Never Too Hot (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #3)(12)
Author: Bella Andre

Sometimes in her dreams she still felt like one of those girls. Unlike Ginger, fifteen hadn’t been bad for Isabel. Just the opposite, in fact.

Fifteen was when she’d met… well, there was no point in going back there.

Caitlyn, a lovely twenty-two-year-old who had a way with greens, poked her head in. “Oh, Isabel, you’re in here.

Just making sure the door hadn’t been left open.”

Isabel knew she must look like a crazy lady standing in the refrigerator staring at nothing. Grabbing a couple of eggplants and a fistful of carrots from a metal shelf, she took them over to the sink and washed them. She was drying her hands on a brightly printed dish towel when Ginger came back into the kitchen carrying a special.

“Is there something wrong with the food?” Isabel asked.

“No. It was Connor’s. But he’s gone.”

Just then, Isabel heard a loud crack from behind her. She turned around just in time to see the upper hinge on the back kitchen door finally pull free from the wall, leaving a rusty hole on the white door.

As they stood there watching the door swing back and forth haphazardly on its remaining hinge, Isabel couldn’t help but feel that it was a bad omen.

The horror movie had sucked. Big-time. But Josh Wilcox didn’t care. He couldn’t have concentrated on it anyway.

Not with Hannah sitting right next to him. She’d grabbed his arm during one scene where the doll’s head spun off and blood spurted everywhere. It had been awesome.

Everyone else had to get home after the movie, but Josh knew his mother would be at the diner until eleven at least. He had plenty of time before he needed to get home.

“It’s pretty dark out,” Hannah said when their friends dropped them off on Main Street.

He wasn’t sure if she was hinting, but he dared a, “Want me to walk you home?” anyway.

She smiled at him and they headed down to the beach. Hannah’s house wasn’t far from Main, unlike his, which was halfway around the lake. He could bike the route into town in his sleep.

There were several campfires going and Hannah said, “Can you believe that I’ve never had a s’more?”

He turned around and tried not to stare at her like a total dork. “Seriously?”

“Weird, huh?” she said, looking a little embarrassed. “Maybe you could show me how to make one sometime?”

His heartbeat kicked up as he nodded in a way that he already knew was a little too enthusiastic. But he couldn’t help himself. Not when this was his chance to shine. Because everyone knew that he was a master s’more maker.

“Sure.” They were nearly at her house now. “How about tonight?” Then it occurred to him. “You probably don’t have the stuff for it, though.”

But she nodded, and said, “Actually, I do.” He sat on her dock as she ran up to her house and came back with graham crackers and marshmallows and chocolate and matches.

“Follow me.” Walking over toward some trees, he pointed to the ground. “First, you’ve got to find the perfect stick. Not too fat, not too thin, not too short, not too long. And it needs to have a narrow tip so that you can slide the marshmallow on to it.”

She picked up a stick. “What about this one?”

He looked at it and grinned. “Talk about beginner’s luck. It’s perfect.”

She blushed at his compliment. “Thanks. Now what?”

“Now we start a fire.”

He’d been building campfires his whole life and liked the pyramid technique best. Minutes later, the fire was blazing. He quickly grabbed a stick of his own.

“Pretty much the most important part of a s’more is how you cook the marshmallow. It should be crispy and golden brown on the outside, but completely gooey and melted on the inside. That way the chocolate melts on contact. The worst thing is to accidentally light your marshmallow on fire because it only chars the outside, but the rest is still raw.” He made a face. “Little kids tend to do it like that a lot.”

“Wow,” she said, “this sounds sort of complicated. Maybe you should just make me one.”

“Nah,” he said with a shrug, “it’s pretty easy. Once you get a feel for the fire, you’ll be a total pro.”

Popping a marshmallow on the end of each of their sticks, he squatted down on the outside of the large bonfire.

“It’s best to slow roast it by the coals. Takes a little longer, but it’s worth it.”

As Hannah knelt down beside him, he felt his stomach unclench. They roasted in silence until their marshmallows had hit that perfect brown, bubbly look on the outside.

“I think we’re good to go,” he said. They walked back over to the tray of graham crackers and chocolate.

Breaking a cracker in half, he put a block of chocolate on it and said, “Here’s how you put it all together. Hold out your stick.”

Using the graham cracker halves, he slowly pulled her marshmallow off her stick, being careful not to drop the chocolate. “Go ahead, try it.”

He watched carefully as she took a bite. Her eyes closed and she had a look of complete ecstasy on her face.

He’d never felt this way about a girl before. Never wanted to see the pleasure on her face as she did something totally boring like eat a s’more. But he could have sat there and watched Hannah forever.

“How is it?” he asked, his words coming out a little scratchy.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him. “Totally amazing.”

And then, just as he was trying to figure out if he should try to kiss her, she said, “I can’t believe you’ve always grown up here. You’re so lucky. And it’s great that your mom owns the diner. You must know everyone.”

“Ugh. That’s what I like about the city. Total anonymity. Not like here, when every time I go to the post office Mrs. Hendricks asks me if I’ve grown some more.”

Hannah giggled. “Have you?”

“A couple of inches maybe.” She laughed again. “But seriously, it’s so boring here.”

She stopped laughing and he quickly said, “I mean, not with you or anything. It’s just I’ve done the lake thing for so long. And my mom is constantly on me.”

“Me and my parents ate at the diner when we were looking at buying a camp here and your mom came out and talked to us for a while about what it’s like to live here. She was really cool. Really nice to us.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, she’s all right, I guess.”

“Does she have a boyfriend?”

“No.”

“Really? But she’s really pretty. Does she date at least?”

He thought about it, tried to see his mom in any other light than as his mother. “Nope. She doesn’t date.”