Big Daddy Firemen (Big Cedar Daddies Book 2)

“Thank God!” Daisy said as she ran toward the incoming fire engine.

She stopped a few feet away and let the behemoth vehicle pull into the station’s garage.

Night had fallen. It had been hours since the incident at the cabin, and she’d monitored their progress on the scanner as much as possible. She’d known they were safe but hearing that and actually laying eyes on them were two different things. Now that she had seen them, her soul began to settle.

The smell of smoke was thick as the men climbed out of the truck.

“Holy hell, I need a shower,” Austin said. He was hobbling a little.

“You need to get off your foot!” Daisy fussed as she hurried toward him.

He waved off the suggestion. “Nah. I’m good. It’s wrapped. I’ve been through worse.” He stopped walking and opened his arms wide. “What I need is a hug. I almost died back there! The only thing that kept me going was the thought of seeing your beautiful face once again, darlin’.”

Daisy blushed as she giggled.

“Hey, why do you get the first hug?” Walker asked. “I’m the one that carried your ass out of the fire.”

“Carried?” Austin snorted. “You helped, at best.”

“Y’all, listen,” Cane chimed in. “I’m the one that swung that ax that freed Walker. I deserve the first hug.” He grinned at Daisy and added, “Did you get even cuter while we were gone?”

Daisy just giggled some more before she was finally able to say, “What if I go for all three of you at once?”

The men all grinned, their eyes sparkling with suggestion.

Daisy gasped, covered her mouth as she laughed, and then quickly added, “I mean hugging all three of you. What if I hug you all at once?” She opened her arms as wide as she could, demonstrating such a feat was possible.

“While nothing sounds better,” Walker said, “maybe we should put a pin in that. We need to shower. If you hug us now, you’re going to smell like smoke for days.”

“True,” she conceded.

She wasn’t sure she’d mind, she silently mused. Some things were worth the price.

The men started walking toward the door that led to the firehouse’s living quarters. Daisy hurried and got in front of them, and she couldn’t help but feel as if their eyes were on her as she moved.

She grinned. She wasn’t bothered by the idea. Not one bit. But she reminded herself it was probably just her imagination. She was too plain and frumpy for those guys to seriously consider.

“How’s the fire?” she asked.

“Completely out,” Cane replied. “Amazingly.”

“Yeah. That storm that rolled through sure gave us a hand,” Austin added, referring to the unexpected rain shower that had aided in the response.

The four walked through the door and into the big room that made up the kitchen, dining space, and main sitting area. The TV was still on but the sound was down. Now that the three firefighters were back, the building suddenly felt alive again. Daisy’s heart was happy—even though she’d leave them to go home soon.

Apparently, she wasn’t the only one thinking about that.

“Why are you still here?” Cane asked.

“Yeah. You should’ve switched the system over to route calls to us,” Walker added.

They were referring to the system in place at night. It was pretty calm around those parts once the sun went down. While the constant threat of forest fires created the need for a full-time department, the majority of calls were medical emergencies, auto accidents, and things of that nature. And most of those came from tourists. At night, when folks were off the roads and safely in their cabins and hotel rooms, things calmed down considerably. That allowed Daisy to go home, and incoming calls be routed to the guys’ cell phones. There was also a weekend dispatcher—an older lady who lived a few towns over and drove in on Saturdays and Sundays. She liked the fact that she was paid to largely monitor silent lines while she read her beloved mystery novels. Daisy had never once caught the lady sneaking a peek at the guys while they were working out. Tone, muscular young hotties couldn’t hold a candle to Mary Higgins Clark and James Patterson, it seemed.

“I couldn’t route the calls to y’all while you were busy with that fire,” Daisy pointed out. “I don’t mind the extra hours.”

Of course, that was only part of the truth. The other part was that she couldn’t leave until she’d actually seen the men herself. Hearing on the radio that they were safe wasn’t good enough. She’d needed to lay eyes on them, or she wouldn’t have been able to rest.

“Do you want one of us to walk you home?” Walker asked.

“I’ll volunteer!” Austin said with an eager smile.

“Why do you get to?” Cane demanded. “What if I want to walk her home?”

“We could all do it,” Walker suggested, grinning at Daisy and winking.

“I bet y’all are exhausted,” Daisy said.

“Never too tired when it comes to you,” Cane told her.

A warm feeling spread throughout Daisy’s core. She’d love to be walked home by the three men. She’d recently moved to Big Cedar after living a few miles away. Now that she was close, more often than not, the guys would see her home safely if she left the firehouse after sundown.

But another idea struck her.

“Have y’all eaten anything today?”

“Had some energy bars to keep our strength up,” Walker said.

“But that’s it?”

“Nothing else since breakfast,” he confirmed with a nod.

“Well, I’m going to go whip us all up something. I’m hungry, too,” she told them, walking toward the kitchen.

“You don’t have to do that for us,” Austin said.

“Yeah. Don’t you have a date tonight?” Cane wondered.

“That’s tomorrow,” Daisy corrected him.

She couldn’t swear to it, but it sounded like he was a little disappointed when he’d asked that, as if he didn’t like the idea of her going out with another man.

Forget it, Daisy. You don’t have a chance with him, or any of them, and especially all of them. Let it go.

But she knew that was easier said than done. That was part of the reason why she was hanging around that night. If she went home, she’d just be antsy as she thought about them. The other reason was that she cared for the men—beyond her crush—and wanted to make sure they took care of themselves. She wanted to ensure they got a proper meal.

“Let me see what we have.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Walker said, echoing Austin’s previous statement.

“If I didn’t, you’d probably just heat up pizza rolls in the microwave.” She arched an eyebrow as she cast a glance over her shoulder. “Am I right?”

He relented with a grin. “Yeah. That’s what I was planning on having.”

“Nope. Not tonight,” she said. “You’ll have a good home-cooked meal.”

“Hey, we’re the Daddies here,” Cane reminded her. “Why are you giving the orders?”

“Yeah, but we’re not her Daddies,” Austin reminded his friend.

That was true, Daisy thought. She didn’t have a Daddy. She wasn’t a Little. She’d come to Big Cedar for the job. But the unique nature of the community didn’t bother her. She was just fine with the fact that it catered to Littles and Bigs. But she’d never really considered herself among them.

Recently, though, she wasn’t so sure.

Especially when she remembered what she’d done earlier. Now, after that comment from Cane, she was suddenly self-conscious and wanted to hide her creation.

But it was too late. The guys instantly spotted it as they followed her into the kitchen area. It was hard to miss, hanging on the shiny, polished, stainless-steel fridge.

“Hey, what’s that?” Walker asked.

“Nothing!” Daisy said, hurrying toward it in an effort to intercept the artwork.

“Back off, little girl,” Walker said. Apparently, it didn’t matter if he was her Daddy or not. He was still more than comfortable giving her orders. “And don’t run in the station. You’ll trip and hurt yourself.”

Thanks to his long legs, he easily reached the fridge before her. He swiped the picture from under its magnet and smiled as he appraised it. “She colored us a picture. And she signed it.”

Daisy looked at the floor bashfully. “I was just… trying to pass the time while y’all were gone. I was worried. I needed something to distract me.”

“Aww, honey, I’m sorry you were worried,” Walker said as he opened his arms wide. “Come here.”

She dutifully obeyed but he quickly closed them again, saying, “Forgot. The smoke.” He winced.

“I don’t care,” she argued. “I need that hug!”

He nodded and then wrapped her in a tight embrace that caused all her self-doubt and embarrassment to instantly dissipate.

“My turn,” Cane announced.

“Hang on,” Walker said, gently swaying her. “I’m not done.”

“Well speed it up,” Austin said. “I’m waiting, too!”

She took a few lingering seconds to hug all of them. It felt wonderful and the embraces left her with a sense of comfort and warmth that she wished would last forever.

Once she’d pulled away from all of them, Walker said, “Ah, damn. I can’t believe we did that. We got her all smoky.”

She laughed. “It’s okay. It was worth it.” She made a show of lifting her shirt sleeve to her nose and smelling it. “It’s not too bad.”

“We need to shower and get this junk off us,” Cane said. “But first, let me take one more look at this pretty picture you colored.”

“I’m sorry you have to share it,” she said.

It was Walker who grinned the widest, saying, “Oh, don’t worry about that. It doesn’t bother us to share. Not one damn bit. Isn’t that right, boys?”

Austin snorted. “You kidding? We’re brothers. What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours, as far as I’m concerned.”

“That’s right,” Cane spoke up. “Share and share alike is what I say.”

Daisy wondered if the men saw how much she was blushing.

Her smiles told her they did.

She got the impression they weren’t just talking about that little picture she’d colored them, either. Did they mean what she thought they meant? The suggestive smirks they wore made her think it was possible.

But she quickly dismissed that notion as that old, familiar self-doubt set in.

Seriously, they’re hot. You’re… not. They don’t want the plain, mousy girl.

“Go shower!” she finally said, shooing them away. “I’m going to start cooking.”

“What are you making?” Cane asked.

“How about spaghetti?”

“You’re speaking my language,” he replied with a grin.

“I’ll have it ready by the time you’re out,” she said, giving a little wave as they started to leave.

But each one stopped, turned, and gave her one last look.

They still wore those suggestive smirks.

And Daisy just about melted.