AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Not the case with a pompier. Deemed too dangerous for use in everyday firefighting, the brass didn’t bat an eyelash when it came to ordering recruits to climb the fourteen-foot-long pieces of wood with small handles that run up either side of the dinosaurlike vertebrae to test their mettle.
The first day they were introduced to the pompier, he’d had a panic attack. Yet, regardless of the fear, Sean was determined he would get through the maneuvers. He remembered Lana and he stood side-by-side to begin the exercise. They were to flip the top of the pompier to the sill of the window above and when it caught, they had to climb.
The muscling of the pompier into place against a seven-story building wasn’t a problem for him, but when he looked way up, he felt his stomach flip. It was then that Lana turned to him and said, “I’ll race you.”
The fierce competitive look on her face gave him the momentum to grab the handles and begin to climb, but he wasn’t prepared for the way the threadlike frame bent and swayed.
He’d felt bile rise when he heard the creak and groan of the windowsill above, the only thing that held him aloft. But it was only the beginning.
At the sixth window, their trainer yelled, “Belt yourself to the ladder.”
With slick hands, he did as he was told, but he froze when the command came.
“Lean back.”
Sean knew he was going to lose it right then and there, but he’d glanced over at Lana. She was leaning out with her arms wide as if she was on a cross. She had a rapturous look on her face as if it was the most wonderful experience in the world.
He swallowed his fear and leaned slowly away from the safety of the building, feeling as if any moment the earth would rush up to greet him. Sweating and cursing under his breath, he opened his arms and hung there suspended with his eyes closed, keeping that image of Lana’s face in his mind until they were told to come back down.
He thought about going over to her house. He loved Lana’s house from the light green paint he’d help put on the new siding to the porch she’d lovingly restored. But he especially loved the riot of flowers that gave the bungalow an English garden feel to it. It would be a nice place to come home to.
Sean lived in a boring apartment on the twenty-third floor. It had a great view, but definitely lacked the cozy feeling of Lana’s place.
He had no doubt she would open the door with a smile and a greeting.
So why were his palms sweaty and his heart pounding, as he thought about walking up to her bungalow to drop in on her unannounced?
The unexpected sight of her sidling up to the bar and ordering a beer made him forget all about flowers, porches and paint. Sean marveled at how she was able to take his breath away. Even with soot on her face, helmet hair and the scent of smoke about her, she looked beautiful to him.
He got up from the table he was sitting at and made his way over to the bar.
“Hey,” he said by way of greeting.
When he tried to look in her eyes, she was turning away to grab her purse to pay for the beer. For a moment, he wondered if she was shy around him now that they’d been intimate, or was she as confused about how to act around him as he was about how to act around her.
He covered her hand as she pulled out her wallet. “I got it, Lana.”
She looked up at him and down at his hand, her eyes telling him that she liked his touch. His doubts dissipated along with the fear that had settled in his abdomen.
“Thanks, O’Neill. Did you get the lawn mowed?”
“No, I have to run into town tomorrow and replace the mower blade. You’d think that Riley would notice the thing’s rusted.”
“If you made him take responsibility instead of always saying yes to his demands, he might.”
Sean shifted, knowing she was right, but in the past, doing favors for his family hadn’t been a big deal.
Lana eyed him and continued, “But Riley’s surf crazy and you know it. He’s good, Sean. Has he thought about going pro?”
“Don’t encourage him. That’s all he ever talks about.”
Lana took a sip of her beer and Sean studied her face. “Where have you been? You’re glowing with that smug look that tells me you’ve been up to no good.”
Lana flashed him a wicked grin. “I have been. Sienna, Kate and I were on a mission of utmost importance.”
“That sounds ominous. What are you three up to?”
“Oh, only a shopping excursion to buy something to snag a special man Kate is trying to entice.”
