by Nella Tyler
“You had some old school string lights on a tree that was extremely dry,” I replied. “I’d suggest switching to LED lights next year. They’re a lot safer. You can leave them burning for hours, and they never get hot to the touch.”
She nodded, still seeming a little dazed, but at least she didn’t look like she was about to burst into tears anymore. That happened a lot, too, and it never got easier to handle. The minute I stopped giving a shit about people who’d lost everything was the minute I knew I needed to find another job.
“All of your damage is concentrated in that corner, which is really fortunate,” I continued, using my entire hand to indicate the area in question. “Putting the tree next to the fireplace probably saved your condo.”
She blinked, snapping most of the way out of the lingering shock. She gave me her shy smile again. “I was supposed to go to my mom’s house for Christmas. Instead, I stayed here. I was sure my big gift from the universe was going to be watching my whole condo burn to the ground.” Her eyes were shiny with tears again she was doing her best to blink back. Her friend slid an arm around her shoulder and squeezed.
“Thank you so much,” Sami said. “I could have lost everything today.”
I tipped my helmet to her. “All in a day’s work, Miss Lace.”
“Is there anything I can do to repay you?”
I could think of a few things, but needed to stay professional. This all felt new to me. I hadn’t even looked at another woman in years, not since Lacey and I had started dating. And since we’d broken up, I kept my eyes mostly to myself, not wanting any more trouble than I’d already stepped in during the course of my last relationship. I was basically a decent guy who didn’t cheat and worked long hours, but I kept having the same troubles with women over and over again. Cheating, lying, getting pissy because I spent so much time at the station. It was enough to make a guy say fuck it and live the celibate life. But then you ran into someone like Sami Lace, a soft-spoken knockout with kind eyes and the prettiest, most refreshing smile I’d seen in years.
“The firetruck needs a good washing if you’re free tomorrow,” I said, just feeling out how much she was willing to play along.
She grinned, eyes gleaming. “Oh yeah? Should I just drop by the station to do that? I have to warn you, I don’t even wash my own car, so…”
I made a face. “Maybe we’ll just take care of the truck ourselves.” I smiled again, liking the instant chemistry I felt between us. I knew I shouldn’t be doing this — my head still wasn’t clear from all the shit I’d gone through with Lacey; sometimes it seemed like we hadn’t broken up at all, then I remembered she was out sleeping with other guys — but I was tired of feeling depressed and alone. “What about the firemen’s New Year’s Eve ball? I was planning on going alone, but it would be great to have a date.”
Sami lifted an eyebrow, her dark eyes never leaving mine. I could almost hear the wheels spinning in her head as she tried to figure out how serious I was. I’d kept it light, halfway meaning the offer as a joke — but if she said yes, we were on.
Amy had quietly slid her arm from Sami’s shoulders and melted into the background to give us some privacy, though I could see by the way she was cocking her head and staring way too hard at a picture hanging on the wall that she was listening in on every detail.
“It’s not black tie or anything,” I said, keeping my most magnetic smile on my face. I couldn’t really tell if it was working on her or not. She seemed a little off, but her house had nearly burned down, so I doubted it was a result of my stunning good looks. “You just have to dress up a little more than jeans and a sweater.”
Now her smile changed, got a slyer, giving me a peek into the girl underneath the well-groomed exterior. I liked that little peek. It made me want to see what else she had hiding back there.
“Okay,” she said. “You already know where I live, so picking me up shouldn’t be a problem.”
I had to laugh at that. This was the best I’d felt since that last train wreck of an evening with Lacey. I’d have to let Hector know that he’d been right about never giving up hope. You never knew when you might run into the perfect woman.
Chapter Six – Sami – The Day After Christmas
I’d expected the holiday to be a complete and total bummer. I found out a few days after the bomb dropped that Mom had planned a cruise with some of her bunco frenemies upon hearing that two out of three of her offspring weren’t going to make it home to burn several batches of cookies and launch pointed insults across the table at each other over the Christmas turkey.
I’d fully prepared to spend several days sulking, but my mood couldn’t have been any better than it was right now. Even the sight of my sad little burned out husk of a tree sitting out on the curb couldn’t bring me down from where I was currently residing on cloud nine. Every single one of my ornaments was ruined and my lights melted to the charred branches, but my house hadn’t burned down.
And, I’d met Blaze Simmers, a ridiculously hot fireman. I counted that as a win.
My phone rang shrilly, and I had to run from my bedroom where I’d been putting away laundry to the kitchen. I scooped up my cell from the countertop. It was Amy, a picture of her at the beach last summer smiling up at me.
“Hey, girl,” I said. “Happy Boxing Day.”
She laughed into the phone. “What are you up to? Cleaning up the rubble?”
Now it was my turn to giggle. While I was in here, I decided to put together something to eat for lunch. Before my tree went up in flames, Amy, who was stuck on the west coast while her entire family was on the other side of the country, and I had baked a batch of sugar cookies and prepared a turkey with all our favorite sides. It was actually really nice. We’d just cleaned the kitchen and snuggled up together on the couch to watch a few holiday movies when the tree ignited.
After Blaze left, the two of us pulled the tree out of the house, aired out most of the smoky smell, and cleaned up the mess as best we could. Then we made some hot cocoa, stacked the cookies we’d decorated onto a plate, and watched one of those damned movies. Amy left after midnight, refusing the offer of a sleepover by saying she’d rather wake up in her own bed in the morning.
“There’s not much more I can do by myself,” I said. “I called the insurance company first thing this morning. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.”
“What happens now?”
“They send someone out here to inspect the living room and then cut a check so I can repair the damages. Simple as that.” I piled a plate with a fat slice of turkey and a few spoonfuls of corn casserole, yams, and mashed potatoes. I didn’t even plan to warm it up. I loved my leftovers ice cold. I took my loaded plate to the tiny breakfast bar and started picking at the food as soon as I slid onto the only stool.
“I’m glad to hear that went smoothly,” she said. “Now, can we please talk about the fireman?”
We’d talked all about him the night before, but I didn’t mind reviewing every last delicious inch of him — and there was a lot to review. I hadn’t realized how much I liked a guy in uniform until he’d turned around to face me on the front lawn after putting out the fire.
“His name makes him sound like some kind of porn star,” Amy said through her giggles. “Blaze Simmers, fireman by day, high class gigolo by night.”
I laughed, too, thinking about Blaze’s dark green eyes staring deeply into mine. I’d sensed something from him last night, some openness that spoke to me. I didn’t know how else to explain it. I’d never have agreed to go to this ball with him if I hadn’t seen that. Even with it, I wasn’t sure I’d made the smartest decision. Sure, he was smoking hot — pun absolutely intended — and he’d kept my condo from the fate that had befallen my poor little Douglas Fir, but none of that changed the fact that I didn’t even know the man.
“It is a strange name,” I agreed.
“He even has red hair. How many seven foot tall, strapping firemen do you know wi
th red hair and emerald green eyes? And, no freckles! I thought all redheads had freckles.”
“Maybe he has them somewhere besides his face,” I said, the heat tingling into my cheeks even though I was sitting in my own kitchen alone. My mind conjured images of the yummy places those freckles could be hiding.
“Damn, Sami. Are you planning to go on a scavenger hunt for those freckles after you leave the ball?”
I nearly choked on my mouthful of half-chewed turkey, I was laughing so hard.
“Because that sounds like a two woman job. Just saying. And, I’m more than happy to help a sister out.”
We both lost it then, the conversation disintegrating into gales of giggles. As soon as I could get a hold of myself again, I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and went back to eating my lunch. I hadn’t been able to wipe the smile from my face since last night. I’d even woken up smiling.
“So, what are you wearing to this New Year’s Eve shindig full of hot ass firemen?” she asked. “And, what does a sister have to do to get invited? Because I’m willing to burn down my own house. I’m not even kidding.”
“You are out of control,” I said, tittering and shaking my head as I picked at my food.
“Clothes, girl. What are you wearing?”
I honestly hadn’t even thought of it. I had plenty of basics, but I didn’t have any idea how dressy I needed to be for this thing.
“I have the black dress I bought for my sister’s wedding before she called it off,” I said.
She made a disapproving noise. “You need to burn that dress.”
I moved on without argument. When it came to what worked and what didn’t in terms of clothes, Amy was the authority. In all the years we’d known each other, she’d never steered me wrong. I’d bought that black dress on a solo shopping trip. As soon as she saw it, she forbade me from ever wearing it outside of my condo. She hadn’t even wanted me to return it, as the only way to make sure no one ever wore the thing was to keep it locked away in the back of my closet. But the damned thing cost eighty bucks. I hated wasting money.
“What about the blue dress?” I asked.
“I like the blue dress. It does great things for the girls, lifting them without showing off too much. You have to leave something to the imagination.”
“I’m not sure Lisa would agree with that.”
Amy snorted a laugh. “That girl would walk the streets stark naked if she could get away with it.”
“True.” I ate a forkful of my leftovers, waiting for her to go on. When she didn’t, I brought up what had been troubling me for most of the day. Not a great deal, but enough that I had to keep shoving it back in order to continue enjoying myself. “Do you think I agreed to go out with this guy too quickly? I mean, I was upset about the fire and…” I let my voice trail off.
“Hell no. How long has it been since you last had a date?”
We both knew it had actually been months, not weeks like I’d told Mom. But Amy was too nice to make me say it out loud.
“Exactly,” she said. “Don’t throw away a date falling into your lap.” I could hear her crunching on something on her end, chips maybe. “Shit, ever since yesterday, I’ve been thinking about setting fire to my own curtains just so I could get a truck full of fine ass men to show up at my place. If I waited until after dark, I could be in a nightie or something to sex it up and really seal the deal.”
I laughed, despite the sudden tide of nerves swirling in my stomach. I was excited to go out with a man like Blaze, but I was dreading it, too. What if he was the type of guy who expected something on the first night?
“Did you see the blond fireman who seemed real chummy with your boy?” she asked.
I knew exactly who she was talking about. He wasn’t as tall, but had looked like a hip Ken doll, with blond hair, blazing dark eyes, and a grin that was pretty damned close to heart stopping.
“Get his name on Thursday night and then see if you can hook me up.”
“I still don’t know if I even want to go!” I said, my words much more urgent than I’d intended them to be.
“You’re just freaking out because it’s been a while since you went on a date,” she told me. “You’ll get over that as soon as he shows up at your door.”
I felt a little calmer just hearing her say that. “Do you think so?” She’d always been good at defusing a potentially volatile situation before I overreacted and ended up collapsing in a panicky heap.
“It can’t be a coincidence that you saw him out at the bar the other night. I saw you. As long as he was sitting in front of us, you couldn’t keep your eyes off of him. Then you nearly burn your own apartment to the ground, and he’s the fireman that shows up? It was meant to be.”
“I don’t know about that,” I protested, but it did seem like an incredible coincidence to run into him twice in such a big city like Seattle. Those were outrageous odds and, yet, it had happened. Maybe the universe was trying to tell me something.
“It’s not like you have to sleep with him or anything,” she said. “Unless you want to. Because I sure as fuck would.”
We laughed again.
Chapter Seven – Blaze – New Year’s Eve
I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist. I walked out to the adjoining bedroom as I used another towel to rub my hair dry. I’d laid out some slacks, one of my nicer shirts, and a tie before taking a shower, but now I wasn’t sure about them. I’d been going to these firefighters’ balls for years — the last two with Lacey on my arm — and I never gave much thought to what I wore. Lacey’d picked my clothes out when I went with her, which made it easy.
Now I was on my own, which wasn’t a bad thing, but I wanted to impress Sami, not show up looking like some asshole who didn’t know how to dress. A suit and tie usually did it, so I decided to go with what worked.
I took a dark navy blue suit out of my closet and pulled the plastic from the dry cleaner off of it. I didn’t have to dress up very often, which was one of the great perks of being a fireman, but I looked pretty damned good when I did. I wanted to take Sami’s breath away. I’d seen the way she looked at me the other night. I just wanted to keep that going.
I’d never felt so strongly for anyone right off the bat like that. If someone had asked me last week if I’d ever use a call as an opportunity to ask some girl out, I would have had said hell no. It was unprofessional and a little slimy — even Johnny didn’t do shit like that and he was always on the prowl. But I couldn’t help myself. It wasn’t just that Sami was gorgeous. It was her whole demeanor — the way she carried herself, the openness of her dark eyes, the casual way she flipped her long hair over her shoulder.
I pulled off my towel and started to dress, my thoughts stuck in a loop. I kept seeing her staring up at me shyly from her front yard the night of the fire. I had her number, but I hadn’t done much with it besides text this morning to tell her what time I’d be by her place to pick her up. I’d wanted to call to hear her soft voice and tinkling laughter, but managed to resist. I just couldn’t explain the power of my attraction to her. I’d never felt anything like it, not even with Lacey, whose body was so perfect she’d been able to pay her way through college as a professional fitness model. But she had been so full of herself, too, which was a serious turnoff.
I walked to the bathroom as I finished buttoning my shirt and stared hard at myself in the mirror, checking to see if my beard looked even. I cared more about that than I did the mop of hair on my head. I needed to just buzz that shit right off; I was tired of dealing with it. But Lacey loved it longer, so I had grown it out. I wondered how Sami would like it best. I grinned at myself as I combed my hair back away from my forehead, just trying to get the stubborn waves to lie as flat as possible. I worked some gel through it. Usually, I didn’t mess with that crap, but I wanted to look extra sharp tonight.
I washed my hands and sprayed some cologne on my chest and neck, then I went back out to the bedroom to put o
n my pants. I’d been looking forward to tonight all week, but I’d been worried about it, too. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this might be a mistake.
Lacey and I had only broken up a few weeks ago. And, it wasn’t like we’d just been casually dating. I’d given her a ring, which she still hadn’t given back. Not that I’d asked for it. I hadn’t called her once since we broke up, but she’d called me plenty. And sent texts. Whether or not I answered depended a lot on my mood at the time. But we hadn’t seen each other since the night of the breakup.
Still, jumping right into dating someone else so soon after ending things with her felt like it could blow up in my face. I wondered, and not for the first time, what Johnny or Hector might say about it. We spent more time together than I ever did with Lacey, which was kind of funny to think about, considering I’d asked her to marry me. I trusted Hector’s judgment even more than I trusted my own. Johnny always had an interesting spin on things, not that I’d trust him absolutely when it came to relationship advice the way I did Hector. I smiled as I thought of some of the messes he’d gotten into with women over the years.
I looked up when my phone rang, expecting it to be Sami calling things off for tonight. My stomach tightened at the thought, but seeing that it wasn’t her didn’t make me feel any better.
It was Lacey.
I answered the phone, even though she was the last person I wanted to talk to right now. I felt a little guilty going out on a date so soon after we split up…at least, until I reminded myself that the reason we broke up in the first place was because she’d been going on dates with other guys even after we were engaged. That really helped to keep shit in perspective.
“Hey, Blaze,” she said, sounding sweet the way she always did at first. Until I pissed her off.
“What do you want, Lacey?” I asked, choosing my flattest tone.
“Just to say hello, no reason to be defensive. And, let you know that I miss you.” She waited for me to respond and, when I didn’t, she kept on rolling without me. “Do you miss me, too?”