In The Heat 0f The Night (The O'Roarkes Duet Book 2)

by Katherine Garbera

  But she still wasn’t sure she could handle his job. And he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get her back either. Maybe he’d decided it wasn’t such a good idea either. She’d seen the single parents at her school, and knew how hard it was to raise a kid alone. And marrying a firefighter always brought risk. His job would always be dangerous.

  Anne knocked on her window. “You okay?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I saw you talking to Rory. Does he want you back?”

  “No. After all, the fundamental differences between us haven’t changed.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s clear there’s some unfinished business between you two.”

  Meg didn’t bother to deny it. She just hugged her sister, then put the window up and headed back out to work at Spring Home. Still, she couldn’t help thinking of how hard it had been to stand next to Rory and not touch him.

  She kept herself busy for the rest of the day. She’d finished up the living room, adding a few masculine touches and a big leather recliner that she couldn’t help but picture Rory in. God, she was pitiful.

  And it was getting worse. She started taking the long way home so she could drive by the firehouse every afternoon just so she could see if he was there. It wasn’t long before she figured out his schedule. If he wasn’t working, she often caught sight of him playing basketball with the other guys on his crew.

  After stalking him for almost a week, Meg had to admit that maybe Anne was right. She and Rory had unfinished business.

  But what should she do? Call and invite him to dinner? Then ask him if he still cared for her? She wasn’t sure her weary heart could take another beating if he didn’t.

  She finally admitted to herself that she was going to have to do something about him—either resolve their relationship or move on. But living in limbo was getting to her.

  Meg picked up barbecue for dinner and then drove out back out to Spring Home instead of staying at the duplex in town. Out in the country, there was only the music of the cicadas to sing her to sleep and not the awful wail of the fire bell to wake her and keep her up all night worrying about Rory.

  She had made it habitable enough that she could sleep in the house. She’d also abandoned some of her plans to completely change the old ranch house into a Victorian place. She saw the bones of the house and started appreciating it for what it was, instead of what it could be. This house was everything that she always wanted. Pat had gone home for the day and she went out to check the work in the barn studio. The network had hired its own team to do the work on it. So far, they’d reinforced the walls, making them more solid, but leaving only one door. And they’d added some fake studio windows behind what would be her workbench.

  The roof was still a little rickety since the new trusses hadn’t arrived yet. She walked slowly around the building. She was still waiting for new flooring. The network had insisted on using studio flooring, and that had to be delivered from out of state.

  Her new studio was an odd mix of brand-new pieces against the backdrop of a decrepit old barn. But she was excited.

  She finished her dinner, then headed back out there just as the sun was setting. The evening sky was clear, and she glanced across her backyard to the swing bed she’d hung under the oak tree. Once she finished up here, she was looked forward to spending many sunsets lying on that bed. Even if she had to be alone.

  She glanced toward the barn. It had been structurally reinforced, thank goodness. Still, it was impossible for her to look at the building without remembering spending time talking to Rory in the early summer rain.

  She paused under the overhang and told herself that she hadn’t designed the cement pad to the left, as well as the garage, especially for Rory to work on his bike, but she knew that was a lie.

  She looked around and realized that she’d had him in mind the entire time she was redoing the house. That she’d fixed it up not for herself, but for him.

  Well, it was too late to change it now.

  She knew he was working tonight, so she didn’t bother to call him. But she definitely would tomorrow. If he was still interested—hell, even if he wasn’t, she’d convince him—they’d see if there was anything left of the attraction between them. If there was, they’d just have to figure out a way to make it work.

  She entered the barn and noticed that her workbench had been finished. She flicked on the light above it. In her mind, she saw the place finished, lit with studio spotlights and having hardwood on the floor instead of dirt and weeds. She grabbed her notepad and started jotting down ideas, drawing the images in her head.

  She got lost in her sketches and when she looked down, she wasn’t really surprised to see that she’d added another area for Rory in the corner of the living room and a fire pole to get from the loft to the bottom floor. She shook her head. No more denying it. She loved that man, and it was past time she made him believe it.

  But love was seldom that uncomplicated. She had been ignoring him for two months while she figured out what she wanted to do with her life. And he was still a little gun-shy about getting involved with someone who wanted to change him. He’d been there and done that. And he hadn’t liked it.

  She leaned her head back against the wall of the barn. She’d made a mess of everything. She should have never have flirted with him. But then she would have never known what it felt like to have those stormy blue eyes focused on her. Seeing her as she wanted to be seen.

  He was so much more than just a hot firefighter. He’d become the man she thought of when she fell asleep at night. The first person she wanted to be with when she woke up. Seeing him today had simply cemented the knowledge that he was what she wanted. For always. She was ready to head back to the house when she noticed that someone had left a light on in the loft area.

  She quickly climbed the stairs and found the work light plugged into one of those long extension cords. She flicked it off, set it down and started toward the stairs. Then she noticed the smell of smoke. She followed the scent with her nose until she noticed that one of the work light cords was frayed. Some leftover hay underneath it had ignited.

  She looked around for a fire extinguisher. Pat had been adamant about fire safety, but since most of the work was being done downstairs, that’s where the extinguisher was. She tried to move around the fire but the hay was dry and the fire spread quickly as oxygen from the open door fed the flames.

  She dropped to her knees, crawling toward the stairs, but she couldn’t get through the flames and smoke. Dammit.

  The heat was intense and had spread to block the door she’d opened. She stepped back away from the flames, and reached in her pocket for her phone.

  Scouring the back of the barn for a weak board she might be able to break, she dialed 9-1-1. She tried to keep calm but she couldn’t fight the panic flowing through her.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” the dispatcher said.

  “My barn is on fire and I’m trapped in it,” Meg said.

  “What’s your address?” the dispatcher said.

  Meg rattled off the information, forcing herself to remember all the fire safety tips she passed on to her students. But as the flames spread and the smoke made it harder to breathe, she hoped that the fire department was faster than the fire spreading around her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  IT WAS RORY’S turn to fix dinner at the firehouse. Usually, their meals consisted of chili or grilled chicken with microwaved veggies or baked potatoes. He didn’t mind it. He didn’t even mind cooking. Dinner wasn’t ever anything fancy, but he felt a sense of accomplishment knowing he could do it.

  Tim’s wife had made a big batch of brownies, but they were gone long before dinner. It was quiet, as it had been for the past couple of weeks. Rescuing that dog last week had been the most exciting call-out they’d had.

/>   He wasn’t complaining. But when the men got bored, they started to gossip. And that was never fun.

  J.J. came into the kitchen, followed by Bud, who wasn’t the ugliest dog Rory had ever seen, but he was close. Still, he had a great nature and he loved to sit on the couch with the guys. J.J. sat down at the table, filling up his bowl with the chili Rory had made.

  “I saw you talking to Meg in front of the diner this morning,” he said. “I thought you said there was nothing between you?”

  “There isn’t. We were just both in the same place at the same time,” Rory said. “What’s it to you?”

  “Nothing. I just like needling you. Every time I mention her you get all squirrelly,” J.J. said, winking.

  Rory laughed. “I do, don’t I? I’m not sure what it is about her. She just gets to me.”

  But he was lying. He knew exactly what it was. He needed to know if she still loved him because he was tired of pretending that he’d stopped loving her. In fact, when he finished this shift, he was going to find her and tell her. No more games.

  “The best ones do,” Tim said, coming in to join them.

  “Best what?” the captain asked as he entered.

  “Women.”

  “True enough. I’ve been married twenty years and Rosie still gets to me,” Malone said. “Who has woman troubles?”

  “He does,” J.J. said, pointing to Rory.

  “I don’t, not really. There’s just this one woman who makes me crazy, that’s all,” Rory said. “I know how to handle other women.”

  Everyone laughed and Rory joined in. He knew he was kidding himself—he didn’t have a clue how to handle Meg. He knew how he’d like to handle Meg . . .

  But he was getting tired of thinking about her all the time, wondering why she’d stayed in town, hoping that she still loved him.

  “Who is it?” Malone asked.

  “Meg Starling, sir.”

  “Ah, you better be careful there. Her father is a good friend of mine,” Malone said.

  “She can handle herself, trust me.”

  “I bet she can. She’s feisty. Her mom is the same way. She used to ride along with Butch when he was in the field. She said if he was going to take chances with his life, so was she. Gave him a fit,” Malone said. He raised an eyebrow. “Now that I think about it, she’s scheduled for one of our citizen’s fire training classes.”

  “Who is?” Rory asked.

  “Meg.”

  That was news to him. Meg was trying to understand his job? Did that mean she was willing to try?

  The fire alarm went off and they all ran to gear up. Rory felt a sense of rightness as he put on his turnout gear and closed his locker. Malone was talking to the dispatcher and their lieutenant Frank Meers was waiting at the back of the truck when he got on.

  “Barn fire.”

  “Probably some kids messing around on one of the abandoned properties,” Rory said. He’d seen it more times than he could count. And the rural area near Meg’s property was littered with old sheds and barns that had been left behind. Those old buildings were the perfect places for kids to get into mischief.

  “Not kids. Meg Starling called it in. It’s her barn,” the lieutenant said.

  Rory’s sense of calm vanished and a red mist of panic settled in his gut. Meg was in a fire? “Did she get out?”

  “No. Dispatch is on the phone with her, but the fire is spreading.”

  Within seconds, the truck was flying down the road toward the Old Clapham place. Rory did his best to look like a man who was cool with what was going on, like a firefighter who was in control. But in his gut, he felt fear. Real fear.

  And he now had an inkling of what Meg may have meant when she said that though she understood he loved his job, she couldn’t handle her own fear while he was doing it.

  The flames were billowing around the barn when they got to her property. Rory was the first one off the truck, but the lieutenant put his hand on his shoulder. “You’re on the hose.”

  “No way. I’m going in after her,” Rory said. He didn’t care if he got fired. There was absolutely no way he was staying out here when Meg was trapped inside.

  “Think, man,” Frank said. “We need to get her out safely. Let’s get the fire under control first. We don’t risk lives needlessly.”

  Rory understood that, but he knew that if Meg didn’t make it out alive, he wasn’t going to have much of a life left. Then he remembered how he’d done the “brave” thing in Daytona, how it had crippled him inside.

  Suddenly, the fears that had kept him preoccupied for the last few months seemed really dumb. He wished he’d spent every second with her that he could. Because he knew, better than most, that life was short. And love didn’t come along every day.

  He’d been searching for a woman like Meg for most of his life. But when she’d bulldozed her way into his heart, he’d been afraid to hold onto her with both hands. It was a mistake he wouldn’t make again.

  And he was going to start by rescuing the woman he loved.

  SHE SAW THE fire suppressant first, big plumes of liquid that blanketed the flames and slowly extinguished them. As soon as the flames were small enough, she edged her way to the stairs, but she remembered what Rory had said about how fire could weaken the integrity of the floor. So she stayed where she was, where the floor was still solid. She felt weak—her lungs burned from the smoke she’d inhaled through the fabric of her shirt, which she’d wrapped around her mouth and nose.

  She saw the blade of a fire axe as it came through the wall next to her and she scooted out of the way. She’d been on the phone with the emergency operator so Meg knew they were aware she was trapped upstairs. Once a big hole was cut in the wall, she saw a firefighter. He climbed into the building and scooped her up. She met his gaze through his helmet and saw those stormy blue eyes that had captivated her from the first time she’d seen them.

  Rory.

  He tossed her over his shoulder and then went back down the ladder. She wrapped her arms around his waist, gripping the fire retardant fabric of his jacket, but it wasn’t necessary. He held her tightly to him until they were both on the ground. Then he set her down in front of him. She saw the firefighters working around her, making sure the flames were out.

  “Honey, you scared me. I get it. I really get what you were trying to tell me.”

  She wanted to make a clever quip about him saving her but she was just so happy to see him, the words got stuck in her throat. Instead, she just held him tighter. “I knew you’d come for me. And I understand why you have to do this. I’ll still be scared for you, but people in town need you. Knowing you were on your way made me feel safe.”

  “You took ten years off my life. We’ll talk when this is all cleaned up,” he said, leading her over to the EMTs.

  “Was that Pat’s work?” Rory asked.

  “No. It was the studio team. Pat wouldn’t have been that careless.” She’d told the dispatch what had caused the fire.

  “I figured as much.”

  The EMTs were waiting. Once she was settled, Rory went back to the fire. She watched him as he walked away, and knew that something had changed between them. She’d seen it in his eyes but she couldn’t focus well enough to think about it right this instant.

  “Put this on your shoulders,” the emergency technician said. “I’m Josh, by the way. I’m going to take your pulse and then we’ll check your oxygen levels to see if you are breathing okay.”

  She nodded. His eyes were the same color as Rory’s, she realized. Then she remembered Anne telling her that his nephew was staying with him. His family was quickly making her hometown their own.

  Another technician joined Josh, and, in a few minutes, they had her on oxygen. But she already felt better. Two cars arrived as the firefig
hters were putting out the last of the flames. Her barn was in tatters, she realized, watching as one of the main support beams fell.

  “Meggie, are you okay?” her mom asked, running over to her.

  She smiled at her mom and removed the oxygen mask. “I’ve been better, but I’m fine now. The fire department got here in the nick of time.”

  She didn’t need to ask her how her parents had known she was in danger. Her father kept a police band scanner on all the time when he was home. Her dad came over and scooped her up in his arms, hugging her so tightly she almost couldn’t breathe. “Don’t scare us like that again.”

  “I won’t, Daddy,” she said, hugging him back.

  “I’m going to see what’s going on. You keep an eye on our girl,” her dad told her mother as he walked away.

  “Your dad broke every traffic law getting out here. He was so worried about you.”

  Meg tried to let that sink in. That wasn’t like her father at all. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I think it’s about time he knew how we always felt when he was out risking his life,” her mom said. “And now Rory understands, too.”

  Meg hugged her mom. “I don’t know that it makes anything better.”

  “Of course it doesn’t. But now you know that you’re not alone.” Just then, Anne walked up, along with Pat.

  “What are you two doing here?” Meg asked.

  “I wanted to make sure you were okay. And Anne was frantic, so I gave her a ride,” Pat said.

  Anne sat down next to Meg at the back of the ambulance. “How are you?”

  “I’m okay.”