Passion Point Firefighters: Extended Collection
Page 26
She drops my hand.
I tip my head back. “Please, this can’t be the end.”
“I’ve moved into Lake City and I’m liking my new company. They’re a little different than Station 1, more business.” She tries to smile, but those perfect pink lips don’t lift. “No initiations into the family.”
“I’d run a hundred flights of stairs for you.”
She stands and shoves her hands in her jacket. “You need anything before I go…”
“One last kiss?”
She purses her lips. “I can’t.”
“Because you know you won’t stop.”
“No, because I know you won’t.”
Chapter Eight
Gemma
The new station has a deck and I spend a lot of time up here. It’s been twelve weeks since I last saw Mills. I’ve gone back to referring to him that way to keep my heart from jumping in my chest.
I had dinner with Lieutenant Boscoe and his wife Jess and Dairen and his wife Parker two days ago. Every time they’d start a conversation about Mills, I would start a different one. I couldn’t take it. They finally relented and stayed away from the subject.
Velma’s been to see me a couple of times and she brought a grocery bag full of ice cream, we downed a pint each, but it didn’t coat any of the pain like I hoped.
My chest burns remembering how we were together. The intimate time and the simply being in each other’s presence. It hurts to remember.
The door opens behind me, but I don’t turn.
“Thornton…” the voice is familiar, and I glance back.
“Captain Holman.” I stand as I address him. “Hello, sir.”
“Sit back down. I’m not here on an official capacity.”
“Oh…okay. What’s up?”
“How are you doing?”
“I’m okay.” I sit up straighter and cross my arms on my chest in the chair. “I’m…okay.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t get to be chief without being able to read people.”
“It’s going to take time to get used to the new place, but I’m okay.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” He sits across from me. “I knew he was taken with you as soon as he did that first flight of stairs. And when he did the tenth, I knew we had a problem. No man runs that many stairs for a woman he doesn’t know without feeling something more than duty. I didn’t know you were in as deep as he was.”
My chest hitches and I close my eyes, remembering someone else saying the same thing. “I can’t watch him go to work. I know how dangerous it is.”
“He’s not coming back.”
“What?!” I swear I couldn’t have heard him right.
“Baxter Mills quit yesterday. He’s taken a job at the local art center as activities director for the kids department.”
“Really?”
“His art is on display there now. Jess and Reese set it all up with him limping behind them. He knows he’ll never be back to a hundred percent, and even if doctors think that we can operate at less, we can’t.”
“Oh my God. What do I do?” I can’t think straight. My heart pounds and my stomach grabs at my throat to run.
“There’s an exhibition of his work at the Landis Center on 26th and Fort tonight.” He leans back and smiles. “Go get dressed, if there’s a call, I’ll cover for you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I might be old, but I’ve still got the skills.”
I pop to my feet. “Thank you.”
“Oh, and if you want it, your position at Station 1 is open again.”
I close my eyes as they gloss over. “Yes. I would love that.”
“Then I’ll talk to your captain and make it happen.”
I step forward and attack him with a hug. “I’m not your subordinate right now, so I’m imagining this is okay.”
He pats my back. “Go get ‘em Thornton.”
“I will.”
I step through the doors and even from the very first piece I can see he’s changed his direction. The paintings are more abstract. More loose and free, less reality. But there’s so much color. It’s everywhere.
I walk around and grab a glass of champagne. I’m sure he’s here, but I’m hidden in the crowd. Soon, I’m in a corner looking at painting of Station 1 done in abstract. The green lanterns on the front the same green as my eyes and the similarity doesn’t get past me…or my heart.
I hear his voice and I turn to see him talking with a tall blonde. Her curves rivaling mine. He kisses her on the cheek and I feel like I’m fading into the distance.
His eyes come up and our gazes connect. He backs away from her and without another word he uses his cane to hobble across the floor, his leg still in a plastic brace.
“Hi…” he breaths out the word. “I didn’t think I’d see you here.”
“The captain told me about it.”
“And did he tell you I’m not coming back?” His gaze trails all over my face like he’s seeing me for the first time again.
“He did.”
The blonde walks over and grabs his arm. “Bax, I have a couple of friends who want to talk to you about a piece.”
Her eyes narrow in on me and I feel judged.
“Gemma, I’d like you to meet…” he pauses and that delectable smirk slides onto his face. “My sister, Emeline.”
“You’re Gemma?” she tips her head and then I’m attacked by a hug. “Thank you. Thank you for saving my brother.”
Bax’s chest heaves slowly and I can feel it through Emeline.
He pulls her to him for a side-hug as she backs away. “Em, I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”
“Okay. Really, Gemma, thank you…” She walks away.
“She’s adorable.” I take another drink of the champagne the bubbles drying my throat.
“She was the oopsie-baby of the family, she’s twelve years younger than me.”
“I wondered.”
Silence hangs like heavy curtains between us.
“Bax, can you forgive me?”
“For what?”
“Not believing in us.”
“You never stopped believing or you wouldn’t be here, babe.” He moves closer.
“The captain visited me tonight. I can have my job back at Station 1.”
“That’s great.”
“But that’s not all. I want you back, Bax.”
He steps back. “On one condition.”
“And that is?”
“Ten flights of stairs, firefighter.”
I chuckle and he crosses his arms.
“I’m not kidding,” he says, but the sides of his lips rise. “Okay, maybe I am.”
I look up into those blue eyes that are clear now. Clear with intention. Clear with passion. And clear with love. “I’d run a hundred flights for you, Bax.”
His arms wrap around me and I balance him. “I know. Thank you for saving me.”
“I think you saved me first.”
His lips slip onto mine.
It’s clear, passion saved us both.
Epilogue
Baxter
I walk into the open bay, the wheels of the stroller squeaking. Really need to fix that. “Hey, Boscoe…”
He spins and chuckles. “Now that’s a different look.”
Yes, it is. Three years ago, I proposed to and married Gemma all in one month. We had the ceremony at the local park and were surrounded by friends and family.
And then a blink later, she was pregnant with our first son, Maxwell. And then ten months after Max was born, she was pregnant again—apparently we just can’t keep our hands off each other—with Jaxson—Jax. And he’s strapped to my chest, here for his noon feeding. The captain allows it. Doesn’t hurt that Gemma is the station captain now. The place looks spotless. She’s a taskmaster.
I walk into the hallway and I hear a voice. “I’ll be right down.” And in a flash, her curves hug the pole as she slides down the pole. My crotc
h loves how the sexy vixen swirls around the pole with a little flair.
“Nice entry.”
She lifts Jax out of his carrier, giving me a short kiss. “I’ll show you some more moves when I get home tonight.”
I work the art center when she’s off duty. My classes are full through the rest of the year.
It’s not dangerous. It’s not full-time. But I feel like a hero in the eyes of my students.
I turn back and walk into the bay and looking at the giant engines and trucks.
I don’t miss it and I know she’s safe. I know this station. I know these firefighters and they have the skills and talents that it takes to stay alive.
I pat the red that reminds me of her hair.
Passion Point is the place I found my love and my passion.
And my Gemma is as fiery as she ever was.
~THE END~
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Chapter Nine
Alyx
“Please, Alyx!” My sister’s voice stabs me through my earpiece as I finish up my five-mile run.
“Addison, I have plans today. You’ll just need to cancel.”
She sneezes and her voice comes out all squeaky. “But…but I helped you when you started your business.”
And there it is. The guilt-payback. I love my sister, but the females in my family have a genetic abnormality. Their DNA makes them able to manipulate men with only a few words. I’d think they were bitten by some radioactive emotional spider, but their enhanced skills aren’t that cool.
Addison is right. She did help me. A lot. And I never paid her a cent and now I have lots of cents.
Lots.
I hit the “Stop” button on the machine and the black treadmill grinds to a slow stop. “Fine. Where and when?”
I’m going to regret this.
Sloan
I’m bent over searching a plastic bin for sampling spoons when I hear a throat clear behind me. I stand up quickly and my head spins.
“Whoa…” I shake my head. “Hey, how can I help you?”
“I think it’s how I can help you.” The tall man with shamrock green eyes winks.
I laugh. “Dude, you need to get a better pickup line. I have to shit to get done, so if you don’t mind…” I pause, taking in his cut jawline and that perfect dimple in his chin, but I wave him away all the same. I don’t have time to be making friends—or more—anyway, even if my body has already heated about ten degrees from his proximity.
“No. I’m Alyx. Alyx Morgan.”
I twist back to face him. “Alyx. Like Addison’s Alyx?” A huge weight seems to slide right off of my shoulders.
“Yes, Addison is my sister.”
I can’t help myself. I tackle him in a big hug. My chest presses again his hard muscles and he stiffens for just a second, but soon his hands are on my back, and I’m sighing away every worry I had.
“She tells me you’re a miracle worker,” I say, inhaling his cologne. It’s soft and yet deep, florals sitting on a big piece of wood. Big. Hard. Wood.
I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve been with a guy. Like never. Ever. That’s a long time when you’re twenty-four. It’s not because I didn’t want to…I want to. Bad. It’s more no one has wanted to with me.
I’ve never been the smallest girl in the Girl Scout Troop. I was that one who needed a “special uniform” that never truly matched, but the leaders always tried to make you feel like it did. No, it wasn’t the same brown, Sandra.
But then I found yoga in college. Or maybe yoga found me. I was walking through the open quad in the center of our apartment complex at our university and this girl out of nowhere grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a mat.
“You can do this,” she whispered and from that moment on I was hooked. Both on yoga and on Addison Morgan as my best friend and she was and is the same today. She understands my struggles. She listens to me when I’m freaking out, which is a lot. And she even encouraged me to move to the same town as her so we could start a business.
I forgot her brother lives here, too. I’d yet to meet him.
And I’m still hugging him. Only because he hasn’t said anything. I might just continue. Forever.
He clears his throat. “Um…yeah…so…”
“Right.” I back away and awkwardly rub his arms. Whoa. Those are muscles. Thick bundles of muscles.
The way Addison talks about her brother I’d have thought he’s a twig of a human and honestly, kind of…ordinary. This guy is everything but ordinary. He’s… fucking hot. And she says that he doesn’t have a personality. I guess I’ll have to find out if she’s told a little fib there, too.
“So, what are we doing?” He rubs his hands together and pretends to be interested. Maybe he genuinely is, but I’d bet anything that Addison strong armed him into this. I don’t care. I desperately need the help.
I push down all the fluttering hormones in my system and motion to the table. “Cup-O-Cake. It’s vegan cake and icing in a cup to travel.”
“Okay.” He picks up a paper cup and a spoon, pops the clear plastic top, and digs in.
I can’t tell by his facial reaction if he’s liking it or not. He takes another bite. Those pink lips wrapping around the spoon time and time again. And then Alyx lifts another flavor, lifts the top and plows into that one.
“Dang. These are fantastic. And you say they’re vegan?”
“And some are gluten free and we’ll be making some that are sugar free, but these aren’t. Gotta hook them with the sugar first.”
He chuckles. “Wow. This is amazing. And you made these?”
I pull more supplies from the totes. “With Addison’s brilliant ideas and help.”
He smirks and I feel the heat of his stare deep in my stomach. “She does have some good ideas, occasionally.”
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