Spark Of Desire (18 page)

Since they weren’t an item, he couldn’t do anything about it. If he could just claim her as his, the others would behave themselves.

He couldn’t do that because…

The list of reasons was as long as a fire hose. He just couldn’t think of any of them right now. All he could think about was whether or not she would show up in a tank top. The weather felt right for it. Hot and miserable. If she followed form, she would run or walk over since she only lived six blocks away, and if she ran, it would make sense for her to wear bike shorts and a tank top. Which would, in turn, drive the other guys into a greater frenzy.

Dan strolled out eating an apple. “What are you looking for?”

“Jessica.”

Dan’s signature leer spread across his face. “Jessica?”

Kevin didn’t growl, no out loud anyway. “She’s stopping in to take a look at the tools.”

Dan grinned, and Kevin’s entire body tightened up. He had that prowling look to him now and in a few minutes so would the other five guys on duty. Maybe not Lew. Lew didn’t seem to prowl the way the other singles did. Kevin wished Jack was on duty. Jack, at least, wouldn’t be on the prowl anymore.

“Hello, beautiful.”

Kevin jumped at Dan’s voice and spun around. She’d come from the other direction and she wasn’t wearing bike shorts or a tank top. Kevin quelled a pang of regret and smiled. “Right on time. I expected you to come from the other direction.”

“I decided to walk down Market.” She shrugged. “Same distance.”

He checked her over. Tan shorts and a white cotton short-sleeved blouse. He could still see a generous amount of leg. Her face was lightly coated with sweat from the heat, not exertion, and her dark eyes settled on him. At the gym on Friday, she’d seemed quiet, but now she’d become tense. With his audience, he couldn’t ask why.

“Kevin says you want to look at our toys,” Dan announced. He tried to hook his arm through hers, but she shifted just enough to discourage him.

“I need to know the tools for the exam. It’s one of my weakest points,” she said.

“I have better toys than he does,” Dan said.

“But the tools on the engine are bigger.” Doug walked out the door. “You must be Jessica. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Kevin cursed under his breath. Another good reason to wish Jack weren’t still out. If Jack were here, bald, tactless Doug wouldn’t be. He’d known this was going to happen. All night he’d been half awake worrying about it.

“Oh, have you?” Jessica raised one eyebrow. “What’s my sign?”

Doug stared at her. “What?”

Kevin’s heart swelled with pride. Seeing Doug get stopped was a rare thing, and that it was his Jessica who did it made it more wonderful.

Not his Jessica. Yet.

“You said you’d heard all about me, I thought you’d know my sign.” Jessica folded her arms. “But maybe you weren’t paying attention.”

“Hello, Jessica.” Lew stopped behind Doug, who was still trying to decide what she’d done to him.

“Hello, Lew. It’s good to see you again,” Jessica said.

“Come on. Let’s get started.” Kevin put his hand around her arm to tow her inside, away from Dan and Doug. “We could get a call at any time. I want to cover as much ground as possible as quickly as possible.”

Lew beat him to the side of the engine and opened the bins. Jessica joined him and he started showing her the tools. Kevin breathed a sigh of relief. Doug went back to the day room, and Dan didn’t seem to be interested in pursuing her any further. He hung back watching with Kevin as Lew took things out and discussed them with her. Lew, he could trust.

“Who’s the chick?” Mark Davis asked. “Dave said we had a visitor.”

“Kevin’s wannabe,” Dan answered. “But she’s no fuzzy yellow thing, that’s for sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“She just shut down Doug like nobody’s business. It was a beautiful thing to see.”

“That isn’t the only thing.” Mark sighed. “I love a woman who can handle tools.”

Jessica, at that moment, had a crowbar in her hands, testing its weight. Kevin felt his breath getting short. He knew the conversation wasn’t going to get any better, and he couldn’t think of a way to derail it.

“She’s got a body on her, too.”

“I know. Check out those legs.”

“I was looking at something else.”

Kevin ground his teeth together. He’d lost track of who was saying what because he was too angry to think straight. The memory of what it had felt like to have her body pressed under his in her kitchen smothered him. He could still taste the frosting on her lips and smell her skin.

“Gentlemen,” the captain said. “Our guest isn’t here for you to ogle. Mark, will you sweep out the dorm and then help Dan scrub the bathroom.”

Mark opened his mouth to protest and then got a good look at the captain’s face. He had on a scowl that brooked no argument. The two men scurried away to complete their tasks. The captain stood next to Kevin, watching Lew close one bin and open another.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to your birthday party last week.” Cap spoke quietly so as not to bother Jessica and Lew.

Kevin swallowed hard. It might be better that he hadn’t shown up. “That’s okay, Cap. I think it was kind of last minute.”

“I would have liked to be there. I was told by Captain Malloy up at Twelve it was very nice. Not the usual.” He gave Kevin an odd look. A little puzzled, a little curious, maybe a little doubtful. “Before she leaves, stop in my office. I’d like to meet her. She is very attractive.”

“Thanks,” Kevin murmured. Great, now he had the captain to worry about. Leaning on the wall, he watched Lew go through all the tools on the engine systematically. He should have asked Lew to help him train her instead of Bobbie. Lew seemed to be very good at answering her questions, leaving Kevin free to wonder what had upset her.

Her shoulders looked tense but that was all the emotion she’d displayed so far. She studied the tools Lew handed her with a coolness about her. Kevin wished he could ask her what was wrong. But he couldn’t.

Lew closed the last bin and Kevin pushed away from the wall to join them. “Do you feel more confident now?” he asked.

“Yes. It’s much easier to understand how things work when you can hold them in your hands.” She folded her hands together. “Thank you for your time, Lew.”

“Sure. Any time.” Lew nodded and went in the direction of the day room.

“The captain wants to see you before you go.” Kevin watched her face. A ripple of nervousness passed through her eyes before disappearing.

“All right. Where’s his office?”

Kevin gestured. He wanted to take her arm again, just to touch her, but he thought she might shy away like she had with Dan. His chest ached from wanting to touch her. Her demeanor reminded him of the day at the bookstore when she’d been fighting with her friend, the day he’d been so impressed with her handling of the old woman. Had she had another fight with her little friend? Had she told her parents, and been fighting with them? He knocked on the captain’s open door.

The captain looked up, smiling. “Jessica Decker, please come in. I’m Captain Stoker. Kevin, you can sit in if you like.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Jessica stepped forward and shook his hand. She sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Kevin sat down next to her, admiring the way she held her head high.

“I’ve heard some very complimentary things about you.” Cap grinned. “Captain Malloy from station Twelve says you are an excellent cook. I’m sorry I missed that party.”

“I’ll remember to invite you next time.” She smiled, but it looked strained to Kevin.

“I’ve also heard you attack your workouts with enthusiasm from Captain Bartlett. He has a membership at your gym, and he noticed you working with Bobbie Kelly one day. I hope you don’t feel spied on.”

“Of course not. Not very many women try out for the department, do they?”

“They do, but not many of them are as qualified as you are.” Cap lifted a paper off his desk. Kevin could see it was an application. Her application. Why did the captain have a copy of her application? Did they want her that badly? “You maintained a perfect grade point average through college, and you weren’t taking simple classes. That’s very impressive.”

Kevin tried to read the application, but couldn’t make it out upside down and across the desk. He could believe she’d had good grades in college, though he’d never met anyone who kept a perfect grade point average before. How did someone with a 4.0 end up in a bookstore? He glanced at her. Her cheeks were flushed. “I enjoyed my classes.”

“Obviously. Why aren’t you working in a research lab somewhere? Why a bookstore?”

“Research didn’t appeal to me. I didn’t feel like I was accomplishing anything putting stuff in Petri dishes and watching it grow. I ended up at the bookstore by default while I was trying to figure out what to do and unintentionally worked my way into management.”

“What made you decide you wanted to join the fire department?” Cap folded his hands on the desk.

Jessica glanced at Kevin, but kept her composure. “I’ve always wanted to be a paramedic. I started out pre-med in college because I wasn’t sure how to become a paramedic.”

Cap laughed. “That usually goes the other way. From your transcript it looks like you had figured out what you needed. Why didn’t you join the department out of college?”

“My mother.”

Kevin saw the brief sour twitch of her lips. That must be why she seemed so tense today. She must have told her mother.

Cap laughed again. “Mothers. They always think they can protect us.”

“Yes, they do. I think I’m beyond the need for protection though.” She turned and fixed Kevin with an indecipherable look. He shifted in his seat, wondering if the look meant something or if she had just wanted to include him in the conversation.

“Very good.” Cap stood up. “It has been a pleasure talking to you. I hope to have you sitting across my desk in a few months as a probationary firefighter, but I think I might be fighting a couple of other captains for you. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to stop in.”

“Thank you.” Jessica shook his hand again and left the office. She went through the apparatus bay and down the drive like she was going to set off along the sidewalk without another word.

“Hey, Jessica. Wait a minute.” Kevin hurried after her. She stopped in front of the Victorian next door. It had been for sale for months, but Kevin suspected that no matter how beautiful it was inside, no one wanted to live next to a fire station.

“Do they always take that much interest in hopefuls?” she asked before Kevin could ask her why she seemed so tense.

“No, not that I’ve ever noticed, but the captain told me a couple of weeks ago the department expects a shortage of paramedics in about a year. You could get lucky.”

“I don’t want to get lucky. I don’t want anything handed to me,” she insisted.

“I believe you. You won’t get anything handed to you. I guess you just have a very good-looking application. Relax. You’re not up to the oral exam, yet.” Kevin almost reached out and put his hands on her arms, but managed to stop himself.

She nodded.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she snapped.

“I thought we had this conversation.”

“What conversation?” She folded her arms.

“When something bad happens you have to get used to talking about it.” He felt a minor twinge of guilt for using this guise of helpfulness to get her to talk to him, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. “You’ve been tense since you got here. What’s wrong? Did you have another fight with Mindi?”

“No.”

“Did you talk to you mother?” Kevin guessed again. He glanced back at the bay door to see if they were being watched. So far the coast was clear.

“Yes, I talked to my mother. Why does it matter?” Jessica demanded. “Look, I’ve got to be someplace tonight, and I need to go home and get ready.” She started to turn away, but he grabbed her arm.

“It matters. You’ve been tense since you got here. What’s wrong?” Kevin wanted to know what had upset her, but now he wanted to know where she was going tonight too. Was it a date? Some young guy she met at the gym? Was that why she was so tense? “Come on. We’re friends, you can tell me.”