by Siera London
“Investigated enough fires to last me a lifetime, Shaky. I won’t be missing another Friday night anytime soon.”
After training for three months at Dallas Fire and Rescue Station 58, Nathan was glad to be back in the Keys. Visiting his old firehouse had been nice. Jax Malloy, a fellow firefighter had lucked upon the woman of his dreams in Skye Chandler during a hotel fire. Nathan was happy for his friend, but it was a reminder that he was still unattached and palming his weekend lover. He took another swallow of the beer in his hand.
“Glad to hear it,” Shaky said. “Claudia can bring you over another long, cool woman.”
“Nah, I still have a few swallows in this one.” Nathan tipped his bottle in farewell as Shaky took his post by the door.
The problem with tourist towns like Key West, they were full of tourists. Sunshine and serious relationships were like sharks and swimmers. Women jumped out of the water quick when Nathan started talking commitment. Too many times he thought he’d found the one, only to discover it was smoke and mirrors.
The crowd drifted to well-worn but sturdy tables in pairs, groups, and singles, filling the scuffed high tops with thirsty patrons. Nathan soaked in the subtle changes to Hobo Alley, the most interesting addition being Little Blue.
“Where did you run off to, Blue?” He leaned forward on the stool, ignoring the pounding in his chest.
The scrape of a wooden bar stool across the plank flooring had Nathan looking up from his perch. Cutler Stevens, full-time firefighter, overtime womanizer dropped his lean frame down onto the adjacent stool. Nathan smiled at his friend, and fellow hot shot. Wearing a badge and investigator’s emblem didn’t negate that once a firefighter, always a firefighter.
“What’s up, man?” Cutler asked mimicking the hang loose hand signal at Rachel behind the bar.
The women took notice when Cutler pushed his sun-bleached hair off his shoulders. Nathan shook his head at the obvious attention-seeking gesture. Cutler grinned with a knowing smile, pure devilment in his cocky smirk.
“Nothing’s up, you freaking peacock. I just got back in town.”
“Yeah, Lance and I saw your truck roll past the marina when we pulled my boat in.”
Like most Conchs, those folks native to the Keys, Cutler and his brother spent their free days on the water.
“Figured I’d catch you here. Cut your grass yesterday. A butt load of junk mail is sleeping on your couch.” Cutler reached over, slapping Nathan on the back.
“It’s good to have you back, neighbor. Just in time, too.”
“How’s that?” Nathan asked. “I’ll be sure to return the favor when it’s your turn.” A frown formed on his face at Little Blue’s vanishing act.
“The Silken Pearl is hosting their first annual Bare Idol.” Cutler wiggled his brows.
Nathan had visited the place a few times, but he was past the type of entertainment the place catered to.
“Singing strippers, you joking?”
The women employed at the gentleman’s club performed a variety of services, but for the patrons usually the less talking the better.
When no one approached the table, Cutler signaled Rachel at the bar. “Where’s my girl?”
Cutler had a woman. A lot had changed if earth-bound Thor had a steady girl. Nathan could count on one finger the number of times he’d seen the same woman pulling out of Cutler’s driveway at zero dark thirty.
“I’ll get her,” the sassy bar owner replied.
Nathan watched as Rachel ducked under the counter only to emerge into the very hallway holding his interest. Cutler’s arrival had distracted him from his watchman duties. He swiveled his head, looking for the butterscotch beauty with the sweep of thick hair tucked behind her right ear. Nathan’s dinner would taste much better with her serving it up.
“Symphony, your thunder god is back.”
Nathan heard Rachel yell through cupped hands while the rest of the bar erupted into laughter followed by whistles and some politically incorrect catcalls.
“I’m coming.”
Everything inside Nathan stilled at her voice. Little Blue sashayed out of the darkened hallway. A neon blue apron tied around her waist accentuated the black denim stretched tight on her full hips.
“Hi, Cut—” The words stalled on her lips when she looked at Nathan. Her feet stopped moving. Nathan dropped his boots on the scuffed floor, studying her as she darted glances between him and one of his best friends.
Cutler, oblivious to the rising tension, opened his arms to her.
“Symphony. There’s my girl.”
Nathan’s Little Blue was named Symphony. How fitting the soulful crooning of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” hummed from behind his zipper. The air left his lungs. She couldn’t be Cutler’s girl. How could Nathan have misinterpreted the attraction between them minutes ago? He hadn’t. As he watched, Little Blue continued to oscillate between him and the non-him. There was no way he’d let her choose the other man. Not baring his friend a second glance, Nathan stepped up to her. He needed to hear the truth of what he felt between them in that hallway.
“Symphony.”
“Yes,” she said.
Nathan smiled at her breathy response. They stood toe to toe. Her face eye level with his chest. He slid a finger beneath her chin, lifting her head until she raised her lowered dark lashes to reveal eyes that lightened to pure gold rimmed in halos of warm caramel.
“You one of Cutler’s girls?”
Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Of course, Cutler, being Cutler, cut in at the worse moment.
“Nate, what the heck are…”
“Nice talking with you, Cut. Symphony is busy.” Nathan braced for what would come next. If his friend was serious about Symphony, he was prepared to pay for the damages they were about to do to the bar; hell would be covered in ice cubes before he left the bar without an answer.
“I asked you a question.”
She bristled at his tone, and Nathan found himself smiling. Little Blue had attitude.
“No,” came her swift reply.
There was a fragile quality to her, yet an air of quiet strength. Nathan was drawn to her, the feeling akin to a magnetic force. He was powerless against the pull. The unfamiliar state brought a grin to his mug. Magnetic was acceptable, but when she moved one black combat boot backwards, he snaked his arms around her waist. As he held her, a ripple of awareness weaved its way from her body, through their metaphysical connection into his.
“No, you refuse to answer or no, you’re not sleeping with my best friend?”
Her breath hitched at Nathan’s revelation.
“No is my answer.”
There was that sensual endnote to her voice. She was digging him, too.
“Good answer.”
“Why is that good, Nathan?”
He liked that low, sultry quality to her voice. It felt like she draped each syllable in velvet, before delivering it to him on a soulful rhythm. A rumble came from deep in Nathan’s chest warning to the other men to keep their distance.
“You remembered my name?” he teased.
“Yeah… I’m a brainiac.”
“Woman, I like you.” He leaned in close to her ear. “There’s more.”
“What else, you got to tell me, Nathan Zachary?”
He could hear the smirk in her voice. He liked her fire and sharp wit. He pulled back to regard her, but he swore her hand tightened on his arm. “I like the sound of my name coming from your lips, Little Blue.” Nathan fixed her with a stare, “We’re going to make beautiful music together.”
Her breath hitched and he felt like whooping, but her expression arrested him. The look she gave him was an ambiguous mixture of surprise, attraction, and vulnerability.
“No thanks, cowboy. Find yourself another princess to charm.”
Symphony shot out of his arms like a runaway horse.
A visual sift of the crowd revealed she had vanished. “What the heck just happened?”
>
Cutler’s laughter could be heard over the hum and buzz of the bar. “I think that’s a call me maybe… not.”
Nathan stood still, trying to gather his composure. Everything he did was thought out, logical, and planned. His reaction to Symphony was raw impulse. A visceral response he was helpless to control. He set off in the direction she had gone.
“Nate, man, where are you going?”
He answered while increasing his stride, “To get her back.”
Chapter Two
Symphony knew men liked her physical attributes. When they approached her, she could see their eagerness to touch, to tame, and manipulate her into surrender. The gleam in Nathan’s eyes as he’d touched her was different. She’d sensed genuine interest, but Symphony had learned a valuable lesson while being homeschooled from the RV’s passenger seat. Cool guys didn’t give special young ladies like her a second glance. So, when Nathan looked at her that way, she heeded her inner voice and got herself out of the bar pronto.
Grateful the alley was devoid of the bar’s namesake, Symphony took refuge in the narrow three-and-a-half-foot space running behind the kitchen exit. Half the bar probably thought she was crazy when she jettisoned away from the two firefighters. Cutler worked two, twenty-four-hour shifts at the Key West fire station, so it was his day off. She assumed Nathan was probably enjoying one of his Kelly days off. Several of the firefighters worked their second job with the additional day off a month. It was an unwritten rule that Rachel held the eight-seater highboy table closest to the bar in reserve for the local firefighters. If Nathan was one of the hot guys, why was it Symphony’s first time seeing him? If he was on a temporary assignment, she could survive his consuming presence for a few days, right?
The lingering effects of where Nathan had touched her sent a tingle down her spine. Warm currents from the air conditioning unit made the heated evening near intolerable. With a lit honey-flavored cigar in one hand and her blue lighter in the other, Symphony brought the hand-rolled close to her nose, inhaling the sweet, smoky heat deep into her lungs. As the fire ate away at the brown leafy binding surrounding the tobacco, inching closer to where she gripped the hand-rolled, her entire body relaxed. The feel of the fire so close to her skin soothed her frazzled nerves. How had she allowed herself to respond to Nathan? Curse all six foot three inches of his steel-eyed temptation. She knew she needed to keep her distance from any man, but especially Nathan, who she found attractive. She wasn’t like other women and if she let anyone get close, they’d uncover her secret and would run away soon enough.
The slam of the screened door leading into the alley had Symphony turning her head to investigate. She’d come outside to regroup. An interruption would only prolong the process and set off a chain reaction that took more time than she had to put back in the bottle.
A grim-faced Rachel approached her.
“You got customers waiting.” Rachel’s soft voice held more than a hint of concern.
“Yep,” Symphony shrugged.
Her boss looked from the rolled tobacco beneath her nose to the must have blue lighter Symphony held in a white-knuckled grip.
Without meeting Rachel’s worried expression, Symphony spoke. “Give the hot guys back to Claudia. I’ll make up the tips with an extra shift.” They both knew it was a lie. Symphony already worked her shift and picked up any extra hours when the girls with kids called in.
“That bad, huh?”
Dropping the tough girl act, Symphony regarded the other woman. Seeing Rachel’s wrinkled brow, Symphony winced at how strung tight she must have appeared. Rolling the cigar’s length between her fingers, Symphony exhaled, watching the ribbon of smoke scatter in the breeze.
“Worse.”
Rachel knew how Symphony coped with stress. From the cigar, to the blue lighter, to the stone at her feet—everything had to be exact.
“Have you heard from the lawyer handling your father’s estate?”
Symphony rolled her eyes. Both words were as foreign to her as an investment portfolio.
“Your father left you something, Symphony. Maybe it’s valuable.”
How valuable could it be if she’d never met the man? She’d lost her mother eight months ago and never knew the other half of her genetic make-up. With Symphony’s luck, it was probably more medical bills or a scrapbook of all the assets he sold before the search for her began.
“The lawyer’s decrepit secretary is harder to get through than a gun-control bill.”
“Yes, Agatha the Hagatha.”
Rachel’s laughter did little to lighten the mood.
“That’s the one. My request for an emergency meeting was granted. Unfortunately, it’s in a few hours and I haven’t made any money tonight.”
“Don’t worry about the bar. Work as many tables as you can, and then go take care of business.”
“I’d better get some answers or come Monday, I’ll be in that law office with a pack of luncheon meat, a water cooler, and a lawn chair.” Symphony teased, but her legal affairs couldn’t wait another week.
“Bring a sturdy tree and chain, just in case,” Rachel grinned. Symphony released a heavy sigh, letting her shoulders slump. How had her life come to this?
Glancing up and down the alley, Symphony wondered how many hobos she’d have to wrestle to secure a square of pavement.
“Hey,” Rachel’s feather punch to her arm drew her back to the here and now, “don’t zone out on me.”
“Reporting for duty,” she said, giving a two-fingered salute, “in ten minutes.”
“Listen… about the boob stuff earlier… Claudia and I want to help, we’re looking—”
Symphony lifted her hand, palm open, fingers spread wide, hoping it would stop the barrage of pity rolling off Rachel in waves.
“Go on inside, Rachel. I’ll be fine.” The audible sigh as Rachel spun on her cowboy-booted heels to leave shrouded Symphony in a dense, moist fog. Rivulets of sweat trickled down her back, making the thin T-shirt she wore cling to her skin.
“Consider the hot guys reassigned.”
Rachel disappeared inside. The door banged shut. Once again, Symphony was alone. It was a circumstance with which she was well acquainted, given her flaw. A flag forced to and fro in the wind had more stability compared with her life. Her mother’s cancer not only robbed Symphony of the one person that loved her unconditionally, but the financial burden of struggling to pay the medical expenses only magnified her loss. The home they shared, the memories they’d made together would be seized. Their belongings packed and placed in a coffin of sorts, their connection permanently severed.
“You smoke?”
Symphony’s head shot up. Nathan, with his powerful denim-clad legs, took long strides from the top of the alley.
Her heart thudded against her ribcage, rousing a stream of butterflies in the process.
“I’m on my br…eak. Claudia will take care of your order.”
“You’re lying.”
A tumbling sensation formed in the pit of her stomach. Not appreciating his accusation or his forwardness, Symphony pushed away from the wall and straightened her spine. Keep it together. In an act of open challenge, she jutted her chin forward, inhaled a breath, pulled the air deep into her lungs, puffed out her chest, and held it.
Nathan came to a stop in front of her. His towering height made her feel small at five feet, four inches. Those gray eyes that she could get lost in, assessing her every detail.
“Breathe, Little Blue,” he said, running a finger along her jaw. “Can’t have you passing out on me.”
Just to let him know she was the master of her fate, she released the breath after a few seconds.
Chuckling, he stepped closer and she placed a palm on his chest.
“Stay put, Fire Marshal Bill.”
Nathan laughed. Not a regular laugh either. His was rich and full-bodied, loaded with the right blend of male confidence and sensual caress. Symphony wanted to touch him, taste him. He was all creamy
white chocolate, beckoning her to lick every drop of his smooth male sweetness from her fingers before she slid them in her mouth and sucked… slow and deep. She tightened her hold around her Mile Marker 0 studded lighter, willing herself not to squirm under his scrutiny.
Nathan’s scent overwhelmed her tobacco, obliterating it until there was only him. He smelled of a summer storm, crisp and renewing, penetrating the barren and arid desert places in her soul.
He reached up, pulling the cigarillo away from her face. He leaned in close, his nostrils flared, then he stepped back. “That explains the sweet heated scent I smell on your skin.”
“You can smell the honey lacing the tobacco?” she asked, astonished with his level of expertise.
He tapped his nose before responding. “Arson investigators have sensitive sniffers.” He grinned down at her.
Symphony stiffened before lowering her palm. She snuffed out her smoke on the white cinderblock she kept in the alley specifically for this purpose. An exact replica of this block sat outside her home.
When she looked at Nathan, she purposely blanked her expression. Don’t encourage his attention.
A frown covered his handsome face.
“What’s that look for, Little Blue?”
In the sliver of space he’d left her, Symphony angled her head, looking for what—a lifeline? He was an expert in fire science. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip to quell the inward groan. The absurdity of her being attracted to a man that chased flames was a comedic tragedy. Talking about circling the wrong fire pit. It was in both their interests to douse the spark before the almost guaranteed explosion.
“Look, Nathan.”
“Don’t do that,” he bit out through tight lips.
She would’ve ducked underneath his arms and gotten out of dodge if he’d left six inches of breathing room between them.
“Do what?” She’d only said two words.
“Disregard what I’m saying like it doesn’t matter. You’re attracted to me and I’m sure enough liking you. Don’t say my name like you’re ready to give me the boot-kick good bye.”