Operation Date Escape

pretty good with names, but all the other women from his past seemed to have faded from his mind.
    “So give, Maxwell,” the Lieutenant demanded. “Who’s this mystery woman? Uh, Cupcake, isn’t it?”
    He felt the heat creep up beneath the open collar of his uniform shirt. How had he managed to end up in this situation? Wrong place – wrong time. Then he thought about the kiss he and Kelsie had shared and decided there was nothing ‘wrong’ about it. In fact, it had felt pretty damn right.
    “She’s no one,” he told the men watching him from around the table. “Just someone I helped out when she needed it.”
    Joe laughed. “Helped her how? By giving her mouth to mouth?”
    “Hey, she kissed me,” he clarified.
    The crew’s boisterous laughter followed.
    He released a long sigh as he glanced around at the smirking faces of his friends. “All right, here’s what happened. I met Kelsie the night I picked up our dinner order from Casey’s. It was just a hello, nothing more. Then I ran into her again at Riverside. She was trying to get out of a bad date situation and I agreed to help her out.”
    “Makes sense to me,” the Captain said as he slathered butter across a thick slice of French bread. “I always take my dates to the emergency room.”
    The laughter that followed had Cole clenching his teeth. He couldn’t blame them for not believing him. But they didn’t know Kelsie. If they did, it would all make perfect sense to them. Not that he knew her very well, either. Except that she was stubborn and sexy and full of surprises...
    “So are you going to see her again?” Nate, one of the Medic crew asked with a wide grin.
    He shook his head, unable to keep the frown from his face. “No.”
    “Why not?” several of the men asked in unison.
    He considered refusing to answer, but knew they wouldn’t give up until he did. “Because she won’t go out with me,” he said with a deepening frown.
    His admission successfully brought an immediate end to the laughter. His friends sat there staring at him with stunned expressions all because some woman had turned him down.
    Okay, so it was a first. Not that he considered himse lf a super stud or anything, but he’d certainly never found himself in this situation before.
    “ Apparently I’m too ‘perfect’,” he muttered, figuring he might as well put it all out there.
    Joe choked on the spoonful of chili he’d just shoved into his mouth. “Come again,” he rasped, eyes watering.
    “Perfect?” Stubby repeated.
    He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Her words, not mine. Kelsie said she can’t go out with me because there’s nothing wrong with me.”
    “That what she thinks,” Joe muttered beside him.
    His best friend knew him better than anyone. If it were possible, Cole would have had Joe vouch for his imperfections, but it was obvious Kelsie had already made up her mind where their ever going out was concerned.
    The Lieutenant leaned forward to rest his folded arms on the edge of the table. “I know I’ve been married for a long time, but I had no idea that dating has changed so much. Are you telling me that women actually want men with flaws nowadays?”
    “Only this one,” Cole muttered. Then he went on to explain her reasoning behind her dud-dating policy. “So it looks like I’m out of the running.”
    “Says who?” Joe countered.
    “The woman herself,” Cole was quick to remind him.
    “Look, if you’re as interested in her as I think you are, you’ll just have to find some way to prove to her you’re not as perfect as she thinks you are.”
    Before he had a chance to contemplate his friend’s suggestion, the alarm sounded, calling out Ladder, Rescue and Medic.
    * * *
    Hot. The man was hot. Nanci’s gaze moved down the back of his polo shirt to take in the faded jeans. Nice ass. He turned his cart into the next aisle. She followed. Mr. Hot stopped in the produce aisle and began picking through the Roma tomatoes.
    Time to make her move.
    She started toward him, intent on making intros and getting a date with Mr. Hot. But some other woman beat her there. A very pregnant woman. She took notice of the matching rings on their left hands.
    “Damn.” Mr. Hot had a wife. That made him off limits in her book. She pushed her cart a little faster, moving past the temptation.
    She had just passed the vegetable section when Big Girls Don’t Cry by Fergie rang out on her cell phone. Pulling over next to the nectarine display