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I was stunned when she replied.
Rory: How is Flash?
With a soft chuckle, I glanced down at the damn dog in my bed, snoring.
Me: At my feet. Damn thing won’t stop following me everywhere I go. He chewed up my shoe earlier. A station full of shoes and he finds mine to chew.
Rory: LOL! Means he loves you. How are Presley and Harmony doing?
Me: They’re great! Preston sent me a picture of them earlier. I’ll show you the next time I see you.
Rory: I can’t see now?
Me: Nope. I’m giving you something to look forward to.
Rory: Trust me…that is not what I’m looking forward to.
My dick jumped, and I sat up quickly. Taking in a deep breath, I blew it out slowly before I typed my response.
Me: What are you looking forward to?
I was playing with fire, but goddamnit, I liked playing with it.
Rory: Your lips on mine. Your hands on my body. Being in your arms again.
She was going to kill me.
Me: When can I see you?
Rory: Is it wrong I want to say now :(
Me: No, Éan, it’s not wrong at all.
The tone rang out for a fire—damn!—and I quickly typed a goodbye to her.
Me: Alarm. Have to run. Later, babe.
She instantly replied.
Rory: Stay safe, Finn. Please.
—
“Fire alarm, Engine 33 on-site. Smoke coming from two-story brick,” I transmitted back to dispatch.
A car pulled up and I saw Captain Adams get out. He quickly called in as fire commander. A lady ran up to me, crying incoherently.
“Ma’am, I can’t understand what you are saying.”
She started screaming and hitting me on the chest, then quickly turned and raced back into the building.
“Engine 33, resident ran back inside.”
Colton was next to me in less than two seconds as we took the fire hose and headed into the building.
This was my life. The rush I lived for. The one thing I needed.
My heart rate spiked like it always did and I hit my helmet three times. It was a habit I’d started the very first fire I went into.
Heading in first, Colton motioned with his hand to move forward. The second I stepped into the building, Rory popped into my head, and I came to a stop. Frozen in my tracks.
Colton turned and hit me on the arm. “Dude, you all right?”
The fear in Rory’s voice when the alarm tone went off earlier hit me full force, and my feet suddenly felt like they were melted into the spot I was standing in. What in the hell was wrong with me?
“Ward? Finn!” Colton shouted. I shook my head to clear it. Realizing I was standing there like an idiot. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s do this.”
—
Walking out of the shower, I stopped and looked at Colton. He was standing there with his arms folded across his chest.
“What in the hell happened tonight, Ward?”
I knew what he was talking about, but played dumb. “What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “When you froze walking into a damn burning building. Dude, you stood there for at least a good minute and a half before I snapped you out of it.”
With a shrug, I replied, “Not sure, but it won’t happen again.”
I knew that not only did my life hang in the balance, but so did the lives of all my brothers. The last thing I would ever want to do is put them in danger.
“Your damn right it won’t.” He stepped closer to me. “It’s Rory, isn’t it? Seeing her earlier today messed with your head. I saw you texting someone right before the tone went off. It was her…wasn’t it?”
My jaw clinched tight as I narrowed my eyes at him. Nothing ever distracted me on the job.
Nothing.
But today, it had. I’d been brought to a halt by the fear in the voice of this woman I hardly knew but whom I craved nonstop. And it wasn’t even to sleep with her. It was her touch. Her smile. The sound of her laugh that haunted my thoughts every fucking minute of the day.
Focusing back on Colton, I responded, “Fuck you, Harris. I haven’t been sleeping good with that damn dog. Hell, I couldn’t sleep before the tone went off, and who I was talking to is none of your damn business. It’s not like you’ve never froze up before. It was one moment—it won’t happen again.”
He stared at me, knowing the line of bullshit I was feeding him was far from the truth. “I sure as hell hope it won’t ever happen again. That one second might cost you your life, Finn. Or someone else’s.”
—
To celebrate Rory and I going out for a month, I made plans to take her on a canoe ride on the Charles River. Trying to coordinate when we were both off proved to be the hardest part of planning dates with Rory. So this would be a late evening date.
