Fully Ignited (Boston Fire #3)

by Shannon Stacey

  But showing up in her office their first tour after sleeping together might make her change her mind about their relationship. If there was any time besides on a run she would be most conscious of the fact they worked together, it would be when they were on opposite sides of her desk.

  He continued down the other flight and checked the cage where they kept the air tanks, but it was locked. Then he heard a swishing sound and walked around the back of Engine 59 to see Aidan sweeping the floor with a wide push broom.

  “Busywork?”

  Aidan looked up and shrugged. “I just don’t feel like sitting around today.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. I can only do the same jigsaw puzzle so many times.” He went to the bench and grabbed a rag. Even though both trucks were clean, he went around theirs, rubbing the bits of chrome trim until they gleamed. The younger guys tended to do the bumpers and ignore the rest.

  “Jeff was telling me Ellen wants to set me up with a new friend of hers from work.”

  “You going?”

  He snorted. “No.”

  “I didn’t think so. Seems like you’ve got your eye on a woman already and you might hold the record for the number of girlfriends for the company, but I’ve gotta hand it to you—they were never at the same time.”

  “I’m not dating anybody,” he said, feeling as if he was walking a tightrope of semantics. Technically, he wasn’t lying to his best friend. He and Jamie hadn’t actually gone on a real date yet. “I’m on a break, remember?”

  Aidan hung the big broom on its hook and pulled down the smaller broom and dustpan to pick up the piles he’d made. “Here’s the thing. I’m not going to ask you any questions about a certain person that require an outright answer one way or the other because I don’t want to force you into a situation where you have to lie to me to protect somebody else. But don’t bullshit me.”

  Scott looked at Aidan for a minute, remembering how much anger and betrayal he’d felt when he found out his best friend had been seeing his sister without telling him. It had almost ended their friendship, but the bond between them was too strong. Even with that blowup only about six months behind them, Scott knew there was nobody in the world he could trust like he could this guy. But there was Jamie’s trust to consider, too, so he was going to have to accept the compromise Aidan offered.

  “Grant jumped at the chance to be set up with Ellen’s friend, of course,” he said, evading the issue of Jamie.

  Aidan snorted. “Has she forgiven him for the bacon debacle yet?”

  “Nope.”

  “Can’t say as I blame her. It was the bacon.”

  Scott did a final walk around the engine, eyeballing not only the chrome, but every inch of her. She was probably his first love and he never told anybody, but he was secretly relieved when their house was passed over for new trucks every year.

  “So Lydia and I set a date for the wedding so Ashley will stop bugging us about it. Fourteenth of May. It’s a Saturday.”

  “No shit.” Content now that there wasn’t a water spot to be found on E-59’s chrome, Scott tossed the cloth onto the workbench. “She’s really going to go through with it, huh?”

  “Have I told you lately how funny you are?” Aidan folded his arms and leaned against the engine. “No? I wonder why.”

  “That’s pretty quick. What, a little over a month away?”

  “Ashley’s the matron of honor, of course, and she wants a killer dress for the pictures, I guess. So we either do it now or we wait until after the baby’s born.”

  “And then, because she wants a killer dress, she’ll want to lose the baby weight.”

  Aidan winced. “Yeah, I mentioned that during the discussion with Lydia and you shouldn’t ever say that out loud again. It’s probably safest to not even think it.”

  “I love my sisters, but I also know them really well and yeah, if the dress is an issue, you’re going to want to get married sooner rather than later. Can you get a place that fast?”

  “I know the guy who owns Kincaid’s Pub.”

  “Seriously? You’re going to get married at our bar?” It was all well and good to not want to drop a crap load of cash on a fancy wedding, but his sister was basically going to get married at work? “Wait. Does that mean we can wear jeans and T-shirts?”

  “Nice try, but no. Suits for us. The aforementioned killer dresses for the bride and her matron of honor. The bar will be closed, obviously, and done up really nice.”

  “That doesn’t sound too bad, really.”

  Aidan nodded. “Think about it. There’s no place else in the world that means more to either of us. When we think about home and family, Lydia and I both think of the bar. All we want is a justice of the peace and a small party with our closest friends and family, so why not? And we’re going to delay the honeymoon until fall when it’s peak foliage, and then we’re going to get a cabin in northern New Hampshire and hide out for a week.”

  “That’s what you want?”

  “Yeah, it’s what we both want.”

  “Then I’m happy for you. And I’ll try hard not to schedule anything else that day.”

  Aidan snorted. “I’ll kick your ass if you do because I really want you to be my best man.”

  The punch of emotion in his gut surprised the hell out of Scott. It wasn’t as if it was a surprise. They’d been best friends for so long, who else would they ask but each other? Aidan had a brother, but they weren’t the best man kind of close. Over the years Scott and Aidan had even made passing references to future bachelor parties. Things like “when I get married, you better have smoking hot strippers at my bachelor party” or “you should probably leave that out of your speech when I get married.”

  But hearing it now, when they were adults and Aidan actually needed a best man, was different. Holy shit, Aidan Hunt was getting married.

  “So you gonna be around that day?” Aidan asked when Scott didn’t say anything.

  “Yeah, I’ll be around.” He reached out to shake his friend’s hand, and then pulled him in for a black-slapping hug. “I’m honored, and there’s nowhere else I’d be.”

  “Your first act as my best man can be informing Tommy we’ll need to use the pool table for the buffet.”

  “You rotten bastard.”

  * * *

  THERE WAS A knock on the office door and Jamie looked up from her paperwork, her pulse ticking like an overwound clock. “Come in.”

  When Cobb poked his head in, she felt a rush of disappointment. Yes, it would be inappropriate for Scott to come lock himself in her office with her. Yes, it would be disastrous for her plan to keep their personal relationship and their work relationship separate. But she still thought it might be him.

  “Hey, Chief.”

  “Where’s Gullotti?”

  “In his bunk. I guess his fiancée had some evening business meetings so they talked late. With the three-hour time difference between here and San Diego, it ended up being a little too late for him.”

  “That’s gotta be tough on a relationship. But I know her grandparents. The Broussards are good people, and I’m happy for the kids.”

  It amused her to hear Rick called a kid, since he was older than all of them except Chris and Cobb himself. When she’d looked through their files prior to reporting the first day, she’d seen that Rick had been promoted over Chris because the latter hated paperwork and bureaucracy. He preferred being left alone to do his job.

  “Do you want me to get Rick?” she asked.

  “No, you can fill him in. I just wanted to let you guys know Danny had another appointment today and his leg’s looking real good. He’s still on track for another five to seven weeks.”

  “That’s good news. I’ll let Rick know, definitely.”

  “Thanks.” Cobb started to leave
, but then paused. “It is good news. Danny’s a damn good firefighter and a great officer, but so are you. I’m bummed we only have you for a bit over a month left, and I wish E-59 could keep you both.”

  She recognized it as high praise from an old-school guy like Cobb, and gave him a warm smile. “Thanks, Chief. This is a great group of guys to work with.”

  “They’re inspecting the equipment right now. The lines and couplers mostly, just because they were starting to bicker like a bunch of kids with cabin fever. It’s a nice day so I told them to open the garage doors and find something to do.”

  “You sent them outside to play, sir?”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I guess I did. I would have told them to clean their rooms, but they already did that. I called them in as out of commission for an hour so they could check the line and another house can cover for us.”

  They definitely couldn’t respond to an alarm when the water hoses were spread out on the ground. “I could use some fresh air myself, actually. Maybe I’ll go down and join in.”

  Cobb was right, she realized as soon as she stepped into the engine bay. It was a gorgeous spring day and there was just enough of a breeze so it brought fresh air into the building. Her guys had lines laid out along the floor while the ladder company had their own equipment strewn all over their half of the garage.

  “Hey, Jamie,” Grant said when he spotted her.

  Through the corner of her eye, she saw Scott look up from the coupler he was checking for any defects, but she kept her gaze on the younger guy. “I heard you were all getting some fresh air, so I decided to break out of my office.”

  “You’re just in time to help recoil the lines,” Grant told her. “Aidan was telling us about his wedding. He and Lydia finally set a date.”

  “They did?” Ashley’s prodding had paid off, then. She looked at Aidan. “Congratulations. When’s the big day?”

  “May fourteenth.”

  “This May fourteenth?”

  “Yeah. Just a friends and family get-together at Kincaid’s Pub with a JP.”

  “That sounds perfect.”

  “Hey, Scotty, are you going to bring a date to the wedding?” Grant asked.

  Jamie didn’t even flinch. She kept her focus on the line she was reeling in, but through the corner of her eye, she could see Scott glance over at her before shaking his head.

  “No, I’m not.”

  “You know there won’t be any single bridesmaids, right? Aidan said just a best man and a maid of honor. Or matron of honor or whatever, because Ashley’s married.”

  “I’m going to watch my sister marry my best friend, not pick up women.”

  “Aw, that’s sweet,” Gavin chimed in. “But everybody knows women don’t like going home alone after a wedding.”

  It was tempting for Jamie to interrupt and give the guy a verbal slap upside the head, but she’d learned long ago to pick her battles wisely when it came to being the only woman listening to men talk. Gavin was actually a good guy, and talking about hitting on single bridesmaids was how men got ready for weddings, in her experience.

  “You should bring a date so you have somebody to dance with, though,” Grant said. “You’re the best man so you have to dance, but you can’t dance with Rick’s wife all night. I can hook you up if you want.”

  “Really, I’m all set,” Scott insisted.

  “Well, don’t ask me to dance when you get sick of standing against the wall watching everybody else have fun,” Grant said, and they all laughed.

  “Maybe Jamie will take pity on Scotty the wallflower and dance with him,” Gavin added.

  She was worried enough about spending an evening in front of all of his family and their friends without touching. She didn’t need the other guys setting them up for a dance. “I’m not really much for dancing.”

  She realized Aidan was looking at her, and he held her gaze for a second before turning back to the guys. “We’re not doing the whole plus-one thing. I think Lydia’s mailing the invitations this week, but basically we won’t have room. I mean wives can come. And a girlfriend if she’s like...serious. Somebody we know, like Jess. But we don’t have the space for random dates. And we want to be surrounded by people who are special to us, you know? Otherwise we’d do the big wedding thing.”

  For a few seconds, Jamie wondered if Aidan’s strange look had been because she hadn’t made the invitation list, but that couldn’t be it. Even though she’d be handing the reins back to Danny about the time of the wedding, she was part of the Engine 59 family and he wouldn’t leave her out. Plus Lydia seemed to like her, so she was fairly confident she’d be getting an invitation in the mail.

  She couldn’t help but wonder for a moment, though, how much it would suck to be at a party with Scott—a party with romance in the air and dancing—and pretend they were just coworkers.

  But that was weeks away. For all she knew, the sparks between them would burn out by then and that’s all that would be. Right now, the sparks were still sizzling, so she’d take each day as it came and enjoy the here and now.

  When she turned to look at Grant’s line, Scott caught her eye and gave her a look that made her shiver. Oh, yeah, she was definitely going to enjoy the hell out of the here and now.

  * * *

  AFTER AN ENTIRE day of doing nothing, it wasn’t an hour after Cobb reported them back in service that the alarm sounded. A car had barreled into a deli and there were multiple casualties.

  Scott sounded the horn in addition to the sirens as they pulled out onto the busy street. It was a shitty time of day to navigate the area, but he didn’t yield and people got out of his way.

  “They’ve got two employees unaccounted for,” Jamie said. “A forty-year-old man and a seventeen-year-old girl.”

  “I know that deli,” he said loud enough for everybody to hear. “It’s an old building, so structural integrity’s a concern.”

  He didn’t need to say more. They knew that even going inside would be a risk, and it was the kind of risk they couldn’t do a damn thing to mitigate. Fire was a fickle bitch and could turn on you in unexpected ways, but water, training and experience with its movements were weapons a good firefighter could use to knock the risk down. An unstable building could stand for years or it could collapse one minute after they went in. Short of waiting for engineers to go in, there was no way to know. But there were casualties and he knew they wouldn’t hesitate.

  They beat the EMS to the scene and hit the ground running. There were three injured people on the sidewalk, two of whom had been inside but got out after the accident. None looked critical. He watched Rick send Gavin to check them over while the rest of them went in.

  Jamie reached the driver of the car first and pulled her glove off before reaching through the smashed window. After a minute, she pulled her hand back and shoved it into the glove, shaking her head. “Elderly male, deceased.”

  A medical crisis behind the wheel, Scott thought as he lifted a broken table off of a crying woman. The driver probably had a heart attack or a stroke and his body stiffened, jamming the accelerator to the floor. It would explain why the car was so deep in the building.

  The woman wasn’t hurt badly, so he helped her to the opening as sirens announced the arrival of EMS. Sweeping the area, they found six more people and, miraculously, none of them were injured so badly they couldn’t walk out with some assistance.

  When Scott handed a badly shaken elderly woman over to the paramedics, he heard a man shouting at Rick. “They were in the back. Why didn’t they come out?”

  “We’ll find them, sir.”

  They met up in front of the car, and Rick looked angry. “They haven’t cut the power or the gas yet, and this building’s creaking like an old bed frame, but there are two still unaccounted for. There may be a blockage somewhere, or they might
have been knocked out if the impact knocked things off shelves. We don’t know.”

  “With the gas on, I’d feel better if we at least have a line charged and ready to go,” Aidan said.

  “We have backup coming, but I don’t want to wait,” Jamie said. “You stay with the apparatus, Aidan, and we’ll go in.”

  “We’ll go around the back and try to come in from the other direction,” Rick said. “Masks. We don’t know what’s going on with the gas piping, and if there’s been any structural damage, who knows what shit’s floating around in there.”

  Scott went in first, climbing over the smashed deli counter. He had the Halligan tool, essentially a huge crowbar with an adze head, so he could use it to pry or smash or prop things up, if necessary.

  They found the man first, lying on the floor of a storage room with a shelving unit on his leg. He was overweight and sweating profusely, which was cause for concern.

  “Do you have any injuries besides your leg, sir?” Jamie asked after looking him over. He shook his head. “Okay, we’re going to get this off you and get you out of here.”

  “Mandy,” he said in a hoarse voice. “She went to the bathroom, which is down the hall, and I heard her scream.”

  Scott and Grant looked over the metal shelving unit, as well as the boxes strewn around. To Scott, it looked as if the shelving had caught the victim’s leg just right, breaking it with the weight of the boxes and momentum, but it wasn’t heavy.

  Jamie had obviously come to the same conclusion. “Sir, this is going to hurt a little, but they’re going to lift the shelves and I’m going to slide your legs out to this side. If you can use your arms to move your butt at the same time, that would help.”

  “What if I can’t? I don’t feel very good.”

  “Then it’ll take longer and might hurt more, but I’ll move you because we’re not leaving you here.”

  “Okay.”