12-Alarm Cowboys (142 page)

“Thank you.” She didn’t know what else to say. He, like others, probably thought she was either lying or off her rocker. While Titan was walking the Fire Marshal to his car and the others were shooting the bull around the coffeepot, Makenna made her getaway.

When Titan returned, the meeting room was empty. Hearing voices, he walked to the equipment room where Ronan and Hotshot were checking out some air tanks and the others were climbing on the trucks, doing equipment checks. “Where’s Makenna?”

“I guess she left, Chief,” Blaze remarked.

Well, hell. He’d had every intention of talking to her.

A mile or two away, Makenna was headed back to Allie’s. She passed the home she’d shared with Damien. After hearing the Fire Marshal’s edict, she wondered if she’d been wrong. He hadn’t come straight out and admitted to the fire. But when she’d accused him of it, he hadn’t denied it either. At least he was still behind bars for the abuse. As far as the arson allegations were concerned, Kirkland Armstrong’s news had made her look foolish in the men’s eyes. She felt embarrassed that Titan had gone out on a limb for her. It made her look vindictive. If people believed she was lying, it would reflect badly on Titan and the VFD.

Tonight hadn’t gone exactly as planned. Now she felt like the wind had gone out of her sails. Perhaps Titan wasn’t for her. After all, he was a mega-hot cowboy with shoulders as wide as a John Deere tractor and she was nothing special. What she needed was an instructional booklet on ‘How to Come On to a Man’. Despite her sadness, the thought made her smile. Maybe Hotshot’s party was the perfect way to get her mind off of her trouble.

*

“Hand me that
wrench.” Titan held out his hand.

Hotshot placed it in his chief’s open palm. “I hate to bail on you, but I gotta go. Which reminds me, you’re invited to a party tonight on the lake if you’re not busy. Nothing fancy, hotdogs, beer and as many girls as I could find to invite.”

“Thanks,” Titan murmured. “But I need to go check on someone.” He was concerned about Makenna. She’d looked upset after hearing Kirk say there was no evidence of arson.

“Well, okay.”

Hotshot sounded disappointed. Titan was about to explain further when his phone buzzed. Sitting back on his heels, he answered, “Sloan,” without checking the display.

“Titan, this is Sheriff Conner.”

“Yes?” He immediately had Titan’s attention.

“I thought you’d want to know, Damien Wade is out on bail. Looks like he’ll be fined, no additional jail time.”

“Fuck!” Titan stood, locking gazes with Hotshot. “How the hell did that happen?” After hearing the Fire Marshal’s investigation results, maybe he should’ve expected this, but he hadn’t.

Conner let out a harsh breath. “Wade’s got friends. I think the judge may be one of them.”

“Did you call Makenna? Does she know?” Titan felt his protective instincts rise. An uneasy feeling crept over him.

“We’ve called, there’s no answer and she doesn’t have a mail-box set up on her phone.”

“Damn!” Titan grabbed his hat off his head, tossed it down and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ll let her know. Where’s the justice in all of this?”

“That’s out of my hands,” Conner said with an even tone. “Tell her to keep her eyes open and go to the courthouse and start the paperwork for a restraining order.”

“I’ll take care of her,” Titan promised. Putting his phone back in his pocket, he turned to Hotshot. “I have to find Makenna, Wade’s out of jail.”

“Shit.” His friend stood up and started for the door. “I think I know where to find her. I invited her and her friend to the pool party. Come on.”

Titan was right behind him. “I’ve got to find her before he does.”

*

The party was
in full-swing by the time they drove up. Titan had turned on his First Responders siren to forestall any slow drivers from hogging the road. What the hell use was there in being Fire Chief if he couldn’t use his position to protect those he cared about? He’d been torn about stopping at the Wade house on the way over, just to make sure she wasn’t there. Without a restraining order in place, there was nothing keeping Damien from just going home and wanting to pick up where he left off. Scenarios of him finding or cornering Makenna haunted Titan. He wouldn’t rest until he saw her with his own two eyes.

When they reached Canyon Lake, cars and trucks were lined up on both sides of the narrow street. Titan had the devil of a time finding a spot. Once they were parked, both men hurried toward the waterfront home. Laughter and the sound of splashing water could be heard wafting over the fence. This wasn’t the type of outing Titan usually enjoyed. He preferred doing his courting one-on-one.

Like he’d told Hotshot, he’d already made up his mind to pay Makenna a visit before Conner had called. After what she’d been through, asking her to make the first move was just shooting himself in the foot. So, he wanted to do this right. Titan wanted to court Makenna. If his mother were here, she’d tell him to wait a decent amount of time before calling on her. But this wasn’t a normal situation. In view of Wade’s release, he was about to put his plan in fast-forward. Everything had changed.

“Are you sure she’s here?” he asked impatiently. Conner had been right about one thing—she wasn’t answering her phone, which scared the crap out of him. Could Wade have found her already?

“She should be here, both of the girls said they were coming.”

Titan had no more than stepped into the backyard before a bevy of women surrounded them. A hasty perusal of the guests told him the count of females to males was five to one. Hell, it wasn’t even safe for a single man to be here.

“I’ll help you look,” Hotshot said, taking off toward the beach.

“Excuse me, excuse me.” Titan tried to work his way through the crowd. Where was she?

And then he saw her…

Holy Fucking Shit.

No wonder the women were swarming around. They were destitute, because half the men in attendance were standing around one woman—flirting to beat the band.

Makenna.

He could also see why she didn’t have her phone on her. Her outfit afforded no extra room. The term ‘dressed to kill’ came to mind. She was dressed to kill him, that was for sure. Even as his eyes moved up and down her body, his Justin boots were moving in her direction. God, at the curves…and he wanted to hug those curves like a racecar on the Indy 500. His palms started itching, there was no way he could keep his hands to himself after seeing her like this. What in the hell did she have on? A low cut swimsuit strained to contain a pair of magnificent breasts. The cut of the material emphasized her beautiful legs and cupped an ass so luscious he could barely think straight. Hell, he’d never seen her look like this. Titan didn’t know if he wanted to turn her over his knee and spank her or wrap his shirt around that sweet backside to hide it from anyone’s eyes but his.

As he neared, he could see a big-nosed man lay his hand on Makenna’s ass and give it a squeeze. She jumped at the forward move, forcing Titan to walk faster. He’d never seen the man before, but he would have no problem putting him in his place. “If you want to keep that hand, mister, I’d suggest you remove it from her body right this second.”

Makenna turned around so fast, she teetered on the four inch stilettos she was wearing—which Titan had to admit made her sexy legs look a mile long. “Titan! What are you doing here?”

Her friend Allie joined her, handing Makenna a drink.

“I think the best question would be what are you doing here?” Titan pushed in between Makenna and the stranger, his bulk effectively barricading him from touching her. The man had no choice but to step aside, a mountain was on the move. He hadn’t intended to sound so brusque, but Titan was royally pissed at the liberties the other man had been taking with whom his heart considered to be his woman.

It was a most inopportune time, but Allie began to giggle. “I wonder if his…” She whispered the word ‘cock’ into Makenna’s ear, referring to Titan, “is as big as the rest of him?”

Unfortunately she stage-whispered and Makenna wanted to die. “I don’t know, I’ve never got the chance to find out,” she huffed, then turned to Titan, who met her glare with a smirk.

“I could arrange for a private viewing,” he drawled.

Makenna stared at him, trying to figure out if he meant her or Allie. The margaritas she’d inhaled made her brain fuzzy. “As for the reason I’m here…” She dramatically swept her hair off her shoulder and behind her back. “I’m on the make. I just woke up from a nightmare and I’m ready to spread my wings and fly.”

To hear Makenna announce she was ‘on the make’ heated his blood to boiling. And not from anger. “So, you want a man. Is that it?”

Makenna threw back her shoulders and pushed her breasts forward. “I think I deserve one, don’t you?”

“Damn straight I do.” Titan observed dryly. Looking at Allie, he tipped his hat. “Excuse me, ma’am. Do you have a way home?” When she looked confused, he called to Hotshot. “Could you see that Allie Langston gets somewhere safe? I don’t think she should be alone tonight, under the circumstances.” At his friend’s nod, he swept Makenna up in his arms, settling her over his shoulder in a classic fireman’s haul—in other words, her rear end was pointing skyward.

After hearing Hotshot’s explanation about the evening’s events, Allie held up a filmy piece of material and Makenna grabbed it as she passed. “Here’s your cover-up and don’t worry about me. I’ll go to my cousin’s house. He and his wife have been asking me to visit.”

“I don’t understand,” she mumbled. Apparently she’d missed something. After Titan walked out of the gate, Makenna realized they were really leaving. “Hey! I wasn’t ready to go.” Makenna snorted, then groaned. “Whoa…all the blood’s rushing to my head.” She hung there a few more seconds. “God, you’ve got a great ass.”

“The feeling’s mutual.” Titan chuckled, popped her on the rear and said, “How much did you have to drink?”

“Not enough.” Makenna wanted to talk to him. She put her hands on the upper curve of his hips and pushed up, which didn’t succeed in doing anything but making her butt wiggle.

Titan smiled at everyone as he passed them. He guessed word would get out that the Captain’s soon-to-be ex-wife had been carried from the party by the new Fire Chief. Which was fine by him. “Sounds like you need some coffee.” This was probably the wrong way to go about keeping her safe, but right now it was all he had. So, to hell with it. Titan was getting what he wanted in the bargain. He was getting his cake, and later if fate was kind, he was going to eat it—every sweet bite.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere so we can be alone.” He paused. “We need to talk.”

His words brightened her world like she’d just stepped into a bright ray of sunshine. He’d come after her! Then as seconds passed, doubts set in. Makenna was sobering up quickly. Knowing her luck, Titan was probably trying to be a good friend or a big brother figure. “Put me down, Titan. I need to see your face.”

“Not till we get to my truck,” he answered in short order.

Makenna hung there, willing her stomach not to misbehave. “Well, don’t walk so hard. I’m woozy.”

Her small words from behind his back touched his heart. “Oh, come here, baby.” He gently pulled her forward and into his arms until she was nestled against his chest like a bride. “Better?”

“I think so.” She studied his face. “What’s going on, Sloan?”

Seeing they were being watched by a half dozen interested townspeople, Titan answered, “We’ll talk about it once we’re alone.”

Once they were alone. “Okay.” She liked that. Makenna nestled her head on his chest and let out a big sigh.

When they arrived at his truck a few seconds later, he sat her down in the seat facing him. Bracketing her with his arms, he caged her close. “I have to tell you something.”

Makenna’s heart thumped. This was it. He was going to tell her he couldn’t wait another moment to have her in his arms…and then he was going to kiss her. She leaned toward him. “I think I know what you’re going to say, but I want to hear you say it.”

Titan paused a second. “So, you heard? Conner got ahold of you?”