The force pushes me back, and he’s there, lending me his weight.
Flames dance forward like a lover reaching out to kiss me before she retreats from my onslaught, redirecting across the ceiling and down the walls, seeking new fuel to consume. The chase is fuckin’ sexy as hell.
I lower the flow and watch her dance a little. “Yeah, baby,” I murmur. “You like it hot, don’t ya?”
“Quit dickin’ around, Kermie.” Cal’s command is muffled behind his breathing apparatus, but I get the message. He knows I fucking hate that nickname. My parents named me after a great-grandfather; it’s just too bad he wasn’t named something normal, instead of landing me with a freaking puppet name. I hate it, and that’s the only reason Cal insists on using it—mainly when he’s giving me shit. Obviously, he’s tired of me sweet-talking the flames.
Killjoy.
I switch to a fog spray pattern, providing us with a protective barrier and reducing the hot air from the room. As much as I like to dance with fire, this girl looks like she could roll over any second, and I can’t let her hurt my partner. He’s already been hurt once because I made a mistake. I’ve failed two people in my life—one it cost them their life. It won’t happen again.
I sigh. Playtime’s over.
Switching back to a large, heavy stream, I bump into Cal again before we’re able to press forward and advance through the rest of the house.
In no time at all, the fire is contained, and she taps fully out. Then the fun part is over, and the overhaul work begins.
We’re a couple hours in when Cal’s phone pings a notification. His axe head hits the floor as he reaches for his phone. Me? I’d let it sit unread and get to it later. Or never. But Cal’s got a woman and kid at home, and he never misses a message, even in the middle of a call.
“No way,” he exclaims.
The ceiling I’ve been battling finally gives up and breaks away, falling into a nasty heap of ruined, waterlogged sheetrock on the floor between us.
“Dude.” He flashes his phone toward me, the glow of the screen highlighting the dusty debris cloud hanging in the air. “Chief and Deputy Chief Collins got married tonight. Rosie just sent me a picture.”
With NFD’s Chief Olivia Hawkins, and my Deputy Chief Mac Collins tying the knot, I guess now there are two Chief Collins. That’s going to be confusing as fuck. Rosie being their daughter and Cal’s occasional babysitter it makes sense he’d have her number.
Cal taps out a message and then resumes overhauling, smiling like a damn loon. “I guess he finally got fed up with waiting and flew them all to Vegas.”
“That’s one way to do it.” Though I’ll never understand why anyone would want to be tied down to one place, or one person, forever. A shudder ripples through me at the thought of locking anything down permanently. Hell, I’ve already got itchy feet, and I’m ready to get the hell out of Georgia, let alone this small town. I can’t imagine staying here and settling down. And marriage? Nah. Not for me.
If it didn’t work for my parents, who were solid as a rock until I went to college, I’m not convinced it can work for anyone.
“Never let it be said that Mac Collins couldn’t get shit done.”
Cal is such a suck-up to the deputy chief. It didn’t bother me at first, but after that call where Cal got clobbered by a tree branch during storm cleanup… anyway, it gets on my nerves every time he gloats about how great Collins is. Collins isn’t the one who pulled the branch off him or kept him awake in the ambo. That was me and our medic crew.
Whatever. He’s just a dude.
It doesn’t matter. If things go my way and I get into the program I’m gunning for, I won’t have to listen to it much longer.
We fall back into the rhythm of ripping into sheetrock and checking for hotspots. I low-key hate this part of the job. It’s not nearly as fun as the adrenaline rush from actually fighting a fire.
“We should have a party,” he says as his phone dings again, and he pauses to check the message. It’s no wonder it takes us twice as long as it should to complete a job, since he can’t stay focused and off his phone for more than a minute. “Looks like I’m not the only one thinking that way. Reception is next weekend after they get back from their honeymoon.”
“They planned something that quick?”
He shakes his head, huffing a laugh as he slips his phone back into his pocket. “Those NFD ladies can make anything happen.”
Fucking NFD.
Even though it’s barely a twenty-minute drive from Senoma, Newman is the largest municipality in our county and the only one with its own fire services. All the other towns, like Senoma, are covered by county forces.
“No idea who you’re talking about.” I do, but it grates on my fucking nerves when he talks about his old crew. IfNewman Fire Department is so great, why doesn’t he go back there?
Am I a little jealous that he talks about them and thinks so highly of them when it doesn’t sound like they were all that great of friends? Maybe. But I’m so tired of hearing about them like it was such a great place to be, when he’s the one who left.
“Jules said they’re all over it and planning a big shindig for both departments. I’ll make sure to introduce you to the guys I used to work with at NFD and their women.”
