Let’s go.”
    â€œI meant you . I’ll stick around. Maybe get a drink.”
    Storm clouds gathered again, dark and forbidding. “Fine.” He gritted it. “You want a drink, we’ll get a drink.”
    Muscling back into traffic, he propelled her along as he cased each bar, finally settling on one that seemed merely crowded instead of crammed to the rafters.
    â€œIt’s a fucking fire hazard,” he snapped out as they battled through the door. Hooking her hand in the back of his belt, he blasted her with a no-bullshit glare. “Do not let go.” And he headed for the bar, wedging his shoulder between bodies, dragging her along in his wake.
    She trailed him until a hand caught her arm. A frat boy with a Yankees hat and a buzz cut. “Hey, babe. Nice hair.”
    He reached out to touch it, and just like that Mick was up in his face. “She’s with me.”
    â€œNo prob, man.” The guy