Prologue — Bull

There's no guidebook on how to cope with falling in love with your best lady friend, and certainly none on how to cope with falling in love with the person who is happily involved with your long-time boss and bud from schooldays. Take Bull's word for it, he's Googled it, and the only results that have come back were a few cheap romance novels on Amazon. The greatest tragedy of Bull's life is some cheap plot device for a bored housewife fantasy-fodder. Those books were geared toward women, but Bull doubted that it was Serena's fantasy for him to pound on her door at midnight to confess his feelings for her while her boyfriend, the fire chief at his station, Randy stood behind her.

But when Serena had taken on the task of writing an article about the history of the fire station, she and Bull spent a lot of time together; more than usual. She needed his help and he was glad to assist. What he hadn't known was the fact that it would make him fall for her despite knowing her for years.

When Bull's alone, the guilt eats him alive. Bull's jealous, but not envious. To say Bull's jealously implies that he would like to take Randy's place is not what he wants. Randy is right for Serena and Bull loves seeing them together. Bull isn't sure what he wants other than a miracle that Serena one day falls in his lap.

Let's face it, whoever wrote that it was better to have loved and lost than not loved at all, was a liar. Lord Tennyson? He's obviously never felt, unrequited love. Sure, there are times when wanting Serena feels really good, but like all good highs, they come crashing down eventually. The warm glow of having Serena slide her feet into his lap under the blanket when they're snuggled up is irresistible. She'd lay across his broad body, her head on his chest, her pretty fingernails scratching lightly at his scalp, whispering, "I love you, Big Bull" in his hair, and then lean up to kiss him.

* * *

For years, Bull lived on a hard line between wishing Serena wanted him and wishing he'd never met the woman. He can't unlearn her quirks or program himself not to respond to them. His eyes watched Serena's shine in the fire station's front window, and Bull's heart skipped a beat only to sink hundreds of times. Her cheeks are puffed with air, as she tries not to scream at the fire stations' database that just won't work like it's programmed to, and Bull just giggled. He knew that call to him to just fix it on his day off was coming but Bull also needed to run the other way, because he didn't want her to turn in her office chair to face him. He envisioned Serena holding his face, calling him her hero while planting wet kisses on his forehead. All-day, every day Bull's high on affection crashes when he hits the pillow at night.