“Health wise, I can confirm that,” Josh said. “We’re not going to transport you. But I want you to stay here and continue using the oxygen.”
She nodded.
“What happened?”
“Frayed electric cord. It was connected to a light that had been left on in the loft area.”
“Well, at least you’re fine. And it didn’t spread to the house.”
“I’m glad about that. But we’d just finished all that work.” Still, her mind wasn’t on the barn or her house, but on Rory as he worked alongside the rest of his crew to clean up everything.
She wanted to talk to him alone, to tell him that while she’d been in the barn wondering if she was going to make it out, everything had become clear. She could handle him risking his life and saving people the way he had her. As long as she had him by her side for the rest of her days, she’d figure out a way to handle her fears. Tonight, she’d realized that nothing scared her like the thought of living her life without him.
But she didn’t know when she’d have the chance to tell him that. He had to go back to the station with his crew, and her family had stayed at her house until almost eleven when she’d sent them home. She lay in her big bed staring out the window at the stars that dotted the sky, wide awake and waiting.
She didn’t want to admit what she was waiting for until she heard the sound of a Harley pulling up outside her house. But she was sure he’d come back tonight. She hoped he would. Because it would mean that he cared about her as much as she loved him . . .
“O’ROARKE? GET IN here,” Captain Malone called.
Rory finished writing up his report and walked into the captain’s office, not surprised to find the lieutenant sitting there as well. “I’m sorry for my behavior at the fire, sir.”
“It’s okay. We’ve all had call-outs to family before. I get that. You handled yourself well,” the lieutenant said.
“Thank you, sir,” Rory said. Then why had they called him in here? He wanted to get his paperwork finished and get back to Meg. He wasn’t going to stop worrying about her until he held her in his arms and saw for himself that she was okay.
“Paul O’Shea volunteered to take the rest of your shift. He’s only been off for twelve hours, so technically it shouldn’t be allowed. But the lieutenant and I have discussed it and we think you worrying about your girl is more of a threat than Paul’s lack of rest,” Malone said. “You’re relieved from the rest of your shift.”
“I don’t want to put anyone in danger,” Rory said. “I can finish up.”
“No, you can’t. I’m going to stay on as well. We’re covered. Get out of here,” Malone said.
“Thank you, sirs,” Rory said.
He walked out of the office and found Paul waiting in the living area. “Thanks.”
“Don’t make a big deal out of it. I would do the same for anyone. Besides, we’re practically family now.”
“How do you figure?” he asked.
“Meg’s like a sister to me,” Paul said. “By the way, she’s staying at the old Clapham place tonight.”
And just like that, Paul had summed up what Rory wanted more than anything. That extended family, one of his own. He clapped the other guy on the shoulder and walked out of the firehouse. He still felt a little nervous about Meg, but for the first time since he’d left South Dade almost fifteen years ago, he wasn’t running from something. He was going to someone and that felt right.
He knew that there were still things to work out. He hoped she hadn’t fallen out of love with him but that was no longer a real fear. He wanted her and when he put his mind to anything, he could make it happen.
He’d worried she’d try to change him the way his ex had, but that was no longer a fear. Meg understood him and what his job meant to him. And together, they’d find a way past the fear his job brought with it.
But that was the future. Right now, he just needed to get through this night. He drove up to the old Clapham place and saw it was dark. He should let her sleep. A different kind of man might have, but he needed to see her, needed to make sure she was okay.
He walked up the front porch steps, impressed by what she’d done on the house. It was different than what she’d told him she originally wanted to do. But he quickly realized that she’d kept the “bones” of the property intact, instead of changing it to become something different.
The door flew open just as he started to knock and he stared into those cinnamon-colored eyes that he’d missed so much. Seeing her in town today had only whet his appetite.
“Rory!” she said, jumping toward him. He caught her up in his arms, breathed in the scent of her freshly-washed hair and let the last of his fear drain away.
“I’ve never been afraid of a fire until today,” he admitted to her. “When we got here and I saw the barn consumed in flames, I wanted to forget all my training and run inside and find you. I kept seeing you like poor old Mrs. Delany and I couldn’t live with that, Meg.”
She kept running her hands over his face, kissing him. There was so much emotion in her touch that he couldn’t handle it. It was more than he wanted to feel for another person. It left him vulnerable.
But he needed her and he wanted her. And he was never letting her go.
“I was so scared, too. I wished I’d been to that fire safety class, but it’s not until next week. I just did what I’d been taught in school and hoped it was enough.”
“I will always be there to save you. I almost got myself in big trouble.”
“You did?”
“Hell, yeah. I’m not kidding when I said I was afraid today. But remember the talk we had in Daytona? I sort of used you for my strength today,” he said. “I love you, Meg Starling. I know it’s not fair to ask you to love me after the way I’ve acted, but I’m willing to make you fall in love with me again.”
“I love you, Rory. I can’t say that your job doesn’t scare me, but I love you too much to let it keep us apart.”
“Good,” he said, holding her even closer to him. He stepped over her threshold and closed the door behind him. Then he leaned back against it and lowered his head to kiss her until finally the icy knot of fear in the pit of his stomach started to melt. He carried her down the hall, before realizing he didn’t know his way around the house.
“Upstairs, first door on the left,” she said. He carried upstairs into her bedroom and set her on her feet. It was going to be a night to remember.
Chapter Twenty-Three
RORY PUT HIS hands on her waist and leaned down to kiss her. He tasted like minty toothpaste and safety, she realized. He tasted like everything she’d always wanted to find but had never had the courage to take. But she had the courage now.
She tunneled her fingers through his hair, which was still just a little too long in the back. It was damp from his shower, but she didn’t mind. She was so glad he was here with her, that they were both safe and together.
She knew they still had a lot to figure out. But loving each other made that easier. She had her show. If it succeeded, or lasted just one season, she’d handle it.
And he would keep saving lives, the way he’d saved hers today.
“I want this to be perfect,” he whispered. “But I’m still so unsure. I love you but I have no idea if we can live together.”
She cupped his dear face and kissed him softly before lifting her head and rubbing her thumb over his bottom lip. “We will figure it out together.”
“That’s all I needed to hear,” he said, sitting on her bed and drawing her down on his lap. “We’ve both spent too much time on our own trying to pretend we know what we want and neither of us has been happy.”
She laid her head against his shoulder. “I know.”
“You intrigue me, Meg. I’ve been fascinated by you from the moment I first saw you, we
aring big sunglasses and stubbornly refusing to be cowed by anyone who wanted to hear how you’d failed,” he said.
“Really?” she asked. She remembered being hot and aggravated and so ready to get out of Twin Palms. But somehow, all of that had changed and now she felt like she was where she was meant to be. She’d finally found her home and it wasn’t in the place she’d grown up. It was in this man’s arms.
“Yep. I think I knew, even then, that you were supposed to be my girl. I want to wake up with you in the morning and see your face across from me while I eat breakfast. And I want to fall asleep in your arms every night.”
“I want that, too,” she said. “I want the chance to get to know all of you.”
“So what do you say? Will you let me be your guy?” he asked as he tangled his fingers in her hair and tipped her head up toward his.
She licked her lips and met his gaze with hers. The answer could only be yes. She’d had doubts about what she wanted in life, but with Rory, it was so very clear.
“Yes,” she said.
He growled and rolled them over on the bed so that he was lying on top of her. He kissed her like he couldn’t get enough of her and she let him. She welcomed the feel of his weight pushing her down on the mattress and when he skimmed his hands down her body to grab her nightgown, she scooted around to make it easier for him to take off.
He rolled them on their sides, his hands moving over her body, finding the small burn she’d gotten when she’d jumped back from the fire. He raised himself up on his elbow and kissed the mark on her forearm and then slowly moved his mouth along the rest of her body. He caressed her carefully, as if she might break.
She’d never felt so treasured. He set fire to her soul with his long languid caresses and then put it out the flames with his kiss.
He pulled off his clothes, then took her in his arms, and slowly slid inside of her. There was no doubt in Meg’s mind that they were meant to be together. No man had ever fit her the way that Rory did. It was like they were made for each other.
She knew then that all her worry about his job was just a distraction. What she really feared was that this man, who fit her in every way possible, might not want to stay with her. But as he moved over her, taking her to the very edge of pleasure, she knew those fears were unfounded. Rory O’Roarke was hers. And she was his.
He bit her ear gently and shivers of completion rolled through her. She turned toward him and kissed him, showing him all the things he made her feel.
He started pumping harder and faster into her and she felt another tiny orgasm rock her as he came. There was no going back now. He rolled over and tucked her up against his side.
“Mine.”
“Mine,” she said back. She knew they still had a lot of things to work out but doing it together was the key to the future. Their future.
THE SHUTTER SHE’D found at the flea market was old and weathered but she saw beyond that to what it could be—something she’d been wanting to make for Rory. Something that would show him that she’d finally accepted his job. That she loved all of him and wasn’t going to try and change him.
She walked out to the Smithbilt shed past the newly constructed barn that was still empty inside. Weekends spent clearing away the burnt timbers and rebuilding the barn had brought her and Rory closer. He’d admitted that he had never felt so much fear as when he’d come to get her and she understood that.
She confessed that, every time she heard the fire alarm or the sirens on the fire truck, she felt afraid, too. And slowly they were both figuring things out.
She sanded the rough edges off the shutter, then primed it and added a coat of black paint. Some of the old wood was visible underneath, and she used a process called antiquing to rough up the black paint a little more. When she was satisfied with the look of it, she went to the large console her father had helped her put in.
She’d seen more of her parents in the last few months than she had in years. They both were out at the house, helping her finish up projects, and for the first time, she felt at peace with her family and her place in it.
Her show was going so well that Cooper had already ordered a second series. Pat was still helping her around the house doing carpentry work, and had taken a job at the Twin Palms Fire Department as a lieutenant. That meant that if Rory picked up overtime, there was a good chance he’d be working with his brother.
She pulled out an old cross-stitched sampler that was frayed and damaged but that was too pretty not to use. After soaking the fabric in some teabags to get that creamy muslin look to it, she carefully cut out the letters she needed.
She had found the word “firefighter” on an old sign she’d bought on eBay that read “Firefighters Only”. By the time she was finished, she had a sign that read “Always Kiss Your Firefighter Goodnight”.
Derrick O’Roarke had given her some old patches he’d collected over the years, and Meg sorted through them until she found one from the South Dade truck that Rory had first ridden on. And it had taken her weeks to track down one from the truck Rory had been on in Daytona.
A Twin Palms patch had been easy to find. She used them to create a border across the bottom of the shutter and then left it to dry. Rory was doing a twenty-four shift and wouldn’t be home until tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, she’d gone back to teaching and had to leave almost as soon as he got home. But she wanted to have this ready for when they were both home tomorrow night.
They fought sometimes; who knew the man could be so stubborn about not watching TV in bed? But then, he made up for it in the sweetest ways. Her life was so much richer now that she had him by her side. Although she tried not to let him know that, because, God, did the man like to gloat!
She hung the sign in the bedroom before she left for work the next morning. When she got home later that day, she couldn’t find Rory, but his Harley was in the garage so she knew he was there.
She changed and walked out to the backyard where she found her firefighter lying on the swing bed she’d made, pillows piled behind his head and the book she was reading for next week’s book club in his hands.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Red. How was your day?”
“Good. How was yours?” she asked.
“Better now that you’re here,” he said, patting the spot next to him on the swing.
“Are you sure?”
The last time both of them had lain on the swing bed, it the ropes had snapped.
“Yes, I fixed it today,” he said. She glanced up and noticed he’d reinforced the moorings at the top branch of the tree with some supports and two-by-fours.
She walked over to him and sat down next to him. He pulled her back so that she was cradled against his chest. “I like the book you’re reading. The guy has the right idea for finding a woman.”
“He’s got ideas all right, but I don’t know if they are right.”
He rolled her underneath him.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving you a chance to kiss your firefighter,” he said.
She lifted her head up and kissed him. Then she sighed. “I never expected to fall in love with you.”
“Me either. I figured we’d have hot sex for a few weeks and then I’d move on. I’ve always thought teachers were a little boring.”
She punched his shoulder. “Brat.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, kissing her long and deep.
“I guess we both found what we were looking for,” she said.
“No, we found what we weren’t looking for. But that was exactly what we needed.”
As usual, he had to have the last word. But she didn’t mind. She’d found the home she’d been searching for in the arms of her firefighter fiancé.
The End
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ore information about the author)
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to DD and Danielle for thinking that a spin-off to Body Heat was a good idea, Brenda Chin for her insight and Kristan and Terrance for answering all of my firefighter questions.
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Katherine Garbera is a two-time Maggie winner who has written more than sixty books. A Florida native who grew up to travel the globe, Katherine now makes her home in the Midlands of the UK with her husband, two children and a very spoiled miniature dachshund.
Visit her on the web at katherinegarbera.com, connect with her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter: @katheringarbera.
In The Heat 0f The Night (The O'Roarkes Duet Book 2) Page 20