12-Alarm Cowboys (23 page)

It was almost five o’clock as it was, quitting time for her and Silas unless they got a fire call. Sunny knew one thing for sure, she did not want to be at the station when Austin McBride came back for his shift. He’d have to come here to check in, before he went to the medic station. If she started this conversation with her uncle now, in all likelihood she would still be there when he returned. No, what she needed to do was calm herself down and sleep on things tonight, before she met with Silas. Huffing a breath, Sunny reversed direction to head back to her office. She snatched her cell phone and radio off of the desk and grabbed her truck keys.

What she really needed was a damned drink to calm her nerves, and someone to vent her frustrations to. Jolie fit the bill, but she needed to apologize for standing her friend up the night she spent out at the ranch.

God, Sunny wished she could rewind to the day she made the decision to take that call out to that ranch instead of going to her interview. That poor decision brought Austin McBride and his complications into her life. She’d compounded them by staying at the ranch that night with him, instead of leaving when she had the notion.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda
. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, and Sunny had first been driven by duty to take that call, then she was blinded by the heat between her and Austin McBride, but the blinders were off now, the heat extinguished and the only thing left was smoke. The smoke coming out of her ears.

Austin McBride thought he wanted to work here? Well he was about to get a christening by fire from a woman whose only duty now was to herself and her son.

This was war.

‡

“T
he gauze and
tubing are kept in that metal cabinet over there,” Braden said, pointing toward the black metal cabinet on the wall across the ambulance bay. “Whatever you do, make sure you restock the truck after every run or Sunny will chew your ass out.”

Chew his ass out?
Austin was getting so used to that now, he didn’t really give a damn about one more ass chewing from Sunny Gleason. After almost two weeks of it, he didn’t have much left to chew. She’d even written him up for having his shirt untucked when he checked in for his shift at the fire station, and then a second time for clocking in two minutes late—because he had to tuck in his shirt and run back to the truck for his belt.

When the Chief called Austin to ask for his help, ask him to come to work at the station because they needed qualified people badly, he’d initially declined. After their night together Austin had decided he wouldn’t pursue a job at the station. She was a single mother, and she needed that job more than he did. Him stepping into that mix would just make things tougher for her, make her feel more insecure than she already did.

Austin had it damned good at the ranch and he was relatively happy. Managing cattle or being a cow hand was not his ideal job, but it paid well. The Chief persisted though, said Sunny would need his help when he retired and she was Chief. She needed a second-in-command who was capable of helping her, and no one at the station fit the bill. When he threw in part-time Captain’s pay, along with full-time medic’s pay, Austin accepted.

Rand Gleason was giving the foreman’s job a shot, and Tanner was helping him while he recovered at the ranch. Zack Taylor worked out a deal with Austin when he turned in his notice that he’d check back out there sporadically to make sure things were handled until he returned home at the end of the month.

The way things were going here, by that time, Austin might well be begging for his job back. Captain Sunny Gleason had proved to be the most abrasive, petty and insecure person he’d ever answered to in his life. She was keeping him off of fire calls, where he excelled, and he thought he knew why. She was intimidated and afraid he’d show her up.

When they got a fire call and he was on shift here, she took command and told him to stay put at the medic station in case they had a run. The woman he’d dealt with for the last two weeks was definitely not the woman he’d made love to all night long out at the ranch. She didn’t even seem to remember that night, as cold as she was to him when he
happened
to run into her, which was as infrequently as possible. Austin gave Captain Gleason wide berth these days, because running into that buzzsaw did not make for a good shift or mood. Her men, the volunteers and the medics, seemed to operate the same way. They came in when called, did their jobs, but kept their heads down until they could leave.

With every day that passed, every day he tried to work with her, every ass-chewing he took, Austin knew he had decisions to make, because this was not going to work out long-term. Either he was going back to the ranch, which would be the easiest thing to do, or he was going to go for the Chief’s job himself. He’d asked around and found out the Chief’s job opening closed in two days. The board would stop accepting resumes and the decision would be made for him, so he didn’t have much time to decide.

“You listening, man?” Braden asked with obvious frustration. “If you don’t have this down pat when Sunny grills you, she’ll fire you. She fired Thomas without batting an eyelash, and it’s obvious she already doesn’t like you. What’s up with y’all anyway?”

Austin dragged his eyes to Braden. “If you figure that out, let me know.”

He was clueless why Sunny was acting the way that she was. He thought she’d be happy that he hadn’t applied for the Chief’s job, basically making her a shoe-in, which she already thought she was. Instead, she seemed to be trying to make him quit the station altogether, or have a reason to fire him.

“I’ve been doing this job since I grew hair on my balls. I know the routine, and your protocol now. She can grill me all she wants.”

Braden laughed, and shook his head. “Trust me when I tell you she will singe that right off for you. You can ask any man at the station, including the Chief, if you don’t believe me, brother.”

“Oh, I believe you,” Austin replied with a frustrated breath. He’d seen her in action with the other guys too. And that was exactly why he needed to be Chief. “What’s the turnover rate for the volunteers? For the medics here?”

“If they last six months, we’re doing good,” Braden replied. “That’s why we’re short-staffed here and at the firehouse.”

Someone needed to rein in the leggy, mouthy Captain Gleason if they were ever going to be able to keep the department properly staffed. It was obvious the current Chief, her uncle, was not the man for the job. Austin was more than man enough, and he was just pissed off enough to do it. But first, he had to apply for that job and get it.

*

“I was hoping
you’d apply,” Silas Gleason said the next morning, as he looked over the papers in his hand one more time. “I think the board will be pleased too.”

Austin leaned back in the chair to cross his calf over his knee and rested his laced fingers there. “I think my experience and background would be suited to the job, sir.”

“I agree,” Silas said looking back up at him. Austin could see he had something else to say, but he chewed on whatever it was instead of spitting it out. “I have to warn you, son, that my ne—um, Captain Gleason won’t be happy to have competition for the job.”

Well, she certainly wasn’t happy when she didn’t have competition. Austin was starting to believe that even if Sunny Gleason got the Chief’s job, she still wouldn’t be happy.

“I welcome the competition and have every faith that the board will hire the best person for the job.” But if that person wasn’t Austin, he was going back to the ranch if Zack would have him. There was no way in hell he could work for Sunny Gleason. “If that’s not me, I’ll just have to reconsider my options.”

“You won’t stay, if Sunny gets the job?” Silas asked, his wiry gray brows furrowing. “You’d make a fine permanent Captain here.”

Austin huffed a breath. “I don’t think that would be in my best interest, Chief.”

Because she felt threatened by him. Her insecurities wouldn’t go away even if she had full-control of this station. Sunny would do everything she could to tie his hands to put him in his place, or look for a reason to fire him. Austin was not going to sit around waiting for her fire boot to drop on his head or walk on eggshells to prevent it.

“Braden would be a better choice to be her Captain. He seems to be able to work with her well.”

“Braden just stays out of her way,” Silas countered.

“That seems to be the best mode of operation to get along here when you’re not around.” Surely Silas knew how his niece operated and the effect her methods had on morale.

Silas looked back at the papers in his hand. “I’m sorry to hear that. I was impressed with your management of that field fire the other night and how the volunteers responded under your command.” He looked back at Austin. “I kind of hoped you could help Sunny in that area. She’s a damned good medic, the best, but fighting fires and commanding a crew is her weak spot.”

Management of any kind was her weak spot, but Austin wasn’t going to say that to the Chief. Before he came in here, Austin decided he was not going to whine to Silas, or bash his niece. Silas had to know how she was, and he put up with it to his station’s detriment. As Chief, he had every right to decide how far he would let her push him.

If Austin was made Chief that would change. Either Sunny would get with the program and improve her communication skills, or she could find another job.

But the Chief seemed determined to extract his opinion one way or another by putting him on the spot. “Surely you’ve seen it yourself on the fire calls since you’ve been here? That’s why I’ve always made sure I responded too. It’s been nice not to have to do that since you’ve been here.”

“I haven’t been on any fire calls.”

Silas’ eyes flew to his and he frowned. “Why the hell not?”

Austin ground his teeth, and the Chief just stared and waited until Austin knew he had to respond. “Because I’m not allowed to go on fire calls. Braden goes and I stay at the medic station when I’m on shift to cover emergency calls with the second crew.”

Cheeks red, the Chief shot up from his chair to push a button on his phone, and Austin flinched when he roared, “
Sunny
! Get yourself in this office
now
!”

A second later, the doorknob rattled and Austin’s heart pounded as the door flew inward and Sunny stalked inside. Her eyes met his and sparked with anger, before they flew to Silas.

“Where’s the fire?” she asked gruffly. “I was looking over the medic charts from this week, before I send them to Foxy.” Her gaze swung back to Austin, as she finished, “I have to tell you, I’m not impressed with the sloppy charting and Foxy won’t be either.”

“Well, I’m not impressed that you have a fifteen-year fire veteran sitting on the sidelines cooling his heels, while you go on fire calls, young lady,” the Chief fired back.

The only sign that Sunny Gleason felt an iota of emotion, remorse or guilt, was the flush that crawled up her thin neck. “I put the men I command where I need them most, and where I feel they will be most effective. I’m sorry if you disagree with my decisions, Chief,” Sunny said cockily.

“Then I have to question both your judgment and decisions, Sunny Jane.” Both anger and disappointment dripped from Silas’s words. He sucked in a deep breath, then blew it out. “Your evaluation is coming up very soon, and that will definitely be on it. I have to tell you the timing is unfortunate.”

Austin saw her long fingers curl into her palms, and he didn’t miss the slight tremor in her voice. “Please reconsider, Unk. Tell me what you want me to do, what I’ve done wrong…” Her eyes cut to Austin quickly. “I’ll fix whatever I need to fix.”

“What I want is for you to do is lose that damned chip on your shoulder and get along with this man,” Silas said pointing a finger at Austin. “He’s either going to be your Captain or your boss. Your actions before your evaluation is due are going to decide which I recommend to the board.”

“My
boss
?” Sunny squeaked, shooting Austin a glare.

“Yes, Austin has applied for the opening, and right at this minute, I’m inclined to think he’s a better candidate for the job. You have a month to convince me otherwise.”