by Lori Toland
Payback: The Men Of Firehouse 69
Text Copyright © December 2012 Lori Toland
Editor: P. Knight
Cover Artist: Winterheart Design
All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Epilogue
About The Author
Dedication
Special Thanks to Kele M. and Emily C. for their guidance and advice on my book. You guys rock!
To my friends and family, thank you for always being there for me. Love you!
To my husband, you are my hero, always and forever. Little hearts!
Chapter One
Andre was ready to bust out of the truck and break down her door.
Ryan, the driver, pulled up in front of the two-story apartment complex, which appeared to be fire and disaster free though that provided him little relief. “Easy there, tiger,” Ryan said. “I’m sure she’s fine.”
Andre grimaced as he nodded and hopped out the truck, following procedure but all the while scanning the building for any signs of fire damage.
When they left the station, it took him a few seconds to remember why the address seemed familiar. He hadn’t been there except for once and when the realization hit him, that was the moment when crippling fear set in.
The apartment belonged to Melanie, his friend’s younger sister. Why wasn’t she outside at the curb at a safe distance? Couldn’t she hear their sirens or was she badly hurt?
He hoisted the medical kit on his shoulder and walked toward the apartment building with Ryan trailing behind. His heart thudded so hard that it made him nauseated and all the while every terrible scenario ran through his head.
Relief flooded him when he saw Melanie in the hallway. She seemed fine as she talked animatedly to his teammates who had arrived ahead of them. “My roommate just panicked when she saw the pan of alcohol on fire,” she said. “You didn’t have to come out.”
Andre stopped behind Bud and Dylan, and looked her up and down, checking for injuries. Once he was satisfied she didn’t appear to be hurt, he took in her clothing. What the hell was she wearing? And in the near freezing temperatures no less? Wasn’t she cold dressed in that thin fabric?
A black satin robe covered her night gown, although it gaped at her neck and showed off her ample cleavage. She probably didn’t realized she pressed her breasts together as she crossed her arms to keep warm and her slender arms didn’t do much to cover them up.
With her attention on Bud, he let his gaze roam over every inch of her curvaceous figure. It had been a long time since he had seen those gorgeous legs and he tried hard not to stare at all her bare, pale skin.
“Miss, when you call 911, we have to come investigate to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m so sorry.” She wrung her hands and then covered her face.
Andre scowled. He wanted to punch his co-workers for ogling her, not that he blamed them. Mel had always been a looker, but she was his best friend’s baby sister and he shouldn’t be eyeing her, either. “Mel?”
Bright green eyes peeked out at him as she looked up from between her fingers. A flush spread across her pale cheeks as she pulled her hands away from her face. “Hi Andre,” she said as her voice trembled. “Oh God, what are you doing here?”
She visibly cringed as she greeted him, which made him feel like a real asshole for some reason. Maybe his glower intimidated her. He tried to smile nicely as he said, “I work at your local station, remember?”
She sighed as her shoulder slumped. “Could my day get any worse?”
“Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”
Her pale cheeks turned bright pink. “I’m fine. We’re both fine. My roommate panicked and called 911 when she heard me scream and saw a fire on the stove.”
He frowned. Mel was a damn good cook, most of her knowledge coming from her mom who ran a bakery in town. “What was in the pan?”
“I made these bite-sized rum cakes for a Christmas party, but a little alcohol splashed out and hit the burner. That’s never happened before so it scared me and I screamed but I put it out quickly.”
He took her by the shoulder, and angled her so he could evaluate her injuries. He tried to keep his assessment purely professional, but when he saw no injuries, he couldn’t help but stare at her full breasts a moment longer than necessary. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She pulled away, looking anywhere but him. “I’m fine. So is my roommate, until I kill her later.”
Her embarrassment was obvious, from her pink cheeks to her hand holding her robe closed. Had it suddenly just occurred to her she stood in front of three grown men who now had fires of their own to put out?
“Don’t be too rough on Ronnie. She did the right thing. As long as you’re both safe, that’s all that really matters,” he said, trying to comfort her, although he didn’t dare touch her again. Not while she was dressed like that.
“Well, actually,” Bud said. “Since you misused the emergency services in such a manner, we’ll need you to undergo a special training session on fire safety.”
Andre whirled on his co-worker, about to ask him what he was doing, but Bud winked and nodded at him, silently encouraging him to play along. Did Bud really think Melanie was going to fall for a line like that?
But he and Brian used to do just that, because Mel had been such an easy target. She would believe anything, especially if it came from a trustworthy source like a fireman. He and her brother Brian had played many pranks on her in high school. She’d stomped off yelling about how Brian needed to watch his back.
He enjoyed her spitfire anger then, especially when he didn’t have to bear the weight of her fury; her brother felt the true pain later. Her fiery green eyes would flame at him before the door to her room slammed shut. That had been ten years ago; she had changed a lot since then.
“Oh, well, we really didn’t misuse the services. Ronnie just panicked,” Mel said, covering her mouth with her hand.
“In the eyes of the law, Miss, you committed a crime,” Bud said gravely, although a small smile broke through his serious attitude.
Andre stopped his mouth from dropping open. He had no idea she was still so gullible but then Bud played the part so well that Andre almost believed him too. The need to protect her welled inside him.
“The course doesn’t take very long, just an hour or so,” Bud continued on. “There’s a test too. One of us could do that anytime for you. All you have to do is—”
His co-worker couldn’t have been more obvious in pursing Mel if he begged at her feet. It was time to shut this down, because Mel was better than all the guys here, including himself.
Andre cut Bud off. “I’ll do the course for her.”
Bud gaped at him momentarily but when Andre glared at him, he chuckled. “Well there you go, Miss. Andre will get you all squared away with a fine new certificate.”
Her cheeks flamed as she nodded, and then she glanced at him. “At least it’s with you, Andre. It’ll be like old times,” Mel said. “Thank you for taking time out of your busy day.”
Did she really mean that? For him, old times meant sitting in a chair at his best friend’s house watching her skip around the pool in a bikini and feeling dirty about lusting after her as he tried to will down his erection before anyone saw it. “S-sure,” he stammered.
She looked at him like he was her savior and guilt stabbed him in the gut. He should tell her that his teammates were just being assholes; in fact when he got back to the station, he was going to choke them for doing this to her.
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She shivered and twisted her hands nervously. “So when should we do this course?”
Bud spoke up. “Andre finishes his shift in a few hours. He can come over then.”
Andre glared at Bud, who chuckled and took the cue well, backing off. Bud was correct; Andre didn’t have any plans for when he got off shift but he might have. He almost scowled but when he glanced at Mel, he tried to appear friendly. “Yeah, I can.”
She smiled. “Sounds great. Should we say… just after six?”
He nodded and when he looked over to glare at Bud, he saw the two men had walked back to the truck already, leaving him hanging in the wind by himself. He hefted the bag on his shoulder and waved. “I’ll be here.”
Andre followed them out and stowed the equipment. He managed to keep his anger in check and stay silent until the truck was back at the station. When his teammates hopped out, he shoved Bud against the truck. “What do you think you were doing back there?”
Bud held up his hands in defense. “I swear, I didn’t think she’d fall for it. I thought she knew I was playing with her. I wasn’t trying to pick her up. I thought since she obviously knew you, she would play along and laugh it off. ”
His ire dissolved quickly once he knew Bud had meant Mel no harm. Andre let Bud go, but still glared at him and Dylan. “She’s a nice girl, but she’s gullible and now you’ve got me involved in this bullshit.”
“She seemed to know you.” Dylan raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so worried she’ll be angry at you?”
Andre grimaced. “She’s my friend’s sister.”
Bud grinned. “And you like her.”
“Well, I don’t hate her,” Andre clarified.
“No.” Dylan shook his head. “You like like her.”
They both saw right through him. He was so screwed and it would be a long time before he lived this down. None of these guys would understand how he just didn’t want to hurt her. “Anyone with eyes would think she’s beautiful,” he admitted.
Bud whistled. “You’ve got it bad. How long have you had the hots for her?”
“I don’t like her like that,” he said. “She’s my friend’s little sister and he would kill me if I looked at her.”
“But I’m sure that didn’t stop you from looking, you dirty old man.” Dylan smirked before walking away. “You keep telling yourself that and you just might believe you don’t want to jump her bones.”
Andre snarled, the comments hitting a little too close to home for comfort. Lucky for Dylan, he was already too far away for Andre to start anything and once Bud got a look at his expression, he suddenly had somewhere else to be.
He looked at the clock. It was just under three hours until the end of his shift. This was a great mess his teammates had thrown him into but he knew what he had to do. He would tell her the truth about how there was no course and with any luck she wouldn’t be too mad. He could take her for sushi, maybe they could be friends and hopefully this attraction to her would die.
Hopefully.
*
Mel looked down at her flimsy silk wrap. At least the firemen hadn’t seen what was beneath the robe: a curve hugging black lace and satin gown. She hadn’t thought to change while cooking since she had been cooking for years. No one except Ronnie would see her but she hadn’t expected the liquor to catch fire like that.
And who had charged in on his white horse — or rather his red fire truck — but Andre Wellings, her longtime crush. Maybe she could have moved on, but it was almost impossible to get away from him since he attended all of her family functions.
Her brother Brian and Andre were inseparable when they were younger and today they were only closer. Mel leaned against her door and bit her lip. Why couldn’t one of the other guys offered to give her this course? At least then she could have concentrated on passing the test. But Andre Wellings had always been her weak spot. She was going to fail this for sure.
She really didn’t know what to be embarrassed about more: Andre actually having to teach her about fire safety or Andre and his co-workers seeing her in her flimsy satin wrap.
Like she really needed a course in fire safety. Maybe her roommate needed instructions on being less twitchy.
“Mel?”
She turned around from dumping the pan of ruined rum cakes in the sink. “Hey, Ronnie.”
“Oh God, I’m so sorry for calling 911. I thought you were hurt the way you yelled like that.”
“It’s okay.” She dropped the pan in the sink. The loud clang did little to assuage her crappy mood. “The fire just surprised me.”
“I hope they didn’t give you too hard of a time, not that they would’ve with you dressed like that.”
Mel looked down at her black robe. “Oh God, don’t remind me they all saw me dressed in my nightie. My brother’s best friend was on the team and he saw me like this too.”
“Andre?”
Mel nodded. She and Ronnie had spent a few nights with a glass of wine, commiserating about their pitiful love life and Andre had come up more than once. “The worst part is he has to come by later and give me a fire safety course.”
Ronnie quirked her lips. “A fire safety course? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.”
“Yeah, they said I had to take one since I called 911 without having an emergency.”
Ronnie hesitated. “Wouldn’t I be the one who would have to take the course because I called?”
Mel blinked as she shut off the faucet. Ronnie had a point. Andre and his co-workers were trying to pull a fast one on her? Her cheeks burned. How much more humiliating could today get? “You told the 911 operator we were fine, right?” When Ronnie nodded, she gritted her teeth. “I knew it.” She wanted more satisfaction than throwing the spoon in the pan gave her.
“What?”
A flush of pure embarrassment swept over her. “Andre planned this. I mean, he couldn’t have known I’d be wearing this flimsy thing.” She tugged her robe together again as another wave of embarrassment swept over her. “But when he saw my address come up, he probably thought this was a golden opportunity to prank me, just like the old days.”
Ronnie rolled her eyes. “What an ass.”
“My brother and Andre love to jerk my chain. When I trust someone, I will believe almost anything they tell me. They played all sorts of tricks on me when we were kids. I always got my brother back, but Andre was never around for me to exact my revenge.”
“I can sympathize. My little brother was the worst. Every time a guy from school used to come to my house, he would do something like smear his boogers on our notebooks when we weren’t looking.” Ronnie shook her head. “So what are you going to do to get him back?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want him to hate me. I’ve always had a little crush on him since… oh, probably the first time I saw him.” The thought of Andre looking at her with disgust turned her stomach.
Ronnie shrugged. “The best revenge on a man is showing him what he can’t have. You’re a beautiful woman, Mel. I think you could pull it off.”
She shook her head. “He’s known me since I was in grade school. I’m sure he doesn’t think of me like that.”
“Mel, you always say that, even when a guy is practically hanging all over you. I saw Andre at Christmas last year. When he thought no one was looking, he was definitely checking you out.”
“He probably saw a piece of lint on my dress. And I can’t actually do anything with Andre. He’s my brother’s best friend and he wouldn’t want to touch me with a ten foot pole. He’s seen me at my worst.”
“That’s a good start. Only way to go now is up. Show him the best parts of you. Make him need you. And just about the time he thinks he has you, push him out in the cold night and tell him where he can shove that fire safety course.”
Mel hedged. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” What if when it came time to yank the rug out from under Andre, she couldn’t do it? One taste might be too much for her to turn d
own and once she had him, she might not be able to give him up.
Ronnie glanced at her watch. “When is he coming by?”
“Two hours from now.”
“Listen, I’ll help you make the cakes as long as you promise to play the vixen. Make him squirm, make him wish he had never teased you. Then when he thinks he has you, close the door and leave him hanging.”
Mel sighed. If she had Andre in front of her and he actually showed interest in her, she wasn’t about to shove him out the door. She didn’t think she possessed that level of self-control, but she would have to cross her fingers and hope for the best. “Okay.” She smiled. “I think I can throw something sexy together.”
Ronnie winked. “That’s the Mel I know and love. You’ll pull this off. I have a shift at the hospital tonight so I’ll be out of your hair but you have to give me a play-by-play rundown tomorrow.”
“Oh, I will.” Mel narrowed her eyes. “And trust me, he’s going to pay.”
Chapter Two
Andre knocked and then looked at his watch. Just a few minutes after six, although he would have been right on the dot if he’d known what wine to pick out. He settled for a nice bottle of Champagne, not cheap but not expensive, and hoped that would help to placate her when he admitted the farce.
Maybe they could even have a laugh about it over dinner. He hoped she wouldn’t think he was a jerk. Otherwise, Christmas at her parents’ house was going to be awkward this year.
Every year since his parents had moved to Florida to retire, he had a standing invitation to the Brentleys for any holidays, at least the ones he didn’t work. After a great meal, he usually fell asleep watching TV on the couch with Brian while Mrs. Brentley finished putting away the leftovers.
Last year, Mel had been stressing over her physician assistant exams, which he heard she’d passed. It had been the last time they had seen each other since their paths didn’t cross much. Until today.