His gaze strayed to where the vee in Carm’s robe spread open a little farther each time her arm moved to place a pastry on the tray.
Shit, man. Stop gawking at her like some lovesick middle-school boy.
“How are your diving lessons coming, Tony?” Angelina asked when she removed the whistling tea kettle from the stove. He’d told the family present at Mama’s last Sunday about his newest interest.
Carm’s eyes opened wide. “Scuba diving lessons?”
He locked onto her gaze before answering her questions, suddenly anxious to hear what Carm thought about his progress.
“Yeah, I started last month.” He’d let her think she’d influenced him. “And they’re going great, Sis. Just finished my advanced open-water certification.”
“Wow, that’s fast!” Carm said. “You told me you didn’t have any diving experience.”
Angelina looked up from arranging tea bags in a bowl, her gaze going from one to the other. He’d better explain so as not to potentially give away the surprise for her birthday party.
“Carm and I ran into each other at Capitol Lake during one of my SAR missions last month.” No lie there. “She turned over her tent to Ryder and me when we couldn’t be evacuated safely until morning.”
“Um, yeah,” Carm said, her shoulders relaxing a bit, making her robe gape open a bit more and allowing him to see the swell of her breast—a breast he no longer had to use his imagination to picture after that vision of her coming out of the hot tub had been seared into his memory. “We had some time to catch up overnight.” Which also was true, they just hadn’t talked about diving until later.
Angelina seemed to accept that nothing was going on between them, and Carm asked where he’d been diving. He told her which lakes and pools he’d trained in so far.
“Why don’t I take these into the other room,” Angelina said as she picked up the tray of pastries. “Feel free to stay here and talk diving between yourselves.” She smiled at them, and Tony sensed her matchmaking radar was up. “Grab what you’d like off the platter before I take it in the other room.” She held the tray out to them. Carm chose a cranberry muffin and he picked up a raspberry-cheese danish. He pulled a couple of paper towels from the dispenser to eat off of since he’d taken the plates into the other room. “Help yourselves to coffee or tea, too,” she said as she left them alone.
They sat down at the island after pouring themselves some decaf and ate in silence a moment. A crumb from her muffin rested at the corner of her mouth, and he had to hold himself back from the temptation to kiss it away.
“What do you think of diving so far?”
Diving? Oh, yeah. Focus. “I’m hooked. Can’t get over the peaceful feeling that comes over me when I’m listening to the sound of my regulator and watching the fish swim by. It’s like nothing I’ve experienced before.”
She nodded and licked the crumb into her mouth before taking another bite. “It’s an amazing feeling. I can’t wait to dive again next week.”
Her plump, full lips made him ache to dive into something else. Memories of his mouth forging a path up her leg with the garter between his teeth came back full force, coupled with the kiss they’d shared after their first non-date last month. His cock jerked.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, when a crumb fell into the cleavage of her robe, he almost choked on his danish.
What the shit was the matter with him?
Carm loved how Tony’s eyes lit up when he talked about diving. When they’d eaten dinner together last month, that liveliness had been missing, as if his inner spark had been doused. Was diving responsible for the change?
A lock of hair fell over Tony’s forehead. She wanted to brush it back in the worst way. The longing for such an intimate gesture—even an imagined one—caught her by surprise. All this talk about a new Carm emerging from the ceremonial waters of the hot tub must be messing with her brain. But Tony? Why not Tony? That kiss they’d shared on her doorstep had curled her toes.
Despite her better judgment to steer clear of a man who didn’t appear to be all that interested in anything serious—after all, he hadn’t contacted her after they’d hiked the Ute Trail—Carm smiled at him, a move she instantly regretted. Their gazes locked for a moment too long, and her smile faded when he cocked his head. Did he want to kiss her again—or worse yet, know she wanted him to?
When her face grew warm, she took a sudden interest in the last bite of her muffin. When she glanced his way, she caught him looking at her chest and resisted the automatic instinct to pull the robe closed more tightly. He couldn’t really see anything he hadn’t seen earlier tonight. She only wondered how long he’d stood there watching her.
“What’s up next in your dive training?” Yeah. Diving was a safe topic for them.
“After my shift ends Saturday morning, I’m scheduled for my first dry-suit lesson. It will prepare me for dives in deeper mountain lakes and at higher altitudes.”
“That should come in handy here. I’ve only gone diving in the Caribbean, so haven’t had to worry much about the cold. But I can see that would be important if you were doing most of your diving in Colorado.”
Serious again, Tony nodded then finished his danish, washing it down with some coffee. Standing abruptly, he wadded up his paper towel, tossed it in the trash, and rinsed his mug in the sink. “I’d better head home. It’s been a long day, and I’m sure you ladies have plans that don’t include having a guy hanging around.”
Carm had forgotten all about the women in the other room, but Angelina came into the kitchen as if she’d been listening for Tony’s departure. “I do appreciate you stopping by to check on me, Tony,” she said before giving him a peck on the cheek. “Be careful. The deer should all be in bed by now, but you never know what will pop out at you on these mountain roads.”
“I always try to be watchful, Sis.”
While Angelina busied herself refilling the coffee carafe, Carm stood up. “Good to see you again, Tony.”
He turned toward Carm and gave her a full-blown smile. “You, too, Carm.”
She had a sudden urge to cross the room and kiss him goodnight. Sheesh. Could he guess where her thoughts had strayed? Maybe after some time alone at the beach next week, she could sort out her feelings about Tony and decide what, if anything, she wanted to do next.
After Angelina left the room, she whispered, “See you Sunday.”
He nodded. “I’ll come early. I’m sure there’s something I can do to help.”
“If you insist.” Apparently, she’d have a little time with him before everyone else arrived.
After saying goodbye to the others, Tony exited through the living room door. A little off-kilter, Carm refilled her mug in the kitchen and took a few sips before rejoining the party. With their midnight snack—and Tony—out of the way, Angelina invited them to sit in a circle on huge pillows she scattered on the floor in front of the fireplace. None of them expressed any interest in going to bed yet. Carm was too keyed up at the moment. She could catch up on sleep tomorrow.
She stared at the flames a long moment, thankful that Tony didn’t hang around any longer.
“Tony couldn’t keep his eyes off you tonight, Carm,” Angelina said, giving her a sidelong glance.
Carm groaned, hoping she’d been the only one to notice.
“How long do you think he watched on the deck before he made his presence known?” Angelina asked. Carm blushed yet again.
“You think he saw us naked?” Cassie asked.
“He answered as soon as I called out to him,” Angelina said. “I’d like to think he’s a gentleman and wouldn’t take advantage of our compromising situation. But I know my brothers.” She laughed.
While the others had remained in the tub with Angelina and Carm blocking Tony’s view, most likely he’d gotten an eyeful of Carm. Raised a gentleman by his mama, he hadn’t let on, but Carm had caught him looking at her a couple of times on the deck and in the kitchen, usually staring a
t her boobs. The thought of his seeing her naked sent jolts of electricity through her.
Tony was an attractive man, and now she wondered what he looked like without any clothes.
Good grief. What kind of spell had Cassie cast over her in that hot tub to make Carm so fixated on Tony?
“You two seemed to hit it off talking about diving, too,” Angelina pointed out. Was her sister-in-law doing a little matchmaking?
“That’s probably all we have in common. And you can just put those matchmaking innuendoes aside. Our families aren’t ready for another D’Alessio-Giardano match.”
“True,” Angelina said. “Mama has her own romance budding so she might be the next Giardano walking down the aisle.”
With that, any mention of her dating Tony was pushed aside, which made Carm much more comfortable. Except when she remembered how Tony’s kiss had left her wanting something more.
Chapter Eighteen
The rain had been falling in buckets all night, and Tony dreaded hearing the tones drop for fear they’d have another swift-water rescue on the river. But as dawn broke, he breathed a sigh of relief. Two more hours and his shift would be over.
Without incident.
He rolled over to try and catch a few more z’s when the tones did drop, along with his stomach. He jumped up, put on his pants, slid down the pole, donned his gear in the apparatus bay, and got into the truck waiting to hear what type of call it was.
“Vehicle hydroplaned into a ditch on County Road 3,” the dispatcher said. “High water. Two victims.”
Tony’s heart pounded as the adrenaline continued to pump.
“Let’s roll!” Lieutenant Anderson said as he took his place in the passenger seat of the truck.
It’s a ditch.
Not the river.
Not the same.
Nobody’s going to die today.
He kept up a steady litany of the words he’d come up with during one of his homework assignments from Lisa for the next time he found himself on a similar call. He didn’t want a repeat of his bad call in June.
As they rolled onto the scene, he saw the tail end of a Camry partially submerged as water rushed down the ditch.
A woman waved her arm out the shattered driver’s-side window as they rolled up. “Please! Save my baby!”
The flashbacks hit him hard, and Tony froze. Rain. River. A log barreling toward them. Glimpses of another woman in a wet orange Broncos T-shirt and a baby girl in pink slipping from his grasp. Tony’s body locked up as that scene played back to disastrous results in his head. He grabbed onto the rim of his helmet to ground himself in the moment and continued the litany he’d started on the way here.
Nobody’s going to die…
Nobody’s going to die…
Nobody’s going to die…
Slowly, Tony returned to the moment and the scene unfolding before him. The front end of the Camry must have smashed into a tree before spinning out of control into the ditch.
“Tony! Move it!” Lieutenant Anderson yelled.
As the horrific images faded and with some difficulty, Tony blinked a few times and forced himself out of the past. “What do you need me to do, Lieutenant?”
The officer looked at him with disbelief then instructed him—probably for the second time—to de-energize the vehicle.
Well, no shit. Get your head on straight, man.
His training finally kicking in, Tony went to the side of the ladder truck and pulled out the hydraulic spreader then approached the driver’s side where the woman was crying. “We’re going to get you both out as soon as we can, ma’am. Just sit tight.” As if she’d be going anywhere with the way her door had been crushed. She nodded. He couldn’t see into the backseat for the condition of the child and wasn’t sure he wanted to. He hadn’t heard a peep out of the kid.
Knowing they’d probably need to use the hydraulic spreader on at least the driver’s door after he finished prying open the hood, Tony needed to get busy. Getting to work, Tony wedged the spreader’s tips between the hood and the frame of the radiator grate and started the motor. When he saw he was only managing to lift the outer shell, he repositioned the tips underneath the hard metal of the hood and tried again. The metal groaned until there was a nice bowed opening, and seconds later the latch popped. I’m in. After quickly locating the battery, he pulled wire cutters from his pocket and cut the negative wires in multiple places, then severed the positive cable.
Tony propped the hood open with a thick branch he found nearby, then let the others know they were good to go and set the spreader on a tarp close by. Moving around to the driver’s side, he helped Marc place a blanket over the woman’s head and shoulders to protect her, and Marc held her head steady to keep the activity around them from jostling her or causing any harm.
The crew quickly stabilized the vehicle using step chocks as the woman spoke reassuringly to her child. Tony still hadn’t had the courage to look in the back seat but hadn’t heard a peep from the kid.
Jeremy, a firefighter from the blue shift who’d joined in on this call, wedged the hydraulic spreader into the door frame and turned on the motor, drowning out the woman’s words. The steel door creaked and groaned in protest. After a few moments, the door popped open. Tony wrenched the door fully open so that Marc and his partner could examine the woman for any life-threatening injuries.
The ambulance crew evaluated the mother and quickly cleared her of having c-spine or other major injuries. The paramedic instructed Marc to extricate the mother from the car with Tony’s help and to assist her into the ambulance.
At Lieutenant Anderson’s command, Ryan returned to the rear door on the passenger side of the vehicle. The paramedic followed.
As Marc and Tony assisted her up the embankment, the mother looked back at the wrecked car and asked, “Is my baby going to be okay?” Marc assured her the paramedic and firefighter would take excellent care of her. Was he concerned too that there’d been no sounds from the child?
After Marc had the woman in the back of the ambulance for further evaluation and to gather information for the hospital, Tony returned to the vehicle to see if he could assist with the second extrication. But by the time he arrived, the little girl of about four years was alert, though possibly in shock, and being evaluated by the paramedic. She soon joined her mother in the back of the ambulance.
Everything was under control. Nobody died.
No thanks to me.
“What happened back there?” Tony looked up to find his lieutenant glaring at him.
“I…saw a ghost.” Tony had frozen on the job. This scenario could have gone a lot worse if Lieutenant Anderson hadn’t forced him to snap out of it as quickly as he had. Lives could have been lost due to Tony’s inability to function in those first crucial moments of the rescue. He’d almost screwed up—to tragic results.
“What ghost?”
Lieutenant probably knew, but Tony said the words anyway. “Two actually. A woman in an orange Broncos shirt and a baby in pink.”
He nodded curtly but with understanding in his eyes. “You’re still talking to a counselor about that, right?”
“Yeah. Twice a week for the past few weeks.”
Lieutenant Anderson nodded. “Keep working on it. Healing takes time.”
“Thanks, Lieutenant.” He wanted to promise he wouldn’t let the man down again but couldn’t. Not yet.
It wasn’t until they were back at the station and he was preparing to end his shift that the battalion chief called him into his office. His lieutenant waited in there for him too. This couldn’t be good.
“Tony,” the BC began, “Lieutenant Anderson tells me you had a problem at the ditch rescue this morning.”
He knew his superior officer would have to report what happened to the BC, but Tony wished he could put this behind him quickly. “Yes, sir. Had a flashback. But it won’t happen again.”
“You can’t predict flashbacks, Tony. Most of us have had them. All we can do
is work on minimizing them. I’m glad to hear you’re seeing a professional to talk to about the drowning incident.”
“Thanks. It’s helping.” I think.
“Good. But I see you haven’t taken any time off since then.” He pointed down to what must be Tony’s personnel file.
“I’m fine, sir. I’m handling it fine most of the time.”
The BC was silent a long moment, then bridged his interlaced fingers. “I spoke with HR, and you have some extra vacation days they want you to use before the end of the month.”
Forced vacation time usually came at the end of the year. While he wasn’t being placed on mandatory leave, it sure felt close to it. His officers had convinced HR to do this, because the department didn’t usually make anyone take time off in the summer months.
He wanted to argue further, but he’d screwed the pooch this morning. Then he thought about how he could use the time to get in much-needed dive time in a local lake to prepare him for his next certification exam. “How much time off, and how soon can I take it?”
“Three consecutive shifts,” the BC said.
Then he deferred to the lieutenant with a nod who added, “Anytime you want, Tony. I can find volunteers from Station Two to cover your shifts this week, if you’d like to start right away.”
The forecast for the coming week called for rain on his days off and full sun on his days at the station. While he could dive in the rain, he preferred nicer weather for his surface prep time. Maybe taking this time off would give him a chance to further his diving skills on those nice-weather days anyway.
“I’ll take off the next three shifts then, if that’s okay.”
“Sounds good,” the two officers said at once as if expecting that response from him.
“Now, your shift ended half an hour ago. Head home.”
Home was the last place he intended to go. He planned to go to the pool and practice some of his skills to make the open-water dives this week go more smoothly.
TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1) Page 18
