To Protect & Serve (13 page)

“With chili and cheese,” she said as her voice gained momentum.

He laughed. “Yeah, right.”

“Seriously. That’s what I want.”

“Okay.” He looked past her to the traffic beyond. “Well, there’s a place we get lunch for the station sometimes, but it’s like ten blocks down, and in this traffic…”

“We could walk,” she said, liking that thought more than she knew she should.

“Are you sure?” he asked as his dark eyebrows raised at the thought.

Squaring her shoulders and her chin, she nodded. “Totally. Just point me in the right direction.”

She was just being nice, Jeff told himself as they stood at the eighth intersection. He should never have run after her in the parking lot. In fact, he shouldn’t have wai
ted for her in the first place. If nothing else, he should’ve just watched her drive away from the safety of the GTO and been done with it. However, standing next to her at the crosswalk, he had to admit he was glad he hadn’t. One more moment with her was worth all the embarrassment in the world.

Just before the lights changed, she looked at him, and he liked the smile in her eyes. “Race you.” The Walk sign flashed, and in the next heartbeat she was gone.

“Hey!” In three strides he caught up with her. Heels weren’t exactly the best running shoes in the world. Midway to the center, the sign flashed
Don’t Walk
. Eight jog strides and they stepped up onto the next curb together. “What are you? Nuts?”

“Just trying to prove your theory wrong,” she said with a shrug.

He laughed outright. “Well, I’m thinking next time, you might ought to wear better shoes.”

“You don’t like my shoes?” She kicked her strapped heels out past the long, straight navy skirt.

“Oh, no. There’re fine unless you’re racing lights. In which case…”

“You’ve got a point there,” she said, and he couldn’t help but think that she gave new meaning to the phrase traffic stopper. She looked over at him quizzically. “So, you’re here, but you’re not working. What’s up with that?”

“CPR classes. Intensive eight-hour day on top of a 24-hour night. Fun. Fun.”

When her worried gaze traced over him, he looked away and stifled the yawn. Sleep was now third or fourth priority on the list
at least.

“You sure you want to be eating now? You look like you could use a nice warm bed and a soft pillow.”

He yawned for real then. “Food first. Sleep later.”

Not looking exactly reassured, she nodded. “So, how’s work been?”

“Good. We got a call on a fire the other night…”

“Oh,” she said quietly, and he saw the smile fall.

Jeff shrugged having not realize the affect that simple admission would have on her. “But as fires go, it wasn’t so bad.”

“That’s good.”

They got to the next curb, and mischief danced across his tired heart. “Ten to one we don’t make it to the middle before it changes.”

“Ten to one? That’s a sucker’s bet. Hey!” On the breath of the breeze around them, they were running across the asphalt. Two steps beyond the middle, the
Don’t Walk
sign flashed. On the other side, she reached out for his back to stop him as she gasped for breath. That touch shot through him like a rocket flash. “Okay, what do I win?”

“Win?” he asked, looking back, and his heart slammed forward as her hand brushed down his back finally landing on her knees as she gasped for breath.

“You said ten to one we wouldn’t make it halfway, and we did.” When they started back down the walk, her strides weren’t nearly as focused as they had been when she’d first strode into the fire station. “So, what do I win?”

He smiled. “I’ll have to think about that one.”

“Think about it? That’s not fair.” But before she got that out, he banked to a door on the edge of the sidewalk and opened it. After a moment’s hesitation, she crossed in front of him, and into the little dimly lit café. He closed his eyes to memorize the soft fragrance of her as she passed him, and then he jumped back into reality to follow her in.

“Here.” His hand brushed across her back as he guided her to a table where he pulled her chair out with one swing. Once she was seated, he carefully sat down across from her and smiled. He couldn’t help it. It
was what her mere presence did for him.

She tilted her head and gazed at him. “What?”

“I just never pictured you to be a hot dog fan.”

“Why
not?”

Softly he laughed, wondering why his gaze seemed to lock on her so naturally. “The suits, the heels, you don’t exactly look like you’ve spent much time in dives.”

“I’ve been in my share,” she said almost defensively, but still he smiled. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, and for the life of him, he couldn’t get that smile off of his face. All of life could have simply stopped, and he knew he would’ve been perfectly happy to just sit there, looking at her forever.

“So have you heard from Dustin and Eve lately?” Lisa asked as they crossed back into the parking lot two hours later.

“They’re good,” Jeff said, and even now she noticed how his hands were safely jammed into his jeans pockets. Yes, guiding her to a table, pulling out chairs, opening doors, but beyond that, he seemed wholly content to just be near her. In fact, his hands somehow looked out of place, as though they didn’t really know where they were supposed to go. “I think Eve’s happy to be close to her folks again.”

“I can imagine although I’m surprised she even notices anybody else even occupies the planet besides him.”

Jeff laughed. “They’re intense, but I guess that’s what you get when you really fall for somebody.”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said with a sigh although her heart was saying much different.

“So you don’t have some intensity in your life?”

At the moment?
her brain asked without her permission. “No time.”

“That’s too bad,” he said softly. “I think everybody should have time for a little intensity now and then.”

She slipped up to her car door but still she wasn’t ready to just get in and drive off, so she turned and leaned back onto the door. He followed her lead until they were both looking out across the parking lot, shoulder-to-shoulder. “Once I get this dumb brochure thing done, then I’ll think about having a life. Until then…”

His gaze fell to the asphalt and then slipped up to her face. “Well, I hope Hayes will cut you some slack.”

“What I really wish is that I could just drop the whole dumb idea off a cliff and be done with it. It’s causing a lot more trouble than it was ever worth.”

Concern wafted over his features. “What kind of trouble?”

She glanced over at him and tried to smile, but it had no strength behind it. Her impromptu trek through the late night Houston streets replayed through her mind, and she closed her eyes and shook her head to block it out. “I’m sure it’s just me.”

“What is?” he asked, turning as he laid an elbow on the top of her car.

Trying to seem like it didn’t matter, she shrugged, but her hand rubbing up and down her other arm not to mention her black notebook held up to shield her from the memories betrayed the shrug. “It’s nothing.”

She felt his gaze narrow as outright worry across through his face. “What’s nothing?”

Suddenly she was right in the middle of intensity, and she had no idea how she had gotten here. “It’s just Mr. Cordell’s grandson.” She shook her head as her gaze tried to look at him, but humiliation pulled it down to their shoes. “Let’s just say he doesn’t take a hint very well.”

The worried scowl looked so out of place in his kind eyes. “Did he hurt you?”

She wanted to laugh at the distress in his tone, but the memories scratching through her wouldn’t let her. “No, but not for want of trying.”

Concern was banking toward anger on his face. “What does that mean?”

“It means I should’ve figured out by now that guys are after one thing and one thing only—no matter what other motives they seem to have to start with.” The sound of her voice was bitter even to her own ears.

“Not all guys are like that,” he said softly.

“Yeah? Well, every one I’ve ever met has been,” she said, and harshness dripped off of every word. Quickly she shook her head. “I’ve got to go.”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I shouldn’t have kept you.”

That stopped her, and the harshness dropped away when she looked at him, righting himself from her car. “I had a nice time.”

He tried to hold her gaze as his hands found his pockets. “I did, too.”

She opened her door as her heart begged her not to totally shut the door on him. The improbability was enough to give Einstein a headache, and yet her heart said that if she had indeed found the one nice guy left on the planet, she would be an idiot to make this the final good-bye. “Call me sometime.” Rational pulled her up short with a snap, but it was too late.

His gaze jumped to hers in surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah,” she said, “and I promise I’ll return it this time.”

With a grateful smile wafting from the depths of his eyes, Jeff nodded. “I might just do that.”

The idea was always there, in the recesses of Jeff’s mind, but every time he picked up the phone, his courage evaporated. She didn’t really want him to call. Besides she was busy with the whole conference thing, and the last thing she needed was to be wasting time talking to him. Several times during the week her silhouette leaning against that car drifted through his mind, and every time, he saw the defensiveness and the stay-in-your-space stance in her eyes.
Wary
, he thought Wednesday afternoon as the clock wound around to two o’clock. That was a good way to describe how she looked.

“Hey, watch the water thing!” Dante yelled from the opposite side of the truck as the memories drifting through Jeff’s head took reality right along with them for a moment too long, causing the water hose in his hands to get a little wilder than he had planned.

“Sorry!” he called over the metal.

“Sure you are,” Dante muttered, and Jeff refocused on the task at hand.

With one hand he reached into the bucket teeming with suds as the other held the water hose. The silver across the front of the truck gleamed in the bright sunshine as the sponge worked its way to the other side.

“Think fast!” Dante called over the truck, and Jeff ducked the second he saw the shadow of the object arcing over the top of the truck. The sponge hit the bucket beyond with a splash.

“Nice shot!” Jeff said approvingly.

“Thanks.”

He trained the water back to the front tire as his sponge worked across the black rubber.

“Hmm,” the voice said behind him, and when he turned, water from both the sponge and the hose splattered across the sidewalk.

“Li… sa?” he asked in surprise as he straightened. He couldn’t be totally sure. Her hair cascading down in a brown fall, streaked with just a touch of lighter brown deleted what he had previously thought of as the most gorgeous woman in the world from the disc of his mind. “I didn’t… hey… Um, are you here to see the captain?”

Her eyes danced right along with her smile as she brushed a piece of hair that blew into her face back. “Yeah. Is he around?”

“I think he’s…” Jeff’s gaze ripped from hers into the station. “Yeah, he’s right in there.” The water followed his attempt to point, and it splashed across the puddles on the driveway as he did.

She looked down at her shoes that had been splattered by the motion.

“Oh, man, I’m sorry,” Jeff said as his nerves jumped to the surface. He wasn’t at all sure that if he was thinking straight he could’ve figured out what to do with the hose and the sponge so he could get her dry again, but one thing was for sure, straight was so far away he couldn’t even see it.

“It’s okay,” she said as she backed up. “I’ve been meaning to take a bath.” He laughed hollowly as she glanced into the station. “I’d better go. See you when I get done?”

“I’ll be here,” he said, and when she stepped away, his heart plummeted out in front of him. Whoa. She was the most beautiful person he’d ever laid eyes on.

“Heads up!” Dante yelled from the top of the truck, and before Jeff had a second to rejoin reality, he turned just as the sponge hit the bucket in front of him, sending suds in a fountain right over the top of him.

“Ugh! Dant!” he yelled furiously. “Crud!”

“Sorry,” Dante said with a laugh.

Jeff shook the suds off his arms even as he tried to wipe them off his face. “Sure you are.” Then his gaze chanced into the station, and as hard as she was trying not to laugh, Lisa’s whole face was lit with laughter. He shook his head at her as his own smile jumped to the surface.
Smooth
.
Real smooth.
He arched his eyebrows skyward helplessly.

“Oh. You’re back again?” Captain Hayes said to her, and Lisa’s attention snapped away from Jeff as she stepped into the space vacated by the fireman who had been talking with the captain.