“You are going to be great,” Sloane said as she walked back to him so that she could lean over and brush her lips against his. “Promise.”
With a wink and a teasing smile, she headed inside, leaving him to follow her. As he rolled inside the station, he absently took in everything, a new couch, the same old battered flat screen on the wall, and a bunch of other shit that he barely noticed as his gaze kept going back to Sloane’s incredible ass.
God, that woman wrecked him, Chase thought on a heartfelt sigh as he followed her down the small hallway that connected the old firehouse with the administrative building that the city added a few years ago instead of the training center that they desperately needed. The city had given them a small room in the back, thinking that it was a good compromise.
It wasn’t, but they’d made it work. Before his accident, Chase had handled their continuing education courses and training and while it hadn’t been his favorite part of the job, he’d actually enjoyed doing it. Since he’d let Sloane talk him into doing this class, he’d realized just how much he’d missed it. Over the past month, he’d gone through his old courses, taken several new ones online, signed up for a few in Boston, New York City, and Los Angeles taking place in the next year and…
Realized just how much he’d missed having a reason to wake up in the morning.
After the accident, he’d spent most of his time wondering how he was going to make it through another day without losing his fucking mind. He’d spent most of his time too fucking angry at the world to think straight and once he met Sloane…
She’d saved him.
There was no other way to put it. She gave him hope, gave him a reason to try, and now, he was well on his way to getting his life back. He didn’t know if he was going to be able to pull this off, but he wanted it all back. He wanted back on the truck, wanted to feel the rush of going on a call, and he wanted…
More.
“This isn’t so bad,” Sloane said as she walked into the training room and took in the training equipment lining the walls, the tables, and the desk in front.
“It’s too small,” Chase said, sighing heavily as he placed his bag on the desk.
“True,” Sloane murmured only to add, “but you’ll make it work,” as she stepped out of the way as the guys made their way inside.
“Do you want anything before I leave?” she asked as Chase focused on pulling his laptop out of his bag and setting up, needing a moment to prepare himself for what was about to come.
“Coffee would be great, Pookie,” he said, searching for the wire to connect his computer to the monitor hanging on the wall only to realize that it was on the other side of the desk that he wouldn’t be able to reach because of his wheelchair.
Without a word, Sloane walked around the desk, grabbed the wire and handed it to him with a quick kiss and a mumbled, “I’ll be right back.”
“Wait! What about my kiss?” Adam asked as Chase attached the wire and quickly pulled up the presentation that he’d created.
“Stop ogling my girl’s ass and help me with this desk,” Chase said, rolling out of the way.
With a heartfelt sigh, Adam said, “I love her,” as he gestured for Scott to help him.
“She asked about you the other day,” Chase drawled as he watched them move the desk out of the way.
“Really?” Adam asked, sounding really fucking hopeful and making Chase chuckle as he rolled closer to the desk.
“No,” Chase said, chuckling while he double-checked to make sure that everything was set up as the room continued to fill up.
He glanced up in time to see Thomas walk into the room only to sigh heavily with a muttered, “Fucking hell,” as his phone went off. With a sigh, he answered his phone as he turned around and headed back out the door.
“Told you so,” Adam said, chuckling as he headed back to his table, dragging Chase’s attention to find the room filled with men and women that he’d worked with and some that he’d never met before, and all of them were staring at him, most of them with pity in their eyes.
A few months ago, that would have set him off and had him telling them exactly where they could shove their pity, but today…
He was going to use it to save their lives.
He turned his attention to the large monitor as the first picture appeared, an image of the building before the fire only to follow that up with an image of the building when it collapsed.
“This is what it looks like when a building collapses on top of you,” Chase drawled as an image of his men carrying him out filled the screen. “The goal of this class is to make sure that you know how to keep your men safe when it happens.”
*-*-*-*
“You can’t keep calling me when I’m at work,” the man that walked in on them a month ago said on a resigned sigh as Sloane tried not to think about what he saw as she walked past him.
She moved to shift the beverage tray to one hand so that she could open the door as he reached past her and opened it for her with a murmured, “Here.”
“Thank you,” Sloane said as she headed down the hallway and–
“You’re Sloane, right?” came the question that had her stopping and glancing back just as his phone started ringing again.
“And you are…”
“Thomas,” he said, sighing heavily as Sloane took in the man that stole Chase’s fiancée. “I know I’m an asshole. Trust me,” Thomas said, correctly reading her expression.
“Just as long as you know,” she murmured, earning a chuckle as she continued making her way to the training room only to stop at the light touch on her arm.
“I wanted to ask, how is he?”
For a moment, she considered pointing out that he could have visited Chase in the hospital to find out for himself if he was so worried about him, but…
This wasn’t her battle.
No matter how much it pissed her off.
“He’s good. He’s doing a lot better,” Sloane told him.
“Good. That’s good,” he murmured absently as he rubbed the back of his neck, looking lost.
When she turned to go, Thomas asked, “Did you meet him in the hospital?”
“No, I met him afterward,” Sloane said, having absolutely no doubt in her mind that he already knew how she met Chase, but something about the look on his face had her heart breaking for him. That is, until she remembered that this was the guy that had screwed Chase over when he’d needed him most.
Nodding, Thomas said, “He looks good. He looks happy,” as he gestured for her to go ahead of him.
Shifting the beverage tray and bakery bag in her arms, Sloane walked back into the room as Chase was going over how to apply medical care while extricating a patient. Trying not to interrupt him, she walked behind him and placed the coffee and the small bakery bag on the desk, plucked her ice coffee off the tray and turned to leave when he stopped her.
“Where are you going, Pookie?”
“I thought I’d get out of the way,” she said, gesturing to the door with her coffee.
“Do you think you could give me a hand with something before you leave?” Chase asked when she moved to leave.
“Of course,” Sloane mumbled absently, taking a sip of her iced coffee as she wondered if she had time to run to the store when she saw him gesture toward her as several of the men got up and–
Made her wonder why they were grabbing backboards.
*-*-*-*
“Chase?”
“Yes, Pookie?” Chase said, glancing up from his iPad in time to see Tyler drag the jump bag closer.
“I’m going to kill you,” came the angrily muttered words from somewhere beneath the desk where they’d shoved her a few minutes ago so that the class could extract her.
“That’s nice,” he murmured absently as his attention went to the metal cabinets in the back of the room. They should probably practice an overhead extraction, Chase thought, wondering if they’d be able to lay her across the top.
&nbs
p; Probably, she was small, Chase thought as he shifted his attention back to the desk and watched as they carefully removed the “debris” that they’d placed on the desk and around it to make it difficult to get to her. He grabbed his coffee and took a sip as he glanced back at the metal cabinets and sighed because that just wasn’t going to do.
“How high is the roof here on this section?” Chase asked as he contemplated their next extraction.
“Twenty-five feet,” Tyler said as he reached for the backboard.
Nodding, Chase said, “We’re going to need two ladders.”
“Why do you need ladders?” Sloane asked, sounding a bit hysterical at the end there as Chase thought it over only to decide that they were probably going to need some rope, too.
“No reason,” Chase said, only to mouth, “Grab rope” when Ben and Scott headed for the door, deciding that he’d make this up to her later.
Chapter 33
“I know what you did,” came the quietly spoken words that had Chase biting back a smile as Sloane slowly looked over her shoulder to find Deb standing behind her, hugging a pool noodle against her chest. She narrowed her eyes on Sloane only to end up cursing when she saw Kim coming, turned around and quickly made her way back to the safety of Kim’s office only to pause by the door and mouth, “I know.”
Nodding solemnly, Sloane said, “She’s going to kill me one day.”
“It does look that way, doesn’t it?” Chase murmured in agreement as he pulled the woman that probably shouldn’t go anywhere alone while they were here, down on his lap.
“You could always tell her that you lied,” Sloane said, sounding hopeful as she wrapped her arm around his shoulders and shifted to get comfortable.
He could, but…
“I don’t think that I can do that,” Chase said with a sad shake of his head as he rolled them toward the back.
“You’re so mean,” Sloane mumbled sadly as he rolled them through the open security doors that led to the back and made his way toward the pool.
“Because I refuse to destroy a little girl’s hopes and dreams of vanquishing evil?” he asked with a sad shake of his head as he rolled them through the pool’s double doors. “I just can’t do that, Pookie.”
“Then I’m afraid our love affair is over,” Sloane said with a sad shake of her head and a heavy sigh as he rolled to a stop a few feet away from the pool.
Nodding, he helped her off his lap. “I think you’re right.”
“It was fun while it lasted,” Sloane said, nodding solemnly.
“It really was,” he said, matching her nod with one of his own as he watched her pull her T-shirt off and tossed it on his lap, revealing the top half of her bathing suit.
“So,” Sloane said, pausing to sigh heavily as she toed off her shoes and shimmied out of her cotton shorts, “then we’re agreed. It’s time to go our separate ways?”
“I don’t see how we have a choice,” he said even as he reached over and grabbed her hand, using his hold on her to pull her down so that he could steal a quick kiss.
There was a heavy sigh and then…
“We really don’t,” Sloane said with a teasing smile as she pulled back far enough so that she could toss her shorts at him before making her way around the pool to the deep end so that she could do her customary dive for Teddy. She shot him a wink as she climbed onto the highest diving platform as Grey walked in with Teddy in his arms and Deb not too far behind with a glare already locked on Sloane.
He should probably do something about that, Chase thought as he watched Sloane dive off the diving board, earning an excited smile from Teddy and an awed expression from Deb before she remembered that she was supposed to hate Sloane and returned to glaring. As he made his way over to the benches lining the side of the pool, Grey handed Teddy over to Sloane and
Fucking hell, walked over to join Chase.
“You missed another session,” Grey said, dropping down on the bench next to him with a bagged lunch to watch Sloane work with Teddy in the large swimming pool.
“I have bodyguard duty,” Chase said with a pointed look as the woman in question was forced to hold up Teddy, who couldn’t stop giggling while his sister was forced to rethink her attack.
“That probably won’t end well,” Grey murmured.
“She loves it,” Chase said even as he had to wonder where Deb got that foam bat.
“I can tell,” Grey said dryly.
He’d considered staying home, but then he would have missed this, Chase thought with a heartfelt sigh when Deb realized that she wouldn’t be able to attack Sloane without hitting her brother. He watched as she hugged the foam bat against her chest and sat down on the pool stairs, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
He glanced back at Sloane to find her focused on Teddy, smiling down at the little boy in her arms and
“Have I told you how much I miss our glaring sessions?” Grey said, throwing him a curious look.
“Well, there’s an easy solution to that,” Chase said, not bothering to point out that he didn’t need fucking therapy, something that should have been more than obvious by this point.
“And what’s that?” Grey asked, reaching into his bag only to frown when he pulled out a large stack of napkins.
“You could tell Sloane that I don’t need therapy to save me the trouble of canceling them every week,” Chase said as the woman who seemed to really enjoy tormenting Grey sat down on the bench next to him. With a murmured, “This sandwich is so good,” and a heartfelt sigh, she took a bite of the sandwich that had the large man that seemed to have an easy smile for everyone else, narrowing his eyes on the move.
“Tell me that’s not my lunch,” Grey said, shoving the napkins back in the brown paper bag.
“No, of course, it isn’t. Don’t be silly,” Nikki said dryly as she took another bite.
“It’s not going to work,” Grey said, completely forgetting about him as he focused his attention on the woman determined to get out of her court-ordered community service.
“What’s not going to work?” Nikki asked, blinking innocently.
Instead of answering her, Grey plucked the sandwich out of her hand, took a bite as Chase watched Sloane help Teddy onto his stomach and
“Why don’t you just tell her that you don’t need therapy?” Grey countered, knowing that wasn’t a choice.
“Because there’s nothing wrong with me.”
“I would agree with that except that there’s something that we need to talk about,” Grey said, sounding thoughtful as he finished off the rest of his sandwich.
“And what’s that?” Chase asked, more than happy to get to the fucking point so that he could stop coming here and wasting his
“The accident.”
Chapter 34
“Have I told you how much I love it when you’re cranky?” Sloane asked with a heartfelt sigh as she finished checking the burgers in the pan so that she could focus on the man that hadn’t said a word since they left the center.
When he only glared at her, she added, “It’s sexy,” with a solemn nod, earning a slight, ever so slight, twitch of his lips.
“God, I am so turned on right now,” Sloane said dryly as she lowered the stove before she climbed onto Chase’s lap.
“In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been more turned on than I am right now,” she said, shifting to get comfortable, noting that Chase’s lips definitely twitched this time.
“Oh, yeah?” he asked, running his hands over her thighs.
“Mmmhmmm, very sexy,” Sloane said, nodding solemnly, unable to help but smile as she leaned in and kissed him.
“You’re a very strange woman, Pookie,” Chase whispered as he slowly kissed his way down to her neck.
“And a sweet talker, too? God, I don’t know how much more of this I’m going to be able to take,” she said, loving the way that it felt when he smiled against her skin.
“We could always find out,” he whispered se
ductively as she felt one of his hands slide beneath her shirt and make its way up to her breast, giving it a gentle squeeze that had her shifting on his lap.
“We should definitely do that,” she agreed on a moan as Chase’s other hand cupped her bottom, using his hold to bring her closer and
Reminded her just how easily he could turn her on.
She’d never been with a man that made her feel this way before. He drove her crazy, made her forget herself, made her stop worrying about everything, and made her feel like she was exactly where she was supposed to be. It was dangerous allowing herself to want more knowing that she couldn’t have it.
This wasn’t going to last, but right now, she didn’t care.
The only thing that mattered was how good it felt when he touched her and how much she liked falling asleep in his arms every night and waking up with him every morning. She
Was burning the burgers, Sloane realized with a pathetic groan as she broke off the kiss that she fully planned on continuing just as soon as she made sure the house wasn’t going to burn down. Sighing, she brushed her lips against his one last time as she turned around only to wince when the smoke alarms went off, emitting a high pitched sound that had her wincing as she reached over to turn the stove off and move the pan giving off enough smoke to let her know that they were probably going to have to order pizza tonight.
She barely managed to move the pan off the burner when Chase pulled her back onto his lap. Rolling her eyes even as she couldn’t help but smile, she moved to stand back up only to find herself pulled more tightly onto his lap.
“I need to put the fan on, Chase,” she said, more than happy to pick up where they’d left off as she tried to climb off his lap only to wince when his hold became painful.
“Chase, I need to…” she started to say as she turned her head only to feel her heart break when she saw the terror on his face as he reached over and began pushing his wheelchair back, taking her with him.
Swallowing hard, Sloane tried to turn around on his lap so that she could comfort him only to end up gasping in pain as his hold somehow tightened even more. “Chase, you’re hurting me,” she managed to get out as he rolled them to the patio doors.
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