In Nora’s imagination, the scene engulfed her: the harsh smell of smoke, the demonic crackle of fire leaping inside the building, the hustle of firefighters dragging hoses into position. During her police career, she’d assisted with crowd control at several fires and found them both fascinating and repellant.
Flames devoured whatever they encountered, indifferent to pain, driven by an insatiable need for fuel. Once they started, there was no reasoning with them, no possibility of negotiation.
“I replayed the scene in my mind for months,” Sam said. “Whenever I’m under stress, it returns. I keep trying to figure out what I could have done differently, how I could have changed the ending, as if somehow I could bring him back.”
Nora didn’t waste her breath trying to reassure Sam that it hadn’t been his fault. Every public safety officer knew that failure came with the territory. That didn’t make you impervious to it.
Brushes with death were always traumatic. She remembered the burns she’d suffered that summer during college when she’d helped her father and brothers. “I once had a close encounter with an overeager blasting cap. It made me afraid to take risks for quite a while.”
“I’m not afraid to take risks,” Sam said. “Is that what you think?”
“I was talking about myself.” Gripping his shoulders, she gave him a shake. “You know what? You’re stubborn.”
“Hey! You’re supposed to be getting the kink out, not putting one in!” To her relief, he sounded amused.
“How can I cure you when you’re one big pain in the neck?” she joked.
“Oh, yeah?” He whipped out of the chair. She hadn’t expected him to move so fast. “Think you can give me a hard time, do you?” He grinned as he advanced on her. “Ever learn how to wrestle?”
“I’ve got two brothers. You bet I did.” She could take down a guy his size, no sweat. “You’re not so tough.”
One problem: Sam knew the same tricks she did. When Nora tried to knock his leg out from under him, he flipped her around, barely catching her in time to prevent a collision with an end table.
“I guess I should have cleared the floor before we started,” he murmured, clasping her in front of him. His breath tickled her cheek and she felt his chest rise and fall. He was breathing a lot harder than she would have expected from such a brief exertion.
But then, so was she.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“BEST TWO OUT OF THREE,” Nora said.
His chuckle rumbled through her. “You sure are feisty.”
“Spare me!” She hated that word. “Next you’ll tell me I’m spunky.”
“You’re spunky.”
“Those are fighting words!”
“It was only one word.”
To cut short the argument, she stomped on his foot. Since she’d discarded her shoes, it had little effect except to inspire him to tickle her. Even while trying to wriggle free, Nora found herself appreciating the gentle power in his hands.
“Give up?” Sam asked.
“Not in this lifetime.” She paused, weighing whether to throw him flat. Before she reached a decision, Sam grasped her waist and drew her against him.
“Okay, you win,” he murmured, and kissed her.
When his lips touched hers, silver sensations coursed through Nora’s blood. When his tongue explored the edges of her teeth, she melted into him as she’d wanted to do all evening.
Everything about him tantalized her, from the stubbly skin of his jaw to the hardness brushing her below. With a thrill, she recognized that she had the power to arouse this difficult man, and that she wanted to.
Sam eased her onto the upholstered arm of the chair, his body fitting between her thighs and his arms surrounding her. Nora traced her mouth across his cheek and neck. Pleasure shimmered through her as Sam groaned.
She kissed his throat and, unworking the buttons on his shirt, moved down to his chest. He slid his hands beneath her top, lifted her bra and cupped her breasts. With a gasp, Nora let him take her nipples between his lips.
His ragged breathing matched her own as he fumbled with the snap on her jeans. She wanted him inside her more than she had ever wanted anything.
Wait a minute. What were they doing?
No matter how powerful the physical chemistry, they didn’t belong together. And, perhaps even more importantly, they might not be able to function as a team if they went any further.
“Sam,” she whispered.
“Yes?” He spoke distractedly, in the middle of unfastening his belt.
“Sam!” She pushed lightly on his chest. “No.”
Dazed, he stopped and stared at her.
What a picture they must make, Nora thought, with her top half off and his shirt wide open, on the verge of doing something irrevocable. “We have to stop.”
“Why?” He shifted, bringing his hardened length into contact with her heated core.
She nearly changed her mind right then. Her body pulsed with longing to take him inside her and drive him wild, to twist beneath him and feel him plunge in and out of her as they both lost control. She held herself motionless by an effort of will.
Reluctantly, Sam drew away. “Why do we have to stop?”
He looked great, standing there bare-chested, belt undone, jeans bulging. Why couldn’t two people simply take what they wanted without worrying about the consequences? Nora wondered.
She knew the answer. Because those consequences will make you so miserable, it won’t be worth it.
She didn’t hurry to cover herself. What would be the use? “You know why, Sam. It would change everything.”
“I told you I’m not afraid of risks. I didn’t think you were either.” He wasn’t issuing a challenge, simply stating a fact.
“Are you telling me you honestly think it’s a good idea for us to jump in the sack when we have to show up tomorrow and face each other at work?” Nora demanded.
Sam finger-combed his hair while considering her remark. “Who has time to think that clearly? I’d say we set a new world’s record for going from point A to way past point B.”
“It was fun while it lasted,” Nora admitted.
His mouth worked on a smile and didn’t quite make it. “You’re a cool customer. It’s taking me longer to catch my breath. But then, I should have expected…no, forget I said that.”
Beginning to get annoyed, she shifted her clothes into place. “What were you going to say? You should have expected what?”
“Cops and firefighters like to gossip. You’ve got a reputation as a flirt, you know.” He pulled on his shirt.
Anger brought Nora’s temperature to a quick simmer. “Wait a minute. Are you claiming I led you on?”
“No,” Sam conceded.
“Then are you saying I stopped you because I’m toying with your affections?” she asked sarcastically.
“Certainly not.”
“Then what?” Without waiting for an answer, she added, “And for your information, I’m not in the habit of ripping a guy’s clothes off and then stopping short.”
“I must be pretty special to qualify for that treatment, huh?”
She debated whether to slap him and decided against it. Their first wrestling match had created more than enough trouble already. “Yeah, you inspire me to new heights.”
“To return to my original point, if I can remember it…” Sam looked around the floor for his shoes. “I’m not in the habit of assaulting my dinner guests. Obviously, there’s something going on between us. I don’t understand why you’re so quick to deny it.”
“Exactly where do you think this would lead?” Nora demanded.
“To bed, obviously.”
“And then?”
“Who knows? And you’re the one calling me a control freak!”
For an insane instant, she toyed with the idea. A casual affair—well, it wouldn’t be all that casual, given their personalities—and then they’d part company. Wasn’t that what she wanted from a guy? Come to th
ink of it, commitment-phobic Sam ought to be perfect for a woman who hated to be tied down.
At last Nora identified the problem. An affair with her partner would mean the worst of both worlds. He’d try to control her, because it was in his nature. On the other hand, if they ever worked things out and she actually opened her heart to him, he’d stomp on it.
“You don’t really want this any more than I do,” she said.
“On what level?” Sam asked, maddeningly.
“On the level of anything more than sheer animal physicality.”
“There’s a lot to be said for sheer animal physicality.” He retrieved a shoe from beneath the couch. It turned out to be hers.
“Is this the real Sam Prophet speaking?”
“Hold on.” He went into the bathroom. When he came out, she could see that he’d splashed cold water on his face, dampening the edges of his hair. “What were we talking about?”
“Casual sex,” Nora reminded him. “You were in favor of it.”
“That must have been my libido talking.” He located another shoe beneath the coffee table and tossed it to her.
“This is yours.” She pitched it back.
“You see how mixed up I am?”
Nora gave up attempting to argue with him. “We’re both too tired to think clearly.”
“Roger on that.”
This whole situation was preposterous, she reflected as she finished dressing. If anyone had suggested when she woke up this morning that she’d wind up nearly making love with Sam Prophet tonight, she’d have laughed until she fell on the floor. Now she might simply fall on the floor from exhaustion.
“Shall we call it even?” he asked.
“Let’s forget it ever happened.” Nora picked up her purse and briefcase.
When she turned, she glimpsed something—could that be regret?—on his face. It vanished so quickly, she couldn’t be certain.
“Thanks for dinner. I bow to your cooking skills.” Without waiting for a response, Nora let herself out. In the cool night air, she hurried to her car.
She didn’t know what to make of Sam Prophet. He didn’t match her old ideas about him, yet Elaine’s tale had made her wary. Also, she could see for herself that while their personalities might make for an exciting combustion, it would be like any blowup: it would generate lots of heat and fire, end quickly and leave widespread devastation.
Exactly what she didn’t need. And neither, she had a feeling, did he.
AFTER NORA LEFT, Sam went into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee. With the so-called Avenger cases fresh in his mind, he wanted to review his Trigger files to see if any new ideas surfaced.
Instead of concentrating, his tangled brain kept drifting back to Nora. His body burned with a longing to complete what they’d started.
She’d been right, though, much as it had pained him to stop cold turkey. He’d seen couples work together after a relationship went sour, sinking into pettiness and sniping until one of them transferred or resigned. It embarrassed him to realize that, for a change, Nora was the one who’d kept a cool head, but thank goodness she had.
When the phone rang, Sam almost welcomed the interruption to his musings, even though evening calls often signaled an emergency. Hearing his sister Mary’s voice happily put that prospect to rest.
“I’m calling to invite you to a party Friday night,” she said. “Mom and I are throwing a barbecue to celebrate the end of school.” Mary lived with their mother about half a mile from Sam’s place.
“Sounds like fun if I don’t have to work. With this case, you never know.” Missing family gatherings formed an unavoidable part of being an arson investigator.
“I understand,” she responded. “But you’ve got to take a break sometime. Bring your new partner if you want to.”
Despite the casual phrasing, he knew Mary had made the suggestion deliberately. “We’re not an item, if that’s what you mean.” Of course, if Nora hadn’t insisted they stop when they did, that might not be true, Sam reflected.
“Are you sure?”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I ought to know whether I’m dating someone or not!”
“Keep your shirt on.” She gave a knowing humph! that made Sam wish he hadn’t flared at her. His sister had a talent for reading him. “She’s cute and it’s fun to watch you two joke around.”
“You mean it’s amusing to watch us lacerate each other?” Sam grumped.
“Listen, bro, I’ve watched you with plenty of women over the years,” Mary said. “Most of them make doe eyes at you, like you’re the big strong male and they can’t get enough of you. Which I don’t blame them for, because even if you are my brother, I have to admit you’re a hunk.”
“Thanks, I think,” he said more mildly. He didn’t mean to get snarly with his sister, who’d always been one of his favorite people.
“But that kind of woman bores you,” she went on. “Half the time, you look like you’re ready to fall asleep. If the way you two interacted today is any indication, Nora makes you roar like a grizzly. At least when you’re with her, I know you’re not hibernating.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this in-depth analysis of my love life,” Sam muttered.
“So bring her along Friday,” Mary said. “As an incentive, I should warn you that Mom’s invited several single mothers from the neighborhood.”
Angela Prophet, also a teacher at the same elementary school as Mary, hosted a homework club in her garage. Last week when Sam had gone over to fix her garbage disposal, she’d described a couple of the divorced moms with an enthusiasm that could only mean she had matchmaking in mind. If he didn’t bring Nora along for self-defense, he’d spend the evening deluged by prospective girlfriends, courtesy of his mother.
“You made your point,” he said. “If I can spare the time, I’ll come by and give Nora the option of joining me.”
“You’ll ‘give her the option’? With that kind of suave attitude, it’s amazing you’re not married ten times over,” his sister kidded. “Seriously, Sam, don’t write her off until you give her a chance. I think there’s something there.”
“You bet there’s something there,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s the kind of something that frequently leads to homicide.”
“You’re really on her case!” Mary hooted.
“Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.” So did every frustrated fiber of his manhood.
“Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much.” Before he could object, she added, “We’re starting at six, but you can come later if necessary. Bring chips and dip or just bring yourself. Bye.” The phone clicked in his ear.
Sam wished he hadn’t taken Nora to the school with him that morning. It hadn’t occurred to him that his sister would read a budding romance into an assigned partnership.
The fact that this evening had proved her right did nothing to soften his mood.
WALKING THROUGH the firehouse on Thursday morning, Nora nodded to some of the men hanging around the TV room. Unlike at a police department, where most officers spent only a short time at the beginning and end of their shifts, firefighters sometimes killed hours waiting for a call.
Of course, they spent a lot of those hours training and cleaning their equipment. The whole place shone.
A fire station became a kind of home as well as a workplace. As Sam had mentioned, the firefighters cooked meals here. They also slept in the bunkrooms and bulked up in the workout room.
As a result, the place sure smelled different from a cop shop. One minute she caught a whiff of cooking scents, the next the sour odor of sweat. Nora tried not to wrinkle her nose, aware that if she did, the firefighters—some of them female—would joke later about her delicate sensibilities.
They wouldn’t be laughing the next time she drilled them on how to handle a bomb blast, though, especially when she set off real explosives. Her efforts had been rewarded at the hospital yesterday, not that Nora took more th
an a small share of credit for the smoothness of the operation. Her reward came from knowing that, aside from minor cuts and bruises, no one had been injured, although this morning’s report listed widespread damage to vehicles and one section of the building.
Sam’s office, next to the fire chief’s, formed a sharp contrast to her cluttered workplace. Neatly labeled in and out baskets and a file holder left a large clear area on the desk. His bookshelves and file cabinets had a similarly tidy appearance.
“Any luck reaching Nunez?” she asked from the doorway. When they’d conferred by phone, Sam had said he planned to contact the Esmee Engines president first thing.
Sam drank her in with slow deliberation. She’d believed herself armored against his appeal, but a tiny skip of her heart gave the lie to that idea. “According to his secretary, he’s in conference. I left a message.”
“You think he changed his mind about talking to us?” She’d seen it happen many times. People started out wanting to help until they began worrying about bad publicity or a backlash from their employer. As if anything were more important than catching a serial killer!
“Let’s hope not,” he said.
Although an empty chair beckoned, she remained standing. “We’ve got two cases that concern Finder Electronics,” Nora said. “If Wonderworld has clamped down on information, they might give us the cold shoulder there too, but it’s worth a try.”
With a nod, Sam got to his feet. “Let’s go.” Neither of them suggested giving their subjects advance warning.
They also didn’t need to confer before taking Sam’s sedan. Nora had to admit it was the more practical of their vehicles. They had plenty of room for their files and didn’t bump into each other at every curve.
No repeats of last evening, Nora vowed. From now on, they’d keep things strictly business.
She’d awakened during the night in the throes of a passionate dream. Fleeting images had reminded her how delicious it had felt to slip her arms around Sam and explore the hard eagerness of his body. She’d had to switch on the light and read for half an hour before she managed to fall asleep again.
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