One Night with a Hero Read Free Page B

great. Admirable.”
    Joss appreciated the sentiment coming from someone who did what he did. “The kids make it fun,” she said as her cell beeped a third time. She picked up the phone and gave Brady a sheepish smile. “Sorry. Let me reassure my friend you’re not a serial killer.”
    He chuckled. “What time did you give her before she should call the police?”
    Heat flooded her cheeks. “Well, now, if I told you that, then you’d know how long to wait until you could stuff me in the back of your nondescript van.”
    Smiling, he nodded. “Right.”
    She opened Christina’s messages.
    The first one read: Woman! I need deets!
    Then: Ooh, Brady’s a good name .
    Finally: Be safe. Use a condom. And don’t forget to call me!!! Also, DEETS!!!
    Joss shook her head. In so many ways, she and Christina Flores were total opposites, but they just clicked. She wrote back, TY! Will do! , then set the phone to vibrate and dropped it to the blanket.
    When she lifted her gaze, Brady was watching her. “In all seriousness, I’m glad you did that. But, in case it needs to be said, I’m not a serial killer.”
    She couldn’t help her smile. “Good to know. Neither am I.”
    “You had me worried,” he said, giving her a wink.
    “It’s always the quiet ones.”
    “Are you quiet, Joss?”
    BOOM!
    Joss flinched into his side, her heart racing. She’d been so deep into Brady’s scorching gaze that the explosion of the first firework caught her off guard.
    He leaned into her and chuckled. “Jumpy?”
    “No,” she said, leaning into him so he could hear her over the constant thunder of the colorful firework display. “Just didn’t realize they were starting already.”
    He nodded and turned his gaze to the show. But though her surprise faded, her heart rate never returned to normal. And it had nothing to do with the red, white, and blue starbursts lighting up the sky. A mere inch separated her body from Brady’s, and despite the loud splendor of the fireworks, he dominated her senses. The heat from his arm warmed hers, and made her long for the real heat skin-on-skin contact would bring. Sitting so close, that clean scent she’d noticed earlier, like soap and sun and male, was all she could smell now, and she wondered how much more potent it would be if she pressed her nose, her lips, to his throat, his jaw, his mouth and breathed it in from the source.
    Even as Brady sat watching something as simple as fireworks, he didn’t seem to relax. Tension clung to the hard set of his jaw, the tight bunching of his shoulders. He was a big man. Obviously strong, apparently deadly, given his profession. She couldn’t decide if his intensity thrilled her, or scared her just a little. Maybe both.
    He glanced over and caught her looking. Joss dropped her gaze and hoped the cover of night hid the heat blooming on her face. When she peeked from under her lashes, he was still watching her.
    Her stomach flopped and her hand fisted the soft cotton of the blanket. A tingle ran through her center that made her catch her breath against the sudden urge to push him back, crawl on top of him, and kiss him until all that tension melted out of his body. Right here. Right now. No matter the spectators, or the fact he was nearly a stranger.
    A very hot, damn sexy, purportedly non-serial-killer stranger.
    She saw her own desire mirrored back at her. Brady’s mouth dropped open and his dark eyes narrowed and blazed in the night.
    It took everything she had to return her attention to the fireworks. Or at least pretend to. Because her body jangled with awareness of his until her muscles ached from the strain of holding herself in place. This is crazy . Maybe. Probably. But the dampness between her legs wasn’t the result of the early September heat.
    His breath ghosted over her ear, erupting ticklish chills on her neck and arms. “I’m going to kiss you here, Joss.” The tip of his finger skimmed her cheek.
    Heart in her throat, she