Flirting With Fire--3 Book Box Set

by Lori Foster

  Ethan froze with the pitcher poised over Buck’s glass. “Oh, shit.”

  Rosie dropped the large carving knife, almost removing her big toe.

  “Hey, be careful there.” Riley frowned at her.

  She snatched up the knife and rinsed it in the sink. “A reporter? You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “Nah, but she’s different from a lot of them. She’s real sweet. She said she realized Ethan was drunk, so she’s going to contact him for another interview.”

  Buck nudged Ethan to get him to pour the tea, then peered at Riley. “You like her?”

  “Yeah, sure. She’s a jumpy little thing, and her imagination is a bit much.”

  Rosie hated the idea of the woman being alone with Ethan. She wouldn’t tolerate it, not since she already knew Ethan found her attractive. When she interviewed Ethan, it would have to be with Rosie present to protect his virtue. “What’s wrong with her imagination?”

  “She has some goofy notion that people are out to get her. She’s a little paranoid, if you ask me.”

  Harris began buttering a thick slab of bread. “What’s her real name?”

  Grinning, Riley said, “Get this. It’s Regina Foxworth.” He laughed. “And she is foxy, but ‘Red’ suits her better than Regina.”

  Harris and Buck stared at Riley in complete and total bafflement. It was the very first time they’d ever heard him make such a comment concerning a woman.

  Rosie couldn’t help but grin. Well, well, well. It would gratify her immensely if Riley staked a claim. More than anything else, that would ensure that Ethan stayed free of the woman’s clutches.

  Ethan reseated himself at the table. “Hell, I don’t want to be interviewed. Not by her, not by anyone. I had enough of that crap back when the fire first happened.”

  “It’s good for the department.” Harris pointed a spoon at him. “Captain is hoping you’ll get us new funding.”

  “The captain can damn well—”

  “If you don’t willingly meet with her,” Riley interjected, “she said she’d be forced to use what information she got at the ceremony last night.”

  Rosie made a disgusted face. “And that would be what? That Ethan can’t hold his liquor?”

  “Probably something like that.”

  Ethan ignored them to dig into his stew. “Mmm. Terrific, Rosie. Thanks.”

  The others followed suit, showering her with compliments. She thanked them, took a breath, then forged on manfully. “You know, you could all eat home-cooked meals more often if you’d just settle down.”

  Harris had his mouth full but he still managed to sputter, “I’m plenty settled.”

  Buck had the good grace to first swallow. Loudly. “No time. The lumberyard is a demanding mistress.”

  Harris laughed and thwacked him on the back for that quip.

  Riley shrugged. “Maybe someday. But not yet.”

  Ethan remained conspicuously silent.

  “You could all start with a nice house. I see terrific deals all the time.” She tried not to stare at Ethan. “There’s a nice tight ranch not far from where you already live, Riley. One hundred percent financing. New windows, new furnace.”

  Ethan stood. “Mind if I get some more stew?”

  Deflated, Rosie waved at him. “Go ahead. Help yourself.”

  For fear of not getting seconds, the other guys jumped up and got in line for the Crock-Pot. Rosie tapped her fingertips on the tabletop. They were all so stubborn.

  “I’d waive my fee, you know.”

  Riley patted her head on his way back to his seat, his bowl almost overflowing. “Course you would, hon. It’s not that. I just don’t think any of us are anxious to get into the home-and-hearth routine.”

  Squaring her shoulders, Rosie twisted in her seat and faced Ethan. “You used to be. Don’t you remember when you were wanting kids and a dog and a house with a picket fence?”

  A heavy silence fell around them. Other than a quick look in her direction, Ethan paid her little mind. “It’d be hard to forget, but that was a long time ago.”

  “Nineteen months. Not all that long.”

  He pierced her with a lethal look. “Long enough.”

  Riley cleared his throat and attempted to help Rosie by changing the subject. “So, Ethan, you gonna meet up with Red? You know how reporters are. It’s easier not to fight them.”

  “Yeah, what the hell. I’ll talk with her.”

  “She’s probably left a message on your machine by now. Let us know how it goes.”

  “You know,” Ethan said, gesturing with a piece of bread, “a good reporter would be covering something more important, like the damn fireworks. The Fourth is next weekend and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m dreading it already.”

  Harris lifted his glass of tea in a toast. “Count me in on that. Every year someone sets a fire or gets burned. Why is it the majority of people who want to play with the damn things are idiots?”

  “Are you expecting trouble?” Rosie asked.

  “Every year.” Arms folded on the table, Ethan glared down at his half-empty bowl. “And with the new bill just passed, a lot of the pyrotechnics we hate most are now legal for adults to use. Only adults aren’t the only ones getting their hands on them.”

  “Firecrackers, Roman candles, bottle rockets.” Harris leaned back in his seat. “Did you know about twelve thousand people get sent to emergency rooms every Fourth of July? Over fifty percent of them are kids, and ten percent are permanently injured. It sickens me.”

  “And,” Ethan added, “we have a fireworks dealer in town who’s known to be a little less than reputable. I’d love to shut him down, but for now, all we can do is keep an eye on him.”

  Since Rosie had never heard Harris speak so...passionately on a topic, she was enthralled—and unaccountably worried. By the nature of their work as firefighters, Ethan and Harris faced various levels of danger daily. She’d tried to get used to that, especially since Ethan always seemed determined to be the first man in, the last man out, and the quickest to volunteer. He might not want to admit it, but he had hero tendencies that were as plain as his hair and eye color, there for all the world to see.

  But this sounded more lethal than the usual day-to-day stuff, and she couldn’t quite keep the worry from her tone. “Will it be dangerous for you two?”

  Ethan scowled over her concern, even as he shook his head. “No, but seeing a kid burned is about the most awful thing in the world.”

  “I know it’s something I’ll never get used to,” Harris conceded.

  Looking thoughtful, Riley said, “Maybe Red can help. She could at least get some of the facts in the paper, right?”

  Buck slanted him a look. “Just how well did you get to know her this afternoon?”

  Riley shrugged. “We talked about an hour. I told her what the lessons would cost, how often she should come in—stuff like that. She wanted a starter lesson today so we spent another hour on that.” He stretched. “I worked up quite an appetite, I can tell you.”

  “Hell,” Ethan muttered, “if you showed her the same stuff you were doing with Rosie, the two of you might be having kids soon.”

  Riley laughed out loud at that, and Rosie blushed.

  “We’ve seen.” Harris grinned at her, and his blue eyes were glittering with mischief. “Wanna wrestle, Rosie?”

  “No.” She stood and collected bowls, hoping no one noticed her heightened color. “Anyone want ice cream for dessert?”

  Buck and Harris both cackled at the way she tried to change the subject.

  Ethan wouldn’t let it go. “What do you mean, you’ve seen? You two have been down there watching?”

  Buck nodded. “Hell of a show.” He and Harris clicked glasses.

  Flust
ered, Rosie smacked them both in the back of the head. “Now you two just quit it. And you, Ethan. You’re making a big deal out of nothing. Why, Riley’s the one teaching me the moves and he doesn’t laugh about it.”

  She glanced up in time to see Riley wipe the grin off his face. “All right, that’s it. Forget dessert. You can all go home now.”

  Immediate apologies followed, along with a lot of schmoozing hugs and entreaties. Rosie could barely catch her breath, they were all talking so fast and squeezing her so much.

  “Enough already! All right, you can stay.” Her eyes narrowed. “But no more razzing on my lessons. Understood?”

  After they’d all dutifully nodded, Ethan stood. “I’ll get the ice cream. One of you lazy slugs get the bowls.”

  Together, the men managed to serve themselves since Rosie was still peeved and it showed in the way she crossed her arms tight and kept her mouth flat.

  The bowls were no sooner filled than the phone rang. Glad for something to do, Rosie answered it on her kitchen wall phone, but then excused herself from the guys to take the call in private. No one seemed to mind that except Ethan, who scowled and asked, “Who is it?”

  “A client, nosy.” She started to tell them not to wait for her, then saw that Buck already had his mouth full and Harris was soon to follow. “You’re all social misfits, do you know that?”

  They shrugged. Rosie shook her head and walked out.

  The interruption was timely, in her opinion. She needed a few minutes to form her next plan of attack. Bringing up home and hearth hadn’t worked, so she’d have to hit Ethan on a more basic level.

  Damn it all, she was going to have to seduce him.

  * * *

  THE SECOND ROSIE was out of hearing, Ethan said, “Finish up and get out of here. I want to talk to Rosie alone.”

  Riley bit his upper lip, but refrained from saying anything. Buck wasn’t so subtle. “You two hooked up now?”

  “No, we’re not ‘hooked up.’ What the hell’s wrong with you? Rosie is a friend and you know it.”

  Harris rolled his eyes. “A female friend, and that’s all the distinction she needs far as I’m concerned.”

  “That’s about it,” Buck agreed.

  Riley set his spoon aside. “Have any of you ever thought of Rosie in a...you know, sexual way?” He saluted the air with two fingers, giving the first admission, and Harris and Buck quickly lifted their hands, too.

  Ethan gawked at them. “You can damn well stop thinking of her that way right now!”

  “Impossible.”

  “No way.”

  “Sorry.”

  Ethan shoved his chair back. “You’re all...”

  “Normal? Healthy?” Riley laughed. “Gifted with perfect eyesight?”

  Buck added, “Male.”

  And Harris tacked on, “Single.”

  “I don’t believe this.”

  Unconcerned with Ethan’s escalating temper, Riley took another bite of ice cream. “You know, Ethan, you’re thumping your chest over nothing. Rosie has always treated us as just pals.” He pointed his spoon at him. “’Cept for you.”

  “Lucky bastard,” Harris mumbled with feigned but good-natured envy.

  Stone-faced, Ethan paced away. Damn it, he was losing his mind. Ever since he’d awakened with Rosie draped over him, he’d been unable to stop thinking about her. But for the most part he’d forcefully kept those thoughts chaste, not carnal. For the most part.

  But now, with his best friends putting thoughts in his head, well, how the hell was he supposed to not think about it? The woman was plain hot and that was all there was to it.

  Rosie didn’t help any, prancing around in those Daisy Duke cutoffs with her rounded ass and long legs on display. Oh, yeah, he’d noticed the other guys stealing a peek every few minutes. Course, they did that to all females. But still— This wasn’t just any female. This was Rosie.

  His Rosie, damn it.

  Riley dropped his spoon into his empty bowl with a resounding clink, catching Ethan’s notice. “She seems a little different since this morning, huh?”

  Emotions roiling, Ethan asked through his teeth, “What do you mean?”

  “It’s like she’s on the make or something. The way she’s watching you—her body language.”

  His throat constricting, his eyes burning, Ethan repeated, “Body language?”

  “Yeah.” Riley turned to his cohorts. “You two’ve seen it, haven’t you?”

  “Yep.” Buck gave a decisive nod. “She wants him.”

  “Bad.”

  “Stop it!” Ethan paced again, more furiously this time. But he couldn’t outrun his own thoughts. It was too late. Their words were already bouncing around in his brain, making him sweat, causing his muscles to cramp. Last night he’d done...something with her. This morning she’d been so warm and soft and his bed still smelled like her, sexy and female and utterly Rosie.

  He breathed hard, walking faster ’round her kitchen, the three stooges looking on. He couldn’t banish the images of Rosie seducing him, touching him, kissing him...

  “That’s it.” Ethan grabbed up their bowls and put them in the sink. “Go home. Go away. Just go.”

  Harris made no effort to hide his laughter. Buck had to quickly grab for a napkin as Ethan shoved him toward the doorway.

  Riley hung back, grinning like a fool. “One thing, Ethan.”

  “What?” Ethan could barely breathe and seriously doubted he could manage a chat with Riley.

  Somber now, Riley crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Ethan. “Don’t do anything to hurt her. Remember that she is my friend and I care about her.”

  Ethan struggled for control. More than anything he wanted to knock Riley on his ass. How dare he act territorial now when seconds before he’d been all but throwing Rosie at him? He looked at Harris and Buck and they nodded, too, equally protective, equally serious about it.

  Riley wasn’t done. “She’s a real nice woman, Ethan, with a huge heart. Don’t use what her brother did against her. She had no part in that.”

  “Goddamn it,” Ethan exploded, infuriated that Riley thought such a warning was necessary. He would never hurt Rosie and Riley should have damn well known it. “How dare you bring that up?”

  Rosie stepped around the corner, the disconnected phone held loosely in her hand. She frowned in worry, her gaze darting back and forth between the men. “Bring what up? What’s going on?”

  Refusing to back down, Riley continued to watch Ethan. Harris and Buck moved to flank Rosie—as if she needed protection.

  From him.

  “Leave,” Ethan said to all three of them. “Or I will.”

  Rosie bit her bottom lip. “Ethan? What’s going on?”

  Riley stepped away from Ethan. His expression changed when he tugged Rosie up against his chest for a long hug. “Just guy stuff. Nothing important.”

  “Don’t give me that.” She shoved back, her eyes filled with annoyance. “You guys are—”

  “Drop it, Rosie.” Ethan waited, his temper growing more fractured by the second as each of them took a turn embracing Rosie. Harris even sighed. Buck touched her cheek with poignant regret.

  You’d think she was a virgin they’d decided to sacrifice to some evil spirit! Hell, he cared about Rosie, too, always had. Even during his engagement, she’d remained one of his closest friends. The night his fiancée had jilted him, it was Rosie he’d gone to because he’d been too shamed to face anyone else. He could talk with her, just be with her, easier than he could anyone.

  Looking back on it now, he realized there was significance in their complete and total trust of one another. There’d always been a special bond between him and Rosie. She liked all of them, hung with all of them, but only he shared that ext
ra closeness with her.

  He was the only one she wanted in the sack.

  Oh, hell.

  Ethan strode to the door and jerked it open. “Enough, all ready. Violins are going to start playing if you guys don’t stop being so melodramatic.”

  As they filed past Ethan, they all grinned and winked and bobbed their eyebrows suggestively. Riley clutched his heart and pretended to swoon. Now these were the guys he knew and loved. He even laughed a little at their antics. “Idiots.”

  He closed the door behind them, leaned back on it and surveyed Rosie with new eyes—and undiluted male interest.

  She looked worried. “Uh...what’s going on?”

  Ethan pushed away from the door. Just thinking about getting her into bed now, about doing everything he hadn’t done last night, made him hot. Holding her gaze, his hunger growing, he murmured, “God, I’ve been dense.”

  She took a step back, her eyes wide, locked on his. “Yeah, so what’s new?”

  Her sarcasm couldn’t quite hide her nervousness. Ethan felt like a superior male, ready to gentle the little woman, ready to give her what she evidently wanted, what he now knew he wanted.

  “No more games, Rosie.”

  Her chest rose and fell with deep breaths and she planted her feet, done with backing up. “Okay.”

  “Do you want me?”

  She blinked hard, twice. “You mean...sexually?”

  Just hearing her say it nearly tipped him over the edge. His voice turned husky. His chest constricted. “Yeah.”

  Silky brown hair shimmered around her shoulders with her nod. “I have for a long time now.”

  “Is that right?” Ethan didn’t want to know how long—it might kill him. He stopped two inches from her. “Nothing happened last night, did it?”

  “No.”

  “Not even a kiss?” He wanted it confirmed that if he’d kissed her, she’d damn well know it.

  “No.” She stared down at her feet. “Your redhead accidentally dumped her drink on me, so I had to leave. You were too drunk to drive and so you asked me to call you a cab.” She looked up, determination darkening her gaze. “I decided to take you home myself to be sure you made it safely, and well...I didn’t want to leave.”