Freed by Fire by Ashley Christine

hand. His perfect hand. I took it. “My name is Kincaid Burke, you can still call me Caid if you like. I’m twenty-six. I work for the CFD, you know that. I have an older arsehole brother named Leland, you met him. I’m Irish, I figure you picked up on that one too…and, I have a son. His name is Caleb. He’s four, and his favorite color is blue. But, if you asked him tomorrow, it might be green.”
    “Where’s…”
    “His mother?” He said, cutting me off. “She lives in Florida.” Caid clenched his jaw. “We don’t talk about her much around here.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Don’t apologize. You’re welcome to ask me any question you like.”
    “How did he get here?”
    Caid leaned in close. “Well, Emery, a boy gets a certain feeling in his pants, when he sees a pretty girl…kind of the way I’m feeling right now, actually…”
    I gaped and giggled. “I meant, how did he get here today? ”
    “Oh, well, you could have said that, love. Spared yourself all those gory details.” Caid drained my orange juice with a smirk. “His maternal grandparents live in Chicago, and they had him at their place for a visit. I didn’t expect him home until Sunday, but his grandfather fell ill and they had to bring him home early. That was the call I received last night during the fireworks.”
    “Daddy, can I have more cereal?” the little boy, Caleb, walked into the kitchen holding an empty bowl. “Hi,” he said to me, smiling with a little milk mustache.
    I smiled. “Hello, Caleb.”
    “You didn’t eat all that already, did you?” Caid asked, acting astonished.
    Caleb nodded proudly.
    “You’ve got to be the fastest cereal eater in all of Chicago!”
    Caleb started to giggle, causing my heart to melt a little, then Caid stood and swooped him in his arms. Making my heart nearly rupture.
    Caleb shrieked and laughed as Caid walked him over to the counter, sitting him on the granite. “Where did all the milk go?” He asked, playfully.
    “I drinked it all, daddy!”
    “I can see that!” Caid chuckled. “Here.” He poured more cereal into the bowl and then added milk. “I bet you can’t eat this one very, very slowly.”
    “How much bucks do you bet me, daddy?”
    “I bet you five bucks.”
    “Paper money?”
    Caid nodded. “Yep.”
    “Okay!” Caleb said, carefully walking out of the kitchen, holding his bowl.
    I smiled as I watched the little boy—who, was a spitting image of his father—leave the room. Caid sat back down next to me, refilling the orange juice.
    “Kids. Pretty easy. Feed them cereal and bribe them with money.”
    Laughing, I grabbed the orange juice and drank some before he could. “You seem to have a good thing going here, Mr. Burke.”
    “So far,” he said, skimming his thumb across my bare knee. “So far…Anyway, you must be hungry. As you can see, I make a mean bowl of cereal.”
    An enticing raise of his eyebrow made me blush. “I’d love some, thank you.”
    Watching Caid move around his kitchen, especially the way he was with Caleb, started to make me think of Matt and his soon-to-be child. Pushing the thought quickly out of my head. No, Emery. I scolded myself. He’s nothing like Caid. Don’t you dare compare fire to ice. Hot to cold. Beauty to a beast.
    “When can I see you again?” he asked.
    You want to?
    “Umm…well, that’s up to you. You seem much busier than I am.”
    Caid smirked. “Don’t tell me you have some job that’s going to take all of your time.”
    “Well, yes…no. Not really. But, yes.”
    With a crinkled brow, he chuckled. “So yes, you have a job. No it’s not a time-stealer. But yes, it is all at the same time.”
    “I’m a writer.”
    His eyes lit up. “A writer, well…you must be gritting your teeth having to listen to my choppy Irish-American accent. I did learn to spoke good, I was teached well, me thinks, too.”
    I laughed. Reminded instantly of Eliza Do olittle. “You speak just fine, Mr. Burke. I happen to love the way