Up in Flames [The Heroes of Silver Springs 10] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) Read Free

just…”
    “Arguing,” he supplied, his lips curving into a slow grin as he started the truck and backed out of the parking space.
    That grin shut her up. It did funny things to her insides, too. Christ, the man had one hell of a smile. She’d seen it before, though usually when he was in her presence, it faded far too quickly.
    It was her fault. All the butting heads and snipping that had passed between them since she’d taken the job as fire investigator in Silver Springs had been her doing. She’d walked into town with a chip on her shoulder and a steadfast determination to prove herself. He’d made one comment and that chip had turned into a wound he managed to poke at every opportunity. She knew she should apologize, but how could she when that chip wasn’t her only problem when it came to him?
    “How are you feeling?” Max glanced at her as he pulled out of the parking lot and merged into the light evening traffic on Bienville Boulevard.
    Regina sighed and let her head fall back against the headrest. “Drunk.” She left her head where it was, but turned it toward him when he chuckled. The sound of his laughter was as devastating as his smile.
    “Yeah, I kind of gathered that. What was that you were drinking, anyway?”
    Regina studied his side profile in the brief moments of light that illuminated him from the streetlamps they passed. He drove like she’d noticed he did everything else, calm, confident, and relaxed. His right wrist rested on the top of the steering wheel, while his left elbow was propped on the window frame, his long fingers lightly touching the wheel. He’d glanced at her when he’d asked the question, but was watching the road ahead now.
    “Rum runner.” She moaned and rolled her eyes. “They should call it a rum racer.”
    “Trying to say it raced straight through you?”
    “That last one damn sure raced to my head awfully fast.” She sat up straighter, turning toward him as much as her seat belt would allow. “How does that happen?”
    “You mean why does it feel like your head is swimming?”
    “No. Well, yeah. I guess. You have one drink. Fine. You’re okay. Hey, let’s have a second.” She smacked her lips. “Yep, still good to go. You might have a buzz depending on your tolerance for alcohol, but you’re not plastered, so you go for a third or fourth or whatever. You’re talking and dancing and walking and then, bam , you’re shit faced and don’t even know what hit you.” She frowned. “Well, I guess you do know because you were the one drinking, but how the hell does alcohol manage to sneak up on you so fast? And why does it make you babble when it does?”
    Max chuckled as he slowed the truck and eased into a turn onto a side street. “It’s all a chemical process. You drink, and it heads straight for your digestive system. It’s water soluble. That’s how it gets into your bloodstream. From there, it pretty much goes everywhere in your body, including your head. When you drink faster than your body can metabolize it, you feel, well, drunk.”
    Regina blew a breath up her face. “Spoken like a man with some true experience on the subject.”
    Max shot her a grin that sent her belly into a riot of warm fuzzies. “Half experience and half education.” He lifted a shoulder. “It’s science.”
    “And you, being B-shift’s all-around mad scientist, eat the shit up.” Regina watched his grin widen as he slowed at a stop sign, looked both ways, and got the truck moving again. Max Jasper wasn’t just hot, he was hot with brains. His fixation with science had garnered him the nickname mad scientist around the fire station, and it fit.
    So did the whole getup he did at the benefit last year.
    Oh, no. She so didn’t need to think about that right now. The Silver Springs Fire Department had held a benefit for breast cancer research, a strip show fundraiser they’d called Fired Up for Boobs. Regina knew her boobs had damn sure gotten fired up when Max had