Hot as Hell - Jessa James

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one sheepishly held up a half-dozen box of free-range eggs.

      “Eggs?” Cade asked. “You two think you’re Rocky or something?”

      “Who?” the kid with the eggs asked.

      “Nevermind. Just go buy your eggs and get lost.”

      “So we can go?” one of them asked, uncertain. He looked longingly towards the front of the store.

      “Yeah, sure,” Cade said. “Just don’t be a little shit again, alright?”

      “Yes, sir,” the kid said, without a hint of sarcasm. “We just… we just want our eggs.”

      What was that all about? Lily wondered. Sure, the kids had been jerks, but that’s what kids do.

      But before Lily could say anything, Aiden appeared around the corner.

      “Hey!” he said. “There you are. And you found Lily, too.”

      “We didn’t come here together,” Lily said quickly.

      Aiden gave her a strange look. “I didn’t think you did. But I saw both your cars outside.”

      “Oh. Right,” she said. “Our cars. Yeah.”

      “So… what’s going on?” Aiden asked.

      “What do you mean?” Lily said, defensive. “We’re just shopping, I wanted coffee—”

      “Whoa, calm down,” Aiden said. “I mean, it just seems like something weird’s going on. There’s some kind of, I don’t know, energy in the air.”

      “What, are you psychic now?” Lily asked. “We were just shopping.”

      “Yeah, you said that,” Aiden replied.

      He looked from one of them to the other. Lily racked her brain for something to say.

      Could Aiden tell? Maybe it was written all over her face. Maybe he and Elijah had always known she’d harbored a crush for Cade.

      “Just some little jackass running wild through the store,” Cade said. “Seriously, were we that wild when we were teenagers? What the hell are they doing in some boutique market, anyway?”

      “Probably picking up some bougie asparagus water or something,” Aiden said. “Seriously, kids these days don’t eat tater tots and crap like we used to. It’s all artisanal this and organic that.”

      “Yeah, well. I don’t think it’s doing their attitude any good,” Cade said. “Hey, man, I need to head out, but we’ll catch up soon, alright?”

      “Sounds good. See you at the station,” Aiden said.

      “Vegetables?” he asked as he examined Lily’s cart.

      She watched Cade’s broad back retreat.

      Yeah, I know exactly what that “weird energy” is, and it has nothing to do with those kids, she thought.

      It was attraction, mixed with a little self-loathing.

      If Elijah ever found out that his little sister was obsessed with his best friend, he’d flip out. She had no doubts about that. Aiden might not be too upset.

      Would he be upset? He’d never had the same degree of protectiveness over her that Elijah did. But ever since their dad had died, both of them had upped their guard over her a little more.

      “Why are you getting all these vegetables?” Aiden asked. He wrinkled his nose.

      “What do you care?” she snapped. “You’re not eating them.”

      “You got that right,” he said.

      4

      Cade

      It took everything he had not to slam the door behind him. Dr. Hersh was nice enough, but he got straight to the point.

      The older Asian man peered over a pair of rimless glasses and made Cade feel like he could read Cade’s darkest secrets.

      “Tell me about the incident with your team in Montana,” Dr. Hersh said within two minutes of Cade sitting down.

      “Crew,” Cade had corrected.

      “Alright,” Dr. Hersh replied. He leaned back in his camel-colored chair and waited.

      Cade shrugged. “There’s not much to say. I’m guessing you have the reports from it.”

      “I do,” the doctor said. “But I want to hear what you have to say about it.”

      “Not anything new that isn’t in the reports.” Cade looked around the office. It was clinical and sterile.

      “Can you tell me the emotions you’re feeling now when you think about it?” the doctor asked.

      Cade looked at him bluntly. “Sad,” he said.

      “Sad,” the doctor repeated. He held Cade’s gaze and didn’t make any notes. “Anything else? Anger? Confusion? Guilt?”

      “Why should I feel guilty?” Cade snapped.

      “I don’t know. I’m just giving you some options. Why don’t we talk about another subject for awhile?”

       Yeah. Why don’t we?

      “Is there anything in particular you’d like to discuss?” Dr. Hersh asked.

      “No.”

      “Alright. How about your romantic life? Many people have strong feelings about that. Is there anyone special in your life?”

      Cade barked out a laugh. “Hardly.”

      “You seem upset about that.”

      “Why should I be upset?”

      “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

      Cade sighed. “You just started working with the firehouse, right?”

      “That’s right.”

      “Ever had a firefighter … patient before?” Cade asked. He hated to use that word.

      “Not before my contract with the firehouse, no.”

      “Then maybe you don’t know, but firefighters don’t really have a problem getting women.”

      “I see.” This time the doctor did make a note.

      Cade shifted. That wasn’t the response he’d expected. “So … if you’re asking if I’m hard up for a date or whatever, the answer’s no.”

      “That wasn’t what I asked,” the doctor said. “Why do you think that’s what you inferred?”

      “I don’t know,” Cade said, exasperated as he crossed his arms.

      “So, I’m led to believe you’ve had a generous amount of sexual partners,” Dr. Hersh said.

      “Yeah.”

      “Do you think you’re afraid of intimacy?”

      Cade glared at him. “Didn’t I just tell you that I’ve slept with a lot of women?”

      “That wasn’t what I asked. Sex and intimacy can be mutually exclusive. And I’m getting the message that you lean heavily toward the sex-only side.”

      Cade seethed below the surface, but he gritted his teeth and refused to say anything more.

      “Do you have any interest in returning to the subject about your team’s deaths in Montana?”

      “No,” Cade said

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