by Susan Stoker
“Tiger. Be serious. Was it one of the SEALs who rescued you? Or those mysterious Army guys you won’t talk about but we all know you see when you go up to Fort Hood for debriefings and your counseling sessions?”
She burst out laughing. “First of all, those SEALs are all happily married. They’d sooner cut off their dicks than even look at me in that way. And secondly, those Army guys are way too alpha for me. Nope, I like a nice malleable guy. Someone I can bend to my will.”
Her words said one thing, but the look in her eyes said something else entirely. Crash opened his mouth to say something, but she hurried on, cutting him off.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter. All I’m saying is that if you like this chick, you should go for it. I know you project a manwhore attitude to everyone around here, but you haven’t been out on a real date in forever.” Her voice got serious once more. “Any woman would be lucky as shit to have you in her life. Don’t discount whatever you’re feeling about this chick because you just met her. You’re not proposing, or asking her to move in…at least you’d better not be, that would be creepy.” She smiled to let him know she was teasing, then got serious again.
“Be honest with her. Let her know that you enjoy spending time with her. Get to know her with no pressure. There are way too many assholes out there and it’s hard to find a good man. Trust me, I know this, especially after being dubbed the country’s ‘Army Princess.’ You are a good man, Crash. A very good man. There’s nothing I want more than for all of you guys here at the station to find your own good women.”
“Thanks, Tiger.”
“You’re welcome. Now, what are your plans for your date?”
Crash smiled. “I’m not telling you.”
“What? Why not?” Penelope protested, sitting up straight in shock.
“Because.”
“What are you, twelve? That’s not an answer.”
Crash shrugged
“You suck. Well, I hope it’s appropriate for a first date. I mean, most men screw it up. I wouldn’t be surprised if you went overboard. You’re gonna scare her away if you don’t do it right. I’m just trying to help you and—”
Loud tones alerting them to an incoming call pealed through the room, cutting off whatever it was Penelope was going to say. Both Penelope and Crash were on their feet before the voice of the dispatcher came through the speakers telling them they were being called to a multiple-car crash on the Interstate.
Looking over at Crash as they headed to their lockers to put on their bunker gear, Penelope said, “Just tell me one thing, you’re not taking her to a country and western bar…are you?”
“All Texan women like a man in boots and a cowboy hat, don’t they?”
“Oh Lord. I tried. Don’t come cryin’ to me when she doesn’t want to see you again, Crash.”
He merely ducked his head and concentrated on getting dressed and to the fire truck. It was fun to mess with Penelope’s head. Even Crash knew better than to take a woman to a bar on their first date. Not only was it usually too loud to really talk, there were way too many other men who might think it was okay to hit on her in a bar setting.
No, he wanted Adeline all to himself.
Later that night, Crash lay on his bunk at the firehouse, his arm behind his head. He was tired, they’d been going nonstop all day, and this was the first break they’d gotten. Besides the horrific accident on the Interstate, they’d investigated two fire alarms—which luckily had turned out to be nothing—three medical calls, one car fire, and a small grass fire.
This was the first time he’d had to himself all day. His thoughts turned to Adeline.
Crash hadn’t yet come close to finding anyone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. His parents were happily married, and he wanted what they had. He needed to find a woman who was independent enough to be able to deal with his shift schedule at the station—which meant spending nights alone when he was on duty—but who still needed and wanted him around.
He wanted to be her best friend, and for her to be his. Wanted to see her eyes light up when he came through the door, wanted to be able to talk to her about the highs and lows of his day and have her comfort him when he lost patients. He wanted to be there for her when she needed to bitch about her job or to pick her up when she had too much to drink on girls’ night out.
Along with all that, Dean wanted passion. He’d lusted over women before, and had some good times in bed, but he’d never felt the need to be with someone. The bone-deep desire to please her, to fuck her brains out, then to make love to her tenderly for hours. It was what had been missing in all of his relationships in the past.
He had no idea if Adeline Reynolds was that person, but for the first time in his life he couldn’t stop thinking about a woman. When he’d been holding the head of a lady in her late twenties in a car that afternoon, keeping her vertebrae aligned just in case, he had the horrifying thought that what if it had been Adeline? When he’d been holding the hose and throwing water on the grass fire, his thoughts had turned to Adeline and he’d wondered what she was doing right that moment. When they’d gone to one of the false alarms and he’d heard a dog barking inside the house next door, he thought about Coco and wondered how he and Adeline had gotten together.
It should’ve annoyed him how she kept creeping into his thoughts, but it didn’t. It made him more anxious to see her. To talk to her. To get to know her better.
Scooting up on the bed, Crash leaned back against the headboard and grabbed his phone. He’d held off texting her all day, but couldn’t wait anymore. He wanted to know how the meeting with her asshole boss went. Wanted to know if she’d had any more seizures. Hell, he just wanted to talk to her…even if the talking was through text.
Dean: How was your day, beautiful?
Crash had never been the kind of man to use endearments with the women he dated. But when he thought about Adeline, the word beautiful just seemed to pop into his brain. Every time.
It took a while—well, five minutes was a while for him right now since he wanted to talk, but finally she responded.
Adeline: Crappy. Yours?
Dean: I’m sorry. I’m guessing the meeting didn’t go well?
Adeline: You’d guess right.
Dean: Want to talk about it?
It took a couple of minutes, but she finally texted back.
Adeline: It’s too unbelievable and convoluted to type out.
Dean: Want me to call?
When she didn’t respond right away, Crash thought about it and hurried to text.
Dean: Only if you want to. I’m not trying to be a stalker or anything.
Dean: Seriously.
Dean: Okay, beautiful, I’m not going to push. I’ll text later this week with details on our date. I’m sorry you had a bad day.
Crash sighed and put his head back. Damn. He hadn’t meant to rush her, or make her feel uncomfortable. But even just by reading her words he could tell she was upset, and he’d only wanted to make her feel better.
His phone dinged with a text.
Adeline: If you’re not busy, I wouldn’t mind talking.
Without thought, Crash touched the little phone icon next to her name and brought the cell up to his ear.
“Hey, Dean.”
Dean. Yeah, he liked his name on her lips.
“Hi, beautiful. I’m sorry you’ve had a crap day. If you really don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine. I wouldn’t ever want you to do anything you weren’t comfortable with.
“Thanks. I…I just usually talk to my sister about my boss from hell, and it threw me for a bit when you offered to talk. I don’t—” Adeline abruptly stopped talking.
“You don’t what?”
“I don’t want you to think I’m a downer. Or that I’m always bitching about my job. I usually don’t. But it’s been a trying month or so.”
“I appreciate that. We don’t know each other very well, but even after only being with you for a short lunch, I got
that you aren’t one to complain about things.”
“You did?” she asked in surprise.
“Yeah, beautiful. I did. Now…tell me about the meeting this morning. You said you had to go in early?”
She sighed hugely and Crash could picture her expression pulled down in a frown. It made him want to do anything he could to wipe it off her face.
“Yup. We all had to be in at seven-thirty for a meeting. My boss screwed up an account…again…and needed us to bail him out. You know James Wolfe?”
“The car dealer guy?”
“That’s him. Well, our company does his marketing, and it hasn’t been going well since Douglas took over the account.”
“Ouch. I have to say, I don’t watch a lot of television except at the station, but the last few commercials I’ve seen have looked pretty amateurish. What’s with the fake shots of the wolves howling while a car drives by?”
“Right. That’s why we had the meeting this morning. Our old boss had been given marketing carte blanche by Mr. Wolfe, so those ads that have been running weren’t reviewed and approved by him and he’s not happy.”
Crash chuckled. “Gotcha.”
“Anyway, I was kinda looking forward to the meeting this morning. I mean, I work with some awesomely creative people, and I knew we’d be able to put together a kick-ass campaign for Mr. Wolfe. The meeting started out good. Really good. We talked about new commercials, radio spots, teaming up with the zoo to get some good cross-promo and stuff. Douglas sat quiet the whole time, taking lots of notes, of course. Then he spent the last thirty minutes telling us how everything we’d discussed wouldn’t work, and how we were stupid to think it would, and if he was smart he’d fire us all right then and hire an all new staff who knew what they were talking about.”
“What an ass,” Crash swore. “Seriously, has the guy taken any leadership or management classes?”
“It gets worse,” Adeline told him.
“Fuck. Worse?”
“One of his interns, who he treats like shit, later told us that he spent the rest of the morning on the phone with Mr. Wolfe pitching all of our ideas to him. Ideas that he’d told us were crap only an hour before.”
“Wow.”
“Right?”
“Who does that?”
“Douglas Hill the Third,” Adeline said dryly.
“Can’t anyone talk to his boss?”
“It’s complicated. He was hired by the Vice President. And that guy is almost untouchable because he’s like, San Antonio royalty or something. Basically we could bitch to him about Douglas, but he wouldn’t do anything about it. As long as our division is making money, no one cares how it’s being done.”
“And no one has confronted Douglas about it?”
“Someone did.”
“And?”
“He was fired.”
“Jesus,” Crash breathed. “Please tell me you’ve sent out resumes. I can’t imagine working in a toxic place like that.”
“Sent three this afternoon.”
“Thank God. I’m really sorry, beautiful. It sounds like you need a glass of wine, a massage, and a day off.”
She laughed. “One out of three isn’t too bad.”
Crash bit his lip to hold back the words he wanted to say. That he’d come over and give her that massage. Too much too soon.
“So, how was your day?” she asked, clearly trying to change the topic.
“Busy, as usual.” Crash went on to tell her about the many calls they’d had.
“Is it weird not knowing the outcome of the people you help?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, that accident. You held that woman’s head, but you don’t know if she’s okay or not.”
“Ah. Sometimes, but honestly, I don’t think about it too much. Ultimately, I do the best I can in each situation. We might learn about what happens to people after they leave the scene, but it’s to further analyze the job we did. For instance, if we learn that the woman is paralyzed, I would want to try to figure out if it’s because of something we did at the scene. But generally, we try not to second guess ourselves or our actions. We make a ton of split-second decisions and we screw up, just like everyone does. It sucks, but it happens. It’s why we do so much training, so we don’t have to think so much when we get to a scene, we just act.”
“Thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for, beautiful?”
“For doing what you do. I know you get paid for it, it’s a job, but not everyone could do it. I know I couldn’t, and I’ve met enough first responders in my life to know that you’re really good at what you do.”
Crash chuckled. “You’re welcome. Although I have to admit, I didn’t really do anything for you.”
“Sure you did.”
“No, I really didn’t.”
“You got me to a safe place where I didn’t have to worry about being robbed or hurt while I was seizing. I didn’t have to worry about Coco and if someone would steal him. Nobody was pointing at me and laughing, or worse, filming me with their damn cell phone cameras. You let me process when I came to, and didn’t rush or push me to talk. So yeah, Dean Christopherson, you did a lot. And I appreciate it.”
“Damn. Now I want to beat the shit out of anyone who even looks at you sideways. This might not bode well for our relationship.”
He closed his eyes and smiled at her small laugh. He could picture her smile in his head almost as clearly as if she was standing in front of him.
“Down, boy.”
“Can’t help it. I’m a protective kind of man, beautiful, and if I ever see one person with their cell phone pointed at you while you’re having a seizure, I can promise you they’ll never do it again.”
“Dean…”
He tried to tone down the intensity in his voice. “You good otherwise after your shitty day? No seizures today?”
Adeline let out a large breath. “No. I’ve felt a bit off all afternoon, but no seizures.”
“Does stress bring them on?”
“Sometimes. I’ve noticed that alcohol can do it too. I’ve pretty much cut it out of my life except for the occasional glass of wine. I really miss being able to have a couple margaritas with my sister when we go out though.”
“Maybe getting a new job will help.”
“I’m hoping so, but not counting on it.”
“Have you decided to have the surgery then?”
“I just don’t know. It scares the crap out of me and I’m not ready yet.”
“Then wait until you are ready.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Why not?”
“Well, because.”
Crash laughed. “Now you sound like me. I was asked something today and that was the answer I gave. Adeline, give yourself a break. You know your body. Having the surgery isn’t an easy decision. I don’t think I’d be able to do it for all the reasons you mentioned yesterday. It’s simple for a doctor to tell you it’s what you should do, but it’s not his brain, or his life, that’ll be affected. Besides, even if you do go under the knife, there’s a chance the seizures won’t completely go away, right?”
“Right.”
“So there you go. You’ve got time to fully weigh the pros and cons. Cut yourself some slack.”
“You’re pretty smart, you know that?”
“Of course.”
They both laughed.
“Seriously, thanks for calling. I needed this.”
“Anytime. I mean that. I like talking to you, Adeline. You make me feel that there’s more to my life than jumping at the sounds of the tones and doing errands on my days off.”
“What do you do on your days off?”
“The same things you probably do on the weekends,” he told her easily. “Grocery shopping, clean the house, sit on my butt and watch football.”
“I don’t like football.”
“Be still my heart,” Crash teased. “Not like football?”
; “Okay, I do like watching the guys’ butts in their uniforms. That better?”
“We won’t watch football,” he declared immediately.
Adeline giggled. “Why ‘Crash’?”
“What?”
“Why is your nickname Crash? Or is that a secret?”
“Nope. No secret. On my very first day on the job, we got nothing but call after call for car crashes. The others dubbed me that. It stuck.”
“I thought it might be because of your driving habits.”
“No way. I’m the safest driver out of everyone. I promise you’ll be safe with me.”
“I wasn’t—”
“I know you weren’t,” Crash interrupted, “but I felt it needed to be said anyway. You should know when you’re out with me, you’ll be safe. If Coco alerts, I’ll get you someplace clean and protected to have a seizure. If you’re in a car with me, I’ll never speed or be unsafe. If we’re walking somewhere, you and Coco will be away from the street. I take your safety seriously, beautiful. No matter where we are or what we’re doing.”
“Okay,” Adeline said in a whisper.
Crash took a deep breath. “On that note, I should probably let you go. I wasn’t aiming to freak you out, and you sound like I did anyway.”
“It’s not that, it’s just…I generally never feel safe. Anywhere.”
“You are when you’re with me. I know it’s not something I can just say and you’ll automatically feel it. I hope that you’ll come to know it as a fact over time. I’m sorry you had a bad day. I was serious earlier when I said you could always talk to me about it. Anytime you need to talk, just call. If I don’t answer, leave a message and I’ll call when I can. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Have a good night, beautiful. I’ll text tomorrow and let you know where to meet me Friday night.”
“Sounds good.”
“Good night.”
“Good night, Dean.”
Crash clicked off the phone and groaned. He hadn’t meant to say all that shit about her being safe with him, it’d just popped out. He couldn’t be sorry it had, though. No woman should feel uncertain or unsafe when she was with a man. It didn’t matter if they’d just started dating or had been together for years. The world was a harsh place, even more so for people who didn’t fit societal norms.
