Fighting the Flames (Firefighter Romance #1)(22)

“Might as well. It’s not like either of us is going anywhere tonight.”

Nodding, Jessie went to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle. She brought it into the living room and refilled their glasses. “It’s a good thing I don’t have to get up and go to work tomorrow.”

“Yeah, no kidding. I’ll probably be hung over for a week.” Lisa laughed.

“Me too.” Jessie wasn’t much of a drinker anymore. She’d learned the hard way that she made poor decisions when she was drunk, so she’d been conscious of how much she drank and with whom.

“Oh!” Lisa said, her eyes widening and a smile pulling at her mouth. “I got it!”

“Got what?”

“I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

“See what? You’re not making any sense, Lisa. Do I need to cut you off?”

“Touch my wine and I’ll break your fingers,” Lisa teased. “No, seriously, I figured it out. You changed after shithead cheated on you.”

“Well duh.” Jessie gave her sister a dirty look.

“No, no, no. After he cheated on you, you took off and spent the summer at the beach house, remember?” Jessie nodded. She’d never forget that summer. “When you came back, you were different. You were so depressed, drinking a lot, you stopped taking pictures. I assumed it was because of shithead, but it wasn’t, was it?”

Jessie shook her head. She felt her face getting warm, the tips of her ears burning hot. As usual, Lisa had hit the nail on head, and there was no way out. Jessie was going to have to finally talk about that summer.

“So? What happened?”

“Ryan James happened.”

Understanding flashed on Lisa’s face. “Ryan? As in your neighbor, Ryan?”

“Yes. Can you believe it?” Jessie pushed the food away from her. She was no longer hungry. “He was renting the house next to ours. I met him the day I arrived.” She closed her eyes as a tidal wave of memories crashed over her. God, she missed him so much. Sighing, she opened her eyes and continued. “We hit it off right away. He took me to dinner that night, and it went on from there. I spent every day with him, going to the beach, shopping, sailing, just getting to know each other. And we spent almost every night together, too.” Jessie smiled.

Lisa grinned. “I can’t believe my baby sister had a hot, torrid summer love affair and never told me about it.”

Jessie’s voice dropped. “It wasn’t like that at all, Lisa. Yes, it was hot, very hot, but it was so much more than that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, really. It’s hard to explain.” Jessie finished her wine and refilled her glass. “Ryan just seemed to get me. He made me feel things I’d never felt before. I felt safe with him. And comfortable. God, I’ve never felt that comfortable with anyone before or since.”

“You fell in love with him, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Jessie whispered, tears stinging her eyes. She didn’t want to relive this, didn’t want to remember what she’d done and how things had ended. “He told me he loved me, too.”


“Aw, Jessie, that’s so romantic,” Lisa cooed. “So, what happened? If you two loved each other and were so hot and heavy, why didn’t you keep in touch?”

This was it. Jessie took a deep breath. “The night before I was to leave, he asked me to go home with him, to move in with him. I said yes. Then I panicked.”

“Jessie... what did you do?”

Jessie cringed. “I left.”

“What? Why would you do that?” Lisa’s voice escalated until she was almost shouting.

“Like I said, I panicked.” Jessie stood and paced the room. “I knew Derrick was home waiting for me, waiting for an answer to his marriage proposal, and all I could think was what if I went with Ryan and it didn’t work out? What if I moved in with him, and he decided he didn’t really love me after reality set in? What if Ryan turned out to be just like Derrick? What if—”

“Okay, stop it right now.” Lisa stood with a fierce, determined look on her face. “Did you once stop to ask what if things did work out? What if Ryan is the one for you?”

“No.”

Lisa threw her hands in the air in frustration. “I can’t wrap my mind around this. When did you become so negative?” She blew out a breath. “Okay. Let me get this straight.” She held up her hand to stop Jessie from interrupting. “Shithead lied to you for months, cheated on you, came crawling back to you, and then asked you to marry him?”

“Yes.”

“You told shithead you had to think about it—which I totally don’t understand, but whatever. So you take off and spend the summer at the beach, where you meet Mr. Sex on Legs Ryan.”

“Yes.”

Lisa paused as if considering how to proceed. She licked her lips. “You spend every moment of every day for nearly three months with this man. You fall in love with him. He falls in love with you. And you run away because shithead was waiting for an answer?”

“Well….” Jessie tried to explain her reasoning at the time, but her sister was having none of it.

“Do I need to point out how stupid you were?”