The Firefighter's Pretend Fiancee (Shadow Creek, Montana)

by Victoria James

  “Molly?” he said again, a worried expression in his eyes.

  “Of course… I have no idea what happened,” she said, pulling her hands from his grasp.

  “I knew you were competitive, but to stage a fall so you could be spared the humiliation of losing—”

  She managed to punch his rock-hard stomach as he burst out laughing. “That’s not what I was doing!”

  “Okay then. It isn’t,” he said with a grin that made her toes curl, despite the stinging in her hands and knees. “No point in arguing. We should get back to my place and disinfect those scrapes,” he said, walking with a slight limp.

  When she didn’t follow, he stopped and turned around. “Coming?”

  She frowned and nodded. “Why are you limping?” she asked, catching up to him.

  “I’m not limping.”

  Her eyes narrowed on him and then looked down, and sure enough he was favoring his left leg. “You’re such a bad liar. I can see you limping. Oh, maybe you’re just so out of shape that—”

  “It was an accident,” he snapped. “A floor gave out on me during a rescue in an old building. That’s it.”

  She didn’t say anything for a moment, as regret filtered through her. She stole a glance, admiring his hard profile, the determination as he limped back to his house evident on his face. They walked the short distance back in silence, both of them hobbling.

  “Go sit at the island in the kitchen. I’ll get my first-aid kit and be right back,” he said once they were inside the house.

  “You know, I am a doctor. I can deal with these scrapes myself,” she said, uncomfortable with the attention he was giving her. “Besides, I think you need to sit down and ice your knee.”

  “My knee is fine. I’ll do that later. Something tells me you need someone to help you out every once and a while,” he said over his shoulder as he disappeared into the washroom.

  What was that supposed to mean? It was as though last night something had changed between them. He wasn’t indifferent to her anymore. Animosity wasn’t oozing out of his gorgeous brown eyes.

  She sat down at one of the bar stools at the island, wincing as she bent her knees. He was back a minute later and motioning for her to show him her hands. She sighed and unzipped her jacket, pulling it off and then turning the palms of her hands up. She gasped sharply as the alcohol stung her hands, but before she could say anything, he was gently blowing on her skin to relieve the sting. She knew the tears in her eyes had nothing to do with the pain of the cut and everything to do with the kindness he was showing her. He bandaged up one hand before moving to the next, working quickly and efficiently. “You should get a job in the ER,” she said to his downturned head.

  He looked up and grinned. “I’m not good with all the crazies that come into that place.”

  Her eyes widened and she tried not to laugh. “We don’t really like to refer to them like that.”

  He stood in front of her, pleased with his handiwork on her hands and then moved to the scrapes on her knees. “Either you take your pants off or we roll these up,” he said, a challenging glint in his eyes. Her mouth went dry at the take your pants off part and she stumbled, in an attempt to come up with a witty reply. Ben like this…caring Ben, teasing Ben, sexy Ben, was the guy she remembered…the guy she loved. If she hadn’t made the choices she’d made, then taking off her pants would have been the obvious choice. Probably the choice of the majority of women who had him standing in front of them.

  She cleared her throat. “Roll them up.”

  “I had a feeling you were going to say that,” he said, the smile still in his voice as he slowly pulled her pant leg up. Good thing she’d shaved her legs was thought number one as he positioned her pants over her knees. Thought number two was how gentle he was for someone so tough and big. Thought number three was that it felt even better than she remembered to have his hands on her. She wanted to say something witty, to keep the lightness of their banter going, but she couldn’t, because she was caught off guard by all of it. She wanted this to be the way it always was. She wanted to be with Ben every day.

  They held each other’s gaze for a little too long, but he looked away first and took a step back. “I should shower. I need to run an errand in town before brunch,” he said, wincing as he stood.

  “Right. Me, too. You think all these Band-Aids will hold up in the shower?” she asked.

  “Waterproof,” he said with a grin.

  “Okay…great,” she said.

  He walked toward his bedroom, his limp still pronounced. She let out a long breath and then draped herself over the island. What had she gotten herself into? How the heck was she going to continue living with a man she was in love with still but couldn’t have? And how was she going to go to his mother’s house and have to pretend to be engaged to him?

  …

  Ben cursed under his breath as his knee throbbed while he walked.

  He stopped and popped a prescription anti-inflammatory and swallowed it down with coffee. He hated using painkillers, which was why he didn’t keep any in the house, but he knew he’d need it today because he’d felt his knee give out when he’d picked Molly off the pavement this morning. It had been one of the nicest mornings he’d had in a long time, and he didn’t want to think about what that meant. He also didn’t want to admit that it was the reason he’d stopped by The Chocolatiers and picked up coffees and chocolate croissants. When he’d left the house Molly was still in the shower, and he knew she’d be looking for some morning caffeine, so he thought he’d surprise her.

  He slowed his pace as he spotted Molly’s younger sister Addie inside her store. Addie made eye contact with him and smiled, waving him in. He had always liked both of Molly’s sisters and had often wondered how they all turned out normal with a mother like Marlene. Molly had told him that her sister was back in town and opening up a bookstore. He swung open the door, and Addie threw herself at him. “I’m so happy to see you!” she said.

  He smiled. “It’s good to see you too, Addie. The town’s been very quiet without the Mayberry sisters.”

  Her blue eyes sparkled. All three sisters had the same eyes, but Addie looked different than the other two. She was just as gorgeous but in her own way. She was shorter, curvier, had jet-black hair, and usually quieter. But he knew her well, despite the time that had passed. “Well, I’m sure Molly’s told you Melody’s back, too.”

  He nodded. “I heard. I’m happy for the three of you. You must have missed each other a lot.”

  She angled her head, and he caught a flash of something. “How are things with you and Molly?”

  He shoved a hand in his pocket, wondering if he was about to become the victim of sister reconnaissance or if she was just genuinely curious. “As in the fake engagement?”

  She smiled a little and picked up a coffee cup from the cash desk. “As in living with your former girlfriend.”

  He rolled back on his heels. “Ah…that.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, that.”

  He shrugged and chose his words carefully, especially since he hadn’t exactly figured out how things were going. “Well, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what we are,” he said, shocking himself with voicing his thoughts. Hell, he hadn’t even known that’s what he’d been thinking. But it was true. Some days it felt like they were getting closer, their chemistry was stronger than ever, but emotionally, she kept herself very closed off. He shouldn’t care about her, about what had happened to her, but he was starting to again.

  “Don’t give up on her,” Addie said, the expression on her face telling him there was a deeper meaning to her words of encouragement.

  “Addie, we aren’t…anything. I know we were young, but there are a few things I have a hard time letting go of; cheating is one of them,” he said, holding her gaze. Tears filled her eyes and she nodded. He had no idea how this had gotten so real, so fast. “I should get going. I don’t want the coffees to get cold.”

  “Sure,
sure,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee.

  “It was good to see you. Good luck with this place. I’m sure it’ll be successful,” he said, his hand on the doorknob and pulling the door open.

  “Wait,” she said, walking around some of the boxes.

  He shut the door and turned to her, hearing the desperation in her voice.

  Her blue eyes were filled with tears. “Something happened to Molly.”

  His heart started racing; it was what he’d been starting to think. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, not now…then. When she said she cheated on you and broke up with you. She wouldn’t talk to us, either. At first, we thought she was upset because of the breakup. We knew it was out of character for her though, and we knew she was so in love with you, Ben. I mean you’re all she talked about; she drove us crazy,” she said with a small laugh. “She had a giant binder, and you know Molly, it was perfectly sorted and organized with wedding plans. She had a timeline, when you’d finish school, when she’d finish, where you’d live…everything. And then…nothing. She didn’t return our calls; she just sent the occasional email saying she needed to focus on her career. She never settled down. She never stayed at the same place longer than a couple years. Even this is temporary. She’s running off when her contract is up.”

  His chest felt heavy and his stomach churned. “What else,” he said, his voice sounding harsh to his ears.

  “She wouldn’t answer any of our calls, emails, nothing. She never came back home.”

  “What?”

  She nodded. “When she refused our calls, Mel and I drove out to her school, but she was gone. Her roommate said she’d been done for a couple weeks.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t get it. What about your parents? What did they say?”

  “Our mother said to leave Molly alone. She’d transferred schools and didn’t need to be bothered.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. None of this made sense. “What?”

  “I know. We didn’t buy it either until Molly finally called us. She said she was fine and sorry for worrying us. She said after your breakup she just needed to get away and that this program was perfect.”

  “But you didn’t buy that?”

  She shook her head. “Not at all. But there was nothing we could do about it. At the time, we kind of thought maybe that was it, maybe she was humiliated and regretted what she’d done to you. Our mother kept insisting that was it. We’d hear from her now and then, but it was nothing like before. Ben, the three of us were inseparable.”

  “I know that,” he said, wracking his brain for a clue or bit of conversation he’d had with Molly that could point him in the right direction. “Did you parents ever say anything else? She didn’t come home for birthdays or Christmas or Thanksgiving?”

  Addie shook her head. “No. When Dad died, she came home for two days. She looked like a ghost. She barely spoke to anyone. It felt like my mother was making excuses for her. She would always say that Molly had her head screwed on straight, working hard and career focused. My father said nothing, but he seemed sad. I do know that Molly and our mother are barely on speaking terms, though. I don’t want to push Molly and ask her a bunch of questions because I don’t want her to get mad and stop speaking again. I feel like I’m just getting my sister back, you know?”

  He nodded. He did know. Everything she was saying was adding up to something pretty big that went down. He knew it. Sure, maybe his pride had kept him from really wanting to figure things out because she’d gutted him, but it all added up now. His only choices were to walk away from Molly now before he risked it all again for her or try and find out what happened to the only woman he’d ever loved.

  Chapter Nine

  “I can’t do this,” Molly whispered to Ben as he raised his hand to knock on his mother’s door.

  He dropped his hand and looked down at her. “What?”

  “This pretending to be engaged thing,” she said, panic in her blue eyes. “I don’t know how to fake being engaged. Even the idea of being engaged…um, not to you personally or anything…gives me hives.”

  “Yeah, I know.” He tried to hide his surprise. She’d never had a problem with engagement or marriage. After talking to Addie he’d driven home, his mind racing a mile a minute. He allowed himself to think about when she’d broken up with him; he tried to wrack his brain for any clues, any things he might have dismissed because he’d been so angry. But so many years had passed, that time in his life such a blur. Then he went over her behavior since she’d been back in Shadow Creek…the nightmares, the wounded way she’d look at him, or the way she’d look at him when her eyes were filled with desire. It didn’t add up.

  “I just, I don’t know how we’ll pull it off,” she said.

  He grasped her hand. Surprise lit her eyes, but she didn’t pull her hands from his; instead, she held on tightly. “Listen, we have no choice now. Believe me, I don’t like this either, but we can have fun planning our revenge on Finn one night over drinks. I know all his weaknesses.”

  Molly laughed as the door opened, his brother standing there with a suspicious gleam in his eyes. “C’mon in. We were talking about you guys. Mom is looking forward to hearing all the wedding details,” he said, taking Molly’s coat.

  Ben was about to list all the bones in his brother’s body he was going to break and in what order, when his mother called out from the kitchen. “Hello, Molly! Come in, dear, make yourself at home.” Molly shot him another panicked look before smiling and heading toward the kitchen.

  “Don’t pretend you’re mad at me when you really want to be thanking me right now,” Finn said when Ben started walking toward the kitchen.

  “You’re an idiot,” he said, looking over his shoulder at Molly. She was giving his mother a hug and then sitting down beside her at the table. She looked gorgeous. When he’d returned with coffees, she’d been dressed and ready to go. For a second, he’d allowed himself to pretend they were engaged. Her eyes had lit up when he’d walked in with their coffees. She’d left her hair down and falling around her shoulders. Her usual work suit or hospital scrubs had been replaced with a pair of dark skinny jeans and soft-looking navy sweater. She looked sweet and gorgeous, and so much like the girl he’d fallen in love with. He’d pretended she was fine, that nothing had happened to her, and that no one had hurt her. He had kept his suspicions to himself, and it had nearly killed him.

  He wanted Molly safe and whole and happy. More than any of his other needs. They drank their coffees in the car as he drove them to his mother’s house, and Molly made him stop to get flowers. It was as though no time had passed, that they had turned into this adult version of the couple they were meant to be. Except it was all pretend…thanks to the idiot standing next to him.

  Finn poked a spatula in his direction. “I’m not. I’m the best thing that ever happened to you.”

  Ben pinched the bridge of his nose and looked down, counting to ten.

  “Come and join us, you two!” his mother yelled.

  He flipped his brother the finger and then walked into the kitchen, bending down to give his mother a kiss. “Hi, Mom, you’re looking well,” he said, straightening up and taking in the coloring in her cheeks. He’d seen her every day since she’d left the hospital, and her progress was pretty damn remarkable.

  She wasn’t smiling now; she was staring at his leg and frowning. “Are you limping?”

  “Yes,” Finn and Molly said at the same time.

  “We were jogging, and on our way back he started limping,” Molly said, ratting him out.

  “You know you’re not supposed to run,” his mother said.

  “Yeah, especially with your advanced years,” Finn said, pouring coffee and smiling at Molly.

  “I’m eighteen months older than you, idiot.”

  “Ben,” his mother hissed. “Not at the table.”

  “Right,” he said, sitting beside Molly. He wasn’t going to help his brother. H
e could serve all of them. “I’m fine. I’m not working this weekend anyway. By Monday it’ll be better.”

  His mother turned to Molly. “See that he doesn’t overdue it this weekend, dear. I apologize in advance for the stubborn grouch he’ll be.”

  Molly laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll see to it that he doesn’t overexert himself.”

  Molly and his mother jumped as pots and pans crashed to the ground from Finn’s direction. He didn’t bother to look. His mother was still frowning at him. He avoided eye contact.

  “Molly, talk some sense into that son of mine. He’s so much like his father. Both of them are. Do you know how he got that injury?”

  “Mom…” he groaned.

  “He was rescuing a cat from a tree,” Finn called out.

  “Finn, that is enough,” their mother chided. “No. He managed to rescue two twin babies from a house fire. It would have been a tragic loss. But he risked everything. He stayed in that building even after they were ordered to evacuate. When I got that call, it had only been a few months after their father had died…”

  Ben had a lump in his throat. Molly had reached across the table to hold his mother’s hand, and he could see her eyes had tears in them as well. Sometimes he thought it was unfair for his mother to have them all in the same profession. She was tough as nails.

  “So when I saw him in the ER, unconscious, I held his hand and prayed. As soon as he woke up, I told him I loved him, and then I yelled at him.”

  Ben smiled at his mother, taking in the warmth in her face. She had aged well, and she was full of energy and life, until this surgery. But she had held their family together. “Mom, you know we’ll always come out okay.”

  Their mother pursed her lips. “I know you both think you’re young and strong and invincible. But you have to stop taking your safety for granted. Maybe now that you’re settling down with Molly you’ll use a little more caution.”