by Dani Jace
“You melt my heart, Dahlin’.” He leaned in and touched his lips to hers.
* * * *
As they left the station, twilight crept at the horizon.
Looking much more relaxed, Ray leaned back in his seat and turned the radio to Christmas carols. He just turned onto the driveway to the cottage when his cell went off to the tune of Mission Impossible and his shoulders went rigid under the black leather.
Jo attempted to lighten his mood. “Your call, should you decide to accept it.”
He cut the engine and plucked the phone from his pocket. “Merry Christmas, Mom.”
She turned her head, stifling laughter. Geez, she bet Bobby had Folsom Prison Blues as her ringtone.
“Great. Just about to have dessert…something a little tart, a little sweet.” His gaze rolled over to her.
Jo gasped, but the dark blue fire in his eyes confirmed the compliment.
“How’s yours? Actually, Jo and I are spending Christmas together. Sure, here she is.”
Jo accepted the phone. “Merry Christmas, Mona.”
“Ray’s so glad you’re back home, hon.”
“It’s good to be back.” Finally, with him, she wanted to say. “How’s your Christmas?”
She went on about her man and place in Philly for a minute or so. “Well, y’all be good to each other, okay?”
“Will do. Here’s Ray.” She handed the phone back.
Ray’s tone sounded more parent to child than the other way around. He’d grown up, but Mona hadn’t. Never would. The conversation stopped, breaking her psychological evaluation. “I like the ring tone.”
“It’s literal.” He exhaled as his head fell against the headrest.
Out of her seatbelt, she leaned over the console “So, do I have a ringtone?”
“You have a new one.” He ruffled her hair.
She remained touched by the way he stood up for her against Nate. All the nasty comments and accusations she’d endured in California. They were just as bad as her night in jail. “Okay let me have it.”
“Fire Woman, of course.” He grinned.
“By the Cult? Get out.” He knew the classics. They’d heard them enough around her dad.
He exited and rounded the truck then opened her door. “How about some more fire, woman?” He pulled her into his arms.
His lustful words shot warmth between her thighs.
“You’re going to be sore.”
“I’m counting on it.” He tugged her upstairs.
Inside, he turned on the tree lights and moved over to the bedding by the tree before unbuttoning his shirt. She followed suit.
When she was down to only the bustier and garter belt, he caught her hand. “Turn around.”
His breath felt hot against the back of her neck. She’d never trusted a lover enough to be taken from behind, but he would never hurt her. His only desire since they’d been together was to please.
“That’s good.” He unbuckled his belt. His jeans hit the floor. In a dark voice, he said, “Now, on your hands and knees.”
Whoa. Not a question. She shivered at his command. He closed a strong arm around her waist and followed her to the floor.
He plucked a strap that held her hose and let it smack playfully against her rump. “Ruff, Ruff.”
“Meow?” She trembled as he nestled against her.
“Here kitty, kitty. Get ready. This big dog’s going to make you purr.”
She hoped he had a defibrillator kit.
Chapter 26
Bobbing in the large February swells, Ray felt at home with Jo next to him. The brief warm spell had lured them into wetsuits to catch some waves. He admired her form in all black. Even in a hood, she remained beautiful. And his.
That part he still had trouble believing. Sometimes he woke in the middle of the night and pulled her close in reassurance. Since staying with her on his days off, he didn’t have the troubling nightmares from his time in Iraq. Instead, he dreamt Harley wooed her away from him with his bad boy ways or she left for California again. The latter would never happen, but the former….
“So have Bobby and Sarah set a date yet? It’s been two months?” He stared behind them as they waited for the next set.
“In a hurry? Do you know something I don’t?” She frowned. “She’s not pregnant, is she?”
“Huh?” He cut his gaze back to her. “Naw, I’m just being pissy.”
He couldn’t wait for her to graduate from the academy. He was tired living out of a backpack and paying rent for a house he hardly set foot in, but, she hadn’t asked him to move in.
“I know. I’m ready for some resolution, too. The sun’s shining and the waves are barreling. Let’s just seize the day.” She raised her hands skyward welcoming the warm rays.
“I’m going to seize you shortly, Dahlin’. After surfing, we’ll be doing some extreme warm up activities.” Her peered over at her.
“That’ll work. And then you can grill me on some fire science.”
“How about you work for treats?”
From behind them, a rogue five-footer charged for shore. Paddling like a fiend, he caught it in time. The back of his board lifted.
She kept pace making the same wave. Popping into a lunge, she found her footing, and streaked to his left. He cut to follow her. Surfing with her most of his life, he predicted her moves. Water sliced beneath his board in a crisp sound as he flew over the water in a weightless freedom. He never got over the mix of exhilaration and peace surfing provided. The ocean had a way of changing his mood even on the worst of days.
After a few more rides, he was starving. “How ‘bout I fix us breakfast and then I’ll warm you up?”
She licked her lips. “How ‘bout you warm me up first.”
In the outside shower, he helped her out of her wetsuit. The thought of taking her here had crossed his mind numerous times, but chill bumps on her shoulders kept him from turning on the water. “Let’s get upstairs.”
Still in her swimsuit, she wrapped a towel around her and then ran a finger down the center of his chest. Her golden eyes flashed. “First one there is on top.”
He let her win.
After stripping off his suit in the bathtub where hers already lay, he rounded the corner into her bedroom. She lay naked on the sheets. Her cheeks flushed under his gaze and her nipples puckered.
The vibration of his cell on the nightstand startled him and wilted his growing erection.
Jo glanced at the display and handed it to him.
“Hey mom.”
She rolled off the bed and dressed.
The tight yoga pants and clingy spaghetti top with no bra stirred him again.
She winked and left the room.
He half listened, replying in one word answers while donning the jeans hanging on the bedpost. By the time he made it the living room, Jo sat on the deck having coffee. He admired her through the sliding glass door. She seemed hypnotized by the rhythm of the waves. The light breeze ruffled her ringlets of coppery-blond. He imagined his fingers twined in the mass of curls.
“Okay, well let me know,” he said ending the call with his mother. Things were souring in Pennsylvania. He gave it a couple of months or less before he’d be helping her move back.
He wanted Jo now. He stepped outside, where she intently gnawed her thumbnail.
Hell.
She’d seemed fine when they were surfing. The urge to pick her up and carry her to bed as promised tensed his muscles. Sex would fix what currently bothered him, but it didn’t usually work that way for women. She kept a tough exterior, but he’d always been able read her signals when she was worried or down.
“What ’cha thinking so hard about?” He sank onto the chair beside her.
“Huh?” Her eyes rounded. “Sorry, I was just contemplating the next few months.”
“Firefighting? Bobby and Sarah?”
“All of the above.” She o
ffered him a partial smile. “Cali made me apprehensive. Things are going so smoothly now. I guess I’m waiting for that other shoe to drop.”
Her words stabbed his gut. “Are you talking about us, too?”
Her slim fingers grazed his bare chest. “I swear you gotta have some Mediterranean or Native American in you. You’re already turning brown.”
“Then where’d I get blue eyes?” Her physical distraction didn’t erase his concern.
“Maybe your dad?”
She’d never seen a picture of his dad, and he couldn’t even remember the color of his father’s eyes. He came home from school one day and found his mother crying hysterically. He never saw him again. They moved to OBX months later.
He stood and faced her with a frown. “I don’t really care what he had, Jo. He didn’t give a shit about Mom or me.”
She recoiled at his words as if they were cold ocean spray. Fine lines etched her forehead.
“We were talking about you.” He softened his tone. “What are you really concerned about? Us?”
“I don’t know.” She fussed with her hair.
They never mentioned their deserting parents and he wondered why she brought it up now. “You think I’ll disappear like he did, don’t you?” Cappy had probably thought the same.
“I know you love me, but what happens if you grow bored? You’re used to variety.”
The truth smacked him harder than a hand to his face. Since he loved her, and had never wanted a serious relationship, he was considered noncommittal. “Only because I couldn’t be with you. I’m living with you, now.” Sort of.
“Really, you have a toothbrush and some clothes here.” She twisted her mouth and studied the deck boards.
Anger stirred in his belly at being blamed. “I don’t recall being formally asked.”
“Didn’t think you wanted to,” she mumbled.
“I think you’re afraid to ask me.”
She paled. “You said you’d never even slept over with any woman until me.”
He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Shouldn’t that say something?” Lord, he loved falling asleep with her in his arms. And waking up with her snuggled against him.
She ran her fingers through her hair. “What’s the longest you dated someone besides me?”
His record before her was the doctor. The doc asked him to stay every time, but he’d refused. “A few weeks. I don’t know. Am I trying to pass a test here?” He wasn’t sure if he was more afraid of being like his father or being hurt like his mother.
“No test. Just wondering.” Her mouth tightened.
She accepted that he loved her, but she didn’t believe in him. “You don’t think I can commit.”
She flinched. “More like that you suffer quick burnout or don’t want to risk it.”
“Isn’t it the same thing, Jo?” He tossed the rest of his coffee over the railing into the sea oats below. His father had been a pussy hound and his mother continued to make the same bad choices. Jo figured him for somewhere in the middle.
* * * *
Life needed a rewind button. How in the hell had they had wound up in an argument? She rose from her chair. “Can we back up?”
He crossed his arms. Anger reflected off the hard planes of his face. Pain fueled his stormy eyes. “You don’t trust me.”
She did, but… “You’re putting words in my mouth.”
“If things are good, why put us under a microscope?”
“Whoa.” She stepped back. “You asked for my thoughts. You were the one analyzing us.” Her phone vibrated and a nine-one-one alert displayed. Every damned time.
“Fuck.” Ray stood motionless as she read the message. “You going?”
“You know I need to.”
“It’s always been you, Jo. I never stayed with anyone for long because my heart has always belonged to you.” He yanked her to him, hugged her and finished with a long, heady kiss that curled her toes. “Be careful.”
* * * *
Leaving his warm lips and the security of his arms left her vulnerable. He’d said after their first night together that they would never part in anger if one was leaving on a call or go on shift. Firefighter rules.
“I’ll just be here, hanging here, planning an addition for the kids’ rooms.” He winked. “When you get back, we can argue over how many.”
She held up her index finger.
“Four.” He followed with a twisted grin.
“Two.” She opened the door.
“Deal, as long as we can practice like we’re making more.”
“We’ll start when I get back.” She blew him a kiss.
Chapter 27
Adrenaline flooded Jo as she arrived at the smoking laundry mat in the middle of a strip mall. She’d left one heated scene for another. At the moment, she preferred literal fire over a pissed-off Hemanus.
Another crew from Ray’s station were already working the call. Hoses ran from a hydrant to the engine before snaking into the building. She rolled out of the Broncosaurus, donned her gear, shoved her feet into the yellow clunkers then charged for command central.
“Hey.” Tami punched Jo on the shoulder.
Tami’s hard-edged, no bullshit friendship suited Jo. They were alike. “What’s up, girl?”
“Same old, same old.”
They stood near the captain, waiting for instructions as a crowd of bystanders multiplied in the parking lot. “You vollys go knock on doors. Check to see if anyone’s left in the other units. If there’s smoke inside, don’t go in unless I give you the okay.”
She answered in unison with Tami, “Yes, Captain.”
While her friend trekked north, Jo headed to the south. She banged on the first door and then yanked it open. “Fire Department! Anyone in here?” She did a quick inspection and moved to the next. The smell of smoke increased every unit closer to the laundry. As she opened the next door a gray cloud billowed out. From her knees, she called out but didn’t enter.
Tami’s scream pierced the hum of the engines of the trucks and chatter on the radio.
Jo popped to her feet and charged along the sidewalk. The captain followed at her heels. All of the other firefighters were busy.
At the door, the captain dropped to a crawl and led the way. Smoke pumped through the adjoining wall. Tami knelt on the floor, her face frozen in horror. A few feet away, a lifeless man lay on the floor.
“Get the EMTs!” He ordered Tami.
She ran out while Jo followed him to the victim.
Stifling a gag, she covered her nose with her arm, unable to ignore the horrendous sight of what was left of his head. A gun lay a few inches away. Blood, brain, and scull decorated the wall in a grotesque mural. Her stomach lurched and she swallowed bile.
Better get used to it.
“It’s smoking pretty bad in here and you don’t have a mask, Mercer. Get some fresh air.”
“I’m fine, sir,” she lied. “Do you think he caused the fire?”
A bullet hole decorated the wall adjoining the laundry mat next door.
“Bullet must have hit one of the dryers and started the fire. Let’s get him to the door where they can load him in the ambulance.”
With the possibility of the fire coming through the wall, they quickly dragged the victim to the entryway.
“Good job Mercer. Go get some water and get that smoke out of your throat.”
“Yes sir.” Feeling better with some fresh air and better scenery, she relaxed as her heart rate slowed.
Perched on the back bumper of an ambulance, Tami sipped from a water bottle. Her face was as pale as her disheveled hair.
Bobby roared into the lot with siren blaring and another unit behind him. Both officers approached the captain.
“Come on, Mercer,” Lieutenant Bond from Ray’s station called to her. “Let’s see if you’re afraid of heights.” He grabbed a SCBA tank, harness, and mask from one of
the compartments. A couple of clicks and he had her suited up.
At his nod, she followed him to the truck. She’d only been on an engine thus far. In the academy, they hadn’t been trained on the huge ladder truck yet. She trailed behind the lieutenant up to the sky-high bucket. Beneath her feet, the diesel engine vibrated through the aluminum. If she hadn’t been focusing on not hyperventilating inside her air mask, she might’ve been frightened, as the truck grew small beneath her. Practice drills hadn’t prepared her for such exertion or of extreme heights. Reality check.
Once in the bucket, the lieutenant had her stand beside him. He planted his feet and opened the hose nozzle. Water shot nearly thirty feet before raining on the roof below.
Her heart thumped furiously as she hovered nearly sixty feet off the ground. The power of the water amazed her as it drowned stubborn licks of orange and yellow flames.
“Hold on. I’m taking her right.” He toggled the switch.
The engine whined as the ladder shifted, slowly angling them over a different portion of the roof. Being tutored in old man fire helped get the dead guy out of her brain.
“Here.” He sidestepped and put her in front of the controls, guiding her on what to do.
The high was like riding a huge wave. Before long, the flames died leaving the roof an open cavity of smoke. “Awesome.”
“You’re a natural.” He tipped his helmet.
When it was time to descend, Jo hesitated. Climbing up seemed easier. Going down had her hands sweating.
“I’ll go first,” he said. “Look at the ladder, not the ground.”
Once on the pavement, she thanked the lieutenant and found Bobby leaning against the hood of his car.
He gave her a hug and then snickered. “Another virgin status lost.”
“Yeah, only one other has been that exciting.” She rubbed her gloved hands together.
“TMI.” He rolled his eyes.
“Then don’t start the game, brother.” She winked as she removed her gloves and lightly slapped him on the arm, leaving a soot mark. Then she twirled and headed back to help with rolling hose.
“Did we miss when they took the dead guy?” Tami frowned as they finished laying hose on the top of the engine.
