Desire Me If You Can Chapter 39

It had been approximately an hour since the report came in that a pet cat was stuck and unable to come down from a tree. Grayson watched as Dane, who usually spent his time yawning and checking his equipment with an obvious look of annoyance, uncharacteristically climbed into the truck right away; Grayson followed suit and got in as well. He didn’t yet understand why he had done it. He had acted quite literally “without thinking,” and by the time he came to his senses, the car was already on the move.

Not a single person said anything about Grayson joining the dispatch. While their attitude made it clear that they didn’t care what he was up to, Grayson actually preferred it that way. After all, there was only one person currently grating on his nerves.

That man, Dane Striker, was sitting with his arms crossed, bouncing one of his legs. Seeing that he looked uncharacteristically anxious—perhaps because he was quite worried about the cat—left Grayson feeling strangely unsettled. Dane Striker, a man who always wore an expression of clear boredom or annoyance no matter how large the fire, was a completely different person whenever animals were involved. He had rescued a squirrel once, and another time, he had picked up a bird that had fallen from its nest and placed it back. Grayson had grown accustomed to the way his eyes would always become sincere and sparkling when dealing with animals, only to inevitably lose their light and become dull once the job was done.

What he wasn’t accustomed to was his own attitude, which had changed since that day. For some reason, Grayson had started to become preoccupied with every single one of Dane’s actions. He couldn’t even understand himself for it.

Above all, he didn’t like the current situation. This was no time to be killing time here. He had finished his business, so he should have left immediately, as he had always done before. After all, life was too short to spend searching for his one true soulmate.

Yet, nearly a month had passed, and Grayson was still lingering in this place. Even while failing to justify such behavior to himself, he was still diligently tagging along on every dispatch like this. To be precise, it was closer to stalking Dane.

Wait a second, stalking that guy? Me?

He was frowning at this newly realized fact when, just in time, the truck arrived at the scene. The first person to jump out was, as expected, Dane. He threw on his outer jacket and headed straight for the tree where the cat was stuck. While his colleagues set up the ladder, a woman who appeared to be the cat’s owner and some neighbors paced nervously at a distance.

“This won’t work, we can’t lean the ladder against this branch.”

Diandre gave up and stepped back after a few failed attempts, and Ezra immediately pulled out his radio.

“Let’s call the ladder truck. We’ll wait until then.”

In the meantime, the firefighters who had come as support wandered around, joking with the residents. Even while doing so, they never forgot to glance up at the tree, just in case something happened to the cat. Meanwhile, a group of women gathered near Dane, who was standing in a circle chatting with the others, and began to fuss quietly.

“Hey, that’s him, right? The…”

The other woman nodded in response to the voice filled with high expectations.

“The calendar man.”

Following that, muffled shrieks of “Eek!” erupted here and there. A chaotic array of reactions broke out—women calling out to God, jumping in place, covering their mouths, and pumping their fists in excitement. They didn’t even stop while hurriedly pulling out their phones to take pictures.

“My goodness, I’ve never seen such a handsome man.”

“And that body! I’d give anything to go on just one date with him.”

“He’s huge. Is he two meters tall?”

“Oh my god, seeing the man of my dreams in real life. I feel like I’m going to cry.”

“Charlie is such a filial cat. He’s paying back all the treats he gets at home.”

“I knew a day like this would come. Charlie is a cat who knows how to return a favor.”

There was no way these cheers from the women couldn’t be heard. Ezra, who had glanced in their direction, nudged Dane with his elbow and tilted his chin toward them.

“I think those women are talking about you? Why don’t you acknowledge them?”

Dane said nothing, just smiled and gave a slight wave. Immediately, the women’s cheers tripled in volume. However, the other colleagues didn’t react much, as if this was an everyday occurrence. While they killed time chatting about baseball with a neighborhood kid who had come to watch, the ladder truck arrived. Dane, as if it were a given, climbed onto the ladder, and they watched from below as he skillfully ascended.

“Good kitty, that’s it.”

Dane said in a gentle voice that one could never have imagined from him. He approached slowly, as if worried the cat might be startled, and his movements were nothing if not cautious. Everyone held their breath and watched as he slowly and carefully closed the distance to the cat. Once Dane, whose arms were as long as he was tall, reached out and was within range, he quickly grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck. As soon as he lifted the cat and skillfully cradled it in his arms, the people watching from below cheered and clapped loudly.

“Waaaah!”

“He did it! He really did it!”

“Thank goodness, thank you!”

“Oh, now I can finally relax… I was so scared.”

With the relief, the people finally began to converse with bright faces. Dane, who had come down the ladder with the cat, looked for the owner. Seeing the woman with teary eyes receive the cat and offer her thanks, everyone seemed moved, placing their hands over their hearts and letting out sighs of admiration. Soon, private chatter began to trickle out among those who had been watching.

“Hey, is it okay if we say something to him?”

“About what? Are you going to ask if he’s the calendar guy?”

“No, you can’t say it like that! Try to be less obvious!”

“The hunk of the year?”

“That’s even worse!”

As they milled about, not knowing what to do, a woman who had disappeared and reappeared among them stepped forward. In her hands were several calendars. They were all firefighter calendars featuring Dane on the cover. She held out a calendar and a pen to Dane and asked:

“Um, excuse me… could you, by any chance, sign this here?”

The women who had been making a fuss behind her widened their eyes in shock at the incredible courage she had mustered, as she was usually quiet and rarely spoke. But it didn’t end there. When she took out her phone and asked for a picture, Dane personally called over a colleague, handed them the phone, and even bestowed upon her the honor of taking a photo together. Of course, they couldn’t just let this incredible stroke of luck pass by right before their eyes.

“Hey, me too! Me too!”

“Here, I bought one every single year! Look at this!”

“I was first!”

“I was first!”

Before they knew it, everyone who had run home and back was holding the same calendar. Some of them were waving around loose sheets of paper, having torn off the covers for safekeeping. In the end, the time it took for him to sign everyone’s calendar and take photos was far longer than the time it had taken to rescue the cat.

Honestly, this is absurd.

Grayson stood with his arms crossed, scowling as he watched the spectacle. Seeing them act like machines as if this were an everyday occurrence left him so dumbfounded he couldn’t even laugh. What on earth are those people doing?

Tsk. It was when he clicked his tongue in annoyance that he suddenly heard a human voice faintly from somewhere. It sounded like an auditory hallucination, masked by the boisterous noise of the crowd.