“Two guys from the Magnolia company.” Bryan yawned again. “They got out with burns but nothing severe. Broke a window to get out when the roof collapsed.”
“Oh, well, that’s good. I’m glad no one was hurt.”
“Yeah, Carlos and I had a close call too.”
Her eyes widened. “You did?”
Nodding, he replied, “More than one roof collapsed. The building we were searching did as well. He yanked me out before I got caught. It could easily have been both of us, which would’ve made it even worse. He said to move, and instead, I looked up when I should’ve just listened.”
Elise covered his hand with hers and squeezed it. “You got out of it okay, though. That’s what’s important.”
“I know. But I might not have, and it would’ve been my fault.” He hung his head as the guilt set in all over again. “You were worried, and I might’ve left my mom with two dead kids, my sister with two dead siblings. All because I made a rookie mistake.”
“Well, of course I was worried. I care about you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He lifted his head and caught her gaze. “You mean you aren’t angry that I was stupid and should’ve been more careful?”
Pulling her hand back, she blinked a few times as if trying to understand what he was saying. “Why on earth would I be angry with you? More like thrilled that you’re sitting in my passenger seat, alive and well.”
“Really? You mean that?”
“I really mean it. I’m not mad or upset or angry or whatever you might think.” Her eyebrows knitted together. “Whatever made you think I’d be any of those things?”
Shrugging, he lowered his gaze. “I don’t know.”
“I’ve got a sneaking suspicion you’ve been in this situation before.” She took a deep breath. “You know you can talk to me, right? I’ve been leaning on you nonstop since we met, and if you’ll let me, I can be someone you lean on too.”
Lean on someone. He’d done that—no, he hadn’t done that before. It was always about Courtney. It didn’t matter the circumstance; she was always the focus. “Courtney, my ex-fiancée, didn’t particularly care for my line of work and made a point of telling me how much she hated it a few days before we were supposed to get married.”
Elise’s lips parted in a small gasp, reaching her hand to take his again. “She left you?”
“Yeah, and you’d think she’d have figured that out during the year leading up to our wedding, but no. I was the one left canceling everything too.” At the time, it had been so embarrassing.
“I’d call that a bullet dodged.” She scoffed. “Can you imagine finding all this out after marrying her? What a piece of work.”
“What?”
“She was a jerk. Living with her would have been a nightmare,” Elise replied, taking her hand from his and crossing them over her chest. “Can you imagine?”
For some reason, that made him laugh. “I’ve never thought about it like that.” And now that he was giving it a look from a different angle, Elise was right. He’d been spared some serious misery. “I can’t believe I never looked at it that way.”
Shrugging, Elise hugged herself. “I know the feeling. I’ve been so pig-headed about being seen and standing on my own two feet that I’ve missed chances and opportunities I wish I hadn’t.” She chuckled. “I’m not making light of what happened to Patrick, but I became paralyzed that day too. Only I did it by choice.”
With another yawn, Bryan raked his hand through his hair. “Nothing like soul-searching to make you exhausted.”
“Yeah.” She smiled. “Or thinking someone you cared about was hurt in a fire. I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was to see you climbing down from that truck. I wish I’d had my camera. You looked great.”
“I was covered in soot and smelly. I would’ve broken your camera.”
“Hardly. More like National Geographic worthy.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “How about we go home and I cook you some breakfast? Then you can get some sleep.”
“Or how about we both cook breakfast and then watch a little TV. As tired as I am, after a fire like that, it takes me a while to unwind.”
“That sounds perfect to me.”
More than perfect. It sounded like heaven to him. Breakfast, spending time with someone he’d fallen for, and—
Fallen. It wasn’t like he could deny the obvious. He’d fallen for Elise. And now, with the new perspective he had, he didn’t see a reason why it couldn’t turn into so much more. That’s if Elise was being honest.
Not that he was calling her integrity into question, but what about the next time when the call wasn’t just close. What would happen if he did get hurt? Would she still feel the same way?
He didn’t have an answer for that, but he definitely had an answer for the way he’d been carrying the past. That brick on his shoulders was gone. He refused to bring it along anymore. He wouldn’t let the past dictate his future or his happiness any longer. He was free of it.
Chapter 23
With her feet on the coffee table and crossed at the ankle, Elise smiled down at Bryan, who was now sound asleep with his head in her lap. Smokey was sprawled out on the floor with his back flush against the edge of the couch. For the first time that she could remember, she felt contentment and peace.
It was so cute watching Bryan fight against falling asleep. They’d decided to watch a movie, and he’d been determined to watch it all the way through. He lasted all of ten minutes before his chin was resting on his chest.
When she encouraged him to lie down, he’d barely opened his eyes. That was a few hours ago now, and she still wasn’t tired of staring at him. She’d come close to losing him, and the more she thought about it, the more precious he became to her.
Tracing the lines of his face, it was hard for her to imagine anyone being angry at him for doing his job. And even harder to imagine anyone leaving him. How could someone hurt him like that?
He was protective and kind. Warm and generous. Yes, at first his job was…huge. A massive factor to consider, but who could resist this man? Not a sane woman. That’s for sure. After how wonderful he’d been to Else, even after he’d been hurt so badly? It was a testament to his character.
Combing her fingers through his hair with one hand, she lifted the screen of her laptop and fired it up. She was exhausted, but she’d yet to shut her mind down enough to even think of sleeping.
A little piece of plastic sticking out the side caught her attention, and her mouth dropped open. She clicked on the extra drive in her laptop library, and she gasped. These were the pictures she thought she’d given to Kyle.
Oh no, she mouthed, covering her mouth with her hand. If these were the pictures from the beach, what had she given Kyle?
Grimacing, she looked down at Bryan and palmed her forehead. The station photo shoot. Oh, no, no, no. How could she have gotten the drives mixed up?
Whatever sleep she thought she might get was definitely gone now. Clicking on one of the files, she let each picture slowly slide across the screen. Her hope was that it would be like counting sheep and she’d eventually nod off.
Photo after photo, she continued to flip through them. Until something strange caught her attention. She had to flip back and forth a few times before really understanding what she was seeing.
There weren’t only wooden pilings in the background of the photo, worn down by decades of rough surf. There were people. Men, in fact. They wore dark clothes and were moving slightly while Elise’s camera clicked away. They changed position from one shot to the other like flip-book animation.
Once she was sure what she was seeing, she checked the dates of the photos, and her pulse raced. It was the same day as the fire.
Next, she pulled up the file with the date she’d received the note. Again, next to the wood pilings, there was a group of men, and this time, one of them was looking straight at her.
Covering her mouth with her hand, she st
ared at the photos a moment and debated whether to wake Bryan or not. No, she wouldn’t wake him. It wasn’t like he could do anything, but Kyle could. With a few short clicks, several of the photos were attached to an email and on their way to his inbox.
Hopefully, he’d get them and use editing equipment that could enhance the photos enough to help determine who those men might be and if they were the source of the fire and the note. If she were to bet, that’s who she’d put her money on. Whatever they were doing, they didn’t want anyone having evidence of it. Had they left her alone, there was a chance no one would’ve ever found out.
Elise looked down at Bryan. There was also the chance that she would’ve never stayed with him. Gotten to know him. Losing her home wasn’t the best thing in the world to happen to her, but she’d take Bryan over it any day.
Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t lost her world that day. She’d found it.
* * *
In a haze of sleep, Bryan reached out to the coffee table and snatched up his phone. “Hello?”
“You’re not Elise,” Kyle replied.
Bryan pulled the phone away from his ear. “No…”
Then he realized why he’d been reluctant to wake up. At some point, he’d fallen asleep on the couch and lay down, and apparently, Elise had too since her back was pressed against his chest and her head was resting on his arm. Now he wished he’d had the chance to wake up a little less abruptly. It would’ve been nice to appreciate holding her for a while.
With a deep breath, she pushed herself up, taking the phone from Bryan. “Hello?”
Bryan sat up also and tried to piece together how he’d managed to fall asleep with Elise in his arms. He rubbed his hand over his head and yawned. He’d slept pretty good, too, and the couch wasn’t even all that great when it came to comfort. Or maybe feeling rested wasn’t due to the couch as much as the woman who’d been on the couch with him.
Elise took the phone from her ear and put it on speaker. “Hey, Kyle, Bryan can hear you now too.”
“Okay. I’ve been looking through those photos you emailed me.” He laughed. “I’m glad you did. When I had the chance to look through the drive you gave me, I realized they were probably not the ones you meant to give me. I’ll get those back to you tomorrow.”
Now Bryan was alert. “Photos? Email? What?” What was Kyle talking about?
“I’ll explain everything after the call.” She smiled and grimaced. “Go ahead, Kyle.”
“The man in that photo you sent me is Richard Trask. He goes by Richie.” Kyle paused a beat. “Or that’s what the dental records say. He washed up this morning near the warehouse fires, and it wasn’t until I got your photo that we pieced it together.”
Elise blinked. “He’s dead?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think you’re out of the woods yet. He’s got a whole crew, and they’re all just as bad as he was. They must have killed him after you caught him on camera again.”
Bryan leaned forward on the couch, setting his elbows on his knees. “A whole crew?”
“Yeah, and they’re involved with a number of shady characters up in Baltimore.” Kyle paused, and a sound like papers being shuffled filtered through the phone. “His first arrest came when he was fourteen, when he pulled a gun on his teacher.”
“Wow.” Elise looked at Bryan. “Nice guy.”
“Yeah, no kidding. According to the Baltimore Police Department, he was most recently involved with a small-time crime family named Lorenzo who was looking to wedge themselves into the business of gunrunning.”
Bryan sat forward a little more. “Gunrunning?” That took this whole thing to a new level. It was serious before, but guns?
Kyle scoffed. “Yeah, and those crates you guys found in that fire? Well, the ones not burned to a crisp were full of guns. It looks like the warehouse fires were intentionally set to get rid of the evidence. Thinking you were on to them must have gotten them nervous. They might have thought you were working for us.”
“What does this mean for Elise?” asked Bryan as he caught Elise’s gaze.
“Richie and the other man, the two men Elise managed to take pictures of, are members of the Lorenzo family. Maybe not by blood, but by association. They had no reason to be down here, considering their business is usually done in Baltimore.”
“But what does that mean for me?” Elise asked. “I mean, I’m okay, right?”
“Let’s just say I’m glad you’re staying with Bryan.” Kyle paused, and it sounded like he was muffling the phone. When he returned, he said, “I know you like taking pictures at the beach, but until we’ve got them in custody, you need to lie low. They can’t be very happy to have lost all that inventory.”
Bryan nodded. “I’ll make sure she does.”
Elise rolled her eyes. “I doubt they’d try anything at this point. They must know the police have caught wind. They’ve probably already gone back to Baltimore.”
“Maybe, or maybe they’re waiting for their chance to take you out,” Kyle replied. “It’s not just you, remember?”
Elise pinched her lips together and nodded. Whatever they were talking about, she wasn’t thrilled with the mention of it.
After a few assurances that Bryan would make sure Elise listened, they ended the call with Kyle.
Bryan leaned back on the couch. “Okay, you said you’d explain later. What photos was he talking about?”
“Okay, so after you fell asleep, I was still wide awake, so I fired up my laptop.” She winced. “I thought I’d given Kyle the pictures I’d taken at the beach, but…”
Bryan squeezed his eyes shut. “Please don’t tell me.”
“I’d given him the wrong SD card.” She groaned. “I’m so sorry. It was after I received the note, and I guess I just wasn’t thinking.”
He held up his hand. “It was going to come out eventually.” But not before the entire Baker Beach Fire Department was thoroughly mocked by local law enforcement. “Anyway, the emailed pictures.”
“Right. Well, I began flipping through the beach photos, thinking it would help me get to sleep, and then I noticed these figures in the distance. At first, I’d missed it because they kinda blended in with the wood pilings, but then on one of the last frames, it looked like one of them had sprouted legs.”
“Okay.”
“I enlarged the picture, and that’s when I realized it was men on the beach. It got me to thinking, and I checked the dates. Both the fire and the note line up with the days I took those photos. I know it had to be them because in one of the last pictures, one of the men was looking straight at me. I didn’t even know they were there.” She stood and palmed her forehead. “The idiots. If they’d left me alone, they’d probably be back in Baltimore, and no one would’ve even known they were here.”
Pushing off the couch, Bryan stretched and rolled his neck. “At least you noticed it. Now you have some answers, but you heard Kyle. You need to keep your head down until these men are locked up. From the sound of it, they’d hurt you and think nothing of it.”
Elise’s shoulders sagged. “I’m a blip now that the police are onto them. Why would they want to hurt me now?”
“Because they’re bad guys and they do bad things? Just a theory.” He laughed.
She closed the little bit of distance between them and palmed his chest. “I’ll be fine.”
Covering her hand with one of his and wrapping the other around her waist, he pulled her flush against him. “I know. Because I’ll make sure you keep your head down like the nice police officer told me to do.” He flashed her a cheesy grin.
She sighed and softened against him. “Have I told you how glad I am that you weren’t hurt?”
“If you said it a few hundred more times, I wouldn’t mind.”
Lifting on her toes, she brushed her lips across his cheek. “I’m so glad you weren’t hurt. I’m so glad—”
With a touch of his lips to hers, he cut her off, and it was as if the room was electrif
ied. He’d never wanted or needed anyone more than he wanted and needed her. Nothing he could bring to mind could even come close.
As she circled her arms around his neck, the kiss deepened, and all he could think was that he couldn’t picture life with anyone but her. The taste of her lips, the feel of her body against his…the way her hands locked behind his neck, holding on to him like she’d lose him. She was a fire he’d gladly and willingly allow to consume him.
Even better, it seemed she was as desperate for him as he was for her. Leaving her lips, he trailed kisses along her jaw and down her throat, spurred by soft, throaty moans each time his lips brushed against her delicate skin. He moved back to her lips, and by the time they broke the last kiss, he was needing air.
Leaning back with barely a breath between them, he held her gaze as time stopped. This. This was what he wanted. Her, with scant air between them, for as long as humanly possible until death tore him from her. Because that’s what it would be. Him fighting tooth and nail to be with her and love her.
The word sucked away what little air he had left. As scary and risky as love was, it also gave him the most peace. Seeing her when he came home, making dinner with her, and falling asleep on the couch together. Little things to most, but huge to him. Someone he could hold on to when the world didn’t make sense.
Part of him wanted to scream it from a rooftop, but the more sensible side of him thought better of it. She was still in the middle of something scary, whether she wanted to admit it or not. It wasn’t exactly the greatest or most romantic time to tell her he loved her. He didn’t want gunrunners tainting what he hoped would be the start of something lasting.
For now, he’d hold her, keep her safe, and once they were in the clear, he’d find that rooftop and let her know exactly how he felt about her.
Chapter 24
Grabbing a pair of socks from her drawer, Elise sat on the edge of the bed and called Sally. The message she’d left while Elise was in the shower ended with a plea to return it so Sally would know she was okay.
Firefighter's Rescue (Bakers Beach: First Responders Book 1) Page 10