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The Jeep jolted as it collided with the old truck right behind it, throwing Buck forward against his seatbelt and slamming his head into the roof. The truck that definitely had not been there twenty seconds ago. Buck heard the squeal and crunch of metal on metal. “Fuck!”
He did not have time for this. His shift started in exactly forty-five minutes, and probies couldn’t be late. Which wouldn’t bother him too much, except he’d already been late twice this week, and Bobby had threatened to have him scrubbing toilets until the end of time if it happened again.
A man leaned out the window of the truck, glaring at Buck. “Watch where you’re going!”
“How about YOU watch where YOU’RE going?”
“You hit my truck!”
Technically true, but Buck couldn’t afford the insurance hike or the repairs for this, so he doubled down. “You didn’t leave me any space! How do you think you’re gonna get my parking spot if you don’t let me get out of it, dumbass?”
He got out of the Jeep, jabbing his hand between them to illustrate how far over the line this dude’s stupid truck was.
The guy jumped out in return, his movements surprisingly graceful. He flexed his fists like he was restraining himself from punching something, and the move made his muscular forearms bulge. “Dumbass!? What are you, twelve?”
But then the dumbass stopped suddenly, squinting at Buck and gesturing to the left side of his head. “Hey, what’s that on your face?”
Buck had heard that one more times than he could count. He didn’t even blink. “It’s a birthmark.”
“It looks like you’re bleeding.”
“Very funny, asshole. You’ve never seen a birthmark before?” Of course this guy would be extra rude about his birthmark. People sometimes stared at his eyebrow like they were trying to crack a code, some even asked him about it, but they were usually polite at least. Most people ignored it completely. Not this jerk, apparently.
“No, really, let me see. I was a medic in the Army.”
“Uh, no, you don’t have to-”
But the guy wasn’t listening to Buck, already pulling a first aid kit out of his glove compartment and getting right up in his face. And- huh. He smelled good. Like cedar and sandalwood and sweat. Buck told himself to ignore it- he was angry, damnit. He was ignoring it so hard he didn’t notice what the man was doing until he felt cold antiseptic spray his face. “Hey!”
“Hang on.” The man was brandishing tweezers now.
“Wait a second!”
“Hold still.” A huge, strong hand gripped the side of Buck’s head, spanning his cheek to his the base of his neck. Buck obeyed, breath catching as the man leaned in closer.
“Ow!” A zing of pain, and the man was holding a shard of glass in his tweezers. He pressed clean gauze to Buck’s cheekbone.
“There. You’re lucky it didn’t get you in the eye.”
The stranger’s face, so angry before, broke into a small, sort of lopsided smile. Buck could see his blinding white teeth, one pointy canine poking over his lip. His soft, full lip…
Buck was aware they were still standing very close together. He suddenly felt a little short of breath. He could feel the heat radiating off of the guy, and for some reason he wanted to lean into it.
Then he realized he’d almost actually been injured in this little fender bender.
“What the hell- glass? Where did that come from? I didn’t hit you that hard!”
“Ha! So you admit you were the one who hit me?” The guy gestured to Buck’s hair. “It’s plastic, actually.”
Buck reached up and felt the jagged edge of his broken sunglasses. They must have hit the roof just right when he- when the cars collided.
He smiled begrudgingly. “Well, thanks.”
Maybe he was more injured than he thought. Maybe a shard of sunglass plastic had been driven into his frontal lobe, and that was the reason he felt this way. Buzzy, off-balance, impulsive.
“Let me just-” The man brushed his fingers over Buck’s cheek, whisper-soft. Before Buck knew what was happening, he had smoothed a bandaid over the small cut.
“You can pay me back by fixing my bumper.”
Crap, that might be tough. Buck hadn’t been a probationary firefighter long enough to have built up any kind of savings yet. “Look, is there any way we can handle this… between us? I can’t take another hit on my insurance.”
The man studied his face with big brown eyes. Now that they weren’t flashing with anger, Buck could see the warmth in them, the playfulness.
“Hmm, I can think of a couple ways we could handle it between us.” The man smirked at Buck.
And that was- what?
Buck bluescreened for a second. The guy still hadn’t stepped back. His hand was still lightly holding Buck’s arm, making the hair there stand up, whole body electrified, on high alert.
“Uh-” He was caught, and they both knew it.
The man chuckled, like Buck was wrong for assuming his suggestion was anything but innocent. “I meant I know someone who owns a garage. He owes me a favor. I bet I could get the work done for a good price. I’ll text you with the quote?” The words were benign, but that devilish smile still played on his face.
Screw it, Buck hadn’t considered being with a man before meeting this one, but he’d always been open minded. If he was interpreting the vibe right, he was into it.
“Yeah, sure. You better get my number, then. Let me see your phone.” He plucked it out of the man’s hand and typed in his info, then texted himself and handed it back.
The guy held out his hand. “Eddie Diaz.”
“Evan Buckley, but actually I go by Buck.”
The man- Eddie- lifted his eyebrows in a very endearing way. “Buck? That’s funny, I’m training to be a firefighter and my instructor’s always talking about this cadet named Buck who broke all the records last year. What a coincidence.”
“What? Are you serious? That’s me! I was- I’m a firefighter. Went through the academy last year.” Buck could feel his cheeks heat.
Eddie looked him up and down in a show of feigned appreciation, but Buck could see through it. He was impressed. “Wow, didn’t realize I was talking to a celebrity. No wonder you’re such a bad driver.”
Buck shoved him with his shoulder, more as an excuse to touch him than anything else. “I was gonna offer to help you study, but if you don’t want to…”
Eddie grinned and nudged him back. “Maybe there’s something else you can help me with.”
Then his lips were on Buck’s, just as soft as he’d imagined.
Buck was late to his shift. It was worth it.