The Firefighter Meets His Match (Red Hot Reunions Book 4) by Jessie Evans Page B

ready.
    Several moments later, Mick and Faith finally stopped hugging long enough for Mick to tow the boat into shore. The water was too shallow for the motor and Mick could get them to dry land faster than Neil could with the single wooden paddle they’d brought with them. But the second the bottom of the boat scraped blacktop, Mick was lifting Faith out of the boat and into his arms, carrying her to the waiting ambulance like a knight in soggy armor.
    Lucy, Brandon, and Neil—who carried the poor, tired dog—crawled out of the boat and were greeted by a rescue team bearing blankets and enthusiastic congratulations. Lucy accepted a blanket—she wasn’t cold, but she knew it felt good to do something for people you were concerned about—and turned to find Brandon shaking Jake’s hand.
    Jake’s eyes shifted and a huge smile stretched across his face. It was the biggest grin she’d ever seen on the eldest Hansen brother and made him look at least five years younger.
    “Thank you, Lucy,” Jake said, stepping toward her, pulling her into an unexpectedly fierce hug. “Thank you for finding our Faith.”
    By the time he’d finished squeezing her, Lucy was breathless, but so happy she didn’t mind. This was what she did, this was part of the reason she was put on this earth. Sure, sometimes she failed and the lost people weren’t found, but sometimes she was the only thing standing between “in time” and “too late.” She’d been a coward to step away from her gift, no matter how much pain she’d been in.
    As Jake set her down and shook her hand—once again with a little too much force, as if he were so relieved he no longer realized his own strength—Lucy swore not to be a coward again. She wanted to be brave. She might need a reminder not to chicken out now and then, but Brandon would help her. He was the type of man who helped his partner keep her promises.
    She was ready to make another promise, too, one to the sexy firefighter looping his arm around her shoulders and holding her close to his side.
    She kept her peace until she and Brandon were tucked into the back of a police car, headed back toward downtown Summerville, before she leaned over and whispered, “I was wrong. Jamison’s not my firefighter spirit animal. You are.”
    Brandon smiled down at her, his pale skin glowing in the fading sunset light streaming through the cruiser’s rear window. “Glad to hear it. You’re my spirit animal, too. And I’m falling in love with you. Hope that’s okay.”
    Lucy sighed happily. “It’s perfect, because I’m falling in love with you, too.”
    Brandon’s smiled widened. “That works out.”
    “It does,” Lucy agreed, nodding as she leaned even closer, nudging Brandon’s shoulder with her own. “So I think we should make this thing exclusive, don’t you? Go for the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing?”
    “Let’s go bigger,” Brandon said, a challenge in his tone and a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Why don’t you move in with me tomorrow?”
    “Why don’t you propose to me next week?” Lucy said, upping the ante.
    “Why don’t we elope next weekend?” Brandon said, grinning. “We could fly to Vegas and get married. I’ve got four days off and enough money for plane tickets and a wedding ring.”
    Lucy laughed. “You should watch it Mr., and remember who you’re dealing with. I’m just crazy enough to take you up on that offer.”
    “You’re not crazy; you’re perfect,” Brandon said, and then he kissed her and it was perfect, the kind of kiss that made promises intended to be kept, that banished the darkness, leaving nothing but love and light.
    As they continued to kiss all the way back to Summerville—ignoring the officer who occasionally cleared his throat uncomfortably from the front seat—she began to think Faith wasn’t the only person who’d been saved today. For the first time in a long time, Lucy felt fully awake and alive and ready to find out what the