Married by Christmas: Park City Firefighter Romances

by Hart, Taylor

  “No, Emily. You’re being rash. This is—”

  “It’s done.”

  “Wait! Fine, but just have the helicopter ride on me, okay? Enjoy it.”

  She didn’t trust him. “We’re really done, Brett.”

  “I know.” His voice was soft. “Take it as a parting gift. I owe it to you.”

  “Goodbye.” She pressed end on her phone and took a huge breath, feeling like she could really breathe for the first time in a while. She’d spent so much time feeling trapped, and now it was like the part of her lungs that had been squeezed had been set free.

  Sucking in another breath, she felt a smile on her lips. Yes. She was free, and she’d been so worried about ruining things with Brett that she hadn’t been able to really see. Opening her eyes, she stared at the beautiful sunrise. Dang. Happiness stirred through her. It would be okay. She would tell her friends, they would, of course understand, and they would hang out. Who cares if she did everything by herself? It would be fun.

  She knew that was a lie. She wasn’t one to believe lies. Having everyone know her pain wasn’t really her style. Dang it! With the back of her hand, she brushed the tears from her cheeks. She hated to cry.

  Emily took off her sunglasses and cleaned them with her T-shirt. Scanning the shoreline, she saw a guy out of her peripheral vision running toward her down the beach, but she wanted to be alone and ignored it. She gave her attention to the surf and dragged her toes in the sand. It would be a good day. It would.

  “Emily?”

  Her heart raced. She turned back.

  He was glorious, in bare feet, gym shorts, and no shirt. He held a phone, and he was pulling out an earbud. A thorny barbwire tattoo wrapped around his bicep. She remembered seeing it in that stupid article last year. The truth was that he looked better in person.

  Emily felt a spike of adrenaline. “Tom?”

  A huge grin washed over his face, and he closed the gap between them, opening his arms. “Emily! It was you yesterday.”

  Joy swept through her. It was like the past ten years evaporated, and she found herself putting her arms around his neck. He picked her up, holding her close.

  A movie montage of their lives together played in her mind—flashlights in the windows to communicate if they could sneak out, fishing at the river, Little League games, watching him play, high school. Their last night on the river together.

  Tom pulled back, still keeping his arms around her. “Will swore that was you yesterday, but I didn’t believe him.”

  They were close. Very close. “Oh my gosh!” She realized that it must have been him or Will who shouted her name yesterday. “The road to Hana?”

  Their eyes held, and he laughed.

  A million more memories rushed through her thoughts, including the remorse she’d felt as she’d driven out of town the next morning.

  He blinked. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

  She found herself laughing too. “I thought I was going crazy.”

  Abruptly, it was as if they both realized how close they were. Tom loosened his grip around her waist and took a step back. He pushed a hand through his hair. “Will kept saying he saw you. Then I thought I saw you, and—did you get coconut ice cream?”

  “Yes!” This was unbelievable. Her sister would die to hear that she’d run into …

  All familiarity evaporated, and awkwardness flooded in to take its place. “Uh,” he said, his eyes sweeping up and down her. He took a step back and shook his head. “Dang, sorry. Seeing you just took me by surprise.”

  He looked so good. Warmth flooded her cheeks, and she averted her eyes from his six-pack. “Yeah.” Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. She thought of how she’d regretted so many things for so many years when it came to Tom. “Uh, so what are you doing here?” If he was with his girlfriend, she couldn’t handle it.

  A blank look crossed his face. “There was this old lady, and fruitcake—no.”

  “What?”

  He shook his head. “Sorry. I won a trip.”

  “You won a trip?”

  “Yeah, I was at this place where me and my firefighter brothers hang out called Pineapples. I put my name in this thing and won. I’d actually entered this contest last year at the boat show, but I didn’t win it then.” He threw up a hand. “Never mind, that’s not relevant.”

  Tom seemed nervous, and she couldn’t help but think that running into her might have dredged up a bunch of crap he had dealt with years before. She grinned. “Of course, the boat show.” She’d gone with him to so many boat shows and watched him ogle boats. “You got your boat.”

  A bright smile lit up his face, one she remembered from their early years. “Yep.”

  She laughed, and for a moment they were kids again.

  His blue eyes warmed. “It’s ten years old, but I like to work on it.”

  “I bet there are some good lakes in Park City.”

  He hesitated. “I didn’t realize you knew where I was.”

  The statement took her off guard. “You didn’t get that Facebook message I sent you last summer?”

  “I’m … not good at Facebook.”

  It was a lie, and she knew it. But it was stupid to argue about it. “Hmm.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Park City’s nice.” He shrugged and let out a long breath. “Not Greeley, but I like it. Plus, nobody’s in Greeley for me anymore.”

  Pain seared the center of her chest. She put her hand on his arm before she could think about it. “I was so sorry to hear about your mother.”

  His eyes held hers, but they were guarded. They weren’t how Tom used to look at her. She had to remind herself it’d been ten years.

  Tom looked down at where she was touching him, then slowly met her gaze. “Thank you.”

  This older version of him was a lot more stoic and serious, although he still had that bad-boy squint going for him. The kind that she’d always liked. The kind that told people, “You mess with me, you’re gonna have pain.”

  She’d been the one to give him pain. The guilt soured the moment, and she frowned. “I wanted to be there for the funeral, but I couldn’t get away. Trina said she saw all of you.”

  Tom didn’t answer right away. “Yeah, I’d just gotten out of the service when she passed. I felt fortunate to get a little time with her.”

  “That’s right.” Her brow furrowed. This wasn’t a normal “how have you been” after ten years. “How was the Army?”

  “Great.” He said it like he was talking about the weather.

  She knew her question had sounded idiotic, but she couldn’t stop pressing him for information. “You flew helicopters like your brother, Walker, right?”

  “No,” he said quickly, letting out a soft laugh. “I, uh, got motion sickness, so I ended up on ground support.”

  She knew this small admission would have about killed him, not being in on the action. “I see.”

  Another awkward pause.

  “So who are you here with?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking. No, no, no. She didn’t want to hear about or meet the girlfriend or … wife?

  “Just Will.”

  This surprised her. “Oh.”

  He worked his shoulder. “He’s been temperamental since his shoulder injury. When I asked him if he could break away, I think it was a relief.”

  She remembered hearing about his injury. “Right.” Putting her hands on her hips, she sighed. “I think I heard something in the press about him and another quarterback. Tell him I think he should be playing. I’m on Team Will.” It’d been in the media, this debate over if he should play or not.

  Tom nodded. “I’ll tell him.”

  Emily shifted in place. Everything between them suddenly felt too polite. “Well, I’m glad he could get away too.” He hadn’t answered the question if he had a girlfriend or significant other, but she wasn’t about to ask it.

  The moment broke, and Tom cocked an eyebrow. “So what are you doing here?”

  He
r hands felt sweaty, and she didn’t want to tell the truth. She knew her cheeks were blushing.

  The side of his lip tugged higher. “It must be good if you’re already getting this embarrassed.”

  He knew her so well. “I’m not embarrassed.”

  “You always got blotchy.”

  She glared at him, inwardly cursing her color-changing cheeks.

  “Sorry.” Looking semi-amused, he put his hands on his hips. The edges of his lips turned up.

  Maybe it was worth it to have him be amused. The thought surprised her. She still liked amusing Tom Kent. “I’m here for my boss’s wedding.” She held up three fingers. “It’s number three for him.”

  “Ah,” said Tom. “In the fire station, we would refer to her as future ex-wife number three.”

  “That’s horrible,” she laughed. “Probably can’t say that, since he’s the partner I work for and he kinda controls if I get promoted to junior partner.” She sighed. “But the people I’m with would like that joke.”

  His eyes swept up and down her quickly. “Ah, you’re probably with people who went to Yale and stuff.” The way he said Yale had just a hint of disdain.

  “There’s a lot of different people from different backgrounds at the firm.”

  His eyebrows lifted in disbelief. “Cool.”

  It irked her that his defenses were clearly up. All she wanted to know was what he was thinking.

  The moment felt awkward. She wasn’t going to offer up the fact that her stupid boyfriend—correction: ex-boyfriend—wasn’t coming. “Okay, good to see you. Tell your brother hi.” She turned and started to jog away.

  “Wait a sec.”

  “Yeah?” She kept moving.

  “Ems.”

  The way he said her name felt so intimate. It was the exact way he’d said it his whole life.

  She stopped and faced him, feeling like a heel. There were two feet between them, and once again, keeping her attention on his eyes and not on his very built chest and shoulders was a difficult task. Brett was fit, but not like Tom was.

  Tom narrowed his eyes. “Are you okay? It looks like you’ve been crying.”

  She hated that Tom could read her so easily. She hadn’t even seen him in ten years, but of course he could tell. “Fine,” she answered quickly. “Totally great.”

  “Okay, I don’t know.” He studied her for another five seconds, then waved a hand through the air. “Nothing. You probably have to get back to someone. No worries.” He started to leave. “Good seeing you.”

  Her breath caught in her throat. Despite herself, she wanted to tell him how vulnerable she was feeling, to demand to know if he had someone. “I just broke up with my boyfriend.” The words spilled out before she could stop them. Dang it.

  Abruptly, Tom stopped. He turned back to her.

  She shrugged, unable to believe she was telling him this. “And I have this wedding and all these extra days we’d planned to be here and …” She hated the tears running down her cheeks, but she couldn’t stop herself. Gah! How could just seeing him make her blab her guts out? “Now I’ve run into my old boyfriend, and it’s confusing.”

  He laughed, but it was short and brief. “You mean old fiancé.”

  The truth cut her like a blade. “Yeah,” she said, her tears evaporating. She and Tom had never had closure. They’d never run into each other in all this time.

  He lifted and lowered his shoulder. “At least we had that one night.”

  Hyper butterflies swarmed in her gut. She hadn’t been able to get that night out of her head for ten years. Clearly, by the intensity of his gaze and what he’d just said, he needed closure too. “I compromised everything I was that night.” She blurted it out.

  His eyes widened. “What does that mean?”

  “Nothing.” She turned away.

  Taking her by the elbow, he drew her back to him. “What does that mean?” He looked like he’d been sucker punched.

  She sucked in a breath. It was all coming out wrong. “I just … all I’m saying is that never should have happened.”

  “The thing that shouldn’t have happened was me finding that stupid letter taped to my door the next day. The one that told me I was a dreamer and you were a realist.” His eyes seared her to the core, and anger rolled off of him in waves. “The thing that shouldn’t have happened was you giving my ring back.”

  Their eyes held, and even as the tension stretched thin between them, she couldn’t deny her insane attraction for the man. Tom was nothing like any other man she’d dated. He loved hard, and he lived hard. He was a guy who played for keeps. That was how he’d always been. He’d fiercely defended her in school even before they were officially together. He’d been all-state football because he’d battled fiercely on defense. She had loved to watch him play because she knew no one would get by him. And now, the way he was looking at her made her feel …

  Naked. Vulnerable. She lived in a world of half-truths, but with Tom, he was, and had always been, the real deal. She blinked. “I am sorry, Tom. For hurting you.”

  His face had turned to stone. Another awkward moment passed before he shrugged.

  “But you never chased me down, did you?”

  “What?” His brow furrowed in confusion.

  “Nothing.” She jerked away from him, breaking into a run. “I have to go.”

  Chapter 7

  Tom watched her go, unable to believe Emily Times had just accused him of not coming after her.

  It was dumbfounding. Truthfully, he wanted to punch something. He had gone to her house the next day to talk things out, but she’d already been gone. Trina had told him she’d packed her stuff and headed to Connecticut early. And he had to leave for boot camp. What was he supposed to do?

  The thing was, seeing her, feeling her in his arms for that brief moment when she actually was excited to see him, had already put him over the edge. Emily was—no, she’d always been that woman. He’d thought they were such a great love story. The greatest!

  He’d been wrong. Now, after standing face-to-face with her, he was ticked. She’d left him confused and angry and hopeless all over again. Clenching his hand into a fist, he trudged toward the hotel.

  He thought of how he’d had other girlfriends. He wasn’t some freak who got out the old box of pictures from his closet after breakups. Well, fine, maybe he was. He thought of that box. The one with all the things of Emily he’d never been able to get rid of. Pictures of them since they were young his mother had stored for him. Now, he had it in his closet in Park City.

  Gripping a hand into a fist, all he wanted to do was talk to her. Ask her if it would have made a difference if he would have come after her. Had she really wanted that? As he stepped into the elevator, he thought of how she had just broken up with her boyfriend. He wanted to punch the guy, because he’d clearly hurt her. Except this wasn’t high school. This wasn’t dumb Tim Blather, who’d insulted her one day in jest at cheerleading practice. It wasn’t senior year, when they’d been each other’s everything. That year, he had seen his life with her. Their life, their dog, their house. He’d had everything worked out. It had included her going to school and becoming an attorney too.

  Then she’d given his ring back and told him he was a dreamer. What did that mean? This had been the burning question inside of him for the past ten years. What did that mean?

  A lump caught in his throat, and he cursed, forcing back the emotion. Sucking in a breath, he followed the hallway to his hotel room. Now he found out she regretted that night? What else did she regret?

  When he opened the door to his room, Will was down on the floor doing push-ups. “Why didn’t you wake me? I need to run.”

  Tom pushed past him, going to the sliding door of the patio and pushing it open, revealing an amazing ocean-side view. Tom had been given a suite, and Will had insisted on upgrading the room to a two-room suite. Will didn’t care about money, so Tom hadn’t argued.

  “I didn’t wake you because yo
u were snoring like a freaking grizzly bear.” Tom’s words came out harsh. He stormed onto the little patio and tried to focus on the view, not on all the revelations he’d just received about the regret she felt. The resort was waking up, and more people were milling around. He heard the clink of breakfast dishes from the restaurant right by the pool. But all he could think about was Ems.

  She’s here. She’s here. She’s here.

  Will wandered up to him. “What’s wrong, dude?”

  “Nothing.” He said the word angrily, but knew he shouldn’t take it out on Will.

  “O-kay.” Will didn’t move, as if Tom’s temper was a storm that couldn’t knock him over.

  They both watched the rest of the sunrise. Gradually, more people flocked to the ocean as the morning brightened.

  “I’m going to hit the gym and go get some exercise for the shoulder,” Will said. “What time do you want to do breakfast?”

  Tom knew Will wouldn’t push him with the kind of energy he was putting out. If he didn’t want to talk, that was fine. Will wasn’t the type to push things when he knew Tom was really upset.

  Tom sighed, still staring at the ocean. “You were right,” he said quietly.

  “You have to be a little more specific on that, bro. I mean, I’m right about most things. The tooth fairy, that old knife that wouldn’t shut all the way and how you ended up stabbing it into your leg.” He began ticking off things on his fingers.

  Tom couldn’t stop the smile. “She’s here.”

  A blank look washed over Will’s face before a huge grin took over. “What?”

  “I just saw her on the beach.”

  “No?” Will pushed a hand through his hair and his expression turned goofy, like Tom had told him he’d just won the lottery. He stuck out his tongue and pointed at Tom. “Dude, I told you. Did I tell you, or did I tell you?” He stomped his foot with the triumph usually reserved for throwing the touchdown pass in the Championship game.