Chapter 17
“A spitfire who will roast me over the coals. Fun!”
-Aaron
My heart races as I search for keys and head out to my truck. I need to go after Camellia and talk to her about what happened. This is not the moment to let her stew about this. Camellia has a quick temper, but it usually burns out fast.
At least, that’s the way she used to be.
Who knows what she’s like now.
And the look on her face tells me she won’t get over this quickly. I don’t have to be a Camellia mind reader to know she’ll hop the next plane back to D.C. and be back undercover and out of my life again before I can blink.
That’s how fast she disappeared last time.
Camellia and I danced around our attraction to each other for years. We were probationary firefighters, then partners at Flame Jumpers. We worked so closely. People called her my work wife. For a twenty-something guy, the wordwifemight invoke a panic attack, but when it came to Camellia, I was the total opposite. I thought about it more times than I ever cared to admit.
There were times I could tell Camellia thought about it too.
But we nevertalkedabout it.
We were constantly in each other’s lives since the first day on the job. We went through training together. I’d land in hot water and on shit job detail for asking too many questions. She’d be in trouble because our trainers didn’t thinkfemalesorgirlswere strong enough to do the job.
In our training class of fifty, she was one of two women. After three hours, the other woman quit because the trainers made it impossible for her to succeed. They’d force the women to run a mile carrying a ladder or a 40-pound hose while wearing rubber boots that were two sizes too big.
Not once, in my entire career as a firefighter, have I ever had to run with a ladder or a firehose. If we need a ladder at a fire in Florida, we use the one on the top of the truck. We unspool firehoses as a team. It’s a safety thing. Like not wearing rubber boots that don’t bend or breathe. We wear leather ones.
Whenever the 5’5” Camellia had to run in the unforgiving rubber boots, which was nearly every day, she’d be nursing blisters and welts on her feet within 30 minutes. But she never complained. She sucked it up and took all the punishing training.
When that didn’t break her, the trainers began partnering her with other guys in our class, thinking they’d run her out on a rail. You knew you were in deep shit with the trainers if they paired you with Camellia for the day because they wanted the both of you to fail.
That’s how I got to know her. My insubordinate ass annoyed the shit out of the trainers. So, they paired me withthe girlto see what would happen.
What happened was a beautiful partnership. They’d tell us to run a mile with the ladder and hand it to Camellia. They didn’t tell her that she had to carry it. But she wasn’t about to let me take the whole thing by myself and be all Alpha Fireman on her. So, we split it. We carried it between us.
Did it slow us down? Yes.
Did we care? No.
Did it piss off the trainers? Hell yes, it did.
Camellia and I’d be laughing so hard when we crossed the one-mile mark that our trainers would get disgusted with us and send us to wash dishes or clean toilets. That, of course, would make us laugh even more.
No matter how hard they tried, Camellia wouldn’t break. She might bend a little but never break.
She was tough.
Is tough.
And I was privileged to see the softer side of her. The side she showed to no one else. Deep down, Camellia Saber simply wanted to fall in love and have a big family. She wanted a partner in her life. One who understood the job. One who made her laugh during the lighter times. One who could make her scream with passion during the sultry times. And one who would hold her hand during the bad times.
Our dreams aligned so perfectly it made my heart ache.
But, like the asshole I was, I didn’t say a word.
After graduating from the academy and being on the job for a few years, more women joined the ranks. Camellia and I watched other couples work closely and catch feelings for each other.
When you hear about workplace romances in dangerous jobs, you might think it’s only a threat when the couple breaks up. That is partially true. But it’s also a threat when things are going well because the couple is so wrapped up in each other that they ignore what’s happening around them.
