by Siera London
“Would have gone quicker if you were focused on the job rather than scoping the station every ten seconds for Kendall.”
Trace was all about business. The guy didn't spare women a second glance. He barely had time for his two best friends.
The door to the Captain's office opened and Kendall stepped out with the boss at her back. Cutler moved towards her before he thought better of his actions.
Kendall kept her eyes on the Captain, even when he moved closer to her. Why the heck had she been avoiding him? When she still hadn't acknowledged his presence and his boss stared at him like get the freak out of here, Cutler lost it.
“Kendall, can I talk to you for a moment?” he snapped. Could he get more middle school, boy meets girl?
“Stevens,” she finally turned to look at him. “Let me finish with the Captain and I'll come find you.” As though a robot had replaced her, her eyes were a muted green, flat and dull. What happened to the woman who’d kissed him every chance she got and made him breakfast? Was the T-shirt supposed to be a consolation prize? Well, she could have it back because he wanted her instead.
“Sure thing. I'll be waiting.” By the time he reached Nathan and Trace at the truck, they both stared at him with expectant looks. He ignored them, instead choosing to watch Kendall.
The standard issue uniform fit her like a suit of armor. Armor that had all her gorgeous hair pinned up, breasts strapped down, and emotions buried. He hated the look. Hated that she felt the need to hide who she really was.
Nathan blew out a breath, his gray eyes cautious. “Cut, maybe it’s best if she got away.”
“Why is that?” he asked, his tone sharp.
His friend ran a large hand through his midnight strands before he spoke.
“We didn’t meet during my trip to Dallas, but I heard talk of Kendall. She’s a good firefighter, but prefers handling things on her own. A few times a month, the crew volunteers with the city youth league. Kendall flat out refused to help with the youth league. The team considered her a loner.”
Kendall had enjoyed Cutler’s company. She made the choice to stay with him last night, but what kind of public servant declined a few hours of their time to toss a ball with kids?
“She's the one I want,” Cutler said, his eyes on Kendall. He didn't say the rest of the thought. She's the one he wanted to keep.
Kendall was headed in their direction when the bell sounded. Everyone in the station began to move all at once. The vibration of the alarm signaling he was needed somewhere in the city never failed to get his adrenaline pumping.
**
Kendall spied the determined look on Cutler’s face across the firehouse bay. His golden mane was tame today, brushing against his uniform collar in neat waves. She liked it better mussed from her fingers. The gorgeous firefighter had occupied her thoughts even after he’d dropped her at the La Koncha on Saturday. She sensed he wanted an explanation about her sudden withdrawal. How could she tell him he deserved a woman better than her—someone less tainted? Kendall’s phone chimed an incoming message. The sight of Beck's number on her phone pitched her gut into a nauseating spiral. She should have deleted his contact information. She opened the dialogue box. Reading the message, she had to throw out a hand to steady herself on shaky legs.
You lying witch. The doctor's office called about where to forward your birth control pills. You'll wish you had pushed out my baby. See you soon, wife.
He’d discovered her secret. She should have known the fight for her freedom would continue, but…she had hoped…
“Raine, you're with us,” Cutler called out.
“I’m ready, Stevens.” She’d avoided the firefighters all day, refusing to let Cutler get her alone, but the strength to fight him fled in light of the text message. All her reserves were needed for when Beck arrived. And he would come, she just didn't know how he would try to manipulate the Captain into giving him what he wanted.
How could Gordon's office have made a mistake of this magnitude? Sally was meticulous in her record keeping. Kendall had all her prescriptions delivered to the DF&R fire station. In making that phone call, the clinical staff had violated her privacy and opened a door to hell Kendall had thought closed. Beck would kill her now that he knew she'd conned him into a divorce. When Beck arrived, he’d find her armed for battle.
***
The acrid smell of charred wood and scorched earth greeted Kendall as Engine 10 pulled to a stop at the scene on College Avenue. Blue skies that normally surrounded Stock Island, which lay a mere two miles northeast of Key West, were alight with red flames. Their engine was the first on the fire scene. Nathan's experience in command and control was apparent, as he'd located the facility's address and divided the building into quadrants. The location of the address served as the alpha side, with quadrants assigned in a clockwise fashion. Acting as the crew's Fire Captain, he was already on the radio.
“Dispatch, this is Engine 10. We have visible smoke and fire at the Charlie-Delta corner on the fourth floor of a four-story structure. We're assuming instant command, fire attack. I'll do a three sixty, and then supply an update,” Nathan said ending the call.
Considering a four-story building was a high-rise structure, Kendall knew after Nathan's jog around the perimeter he would be calling for additional engines and trucks. Law enforcement would be needed for traffic control and directing occupants, staff, and visitors.
Billows of gray clouds, thick and dense, hung like a goth backdrop around the remains of the Island Life Senior's Village.
Kendall jumped from the rig. “Oh my gosh.” Her grandmother's best friend, Mrs. Elliot, had an apartment in the village.
The fire raged near the back of the building, but most of the damage appeared to be concentrated on the top floor.
“Station 3’s ladder truck ETA in two minutes,” Matt, their engineer called from behind the wheel. Generally a four man crew consisted of a firefighter, a fire medic, who served as both a firefighter and a paramedic, a driver engineer, and a crew captain. Kendall was an extra fighter onboard. With their engine being the first on the scene, Matt would be responsible for supplies, working the water pump, and cutting the building's utilities until the ladder truck crew arrived.
“Has everyone made it out?” she asked.
Kendall couldn't wait. Her grandmother had friends in residence. Matt had oriented her to the compartments and equipment on the engine upon arrival that morning. With the last of her turnout gear secured, she grabbed her self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBA.
Cutler appeared at her side. “Trace and Nathan will take the two and half line to the charlie-delta quadrant.” He called out over the residents and facility staff gathered in the parking lot. “You ready?”
“Do you ask the guys the same question?” Instead of waiting for him to answer, she yelled to the staff member huddled over an elderly gentleman with an oxygen tank. “Miss, please move him and all the residents across the street. Do you have the names of every resident out here?”
“No, but I can get that information,” a woman said.
“Law enforcement will be on the scene ASAP and will request the information.”
Kendall started coughing, just as Nathan seemed to appear from the pillar of flames. He must have been able to circle the building. That would be great news for the engine assigned to confine the fire exposure to the additional structure. Someone grabbed Kendall's wrist. She looked down, the woman she'd directed to corral the residents away from the engine and the building regarded her with tear-filled eyes. “Mrs. Elliott is missing.”
Kendall's lungs froze. Her Grandma Dinah visited Mrs. Elliott every week. She would be devastated if anything happened to her knitting buddy. “Is she mobile?”
The young nurse nodded her head. “Yes.”
“Where would she be in the building?” With a fix on where the retired attorney should be, Kendall would save time on searching the structure.
“Her room is on the third flo
or.”
“I'm on it.” Her grandmother would never lose another person she loved to a fire.
With her fire axe in hand and a Haligan tool on her utility belt Kendall sprinted for the doorway she spied leading into the building. A building this size would have one stairwell in each corner. Usually, two would be designated for evacuation and the remaining for fire attack and equipment. Cutler would catch up to her. Grateful for a well-conditioned body, she took the stairs two at a time. Physical fitness was one of the many things Beck had insisted upon. He also made her keep her devil-red hair covered, her sinful breasts bound, and her mouth closed. Thanks to rigorous workout routines, the seventy-five pounds of gear she'd donned felt like a second skin.
Rounding the corner, she ran into a man dressed in scrubs with a wet towel draped over his head, a sooty scarf contrasted with his dark skin. She motioned him forward.
“I'm fine,” he said, “but I can't reach the rooms on the third and fourth floors. Four is under renovation and we were in the process of relocating the residents to the lower floors.”
“You go on now. I'll search the building.” She moved to place her air pack on his face, but he refused.
“No, I'll make it. Help the residents as best you can.”
“The hose should be behind me. Stay low and follow it out and away from the building.”
When Kendall reached the third floor, she was body slammed by an elderly woman. The petite woman held a dry cloth over her mouth and nose. Kendall grabbed her just as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Cautiously Kendall lifted the limp body over her right shoulder. Why hadn't Cutler caught up with her?
Sweat coated her from head to toe beneath her gear. She could taste the smoke in her throat. Ignoring the discomfort in her lungs she hefted the unconscious woman higher on her shoulder.
Rounding the corner to the second floor, Kendall stumbled into Cutler carrying the black man in the scrubs who'd waved her onward.
Even through his shield, she could see the tight set of his jaw. “You left him. You left me.”
“No, he was ambulatory when we passed each other.”
“You left before the assignments were complete. Did you direct him to one of the evacuation stairwells?”
Oh God, she hadn't. How could she have been so foolish? In her haste to reach Mrs. Elliott, she'd placed another victim in further peril.
When she opened her mouth to explain, he turned and walked away.
Paramedics swarmed them the second they exited the building. Kendall lowered the woman to the ground. Her back protested the low crouch. Paramedics took over, an oxygen mask was placed over Mrs. Elliot's face while another member on the team assessed her vital signs. With the oxygen displacing the toxic air from the fire, the patient began to cough, deep and ragged. Thank goodness. Her grandmother's friend should recover, but she still needed to be checked out at the hospital.
Two ladder trucks, each at opposite ends of the building were in place. Soon crews would be on the roof ventilating the space. Once the smoke and heat were evacuated, the fire attack crew could progress with better visibility and conditions to extinguish the flames.
The female staff member that had realized Mrs. Elliott was missing ran over.
“Thank you, thank you. You're my hero.”
“You're welcome,” Kendall responded out of courtesy. She didn't feel like a hero, quite the opposite.
Kendall turned to rejoin the crew. When a hand landed on her shoulder, she turned anticipating one of the staff members.
It was the Captain.
“Kendall, you're back in the engine.”
She turned to her crew, but none would meet her eyes. She took in the Captain's grim expression. Kendall nodded her head in understanding. Her decision to leave the man to exit the building on his own had been a bad one. The decision to enter a burning structure without her partner could have been deadly. As she walked back to the engine, she replayed her decision to leave Cutler behind, to continue up the stairway when the staff member needed her help. Even thousands of miles away from Dallas and Beck, her impulse to act alone without considering the cost still plagued her.
Chapter Seven
Kendall slammed the door to the women's sleeping quarters. Inhaling deep, she sank down against the door and let her lids drift closed. The tension of what had happened on the scene held her body captive. Muscles felt knotted and tight from her neck to her lower back.
Torturous was a good word to describe the engine ride back to the station. Nathan and Trace kept their eyes straight ahead, pretending to ignore the charged air between her and Cutler. His ice-blue eyes bore into hers the moment he'd climbed into the engine after her. Why had she run into that burning building without backup? Before pivoting and running toward the crumbling structure, she'd seen Cutler's expression. It was riddled with disbelief, fear, and anger, but she couldn't focus on him. She had to show him, show them all that she didn’t need any help. Other women needed heroes, not her. Kendall saved lives, including her own. She was a good firefighter, just as capable as a man.
The doorknob turned. She jumped away from the door at her back, afraid he would force his way inside.
“Kendall, unlock the door.”
She didn’t need him ranting at her; she had extensive background knowledge on dragging herself over hot coals.
“We can talk tomorrow. Please leave, Cutler.” She prayed Captain Brady would let her finish the two-week assignment.
“Not till you explain to me what the heck you were thinking storming into that building, alone.”
“We got everyone out, didn't we?” she challenged.
A heavy thud sounded against the door and her heart skipped a beat. “I could have lost you.” His voice softened.
Her heart sped up. Cutler's words penetrated her tortured soul, providing comfort.
“We could have lost you out there or the guy on the stairs.”
With a sigh, she shoved his truth from her mind. Rubbing her eyes she hoped the gesture would erase how close she'd come to jeopardizing the very people she'd sworn to protect.
“The rule is two in, two out.”
She knew the rules. Knew she'd placed the crew at risk...placed Cutler at risk. “I know,” she whispered.
“Then why?” came a solemn voice through the door.
The room was all of a sudden too small. Cutting off her air supply. Shame and disgust at her actions flooded her gut. She felt exposed and vulnerable in a station filled with ten of the people that should be able to trust her judgment. Would the guys ask that she be removed from the rotation? If they did, Kendall alone was to blame. Why had she taken the risk?
Kendall had to face the crew sometime. It might as well start with Cutler. She twisted the lock and pulled the squeaky hinges wide.
Warm ocean breeze filled her nose. Then Cutler, messy blond locks and steel-cut jaw, came into view. He wore the same uniform from earlier, traces of sweat and debris stained the fabric. She eyed his expansive chest, recalled the feel of his taut muscles beneath her fingertips.
“I can do this,” she whispered, referring to the job and the man before her.
Worry had replaced Cutler's icy stare from earlier. She pushed out a breath in relief. Maybe, she wouldn't have to fight with him. The man had seduced her with one look, and won her heart with a good meal and dessert that started with him stroking his tongue into her mouth. Fighting was the last thing she wanted to do with him.
He stepped inside, closed the door, and then locked them in. “You said those exact same words to me our first night together. Who are you trying to prove wrong, Kendall?”
The sexual need building in the deepest part of her came to a halt. An image of Beck, smug and towering over her prostrate body collided with her fragile defenses.
Fear, raw and cutting caused her knees to quake. God, he would come for her. And just like before, Kendall would be powerless against his influence. She stumbled back, slinked down the wall, letting the w
eight of what was to come drag her down to the cool tile. When her butt hit the floor, she let her head fall forward. Her hands formed a bowl for the tears that fell.
“Kendall?”
She wiped at her damp face. “You can't save me, Cutler.”
He dropped down to his haunches in front of her. “Ah, darlin'...don't go challenging a Marine by telling him what he can't do.”
Kendall balked when his strong arms came under her knees and behind her back.
“Stop fighting me. I don't want you to get hurt.”
Not his demand, but rather his concern for her, put the breaks on her thrashing. He grunted and stilled. Had she hit some vital part of his anatomy?
Turning her head away from his chest, she looked up. Gazing back at her, all vestiges of humor gone, was Cutler the warrior. She could imagine him in camouflage, his weapon locked and loaded. His eyes shone bright with a possessive protectiveness and... Kendall wasn't afraid. He must have recognized the change in her.
“That's my girl.”
When he lowered his head to take her mouth, she was already out of the starting gate, pressing eager lips to his.
She inhaled him, pulling images of their entwined bodies forward. Her brain then her body synced with his, and she relished the connection on more than a physical level. He was right. Kendall was so...his...girl.
***
Cutler felt his heart stop when Kendall ran into that unstable structure. Though they'd just met three days ago, he felt a thread of connection between them. Whatever emotion or whomever had drove her into the flames needed to be excised before she left on another callout. Surprised that the female sleeping quarters mirrored the men's layout exactly, but on a smaller scale, he carried her into the bathroom.
“Shower first, and then we eat.”
Grateful that she didn't argue, he placed her on the counter top, and then crossed the room to one of the glass stalls and turned on the water dial. Kendall remained where he'd placed her.