Wedding Date Rescue Read online

  She heard the sounds of the men calling out to one another after the truck was parked, but she couldn’t determine whose voices they were. When she chanced a peek below, the truck’s stabilizers were already extended out and hovering over the pads, waiting for the pins to be put into place. From conversations with her brothers over the years, Casey knew the ladder would be raised and rotated before it was extended upward, so she had a few minutes to continue wallowing in her embarrassment. She settled back to wait, and when the bucket reached her position and she saw the firefighter inside, her smile disappeared.

  Oh no.

  Of all the men, she would have preferred one of her brothers to Kent, with his dimples, sexy good looks, and blue eyes the color of a brilliant summer sky. He’d been her lifeline when she’d been left at the altar. Just like he was now, he’d swooped in to rescue her, and she’d poured her heart out to him, sharing embarrassing, deeply personal stuff that she’d never told anyone else. The memory made her cringe, and she’d done her best to avoid him since then.

  He grinned. “Well, if it isn’t our champion tree climber.”

  “Go ahead, rub it in.”

  When his eyebrows raised, she batted her eyelashes. “I meant to say, thank you so much for coming to rescue little old me with your big, strong muscles.” She tried to avoid looking at said muscles. Not that she could see them through his turnout coat, but she knew they were there. They were hard to miss when he wore the skin-hugging T-shirts he favored.

  He laughed. “You managed to say that with a straight face.”

  She was glad he couldn’t hear her checking-out-Kent thoughts as she handed him the dog. After he settled Ski in the bucket, he focused on trying to lift her from where she was wedged.

  “Ow!” She sucked in a breath. “You’re going to pull my arms from their sockets.”

  He leaned in to see what the problem was. “How are you stuck?”

  “Big butt, little vee,” she said. Cookies and ice cream were great listeners after a heartbreak. Of course, later they talked back to you in pounds, but at the time she hadn’t cared if she’d ever be able to wear anything but her sweatpants.

  He didn’t bother to hide his grin. “I’ll get you out,” he promised, but no matter how hard he tugged, her butt was stuck in the tree as snugly as a cork in a wine bottle. “I might have to get—”

  “Don’t you dare say you have to get help. I can’t have you calling for reinforcements,” she said. “Do you know the jokes I would have to endure?” She motioned for his hand. “Put it there. Under my butt and give it a good push.”

  “You want me to—” He looked uncertain.

  “Put your hands on my ass!” That particular body part was going numb, and she didn’t want to perform clenches to wake it up and have Kent notice that.

  Again with the grin. “You wanna buy me dinner first?”

  “Kent…” She scowled at the amusement on his face. Usually she could ignore his teasing, but all of a sudden, he was sexy-annoying, which was worse. So much harder to ignore when her hormones—coupled with the loneliness she’d felt the last couple of weeks—were thinking, well, hey!

  “Not even a drink?” He edged closer.

  Could the flame of humiliation burn any brighter? I could call it a bonfire already.

  “Let’s get this over with.” She averted her face as he slid his hands underneath her. Casey doubted he could feel much while wearing his protective gloves, but she could. Apparently, the numbness wasn’t complete. His hand wiggled around. She felt that. And that.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re enjoying this.”

  “I’m not. My hand is going to sleep. It’s stuck.”

  Her mouth dropped open. Dear God, if a second firefighter had to come up because her ass had pinned his hand, people would create memes in her dishonor.

  “I’m kidding.”

  “You are an evil man, Kent.” The pressure from the tree branches eased a little as he worked on freeing her. The more he moved his hand, the more she felt it. Didn’t it just figure? A hot firefighter put his hands on her ass because it was wedged, not because he was overcome with raging desire.

  “I’ve almost got you.”

  Her thoughts made her feel a little dizzy. “Don’t pitch me to the ground,” she said.

  “I won’t let you fall.” He lifted hard, and Casey was thankful he didn’t wince or make an oof sound. The extra effort paid off, and she was free of the tree. Avoiding looking into his eyes, she put her hands on his shoulders for balance. Her heart raced, and it wasn’t just because he’d sort of felt the goods. She could suddenly understand why her friends acted the way they did around Kent.

  Whenever they were out on the town and ran into him, her friends would sigh, flirt, and act like their brains had gone on vacation. Her best friend, Josie, had once murmured a few suggestions Casey didn’t like to think about because it was Kent and he was in the friend zone. Friend, she silently scolded her brain when it wouldn’t stop oohing and aahing over the man.

  She’d warned her friends not to let their ogles turn into hopes and dreams that Kent was serious material. He wasn’t looking for happily ever after. He had commitment issues that leaned toward the duck-and-run variety thanks to his evil ex-girlfriend, which—oh my God, yes!—made him the perfect candidate for a fake boyfriend.

  Casey smiled as the six-foot-two solution to her problem presented itself. Her hands slid down to his forearms, and his hands dropped to her waist to steady her. Ignoring the strange new feelings rushing through her, she blurted out, “You’re the one. It’s perfect.”

  Kent squinted against the sun’s glare as the bucket slowly lowered. “What?”

  “You can be my new groom. Or fiancé. I’ll even settle for boyfriend.”

  …

  His heart skipped a beat, and it wasn’t because he’d had his hands all over Casey in ways he’d never imagined he would.

  “How long were you in the tree?” Kent asked, sure his best friend’s little sister had to be delirious. He could’ve sworn she’d linked him with a whole lot of words that meant relationship. The chances of that happening with anyone, but especially Casey, were as good as him going to the bar for the ladies’ night, stripping down, and gyrating around on stage.

  “No, seriously. I need you to be my groom. Or fiancé or boyfriend, if the first word doesn’t work for you.”

  Groom, fiancé, or boyfriend? He’d take unmentioned option number four—no in screaming capital letters. Relationships equaled heartache, and he wasn’t interested in more of that.

  Casey impatiently brushed the strands of her blond hair away from the sides of her face. Her brown eyes sparkled, and her lips parted as if she held her breath in anticipation. She beamed up at him, and for a second, he was speechless.

  He’d always thought of her as one of the gang. He’d never really paid that much attention to her outside of that, but she sure had his attention now. Why she’d make such a statement was… Then it hit him. He understood the depths of her pain. He’d traveled that road one painstaking step at a time.

  Her heart was still aching after being left at the altar, and she needed someone to lean on. He could do that for her like he had before. He’d been at the church the day the rat had abandoned her at the altar. As soon as he’d realized what was happening and the whispers had begun, he’d guided her from the church and into the waiting limousine. They’d driven around for hours, talking about nothing and everything. He hoped that someday she would find a man who wouldn’t make the same stupid mistake Dominic had made. He frowned at the sour taste that thought left in his mouth. He was definitely not that man.

  They reached the ground, and his coworkers joined them to help. One of them took Ski back to the mayor.

  “Well? Groom, fiancé, or boyfriend? Can you do it or not?” Casey persisted.

  He was used to her wild suggestions, but this went way beyond that. He rubbed his chin, at a loss for words. He wasn’t sure what else
he could offer in response to her crazy proposition, but she was looking at him so expectantly, he had to say something. “Casey, I think you just need some time to let yourself grieve and—”

  “Forget grieving.” She waved her hand as if her ex-fiancé didn’t matter any more.

  As if she hadn’t experienced the bitter sting of rejection, just like he had when his ex had walked out on him. Their eyes met, and his thoughts traveled back to his stay in the hospital. Casey had stuck by his side during the dressing changes, making him laugh, making him think, cajoling him and refusing to let him slip into a funk right after his girlfriend had dumped him because of his scars and the possibility that he might be paralyzed.

  As soon as he’d healed and was cleared to return to work, he’d thrown himself into his job. Staying busy had helped deal with the denial. He’d bet she was experiencing the same thing. Once the smoke cleared on a relationship and there was nothing but ash left, the real work of piecing yourself back together started. Those were hard days, days that could sometimes make people act out of character, which was exactly what Casey was doing now.

  “I think you’re in denial,” he said gently, wondering if he should offer a hug. Okay…wrong thing to say, and forget the hug, judging by the way her lips thinned.

  She jabbed her finger into his chest. “I am not in denial. I need a man.”

  The crowd had gone silent right as she’d made her announcement, so her words rang out loud and clear. One of his fellow firefighters, Luke, slapped him on the back. “You heard the lady. Take her up on the offer, and your problem is solved.”

  “What problem?”

  Thanks a lot, Luke.

  Casey frowned as Kent took her by the hand and tugged her away from the crowd.

  In the quiet alley between the barbershop and the florist, he said, “My cousin’s getting married next month, and I’m one of the groomsmen.”

  “Ah.” Her expression told him she understood. “So you’re going to be faced with the ‘I have the perfect wedding date for you’ barrage from your mother.”

  Kent grimaced. Over the past few months, with a sweet smile and an “I want grandkids” gleam in her eyes, his mother had relentlessly presented one woman after another to him. No matter how many times he told her he wasn’t interested, she dug in her heels and refused to give up.

  Against his better judgment, his gaze swept over Casey’s soft curves. He didn’t know when she’d gotten those, but they sure looked good on her.

  “See? This is why you need me.”

  He snapped his attention back, feeling a little guilty for noticing her in a hell-look-at-that way instead of his usual there’s-my-friend one. “I need you?”

  “Yes. If your mom thinks you’re in a relationship, she’ll leave you alone.” She smiled. “We can help each other.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders. Not only was she in denial, but she was at the bargaining stage. “Casey, I am not going to be your boyfriend or groom or any of that. I am not going to marry you. I understand that you’re hurting right now and—”

  “Have you lost your mind?” She pushed his hands away.

  He was the one talking crazy?

  “I don’t want to marry you.” Her face screwed up like he’d offered her a plate of oysters, which she hated. “I should have been clearer. I just need you to play a part so that I can keep my business from going under.” She explained the situation she was in.

  “So you’re not saying you want us to date?” he asked slowly, trying to ignore that since he’d noticed her curves, he couldn’t seem to see anything but those.

  “Not in this lifetime. I know your history.”

  He crossed his arms at the insult. “And I know yours.”

  “Exactly. We’re so not compatible. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hang out together, act like a couple, so that people will start coming to me for matchmaking again and I’ll be able to show the investors that Finding Mr. Right is salvageable.”

  The way Casey charged ahead in everything she did, she probably hadn’t thought about all the consequences of her idea. “Fool your investors? What about the rest of the town?”

  She waved her hand dismissively. “Everyone in town has to believe it’s real.”

  Alarm bells rang in his mind. Relationships, fake or otherwise, only led to problems. He shook his head even before she finished speaking. “Let people think we’re a couple?”

  She smiled temptingly. “There are benefits.”

  He blinked. “Benefits?” His mind went skipping down that train of thought. He’d had his gloves on when he’d touched her ass, but they hadn’t kept him from that brief moment where he’d considered why they’d never gone there, done that. That was right before the Run, Kent kicked in and his common sense returned.

  “Yes, benefits. You know I bake the best cookies in town, and you’ve always had an appetite for sweets.”

  Oh. Those kind of benefits. Kent applied the brakes and massaged the back of his neck. It had been a hell of a day so far. The station had handled a call where he’d had to help extricate a young couple from a mangled car, then he’d had to deal with two women dropping by on his mother’s Kent Needs a Woman tour. Hell, if he started charging admission for all the women she sent after him, he could flex his abs, collect the money, and retire a wealthy man.

  “What do you say, Kent?” Casey wagged her eyebrows. “Want to benefit?”

  Not the way he was thinking. Her brothers would use his head in a game of whack-a-mole. And she and he… Yeah, no. He patted his stomach. “No sweet treats for me. I’m watching my manly, toned abs. You never know when they’ll come in handy for scaling trees.”

  “So mean.” She made a face at him.

  “Wakefield!”

  Kent glanced toward his captain, who made a “wrap it up” gesture with his hand.

  “I have to go.” He gazed into Casey’s eyes. “I’m sorry, babe. I know you’ve heard that firefighters know how to do it hotter, and that influenced you asking me, but I can’t be your boy toy.”

  “Oh my God, you’re annoying.” Casey gave a frustrated laugh and swatted at him.

  He laughed and turned around to walk away.

  “This isn’t over. We’ll finish this conversation later,” Casey called after him in a tone that sounded like an ultimatum. “I can help you. We’d be great together.”

  All joking aside, Kent stopped walking and motioned between the two of them. “Not happening.” The last thing he needed in his life right now was another complication, and Casey definitely fell into that category.

  Chapter Two

  Thankfully, the investor hadn’t been able to visit on the day he’d planned. Him catching a virus had given Casey some breathing room. But he’d be here soon. She had gone over and over how she could convince Kent to get on board with her plan and so far was coming up blank. Or maybe her brain was refusing to deal with anything but the remnants of her almost wedding.

  She stroked her fingers across the dress she was donating. Trying it on the first time, she’d felt like a princess. Until reality had crashed the event. Standing before her family and friends with her smile frozen in place, the whispers had started, saying it was better that he left her before the wedding than after. As if that had been any comfort. She hadn’t been able to move, and then the next second, Kent had his arm around her and she was in a car with him, leaving everything behind.

  She wished she knew why Dominic had changed his mind so publicly. He could have come to her privately. Well, whatever his reason, she’d learned a lesson. She wasn’t ever going to fall for a friend again. It had hurt her more deeply than she’d imagined it could to lose the friendship part of her relationship with her absent groom. Picking up one of the wedding invitations, she studied the time and date that were imprinted on her brain. It was time to recycle these. Straightening her shoulders, she gathered the rest of the invitations and put them in a bin. When she was through, she dusted her hands together.

>   “All done?” her best friend, Josie, asked from the bedroom doorway.

  Casey gasped and put her hand over her heart. “You startled me. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “The door was open, so I thought you heard me pull up.”

  “I was lost in thought. I’m fine.” Casey raised her shoulders to shrug in response to the concern on Josie’s face.

  “I’m ready to finish up the photo album you’re putting together for your parents.” Josie held up two containers. “The first has the scrapbook supplies and the other one those raspberry cupcakes you like.”

  Casey took the one with the cupcakes and followed her into the living room. “I thought we’d set up in here. It’s too hot in the kitchen without the air conditioner.” She was thankful for the ceiling fan that stirred the warm air streaming in from the open windows. At least her air conditioner had waited until after the summer heat wave to go out. She fixed iced tea for them, then settled herself on a rug in the middle of the floor.

  “As soon as I got back into town this morning, I heard about you getting stuck in the tree and Kent rescuing you,” Josie said with a grin. “I’ll bet that made people talk.”

  “See what happens when you leave? Yes, he rescued me.” She flushed thinking about his hands on her. Tingles had raced up her spine, and it wasn’t just because her butt had gone numb. He’d gazed into her eyes when she had her hands on his shoulders. She hadn’t been able to think straight in that moment. Probably the uniform. Guys in uniform were always so hot. She shook off the thought as she reached for a photo.

  Josie nudged her. “Come on. Spill. What happened after he got you out of the tree?”

  “Nothing. There wasn’t anything more to it than that,” she assured her friend before changing the subject and explaining the quandary she was in with her business.

  “Oh no. I didn’t realize things were so bad.”

  “Yep, which probably explains how I ended up stuck in the tree. I had my mind on everything else, and I wasn’t paying attention to how high I was.”