Love in the Light (Hearts in Darkness, #2)(4)

Grinning so big it brought his dimples out to play, Caden nodded. Makenna loved how smiling made his face look so much younger and more relaxed. Between his head scar, the widow’s peak of his shaved hair, and the piercings on his lip and eyebrow, his face could appear harsh, maybe even intimidating. Except when he smiled. “Then there was the guy who called because he thought his penis was going to explode. It turned out he’d borrowed Viagra without a prescription and taken three of them at once. Four days later, he still had an erection.”

“Aw, God. What is wrong with people?” Makenna laughed and turned in her seat toward Caden.

“I don’t know.” Caden winked. “You’d be surprised how many strange calls we get. And dispatch gets the weirdest calls of all. People call to complain about fast food restaurants not getting their orders right, or to ask if the police could go to a movie theater and hold the show time up because they’re caught in traffic, or to find out what the weather is. One old man called because he thought his house had suddenly started having a heartbeat. It turned out his new neighbors next door were in a band and he was hearing the drums. Oh, and then there was the old lady who called because her 72-year-old husband wanted to spice up their sex life by having a threesome. She wanted him arrested.”

“Wow.” Makenna shook her head. “I think I’ve called 9-1-1 exactly one time in my life, and it was when someone on the Metro thought they were having a heart attack. Even then I was nervous to dial the numbers.”

“Well, that’s how it should be,” Caden said. “So many calls to 9-11- aren’t emergencies at all.”

Makenna reached over and laced her fingers with Caden’s. Their clasped hands rested on his thigh, giving her a view of the dragon tattooed on the back of his right hand. “Okay, now tell me about some really great calls you went on.”

“I’ve delivered three babies,” he said, a small smile on his lips. “Those were my favorites. Such an amazing thing to be a part of, watching a life come into the world. You know? One of the couples named their son Grayson.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Aw, Caden. That’s so special. I can’t imagine how scary it would be to know a baby was coming and not be able to get to the hospital.” For a moment, Makenna’s imagination ran away with the picture of this muscled, inked, pierced, scarred man holding a brand new baby in those big hands. What a sight that would be. She smiled.

“It was,” he said with a nod. “I’ve also patched up a number of cats and dogs over the years, mostly pets that get trapped in house fires. Just to stabilize them until they get to a vet. But the people always appreciate it.”

“Oh, be still my heart,” Makenna said, squeezing his hand. “If I didn’t already…like you, you would’ve totally won me over with your stories about babies and puppies.” She looked out the windshield to the sunny blue sky beyond and hoped he didn’t hear the way she’d tripped over her words. She’d nearly said she loved him. Because the feeling was always in the forefront of her mind these days.

He threw her a wicked grin. “How do you think Bear picks up so many different girls?” Isaac Barrett was a firefighter at Caden’s station, and he was maybe the biggest player she’d ever met. But he was an also sweet and funny and loyal and would give a person the shirt off his back, and Makenna really liked him.

“Ah, so that explains it,” she said.

“Pretty much.” He lifted their joined hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss against her knuckles.

Heat lanced through Makenna’s chest and her blood in equal measure.

Still holding hands, they settled into a comfortable silence. Makenna’s gaze traced over what she could see of Caden’s dragon tattoo, the one he’d gotten to remind himself not to let fear rule his life. She really admired the meaning behind many of his pieces, so much so that she’d been thinking of getting a tattoo herself. A lot. The idea whipped butterflies through her belly. She’d always been such a good-girl rule-follower that she’d never considered it seriously before meeting Caden. But, inspired by how he’d commemorated those he’d loved and lost on his skin, Makenna had been mulling over a few designs over the past couple of weeks.

I want to do this. The thought came firm and sure, and she felt the rightness of it down deep. “So, guess what I’ve been thinking about lately?”

“What’s that?” he asked, his pierced eyebrow arching as he peered over at her.

It made her want to flick at his little black barbell piercing with her tongue. Her stomach flip-flopped as she gave voice to the idea. “Getting a tattoo.”

Caden’s gaze whipped toward her, his eyebrows cranked down over dark eyes. “For real?”

She grinned and bit her lip. “Yeah. I love yours and the more I think about it, the more I want to do it.”

“What kind do you want?” he asked, his gaze dragging over her so hotly it almost felt like a physical caress.

“I’ve been thinking about a Celtic family tree. The one I like best is shaped like a circle and the tree and ground are made of Celtic knots. Some designs of it place initials below the ground or weave them into the branches, and that’s really cool, too. Here,” she said, dragging her finger against the screen of her smartphone. She opened an image she’d saved in her pictures and held it up so Caden could see. “This is one version of it.”