“Sorry,” she mumbled. “You found my earring?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I went back this morning and found it. It was a lot easier to spot in the daylight.”
I’d meant to give it to her when I got here, but totally forgot and left it in the car. Before I realized what she was doing, she closed the distance between us and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“Thank you.” Her warm breath skated across my skin.
Fucking hell.
My mom. My sister. Baseball. Snakes. I continued to think of five more things that I found undesirable.
My shoulders finally relaxed after she stepped back and turned, moving forward again. I stared after her, hoping that was the last incident of having her pressed against my body. At least until I could figure out how to stop my dick from reacting to her touch.
Maybe taking that shift with her tomorrow wasn’t the best move. But working together wouldn’t involve touching. It’d be fine.
And it would be the perfect way to place her firmly back into the coworker and friend category. My plan was foolproof.
Chapter Two
LYLA
“Doyou think it’s the arsonist?” I shifted nervously in the passenger seat as Adam drove the ambulance to the location of the fire. Not the best way to start a shift.
Early morning, hours before the sun had fully risen, a vacant building, and with it being the beginning of October, meant it could be our serial arsonist. Whoever it was had been causing havoc in Half Moon Lake since the beginning of the year. It was unusual for something like this to happen in a small, quiet town. Even though I hadn’t grown up here, my hometown forty minutes away was similar. Just like ours, you would find an occasional drunk driver or bar fight, but a serial arsonist? Highly unlikely.
“Definitely possible. Has his MO written all over it.” Hishands tightened on the steering wheel as he confirmed what I was thinking.
Regardless of where we were headed, I was super excited that Adam had picked up this shift. There were only a handful of people I enjoyed riding with. Some of the paramedics and older EMTs treated me with kid gloves, not really giving me a chance to learn and grow. I was a hands-on learner, and fortunately, Adam understood that and gave me the chance to apply the things he’d taught me. He seemed to recognize that if I needed help, I wouldn’t hesitate to say so.
One of the paramedics, Kyle Williams, was good about that too. He used to be an army medic until he was medically discharged. He had some truly interesting, but also heartbreaking stories to tell. But most of all, I loved hearing about his wife and kids. He lit up every time he talked about them. There were a few others I liked working with, but overall, Adam was my favorite.
It helped that we were friends. We liked the same music—mostly country—and had the same taste in food. Conversation between us came easily. He listened and didn’t judge. Even when I complained about my ex, Ted.
My best friend Mia was always quick to roll her eyes, telling me to dump his stupid ass every opportunity she got. She rarely sugarcoated anything, and was thoroughly delighted when Ted and I finally called it quits after four months. And even though I knew Adam agreed, he let me vent and process, never throwing it back in my face. I appreciated that.
This would be my third arson fire since I’d joined the Half Moon Lake fire department as an EMT in July. Seth’s girlfriend Violet was the crime scene tech assisting with the case, and they still had no hard evidence or new leads. They’d had a suspect back in May, but weren’t able to prove he was responsible, leaving everyone frustrated and the police department back to square one.
“You good?” Adam’s voice broke through my endless thoughts.
I looked over at him, his concern etched in every feature, andnodded. “Yeah, I’m good. It’s just nerve-racking.” Every time we got called to one of these fires, I worried that this would be the one where someone got severely injured, or worse. But I also didn’t want to voice that thought out loud. Call me superstitious, but I liked to keep my worst-case scenarios in my head. Putting them out there made me feel like it might call it into existence.
He parked the ambo in a safe spot away from the fire and turned toward me, reaching out and gripping my shoulder. “I know. But so far, we haven’t had any injuries or casualties.”
I worried my bottom lip between my teeth. “True. But each time there’s always a chance. And what if he sets a vacant building on fire with a squatter inside?”
I cringed at the thought. Our small town had a low homeless population, and very few of them took to occupying vacant buildings in the area. But it was still a possibility.
“Let’s not go there. If you stress and worry about every possible outcome with this job, it’ll eat away at you.” He studied me for another moment, then, with a reassuring squeeze of my shoulder, he opened the door and climbed out.
While he made his way over to check in with the second shift lieutenant, who was acting incident commander, I made my way around to the back of the ambo to prep the supplies that might be needed for possible injuries. After making sure everything was ready, I jumped out of the back and cursed my clumsiness as I teetered on my feet before gaining my balance. I was always on high alert and constantly taking in my surroundings when working—especially at a fire scene—so I wasn’t surprised when movement on the edge of my peripheral vision caught my attention, and I turned to look that way.
The sun hadn’t completely risen, so everything was cast in shadows, but I could still make out a figure standing near the tree line a couple hundred feet away. I took a few steps that way and froze as the man glanced my way before quickly turning and sprinting into the woods. It was hard to make out the color, but he was definitely wearing a dark sweatshirt with the hoodup.
My body went rigid and unease crept in. The arson suspect the police had on camera, someone who’d followed Violet around in a grocery store, wore a dark green hoodie. Could the man I just saw be our arsonist?
A hand landed on my shoulder, and I jumped with a muffled shriek, spinning around to see Adam standing there with a mix of confusion and concern marring his features.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
