by Jane Jamison
Paul was getting at something, but she wasn’t sure what that was. “I never saw her before today.”
“Then take her back to the rental home and wait for us to call you. We’re about to get off our shift. Once we are, we’ll come over and take it from there.”
She hadn’t counted on getting more involved. She had, in fact, hoped that they’d take over and leave her to enjoy the rest of her time away. Yet she could hardly leave Melissa in the lurch now. “Fine. If you think that’s best. It’s 2502 Hardwood Lane. Do you know where that is?”
“No problem.” Paul whirled on his heel and ate up the distance back to the firehouse.
“Is he always so pleasant?”
Wade chuckled. “Actually, you caught him on a good day.”
“Wow. That’s a scary thought.”
Troy took her hand, and much like had happened with Paul, she felt a rush of emotions. Or was it lust? Either way, she liked it a lot. She wanted to take Wade’s hand and see if she got the same kind of sensation from him, too.
“Don’t let him bother you. Paul’s the best of the best.”
She glanced down at her hand. It was a few moments before she could make herself tug her hand from his. Even then, she didn’t really want to. “I’ll take your word for that. Then I’ll see you later?”
Her answer was a grin from Wade and a quick nod from Troy.
“Great. Guess I’ll let you guys get back to work.” She didn’t want to leave. Hell, she never wanted to leave their sides. But to linger would’ve added embarrassment to her already high number of embarrassing moments. Instead, she lifted a hand in a small, awkward wave, pivoted on her heel and walked as gracefully as she could back to her car.
* * * *
“Should we tell the others?” Troy plopped down on the oversized, overstuffed couch that was in the dayroom of the fire station. Most of the other men were busy either in the kitchen or catching a nap in the dorm room. Even if his shift wasn’t over in another hour, he wouldn’t have been able to take his mind off Daisy Winters.
Paul tossed a dart at the board, and as always, managed to hit one of the inner circles. He glanced around, confirming what Troy already knew, that they were alone and free to talk. Wade watched the television hanging on the opposite wall, acting as though he was oblivious to their conversation. But Troy knew better. Wade was a jokester and outgoing, but when the talk grew serious, he did more listening than talking.
Although there were other firemen who were part of the Firemen for Hire organization, not everyone at the station had been recruited yet. Their boss, Captain Burt Wheeler, nicknamed Cap, was one of the others. The group was still fairly new, an offshoot of the Cowboys for Hire organization. Paul had never talked about it, but Troy and Wade had heard rumors that Paul’s older sister had found help from “a bunch of cowboys.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out who those cowboys were. Not long after that rumor had circulated, Paul had met with Gabriel and had hashed out the details to forming teams of firemen. The others that Troy had asked about were the other three teams that had formed so far.
“No. Let’s keep this under wraps for now. Consider it on a need-to-know basis.”
Paul wouldn’t admit it, but next to Captain Wheeler, he was considered the primary leader of all the Firemen for Hire teams. He was the perfect operations leader, even if he didn’t like the responsibility. The rest of it he left for Cap to handle.
“Then what’s the plan, Stan?”
Troy didn’t have to look at Paul to know that he’d frowned at Wade’s joke. His brother liked to say corny things. Troy was used to it and no longer minded.
“The plan is to do whatever we need to do to keep the girl safe.”
“We never got her name,” added Troy. They’d been so entranced by Daisy that they’d forgotten to ask more about their new client.
Client wasn’t the right word. No woman had ever paid for either the cowboys’ or the firemen’s services and no woman ever would. By Troy’s thoughts, their team was still proving themselves. They’d only gone out on one mission before and they’d worked with one of the Cowboys for Hire teams at that. It’d be good to handle a mission on their own.
They didn’t speak for a while and Troy figured that they were all thinking the same thing. Or rather about the same woman. So far, no one had mentioned Daisy, but it was high time someone did.
“So what’d you think about Daisy?”
Paul hesitated with his arm back and ready to throw another dart. He shrugged, but to Troy’s way of thinking the gesture seemed forced.
“She’s fine, I guess. Nice enough, especially since she’s ready to help someone out.”
“Yeah, she’s a good person. She was back in school and I’m guessing she hasn’t changed.”
Wade snorted. “Yeah, right. Let’s talk about how nice she is because neither one of you noticed what a smokin’ little body she has. Or how good she looked in that T-shirt. Hell, she was great looking in high school, but she’s even better now. I always did have a thing for her.”
For Wade to say so much all at one time showed how excited he was to see Daisy. Troy felt the same way. They’d talked about her often through the years, had even kept tabs on her through friends, but for whatever stupid reason, they’d never sought her out. Now that he’d seen her, he could’ve kicked his butt for not doing exactly that.
“We both had a thing for her,” added Troy. Red hair, tight bod, and a sweet face that made him want to protect her with his last breath. And intelligent and kind. How many women had he met that had all that going for her? He couldn’t ask for anything more.
He and Wade hadn’t had much contact with Daisy while in high school. Not that they hadn’t tried. From the first day they’d seen her in their biology class, they’d had a crush on her. Hell, they’d even followed her around as much as they could. He doubted she’d noticed. She’d always had a lot of friends milling around her. Even after all these years, he could still hear her laughter ringing throughout the hallway.
Then there was the one time she’d come to their aid.
For some unknown reason, Burke Riog had chosen Troy and Wade to be his personal objects of humiliation. Burke’s size alone had made him intimidating enough, but it was the crazy glint in his eyes that had the two brothers afraid to cross him. If Burke told them to jump, they’d do it.
His gut twisted as he remembered that day.
The football player cornered them, their backs against the lockers. It wasn’t anything new. They’d practically started expecting to get shoved around at least once a day. But that time had been different. As Troy waited for a jab in the ribs or a drink in his face, his gaze found Daisy standing on the edge of the crowd that always formed whenever Burke was ready to inflict harm on some poor sucker. To have the objection of their affection witness their lack of courage took the ordeal to an even greater horrific level.
Her big eyes were full of pity and anger. As he watched, she dropped her books to the floor then lifted the baseball bat she held in front of her. He wished she’d gone straight out to practice with her team instead of coming down that hall. But it was too late for wishes to come true.
When Burke grabbed him by the throat, then knocked his books out of his hands, Troy could’ve slunk away and hidden in a hole for the rest of his life. He couldn’t imagine facing her again.
But then things got even worse.
Not only had neither Wade nor Troy done anything to stop Burke, but it was Daisy that came to their rescue. He’d just sucked in another hard-won breath when Daisy tapped the bully on the shoulder.
“Back off, you jerk wad.”
Troy died inside. No. Go away, Daisy.
It was bad enough that she had to see it, but to come to their rescue? His groan had nothing to do with Burke’s tight hold on him.
Burke craned his thick neck toward her. “What the fuck do you want?”
Anger at the way he’d spoken to her burst to life in Troy. He took hol
d of the muscled arm and tried to wrench Burke’s hand off. He didn’t succeed in doing anything more than making Burke squeeze his neck even harder.
“I told you to back off.” Daisy narrowed her eyes. “Or don’t you understand me? Are you still riding the short bus, Booger?”
Booger was the name kids called Burke, but only when he couldn’t hear them. He’d gotten the nickname after getting caught eating boogers while benched at a home game. That had been freshman year and the name had stuck. But no one, not even bigger football players, dared to call him Booger to his face.
Wade let out a curse and tried to get away, but Burke had hold of his neck, too. They were caught as surely as two pitiful rats in a trap.
“What’d you call me?” Burke’s face was getting redder by the minute.
“You heard me. Booger. That’s your nickname, right? Because you liked to eat your boogers? My little cousin used to do that. But then he turned five and grew out of it. Have you grown out of it yet, Booger?”
Troy hadn’t realized that he’d been standing on the tips of his sneakers until Burke abruptly let them go and whirled on Daisy. He hit the ground and his legs buckled as he tried to call out to her. “Daisy. Run.”
But his voice wouldn’t cooperate and the words came out in a harsh blast of air.
He needn’t have worried. She was more than ready for Burke.
As soon as he’d finished turning toward her, she brought the baseball bat up and zeroed it in on her target right between Burke’s legs.
Burke went down hard. Like an avalanche, his body seemed to crumple in on itself, starting at the head and rolling downward. He hit the floor in front of Daisy and moaned as he cupped his crotch and curled into the fetal position.
Troy would’ve laughed like the rest of the kids if he hadn’t been trying so hard to catch his breath. Wade, however, managed to say what he was thinking.
“Wow. That was great.”
By then, however, Daisy was already moving down the hallway, surrounded by a large group of kids telling her how brave she was.
“Troy? Hey, Troy.”
Troy jerked his mind back to the here and now. Paul was giving him a strange look and Wade was frowning at him. “What?”
“I asked you if you’ve got the hots for her.”
Wade downed the rest of his drink and set the glass on top of the coffee table. “Of course he does. He’d have to have rocks instead of balls not to.”
Paul arched an eyebrow. “She’s a client.”
“No, she’s not. The other girl is.” He didn’t know why Paul’s statement irritated him so much, but having her as a client wouldn’t do. They’d set ground rules about getting involved with clients. No way. No how.
“She brought her to us and she’s part of this.” Paul looked to Wade for support, but Wade kept his head down. “That makes her a client, too.”
He couldn’t argue with Paul. He was right and he knew it. But that didn’t mean he liked it any better. “Fine. She’s a client.”
“But once this is over…” Wade shot him a look that told him his brother was thinking the same thing he was. Wade was a few years older than he was, but they had a bond that often made it seem like they were twins. At times, they even finished each other’s sentences.
“Then we can make our move.” He grinned. They’d missed their chances with her in high school, but a lot of things had changed since then. Including the fact that they weren’t nerdy wimps any longer. This time, they’d come to her aid.
“I don’t like this one bit.”
Troy laughed and pushed off the couch. “You don’t have to, Paul.” He slapped his friend on the back. “Now, how about we go take care of business?”
* * * *
“But I don’t need anything.”
Daisy held back her first thought of “are you kidding me?” and took a more tactful route. “Since when do girls have to have a reason to shop? It’ll be fun.” She hooked her arm in Melissa’s and practically dragged her into the cute little maternity shop.
When Melissa came up short, slamming to a stop, she almost had Daisy falling backward. Melissa’s eyes were wide, but she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
“Melissa, are you all right?” She glanced down at the girl’s barely-showing stomach.
Uh-uh, girl. Don’t you go having any trouble. I am so not ready to play midwife.
It wasn’t like she was going to give birth at any moment, but who knew what else could go wrong? Daisy didn’t know much about what happened between the sex and the moment the baby came out. She hadn’t had any sisters and hadn’t been close to many pregnant women. Never having been in a serious relationship, she hadn’t thought much about being pregnant or having kids.
“It’s all so”—Melissa drew in a ragged breath—“pretty.”
Daisy let out a sigh of relief. “Damn, girl, you had me worried. I thought you were going to—” She shook her head, deciding it was better not to mention anything that might go wrong.
Instead, she pulled her farther inside the boutique and toward the first rack of clothes. “Come on. Let’s burn up one of my credit cards.”
Melissa had started moving again, but paused once more at the mention of the cards. “Oh, no. I couldn’t let you pay for anything. It’s not right and Charlie wouldn’t like it.”
If she’d had any doubts before about whether or not to buy the poor girl a few clothes, they were gone with the mention of Charlie’s name. “Please forgive my language, but screw Charlie. I’m treating you and that’s that.”
Melissa let herself get dragged toward a rack of maternity shirts. They were colorful and made well, unlike the gray baggy shirt she had on. She fingered the material and Daisy thought she might just salivate. She picked out a couple of the shirts and held them up. “So? Which one do you like better?”
“I don’t know. They’re just so wonderful.” Melissa shook her head and held up her hands as though to ward the clothes off. “I don’t think I can—”
“Choose? I agree. You need both of them.” She took the girl’s arm and waved a salesgirl over. “Could you please show her to a dressing room? Oh, and if you have any other items you’d like to suggest, then feel free to bring them to her.”
“Daisy, this is too much.”
Daisy felt her throat close up at the sight of Melissa’s tears. If she didn’t stop, she’d have both of them bawling. “Shoot. This is nothing. Look, Melissa, I’m not going to pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to do. But I’d really like it if you’d do this for me. It’s not every day that I get to go shopping. Especially not for cute maternity clothes. So will you try some things on? For me?”
“I guess so.” She could tell Melissa tried to hold back, but the poor girl couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m positive. Now go on with”—she read the name tag of the employee—“Joely and try on everything. I’m going to pick out a few more things and you can do a fashion show for me. Does that sound good?”
A wide grin spread across the sweet young face. “It sounds great.”
“Good. I’ll be there in a bit.”
She kept the smile on her face until Melissa was out of sight. But the ache inside her that had come unexpectedly took that away. Holding up another shirt, she studied it and dared to let her thoughts wander.
Will I ever fall in love? Will I ever have kids?
Her life was wonderful and she shouldn’t ask any more of it, but she couldn’t help but want to find a man, maybe even more than one man, to love and cherish her. And if she did, she hoped that they’d have several children.
She pushed back the tears. “Knock it off, Daisy. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”
She turned to the next rack and grabbed three pairs of maternity pants. Although she tried to concentrate on the clothing, she had to wonder.
She’d always believed in herself, in hard work and that she had a hand in her fu
ture. So instead of waiting around for love to find her, why couldn’t she go out and get it?
More determined than ever, she flung the pants over her shoulder and marched toward the dressing room. “Here I come, Melissa. Consider me your personal stylist to the rescue.”
* * * *
An hour later and Daisy wondered if Melissa would ever stop talking. She sat across from her, once again back in the diner. Several bags of clothing sat next to them. Along with having purchased a variety of maternity clothes, Daisy had talked her into buying a few baby clothes and a stuffed giraffe that Daisy had fallen in love with. Her checking account balance would suffer, but it was well worth it. She’d had a lot of fun and she’d helped someone who needed it. She couldn’t think of a better way to spend her money.
“Anyway, my daddy always used to say that all a baby needed was one outfit to poop in and another to spit up on.” Melissa laughed, and for what had to be the tenth time, pulled out a sweet pink onesie with teddy bears scattered all over it. “I just love this one.” She dove into the sack again. “Oh, and this one.”
So far Daisy had heard about Melissa’s father, older brother, cousins and even the ancient hound dog that she’d had to leave behind when she’d moved from Kentucky to Oklahoma. In fact, the girl had talked about a myriad of subjects except for the one Daisy wanted to hear about.
She assumed that talking about Charlie was too painful.
She’d finally given up trying to get a word in edgewise when Melissa finally asked, “What about you, Miss Daisy? Are you married? Have a partner?”
As many times as she’d tried to get Melissa not to call her Miss, the girl simply wouldn’t stop. Partner? Not many people would’ve used that term instead of “boyfriend.” “Nope to both questions. I’m single and proud of it.”
She hoped Melissa wouldn’t notice how hard it was for her to smile.
“Oh. Well, that just seems crazy.”
Every so often Melissa would say something that made Daisy think she had more gumption than she was letting on. “Why’s that?”
