“Why do people say they’re sorry for things they didn’t do?”
He liked hearing that feisty edge in her voice. She wasn’t going to let this disaster keep her down for long.
She stole another look at her motorhome, then shuddered. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be a bitch. I’m just…shaken up. You saved my life. I wouldn’t have known what to do.” She turned to the paramedic. “Take very good care of him. He got us away from the fire. He’s a hotshot, did you know that? I bet you didn’t know that.”
Finn exchanged a look with the EMT. Maybe Lisa was more affected that he’d realized. He took her hand and rubbed his thumb across her pulse point. It beat with a rapid, jagged rhythm. “Are you sure you don’t want him to check you out too?”
“Unless he has a bottle of vodka in that van, I’m good. Just a little shaken up.”
The paramedic, in the midst of wrapping a blanket around Finn’s shoulders, laughed. “It sounds like you’re going to be fine. It’s always a good sign when people can still make a joke.”
Another official vehicle drove into the small lot. Deputy Will Knight unfurled himself from the driver’s side and came toward them. Finn had seen him at Barstow’s Brews a few times but didn’t know him well.
Finn nodded a greeting. “Knight. Who called you into this thing?”
“Chief Littleton. As soon as I heard Ms. Peretti was involved, I hopped in my rig and came on out.”
“Involved? What do you mean, involved?” Finn asked sharply. “Her home got destroyed, that’s her only involvement.”
“Right. Pardon my phrasing.” Knight glanced from one to the other of them. “You were both here at the time of the incident?”
Lisa stepped in to answer. “Yes, we were both here, we didn’t hear anything or notice anything strange until I smelled smoke. At that point, Finn knocked out a window and got us out.”
Knight made some notes on a little pad of paper, then looked at Finn. “You’re a firefighter, right? Did you notice anything unusual?”
He’d been so caught up in Lisa, he wouldn’t have noticed a bomb going off outside. “No, but that fire was deliberately set. I’d stake my career on it.”
Knight didn’t look surprised. Finn shot a glance at Lisa—and noticed that she didn’t either. “What am I missing? Why are you here, Deputy? What’s going on?”
“Good question.” Knight tapped his pencil on his pad. “If we had a little more information from Ms. Peretti here, we might have some answers.”
Finn looked at Lisa. “What’s he talking about?”
“I’ll explain later,” she said in a low voice. To the Deputy, she said, “Can we talk tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. Do you have a safe place to stay tonight?”
For a crazy moment, Finn thought Knight was going to invite Lisa to stay with him. The thought made him absolutely nuts. “Yes, she does,” he said quickly. “She’s going to stay at an exclusive cliff-top mansion with a full-time bodyguard on the premises.”
“What are you talking about?” Lisa stared at him. A smudge of soot on her cheekbone made his fingers itch to brush it off.
“Your accommodations. What else?” The burning sensation along the side of his body made him irritable. “Just like the Deputy said, you need to be somewhere safe tonight. And that’s with me.”
She tried to pull her hand away, but he refused to let her go. “Finn, that’s completely unnecessary. What if it was just a freak accident? Will’s probably just being alarmist.”
Will? She was calling him “Will” now? Finn shot the deputy a glance, wondering if he was going to have to take some kind of measures here. Something short of attacking an officer of the law.
“I’m not being alarmist.” Knight might have rolled his eyes, though it was hard to tell under his official deputy’s hat. “I’m being smart. Which is what you should be too.”
“Exactly. You should be smart,” Finn told Lisa. “And stay with me.”
“We have many fine bed and breakfasts in the area,” continued Knight blandly. “I’d be happy to provide you with a list.”
“She doesn’t need the fucking Chamber of Commerce,” Finn snapped.
“All right, then. Maybe you have a friend you can stay with. Would you like me to contact Merry Warren? She’s left me her number many times with permission to call her. More like a command to call her, in fact.”
“She’s not calling Merry. Merry’s probably on deadline.” She usually was, Finn knew. And while she’d be happy to take in Lisa, Finn didn’t plan to give her the opportunity. “I have a perfectly good place for Lisa to stay. So butt out, Knight.”
Knight looked about a second from bursting into laughter. “I’m giving you a pass here because the paramedics might get on my ass, but—”
“We’ll figure something out,” said Lisa firmly. “You don’t have to worry about it, Will.”
“Right, Will. We got this.”
Knight was still laughing as he ambled off to talk to the firefighters. As soon as he was out of earshot, Lisa turned on Finn. “Look, Finn. I’m a grown woman who can take care of myself. I don’t need some knight on a white horse to rescue me.”
“How about a knight in a green Tahoe?”
“No knights. No Tahoes. I just want to check in somewhere and lock the door and sleep until noon tomorrow.”
Which made sense, and he wouldn’t have a problem with that, except that he kept thinking about the possibility that someone had snuck up on them and lit her motorhome on fire. Even if her door was locked with ten deadbolts, Lisa was only one person. She couldn’t notice everything going on around her. And she was new in town, so she might not recognize someone as a stranger.
No, everything in him refused to let her be alone tonight. It was time to play dirty.
“So…are you really going to abandon me after I carried you through the woods? I’m shocked, Peretti. I really am.”
“Abandon you?”
“I’m injured. In the line of duty. And I wasn’t even on duty. I could have internal injuries, maybe a concussion. Or a long-buried allergic reaction to superheated automotive paint. I’m really surprised you’re willing to leave me alone tonight.”
She stared at him, her dark eyes glimmering in the light from the fire engine. “You’re really playing the patient card?”
“Playing? I am a patient.” He adopted a virtuous tone. “A very good patient. I’m doing everything the nice paramedic said to do. I’m sitting and resting like a good boy. It’s too bad not everyone does as they’re told by first responders. By the way, I’m technically a first responder. You should listen to me.”
“Oh my God. You are seriously demented.”
“Nope. Just determined. You’re staying with me tonight. In fact, you can have the whole guesthouse. This is perfect. I need a house-sitter for when the fire season starts. I just got a, uh…pet, and I need someone to take care of him.”
“Really? A pet?”
Not yet—but he would as soon as humanly possible. “Yes, poor little thing.” What kind of pet could he possibly acquire at this point? A cat, a dog? He’d figure something out. “It needs a kind human to take care of it while I’m gone.” He blinked at her with his best puppy dog eyes—which were damn good, he knew from twenty years of experience.
“You are shameless.”
“You know, shame is good for things like crimes. But for little stuff like wanting to keep someone out of harm’s way? Try another word. Like ‘heroic.’” He grinned at her.
She stood up. Soot smudged her leggings, and a large smear of sap spread across one sleeve of her hoodie. Even so, he had no defense against her. He wanted to shield her, to make her laugh, to strip her naked and roll her around in his sheets.
None of that now, he warned himself. Making a move on her wasn’t on the agenda. He just wanted to be sure she was safe. Somewhere between her bed and the woods, that had become the most important thing in the world to him.
“Okay. I’ll
stay at your place tonight. But it’s only because I’m truly afraid that you damaged your brain when you climbed out of the van.”
He didn’t argue. He’d gotten what he wanted. And maybe he could use the brain-damaged thing to his advantage. “Brain damage requires long-term care, right?” he murmured.
16
Finn didn’t want her to drive alone, so he left his Tahoe at the campground and rode with her in the Mercedes, sitting on the odd little contraption she’d installed for Molly. He jumped at the chance to question her about what Knight had said.
“You said you’d explain later,” he reminded her.
“It’s only about ten minutes later.” She laughed as she took the turn out of the campground.
“Right. That means it’s later. Why was Knight there? Why is he interested in a vehicle fire at a campground?”
She let out a soft sigh. “Because there’s a chance that it’s not the first time someone has come after me.”
“What?”
“You know that guy with the gun who knocked you out on the trail up to Breton? The one who tried to kidnap Merry?”
He swiveled his head to stare at her. “He was looking for you?” Jesus, that made so much sense. The guy had ranted on about dark hair and the tower. At least, that was what Finn remembered before he’d gotten clocked on the head.
“It’s possible. So far, he hasn’t really explained himself. He pled guilty.”
“I know all that. I followed the whole case. But why you?”
She worried at her bottom lip. She was gripping her steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles showed white. On the road ahead, her headlights shone across a jackrabbit skipping across the center divider. She swerved to miss it, a little more sharply than necessary. Even though she quickly corrected her course, he got the message.
“Let’s talk about this when we’re not in a moving vehicle,” he said.
Relieved, she nodded. They both stayed quiet, lost in their own thoughts, until they reached his guesthouse.
Luckily, he’d done some minimal cleanup that morning, so he spotted only a small pile of sweaty training clothes on the floor. He kicked it under the dining table, hoping she wouldn’t notice.
She pretended not to, anyway.
“I’ll take the couch.” He gestured toward the back of the house, where the bedroom was located. “The bed is all yours. The sheets were just changed, but if you want fresh ones, check the closet in the bathroom. There’s about a hundred variations of pastel-flowered sheets in there. By the way, I have nothing to do with the decor of this place. I think someone’s grandmother lived here.”
She attempted a smile, but he sensed she was still uncomfortable. Time to put her at ease. Make crystal clear his intentions were honorable, at least for tonight. He dropped onto the couch and yawned deeply. “If you want to take a shower, go for it. Lots of hot water, courtesy of Clan Wareham. I promise I’ll be a much better host tomorrow. I’ll even bring you breakfast in bed…” He trailed off, eyes drifting shut.
And then it wasn’t an act. All the stress and exhaustion of a full day’s training and a dramatic fire rescue overwhelmed him. His body felt like one solid throbbing sore spot.
The sound of her soft laughter woke him up a little. He dragged his eyes open as she lifted his legs onto the couch and helped him stretch into a more comfortable position. Her movements were competent, sure, as if she’d assisted many couch-bound patients. She draped a throw blanket over him. It smelled like potpourri, as did everything in this little guesthouse.
“And here I was, worried that this was all a ploy.”
“Definitely a ploy,” he mumbled as he snuggled into the couch pillow. “Worked, too. Don’t tell Nurse Badass.”
She laughed and ran a light hand across his forehead, so quickly he might have imagined it. “I won’t. Sweet dreams.”
And he was out.
When he woke up, sunshine was streaming through the living room window and the smell of rich dark coffee floated from the kitchen. He sat up with a jolt and looked down at his chest. His shirt was missing.
The events of the day before flipped through his brain. Lisa. Fire. Lisa. Here.
He jumped off the couch and strode into the kitchen. Lisa held a mug in both of her hands as she stared out the window at the Pacific Ocean stretching to the hazy horizon. She wore one of his old Fighting Scorpions Hotshots t-shirts over the leggings she’d worn yesterday.
“What the hell is going on here?” He folded his arms across his bare chest as she turned. Steam from her coffee mug made her skin look dewy and fresh. “Someone took my clothes. And made coffee. I’m the host around here, that’s my job.”
“You were indisposed,” she said primly. “And your shirt was sweaty and dirty. That’s not good for your scars. It was a medical intervention.”
Her eyes sparkled as she scanned his torso. He decided he’d take all the medical interventions she cared to offer.
“And the coffee?”
“There might be enough for you. If you hurry.” She winked as she took a sip.
He laughed. He liked her like this, all loose and relaxed and wearing his t-shirt. He walked to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup. “How are you feeling today?”
She made a face. “Besides homeless, motorhome-less and clothing-less? Not too bad.”
He winced. “You’ve still got attitude. That’s a big plus. And you’re not homeless. This is your home. I’m handing it over to you, free and clear. I can stay at the base if it makes you uncomfortable. I’m serious.”
“Finn, I’m not going to chase you out of your home. I’ll find a place.”
“A place in Jupiter Point?”
Her hesitation told him all he needed to know. The fire was the last straw for her. She’d probably be leaving as soon as she finished her coffee.
“Don’t leave, Lisa.” The request came out more seriously than he’d planned. “I mean, don’t leave before you have a solid plan. You still need clothes, and I have to get my Tahoe back, and we should see what’s left of your stuff from the motorhome. And didn’t you say you were going to talk to Deputy Knight today?”
“Right. I guess I did.” Her expression tightened and she looked away. He wanted to ask her a million more questions about the fire and the Breton incident and Knight, but didn’t want to scare her off first thing in the morning. Especially when two minutes ago, she’d been enjoying the sunshine and making herself at home in his kitchen.
He lightened his tone and leaned his hip against the countertop. “Besides, I need you here, remember?”
“Right. That pet you mentioned. Funny thing, I don’t see any sign of a pet. I’ve been looking everywhere.”
Busted. He ran a hand across his jaw. “On a related note, I need to run a quick errand. Can I borrow your car?”
She burst into laughter. “Did you make up a pet to encourage me to stay here?”
“If someone did something like that, how wrong would that be? Asking for a friend.”
She threw back her head and laughed even harder. “You are really something. Actually, I’m touched that you would go to such lengths to get me to come here. And I know your motives were perfectly innocent. You just want to keep me safe. That’s just…really nice.”
He lifted an eyebrow at her. Nice? Was that really the right word? Well, it was better than many other words she could have chosen. He put his empty mug on the counter. “I’m going to take a shower. You’re welcome to—”
“Join you?”
His mouth snapped shut. She batted her eyelashes at him, all sweet cream and innocence. Jesus, now she was playing with him. Or was she serious?
“Uh…sure. You’re also welcome to help yourself to cereal. It’s in that cupboard up there. Somewhere.” He waved a hand at his kitchen cabinets, then turned and pretended to run into the doorjamb.
The sound of her laughter made him grin. As he stepped into the shower, he realized he’d do anything to keep her sounding lik
e that. Not wary and cautious, but joyful, carefree and happy.
After his shower, they rode together down the long, winding road into town. She drove while he fired off a bunch of texts.
“Swing by Josh and Suzanne’s first, would you?” he asked her.
He directed her to the new house they’d recently bought. It was a sunflower-yellow ranch-style house with a walled-in backyard perfect for kids.
Suzanne opened the door. Her belly seemed to fill the entire doorway. Her hair hung in a long braid over one shoulder.
“Wow,” said Finn. “Won’t be long now, huh?”
“Only about a hundred more years,” she grumbled. “I have a bag here next to me but I can’t bend down to get it.”
“I got it.” Finn reached past her for the giant tote bag filled to the brim with clothes. He handed it to Lisa, who peered at it curiously.
“What is this?”
“This is all the clothes I will never be able to wear again thanks to Buster here.” She patted her belly affectionately. “Even if I could wear them, I wouldn’t want to get spit-up on them. I’m handing them off to a worthy heir.”
“Suzanne, I can’t take this.”
“Take it,” she snapped, making Lisa jump. “You have to, I’m like one entire nerve ending right now. If you don’t, I’ll cry, and once I start I can’t stop. Just ask Josh.”
Meekly, Lisa tucked the handles of the bag over her arm. “Thank you, that’s very nice of you.”
“It’s nothing. Really. You can buy me a margarita at the Orbit someday.”
Finn noticed Lisa didn’t say “no” to that, though she didn’t say “yes” either.
“Was that your idea?” she asked after they’d gotten back in the Mercedes.
“Suzanne has a great sense of style and she loves dressing people. Seemed like a good match.”
“Very thoughtful,” she said neutrally.
After that, they stopped at a discount store, where she picked up a toothbrush and underwear and a few other essentials. Then he directed her to the Frisky Business Pet Store.
“Seriously? You’re actually getting a pet?”
Setting Off Sparks (Jupiter Point Book 4) Page 11