— R A E —

As I follow Ajax down a hallway I try to take in as much as I could. It was my first time at a fire station but so far most of what I'd seen was pretty plain jane. We passed a simple but spotless kitchen, a few offices, and some other closed doors as we made our way down the main hallway. Finally, towards the end near a set of stairs, Ajax stops and half turns to me.

"Alright Cupcake, first stop. In addition to cleaning this cut, I need to take a shower anyway. Two birds with one stone. I'm covered in smoke and sweat, and I probably smell like it too."

In fact, he does smell... smoky and musky, like a campfire in autumn. Is it weird I kind of like it? Of course, I wasn't about to tell him that.

"Makes sense to me, I'll just wait out here for you."

"Not so fast. You said yourself I'm no good with
one arm. You're the one who volunteered to help, so guess who gets to come in with me in case I need something? Yep, you. Ah, but don't worry too much about it, it's not like I'm asking you to scrub my back in the shower—And yes, the showers have curtains, so you might as well just come wait inside. Ok?"

He was rambling, which crossed my mind as being kind of cute, but then I realize what he asked, and oh crap. It's true I volunteered to help, but I was just planning to help bandage, not join him in the men's restroom.

The men's showers... Naked firefighters... In the shower! Naked him in the shower!

No, stop thinking about that! Stop thinking about him. It's not like you've never seen naked men before, you're not that innocent. Don't let your hormones get the best of you.

Even if the mental images are extremely hot.

Like damn.

But also...he's got a point. There's no way he'll be ok on his own with one bloody arm.

I shake my head, clearing it. "Fine," I sigh and follow him inside.

As we walk in he continues to ramble. It must be a nervous thing, which is relieving—at least I'm not the only one.

"There's two sets of restrooms in The House, one upstairs near our dorm rooms, and this one down here. I brought us to this one because nobody else ever uses it since it's kind of out of the way. The chief uses it since his quarters are close by, but other than him I've only ever seen one or two others. So, we should have the place to ourselves," he adds with a quick wink.

So maybe he's not as nervous as I thought?

I watch as Ajax walks over to the paper towel dispenser, grabs a piece, and places it over the cut to staunch the bleeding.

It looks fairly fresh since the blood is still a bright red. A small trickle had started to run down his arm while we had walked here, but it didn't seem to bother him. If my preliminary look was right, it was nothing too serious. A good cleanse and bandage will do the trick. Until then, the paper towel will at least help prevent any mess.

I guess I can admit Ajax has some common sense as well as his looks. In hindsight, it was probably rude of me to think, but Ajax kind of struck me as the all-brawn-but-no-brains type of guy. The stereotypical guy that you see in the movies who's roguishly handsome with big muscles, but is as dim-witted as they come. You know the type. It's probably because Ajax definitely has the roguishly handsome part down, and it seemed too good to be true that he would actually have something worthwhile in that brain of his as well.

But from what I can gather from the tiny amount of time we've spent together, I will happily admit I was wrong in this case. And I actually feel terrible about misjudging him yet again.

"Could you grab a towel for me?" He holds the paper towel to his right forearm while gesturing with his free hand to the shelves behind me.

I turn and do as he asks, grabbing a towel and hanging it on a peg next to one of the showers. I earn a quick "thanks" in return.

When I turn back around, a weird choked-animal-type noise escapes my lips in surprise. Ajax was attempting to take off his shirt, but with only one good hand he only got it up as far as his chest. With his bad arm bent at an odd angle, his good one flailing for a better grip, and the shirt rumpled halfway off one shoulder, he was stuck in a sad predicament.

I throw my head back and bust out laughing. Tears prick at my eyes as my abs (or lack thereof) begin to grow tight. It feels good though, the momentary reprieve, and the tension I didn't even realize was there just melts away.

"Oh man, you look like a monkey! Or maybe a pig in a blanket?" I manage to get out between spurts of laughter.

"Hey now, I'm no pig!" He retorts, but I can see the smile creeping onto his lips. He gives in and joins me in a new round of hysterics. We slowly come back to our senses, but the smiles still linger, hanging on our lips.

Pig, he is not, I concede. From the flashes of abdomen I can see, he is far from it.

"Alright, very funny," he says, "care to help me out?"

I step towards him as he still squirms, his good arm now caught in a sleeve.

"Just keep ahold of the towel on your arm so it doesn't get all over. Let me worry about taking your shirt off."

He catches my eye with a smug look. "We just met and you're already undressing me?"

"Har, har." I deadpan, trying my very best not to give in to the giggles again, and focus on my uneasy task. As I grip and pull his shirt up, more of his stomach comes into view and it is so, so difficult to look away. Luckily, his shirt is covering his face so I don't think he can tell where I'm looking.

A hard torso clouds my vision: broad shoulders taper into a narrower waist. Ajax isn't exactly lean, but he isn't overly bulky either. I suppose his career choice has to do with that- the need for both strength and agility are incredibly important, and the results totally speak for themselves...

Goddamn, he has an eight-pack! Who the hell actually has that in real life?

Shit, even my ovaries are screaming to reach out and touch him!

My heart pounds in my ears while my knuckles slide against the expanse of his chest, over his biceps, and carefully up each arm until they're free.

Was it necessary to keep contact the whole way? Nope. But the heat his skin gives off is extremely enticing, and who would pass up a chance like that?

Too quickly I finish pulling his shirt over his head, only to find his face inches from mine.

I freeze.

Bad decision, as his eyes are right there staring back at me. They are definitely hazel I decide. But it's still really hard to pinpoint the exact shade because it seems like they keep changing. I thought they were more green originally but then they looked more amber colored a few minutes ago, and now... they look darker somehow.

What the fucking hell am I even doing? I feel like I'm in a movie scene or Wattpad book or something. That's such a cliché moment: 'Their eyes magically meet, and they ever so slowly lean in...' ugg, so stupid. We just met, I'm not about to kiss him.

I blink first to break the contact, and an odd expression flits across his features. Surprise? Curiosity? I don't know, and I make an effort to convince myself that I don't care. I just want to get this done as soon as possible.

The look is gone as quick as it came and a new one settles in over his face. Brows raised, eyes playful, and a quirk playing on his lips. I already know what this face means so I mentally prepare myself for the taunt.

"Wow, you're good at that, you should undress me more often," he states, lips twitching trying to hold a straight face.

Yep there it is. I know enough to understand he's not serious, just looking for a reaction- so you know what? I'll call his bluff.

I square my shoulders, look him straight in the eye, and shoot him the shittiest shit-eating grin I can muster before silkily stating, "Anytime, Cupcake."

It has the intended effect and I watch as he drops my gaze, his ears flaming red. What I don't expect is the real smile that returns to his lips and the small breathy chuckle that rises with it.

He's calling my bluff too, knows I'm playing right back at him, and I'm glad he's entertained by our mutual false bravado. I'm also glad that he turns his attention away before my own cheeks flush.

With his shirt now fully off and no more awkward eye contact threatening us, he turns around and starts to unbutton his belt and pants.

Thank god he didn't need help with those, I'm not sure if I could've handled that much.

Without another word, he drops his pants and I get a quick flash of tight black boxers before I can avert my gaze.

"Hey, thanks for the warning!"

"Well, at least I didn't take the boxers off with them."

I snort at the thought, as I hear him enter the shower and close the curtain behind him.

✦ ✧ ✦

— A J A X —

The hot water feels amazing when I step in but my mind and body are still reeling. Showers have an odd way of pulling you into your thoughts while your hands go about their soapy routine...

All I can think is: Shit. Shit. Shit.

Why did I drag her in here with me? Not a bright idea! She's literally right on the other side of the curtain. And we're in here alone (for now—hopefully nobody comes in, I didn't think that far ahead. Good going.) how did I not realize it would get super awkward for me to strip right in front of her.

It was bad enough when she pulled my shirt off; I felt every single tingle of her fingers. I don't think I took a single breath for what seemed an eternity and my body burned from head to toe.

It only occurs to me now, but I really wish I could've seen her face during that. My eyes were probably saucers when the shirt finally came over my head. There was no way I could've known how close she was, but she definitely should've. She seemed just as surprised as I did, and I selfishly wish I knew what exactly had been distracting her.

But then her caramel eyes were just burning into mine, inches away. She has the longest dark lashes, freckles dancing along her cheeks, and a perfect Cupid's bow along her top lip. The thought of kissing her crossed my mind, of course, but I wouldn't have actually done it. I highly doubt she would've been a-ok with that, we just met like 15 minutes ago... however, the thought was interesting, to say the least.

But man, she really threw me off when I teased her. I wasn't being serious in the least, and I was expecting her typical eye roll, but I just keep underestimating her. She's a spitball! I'm positive my ears were burning at the thought, and I was worried about how else I might've reacted— hence why I turned around to take my pants off. Luckily I didn't need to, but I wouldn't have been surprised, and I would've died if she had seen that happen right then.

As much as she keeps surprising me, I'm even more confused by my own reactions around her. It's like I can't even control myself, it's so embarrassing!

Seriously, who am I right now? I don't flirt! It's been forever since I even tried! When was my last relationship, like 2 years ago? Good god, I'm not even trying it just flies out of my mouth!

I wouldn't have blamed her if she thought I was a complete asshole... pet names, literally the first thing out of my mouth was pet names! She just caught me super off guard- I came out of the garage to catch up with Mason and find her and the other girl, Kat, waiting there. It's been forever since I was taken aback by a woman, honestly, I'm just not really looking, but I almost did a double-take when I saw her.

My first thought was that she has the most beautiful, wavy black hair I think I've ever seen. Not the overly perfect round curls some girls have when they try too hard, hers looked natural like that, not quite curls and slightly messy like she just didn't notice or care.

"Cupcake?" She had asked, and it took me a good second to comprehend... was she calling me a cupcake? No that would've been stupid, but of course, my mouth had to spit it out before I realized what I was saying. At least she took it in stride, warming up to the nickname from what I can tell.

I'm not Mason. Men and women of all kinds fall over themselves trying to get with him. He has such an easygoing, extroverted demeanor so things like chatting and flirting just come naturally to him. Not to mention he's easily the hottest guy at the station. Which isn't to say I don't think I'm handsome at all: who doesn't love a buff firefighter? But I don't exude nearly the same charm as him.

I've had a few relationships and hook-ups over the years, sure, especially through my upper teen years. But I've never been particularly relationship or sex-obsessed like some people *cough Mason cough* and eventually, my job became more important to me and I guess just lost any interest in trying.

I love my job. My dad was also a well-respected fireman in his day so I have big shoes to fill and I just love the satisfaction in it. At 25 years old, trucks, hoses, water, and ash are familiar to me now. Women, not so much anymore.

It's been a long time since I've been around anyone who seemed even remotely interesting. Mason's dragged me out a few times but anyone who seems interested in me just seems so fake. Women are all just curled hair and caked makeup... So color me intrigued when Rae shows up out of nowhere, with all-natural dark beauty and no apparent need to impress.

It's refreshing. And I still don't have any plans to bed her- even if I wanted to pursue that, she doesn't strike me as the type for it and I'm not one to push. At the same time, I think I've learned my lesson to assume anything regarding her... so I guess I'll just try to relax and enjoy whatever time I have with her.

I've known her for 15 minutes and I'm already entertaining the idea of her in my bed. That's the impact she's had on me.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

* * * * * * *
A/N:
Hello again to those still here! Things are starting to get a little more interesting! I'm trying to take a more unique approach to this book in the sense that I want to incorporate more of their inner dialog/feelings than the usual story might have. Since this story all takes place in such a short amount of time (one night instead of, say, one year) I still want to convey their growing interest so this doesn't come off as a 'meaningless night between strangers'. I think it's cool to get an inside look that feels more natural instead of too forced or sudden.

While long-term slow burns are great, sometimes interest can hit you suddenly when you least expect it, and that can be just as strong and confusing and great too!

Plus, yay feelings! Butterflies and tingles! ❤️