by Jamie Denton
“What the hell is she doing here?” Noah Harding shouted above the din.
Ben followed Noah’s line of vision and saw Jana crossing the street. His heart stopped, then resumed beating a rapid cadence in his chest. They had more than enough to deal with at the moment. Dammit, he couldn’t afford Jana as a distraction.
“Being a pain in the ass,” Chance Mitchell answered, shaking his head.
Ben silently agreed with him, but he wouldn’t undermine Jana’s authority by saying so. “She’s doing her job,” he told the two younger firefighters. “And I expect you to do yours and not worry about OSHA observing. Got it?”
Having an OSHA rep on scene to observe wasn’t unusual when a department was under investigation. But seeing Jana unnerved him.
She’d nearly made it across the busy roadway before one of the cops directing traffic away from the area attempted to stop her. She said something Ben couldn’t make out, flashed her credentials, then dismissed the cop and headed straight for him.
“See what’s taking the power company so long.” He issued the order to Noah, then took off before Jana closed in on him and his men.
Not thirty minutes ago he’d been swept up by a rampant case of lust. He hadn’t been certain he’d even survive the next three hours before he’d have her in his arms—and in his bed—again. Right this second, though, he wanted nothing more than to ream her a new one for her total disregard for her own safety by approaching a dangerous situation.
Counting to ten before he caught up with her did zilch to calm him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he snapped.
She blinked her wet spiky lashes several times, obviously surprised by his surly attitude after their exchange back at the firehouse. He didn’t want her injured at the scene, so he figured he was entitled.
“I have every right to be here.” She held the front of her trench coat together by wrapping her arms around her waist.
“Dammit, Jana, you could get hurt.”
Or worse. The thought filled him with a different kind of dread he’d never experienced until now. Until her. He’d been taking care of people for as long as he could remember. His brothers and Tilly had done their share of rattling his cage with their juvenile antics, but that was next to nothing compared to the way his heart had stopped beating when he thought about what could happen if those live wires got out of control.
“Don’t waste time by yelling at me, Ben. Just apprise me of the situation.”
He let out a rough sigh. She had a point. “Vehicle versus utility pole,” he said. “The driver appears injured and unconscious.”
Loud snaps of high-voltage electricity rent the air with a distinct acrid scent. Shouts from the emergency personnel on the scene had him not waiting around for more of her questions, but rushing back to the action circle.
The power lines danced around the vehicle, jerking over the ground, setting off showers of sparks. The driver remained unconscious, oblivious of the extreme danger surrounding her. Ben reminded his men to stay clear, knowing firsthand how helpless and frustrated they were feeling, forced to wait to do what they’d been trained for—saving lives.
“Oh, my God,” Jana gasped from beside him. “She’s pregnant.”
He hadn’t even heard her approach, and he certainly hadn’t heard her correctly. At least he hoped not. “What did you just say?”
“She’s pregnant,” she repeated, pointing toward what was left of the silver sedan.
He hadn’t even realized, but with a better look, he confirmed Jana’s observation. The driver’s large, rounded belly was wedged against the bent steering wheel. No air bag had deployed, likely due to the age of the car.
Noah approached and ignored Jana. “The power company’s ETA is at least ten minutes,” he told Ben.
That was not good news. “What’s the holdup? Did you remind them this is a priority-one situation?”
Noah nodded. “Traffic. Rain. Power outage on the other end of town,” he said. “Take your pick.”
“Stay here,” he ordered Jana. “Better yet, move back.”
He didn’t wait to see if she obeyed, but went to speak to Cale and Brady. “Did you notice the driver’s pregnant?”
Brady was visibly pale. “Yeah, we noticed.”
“I could try to get to her from the other side,” Cale told Ben. “Maybe break through the sunroof.”
Ben gave his brother a harsh look. “With live wires down? Think again. We wait for the power company. Understood?”
Cale’s expression remained grim, but he didn’t argue.
Jana rushed toward them. “You have to do something.” A slice of panic filled her voice. One look at her told him she was teetering on the verge of hysteria. “Why aren’t you doing something?”
He needed her out of the way and to calm down before she did something stupid and dangerous. “I thought I told you to get back.” he reminded her, keeping his tone as gentle as possible.
“You have to get that woman out of there.” Her wide eyes were banked with fear. “What if there’s a leak in the gas line?”
The sparks could set off an explosion, and they all knew it, but their hands were tied. The power lines snapped and popped again, shooting a fresh shower of sparks over the top of the vehicle.
Jana flinched, and he knew he’d better put as much distance between her and the scene as possible, fast. If the situation worsened, he didn’t want to think about how it might affect her. The squad had the benefit of the critical-incident stress-debriefing team, a luxury Jana wouldn’t have at her disposal.
Settling his hands on her shoulders, he steered her away from the action and led her to the side of Cale and Brady’s rig, opened the passenger door and helped her inside. For once, she didn’t argue with him.
“You have to help that woman,” she said again. “You have to save her and her baby.”
He reached around her, pulled a blanket from the bin behind the seat and tucked it around her legs. “We will. I promise.”
Her cold fingers slid over his cheeks and she forced him to look at her. “Do something, Ben. Do it now.”
“We have to wait for the utility company first.” He used the same quiet tone he reserved for panicked victims as he reached up to pull her hands away and settle them on her lap. “It’s not safe for us to work until they kill those power lines.”
Did she realize the irony of the situation? he wondered. Emergencies took on a whole new perspective when actual humans were involved. Something no textbook had prepared her to handle on such a personal level.
The warmth of the ambulance must’ve penetrated her skin because she shivered.
“As soon as the scene is safe, Cale and Brady will be able to go in and assess her injuries. It won’t be much longer.” He hoped.
Her bottom lip quivered and she trembled again. There were more shouts, but he forced himself to ignore them for the next few seconds while he helped Jana relax.
He slipped a damp lock of hair behind her ear. “I need you to stay here,” he told her. “No matter what happens, okay?”
Her green eyes filled with moisture, and she nodded. His chest squeezed so tight, drawing his next breath took enormous concentration. Somehow he’d landed neck-deep in big trouble. As much as he would’ve liked to deny the truth, he couldn’t ignore the realization that Jana was becoming important to him.
He’d enjoyed her body and had taken pleasure in the intimacy of her passionate response as a lover. Her teasing and flirting never failed to make him want her more. He’d even argued with her and felt the sting of frustration with her stubbornness. Her smiles always kicked his pulse up a few notches. A sultry glance or a gentle touch from her effortlessly set him on fire. All understandable and acceptable responses. Yet none of the facets of her personality he’d witnessed thus far had prepared him for his reaction to the stark vulnerability in her gaze.
He couldn’t do this now. There was work to be done, but heaven help him, all he wanted was t
o hold her close and keep her safe.
For as long as she’d have him? Or a whole lot longer?
The arrival of the utility company’s emergency crew offered him a temporary reprieve from further exploration of the emotions crowding him. At least for the moment. Later, he wouldn’t be as fortunate.
JANA PLUCKED Ben’s shirt from the floor and adjusted it around her shoulders to ward off the slight chill in the room. She’d all but torn it off his incredible body when she got to his place and was surprised now to see the buttons still intact.
She’d been thirty minutes late because she’d had difficulty reading the directions he’d given her; they’d been soaked from being in her coat pocket. By the time she’d finally arrived, she’d been starved—for him.
She’d hardly made it through the wide arched doorway before she’d wrapped herself around him and held on tight. The afternoon had been highly emotional, and she still had trouble pinpointing what she was feeling right now, a suitable excuse for her practically attacking the poor guy the second she walked in the door.
Not that he’d complained, she thought, hiding a smile as she rolled back the sleeves of his shirt. He’d let her set the pace, almost as if he’d known she needed to be the one in absolute control. She’d been frantic to have him inside her. They’d never made it to his bedroom, but had made love in the middle of his living-room floor. Afterward, he’d taken her to his bed where he’d been gentle and so caring, her heart still ached just thinking about the tender way he’d loved her.
She looked up as he returned with a bed tray loaded with cartons of Chinese takeout. After settling the tray in the middle of the bed, he joined her and opened the boxes to let the steam escape.
She crossed her legs and tore off the wrapper on a pair of chopsticks. “I have a whole new respect for you,” she said.
He held up the takeout carton filled with steaming lo mien for her. “I was that good, huh?”
She laughed as she plucked a piece of chicken from the container, then leaned over and planted a quick kiss on his lips. “Your skills in that department are exemplary,” she said. “What I meant was that in an official capacity, it’s real easy for me to say the rules must be followed no matter what. I’ve been taught that if the scene isn’t safe, you can’t help someone because the danger would place more lives at risk. But reality is way different, and I lost it out there. I wasn’t prepared for that kind of emotional intensity. How do you do it day after day?”
He settled his hand over her knee. “It’s not easy, but that’s where experience makes a difference.” Using a fork rather than chopsticks, he dug into the carton for lo-mien noodles. “It’s not exactly something you learn from a book, is it?”
She praised the invention of the microwave oven as she bit into the warm, moist chicken—they’d had to re-heat it since they’d started with dessert. Twice.
“No,” she admitted. With monumental effort, she had kept her word that afternoon and had remained in the ambulance as she’d promised Ben. Although, she had climbed over to the driver’s seat for a better view. “It isn’t.”
Once the power company personnel had finally arrived to handle the power lines and declared the scene safe, the men under Ben’s command had worked swiftly and efficiently as a team. They’d freed the driver so Cale and his partner could assess her injuries, then stabilize and transport the woman to the emergency room. The baby had seemed fine, but Cale had told Jana before they’d left the scene that, in addition to the head injury, the driver had suffered a broken ankle and wrist. Ben had spoken to Cale later before leaving the firehouse, and had learned there weren’t any other complications.
“I watched you with the men,” she said. “You really do look out for their safety while they do their jobs.” She couldn’t help but admire him. He guided his men based on instinct, not impulse, which added to the deep respect he already held in her eyes, not only as a firefighter, but as a man. He was kind, compassionate and when she’d been busy this past week conducting interviews, inspecting ropes and drainage systems, and generally giving him a hard time, he’d sneaked right into her heart. “Do you realize you’re a natural?” she asked him.
A natural heartbreaker? she wondered. She hoped not, but she knew that once their fling ran its course, someone would end up with a broken heart. And it probably wouldn’t be him.
His lips quirked slightly. “Runs in the family, I guess. My folks were with the department.”
She snagged the carton of fried rice from the metal tray resting near her hip. “They must be really proud of you and your brothers.”
“I’d like to think they would’ve been,” he said absently, concentrating on the carton of lo mien.
He lay down casually on his side, propping himself up with his elbow, the dark blue sheet draped over him to his waist. Despite his laid-back appearance, she sensed a forced note of dispassion in his voice.
Her curiosity got the better of her. “Would’ve been?” she prompted.
“My mom died when I was ten.” His shoulders visibly tensed. “My old man went about two years later.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. Her parents drove her nuts, but they were around. Sort of.
“It was a long time ago,” he said, still not looking at her.
Chopsticks and rice were a messy combination, especially in bed, so she exchanged fried rice for shrimp and snow peas. “It had to be hard on you.” She kept her tone casual while rooting through the snow peas for shrimp. “On all of you,” she added and stole a peek at him.
“Subtlety is not one of your stronger points, babe.” The hint of a smirk tilted his lips. “If you want to know what happened, just ask me.”
Bingo! Shrimp at last. “Tell me about your parents,” she said, then popped a fat piece of seafood into her mouth.
He leaned over and poked his fork inside the container in her hands. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
She giggled and rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, and you’re such a master of subtlety.”
“For that, you have to go first.”
“Ha! I asked first.”
“So,” he said, then took a bite of the food he’d piled onto his fork.
At the rate he was stalling, she’d end up missing her flight in the morning before she learned anything about his past. She was booked on the 5:00 a.m. commuter flight to San Jose where she’d pick up a rental car and drive to Carmel for the training session Gwen had asked her to attend. Originally, Jana had planned to return to L.A. immediately, but after the tension of this afternoon, she’d changed her mind and decided to take advantage of the peace and tranquility of the white-sand beaches of Carmel.
“My parents divorced when I was in high school,” she told him. “My dad’s work takes him out of town for long periods of time and he was never around much, so it’s not as if it was some huge, traumatic event in my life. Actually, it was more of a relief when they finally did divorce.”
Curiosity filled his gaze. “Why a relief?”
“They fought constantly.”
“Because of his job?”
Jana plucked more shrimp from the carton and considered her answer. “Not exactly,” she said, then let out a long, slow breath. “Usually they fought because my mom heard about one of his affairs. The concept of discretion is lost on my father. Okay. Your turn.”
“Uh-uh.” He reached over and snatched the container from her hand. “And no more shrimp until you tell me more.”
She shoved the sleeves of the shirt up her arms, and gave him a glare filled with mock indignation. “Now you have definitely gone too far. Didn’t anyone ever tell you never to separate a woman from her shrimp?”
He passed the carton in front of her nose. “Hmm, smells good, does it?”
The sleeves snaked back down her arms and she blew out a stream of breath. “My dad’s a film director, documentaries, mostly. His work meant more to him than his family and it caused problems.”
One of his
eyebrows winged up at the bitterness in her voice. She couldn’t help it—she had baggage. And she’d not only dragged it out for his inspection, she’d even managed to trip over it and land flat on her face. “Now can I have my shrimp, please?”
He smiled. “One more question.”
She shook her head and held out her hand. “It’s your turn. Shrimp please.”
Ben reluctantly handed Jana the carton of food. He didn’t exactly dread the questions he knew were coming, but he very rarely discussed childhood. He hardly ever spoke of the past with his own brothers, and never once had he shared the ugliness of it all with a woman. His aunt had paid for the best child psychologists money could buy for him and his brothers after their dad had passed away. As far as he was concerned, he’d dealt with it once. There was no worthwhile reason he could see in rehashing the past.
“My mom was a firefighter,” he said, as if they were discussing nothing more dramatic than the change in the weather. “She lost her life on the job. My dad couldn’t take it, fell apart and died a couple of years later from a massive coronary.”
Jana tilted her head and regarded him quizzically. “That was a very cool response for someone who lost his parents at such a young age.”
He set his fork on the tray and shrugged. “Bad things happen to good people, Jana. When they do, you have two choices. Deal with it and move on, or let it eat at you like my dad did until there’s nothing left. I’m not my dad.”
A frown creased her forehead as she started clearing away the cartons. “You’ve moved on?” she questioned. “Or just avoided the subject by ignoring it?”
He took the tray from her and set it on the floor. “Moved on,” he stated firmly. His brothers had needed him to be strong so he hadn’t been able to lose it.
He settled back on the bed beside her and pulled her close. Because he needed the comfort of her touch? “I’m not saying it was a picnic,” he admitted. “There was a lot going on between my folks before my mom died that Cale and Drew never knew about. My dad could be a real bastard, and he resented my mom because she’d joined the department. The county had tried to make her work EMS, but she’d trained to become a firefighter. She fought them and won, but it made things at home worse.”
