America's Bravest (16 page)

And, Jesus, it was hot in here.

He gave Sydney orders.

“Fuck, I can’t see anything,” she said.

“Calm down. We’ve been blind before. Feel
your way.”

“Okay. I guess I’m nervous because this is
training.”

Brody felt his way into position. He’d
learned to picture what he was doing when working blind. He yanked
at a timber. Nothing. He tried another.

“I can’t get them off her,” Sands said.

“Me, either. They’re heavy as hell. We’ll
have to pry them. Let me try first.” Taking his ax, he maneuvered
it under the top piece of wood. It budged slightly. “Try to loosen
the top piece with your tool while I go at it from this side.”

In a minute, Sands said, “I can’t get the
wood to move.” There was an edge in her voice.

“Stay calm and keep trying. I felt some
give.”

Suddenly, the wood loosened but it sprung up,
hitting Brody’s face mask and knocking him back a bit.

“We got one!” Sands exclaimed.

“Keep going.”

He inserted the long ax under another piece,
and it took them a while to get the damn thing freed. Experience
told him this was taking too long. He was about to remove his face
mask to give Harriet his air when his PASS alarm—personal alarm
safety system—went off. It blared out a smoke-alarm type noise that
killed his ears and grated on his nerves. He turned if off.
“Fuck.”

Someone appeared out of the midst. He could
feel but not see the officer. “Air’s down, O’Malley.” Gabe’s voice.
“Get out of the building. Sands, you’re doing good. Keep at
it.”

Shit. Standing, Brody made his way to the
door and into the hall. And started to get pissed. Why the hell was
he the target and not the rookie? Adrenaline pumped through his
veins and he told himself it was because he was angry. Distracted
by his thoughts, he realized he was out the door in the hall. He
went left. Felt for the stairs.

And didn’t find them. Instead he encountered
a wall. Shit, he’d gotten disoriented, which happened to the best
of them, but he was embarrassed to have done it in practice. Of
course, that was why they
had
practice.

By the time he turned and headed the other
way, he was struggling for air. Damn it to hell. If he could only
find the steps.

He couldn’t, so he must have taken another
wrong turn. Was he in another room? He had no idea. Though he’d get
grief for this, he knew the drill and spoke into his radio.
“Mayday. Mayday. Out of air, and don’t know where I am.”

Later, at Badges, he did indeed take the
razzing. While the jukebox blared some eighties music, his
colleagues were making comments while Brody sat at the bar, his
back to all of them.

Tony Ramirez slid a full beer in front of
him. “Got lost like a cherry.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

From Felicia: “Sands found her way out easy.
Showed up by a rookie. God, I love our women.”

The cool brew went down smooth and helped him
hold his tongue. Any response would egg them on.

Sydney clapped him on the back. “I gotta say,
buddy, I never expected you to pee your pants.”

He’d get back at her for that lie.

“O’Malley peed his pants?” someone yelled.
“Who-hoo.”

Gabe dropped down on the stool beside him.
“Doing okay, buddy? I don’t think they’re anywhere near done.”

“I got thick skin.”

Sighing, Gabe sipped a coke. The guy looked
younger these days. Happier. A woman could do that for you. “I got
disoriented once in real time and had a Mayday incident, too.”

“No shit?” Gabe was an icon in the fire
department. He never made any mistakes.

“I was in a fun house at that amusement park
near the lake. Mirrors, things jumping out at you in the dark. I
totally didn’t know where I was.”

“Yeah, I can see why.”

“I got teased mercilessly. Nobody was hurt
and my cousin Mitch, who I worked with at the time, came in after
me. It’s why we do these trainings with seasoned firefighters.”

“I know. I can take the heat. Besides, I’d do
the same to them if things were reversed.”

For a while, Brody enjoyed the camaraderie if
not the teasing, but then a thought snuck into his head. He wanted
to share this experience with Emma. Her eyes would light up and
maybe even twinkle at his expense. This time he didn’t need
comfort. He needed a companion, a friend, a woman who cared about
him, to be part of all aspects of his life.

And that was a lot bigger deal than wanting
to get her in the sack again.

oOo

Ten days after Halloween, on a rainy Saturday
morning, Emma did something she hadn’t done in fifteen years, had
never let herself do, in all that time. She walked into one of her
spare rooms, opened a closet that she used for storage and pulled
down a couple of big boxes marked High School. She stared at them
for few seconds, knowing what was inside would sway her one way or
the other. The contents would reveal how shallow her relationship
with Brody had been or remind her that they’d had something special
together. Sitting down on the floor with her back leaning against
the bed, she lifted a cardboard lid. Sachet she’d put in ages ago
still wafted up a faint sweet scent. On top was a photo album with
Flowers scrawled across the front
.
Now she remembered.
She’d pressed a few petals between the plastic pages from every
bunch of blossoms Brody brought her. When she opened the book, she
found groups of pink carnations labeled with dates. Oh! He’d sent
her a bunch on the first of each month, starting with her birthday
in November. Cute little cards were attached: November…“For my
birthday girl.” December…“For my favorite Christmas present.”
January…“For the newest and best thing in my life.” She’d forgotten
how romantic he could be, even as a boy. Turning the pages, she
came upon some daisies. He’d picked them for her after they’d had
sex outside in a field of flowers. She’d been nervous, but he’d
coaxed her into it. Under the yellow blossoms was scripted, “I love
you.” That had been the first time either of them said the
words.

Photo albums followed: the dances they’d gone
to, senior activities they’d worked on and participated in. One of
her favorite pictures was of her in her softball uniform and Brody
in his baseball uniform standing back-to-back smiling. The shots
had been taken for the yearbook when their respective teams voted
them captains. Slowly, she traced the outline of his smile. Hers
matched his. God, they’d been happy.

In another book, she found cards for every
occasion, all signed, “Love, Brody.” And, oh, wow, she’d forgotten
about these. Sexy little notes he wrote to her at odd times:
“Physics sucks. I’m thinking about getting physic—al with you. Get
it?…I’m waiting in the cafeteria for baseball practice. You’re out
sick today. I miss you, Emmy.…I’m in bed writing this. Ryan would
freak if he knew I did this at night. I think about you, honey, all
the time.”

For some reason, Emma counted the notes as
she read them. She stopped at thirty. There had to be more than a
hundred of them.

Leaning back against the bed, she sighed
heavily. If they’d been this much in love—which was what she
remembered and the evidence before her supported—why had he left
her so callously? Why hadn’t he gone to Europe with his brother and
come home to her? Their colleges were only a few hours away—they
could have dated during the whole four years, then gotten married.
Lots of couples made it under those circumstances.

A dark thought invaded her mind: If he’d
break up with her back then after so many declarations of love,
would he again profess his undying interest in her, then drop her
when he was tired of her? Was she willing to risk her heart on him
again? Or would she say no, play it safe and walk away?

Emma ran her hand over the cover of the album
that held the notes. Suddenly, she knew in her heart she was sick
of playing it safe.

oOo

From a table by the window in Hidden Cove’s
Lakeside Restaurant, Emma watched the waves crash and peak on the
shoreline. She loved winter, when snow dusted the streets and the
lake created a live landscape painting. The Hallmark Card setting
didn’t calm her though, and the reason walked through the door and
looked around. Brody spotted her and a big grin spread across his
face. He’d dressed up in a gray silk shirt and black pants. A
darker gray sports coat accented his broad shoulders. When he
reached her, his scent—something so masculine it made her stomach
clench—filled the space around them. “Hi, there, pretty lady.”

“Hi, hotshot.” She used to call him that
because of baseball.

He dropped down into the adjacent seat, held
up his fingers and started counting them off. “You look beautiful
in that blue dress. I missed you. Ryan’s doing well. I’m sorry
you’ve had to deal with this emotional turmoil because of me.
There, now that’s all out of the way, I can’t wait another minute
to hear what you’ve decided. Give it to me quick, even if it’s
bad.”

When she laughed aloud, he closed his eyes
and leaned back. “So it’s yes?”

“It’s yes.”

The expression on his face was intense. It
took her a second to realize he was too moved to speak.

“With one caveat.”

He shook himself. “Anything. Though I hope it
isn’t no sex.”

“We can’t broadcast that we’re dating. I
don’t want Mark to be embarrassed publicly. People in Cameron Cove
know we broke up, but they think our relationship ran its
course.”

“So that means I can’t take your hand right
now, huh?”

“I’d rather you didn’t, though we are in
Hidden Cove.”

He just stared at her, his gaze intense.
“It’s a small price to pay for what I’m getting in return. What
made you decide? This whole thing has happened pretty fast.”

“After I saw you at the reunion, I couldn’t
stop thinking about you. And in my heart, I wanted to be with you.”
She rolled her eyes. “I realized you’re the only man I ever loved.
Boy
, really.” She gave him a serious look. “Brody, I’m
risking my heart here, and it’s scary. Tell me this isn’t a passing
fancy.”

“God, no. Like I said, I haven’t been able to
stop thinking about you, either.”

“I can’t figure it out. We’ve been separated
for fifteen years.”

“I’ve been trying to come up with something,
too.” He bent forward and the old cocky Brody surfaced. “Though I
can tell you, Emmy Walsh, you’ve turned into one gorgeous hunk of
woman.”

“Lord, I forgot how sexist you could be.”

“I’m not, though. There’s this blog the women
in the department started. They say I’m quite liberated.”

“I’ve been reading the blog. It’s really
cool. And I read your companion piece to the women’s about working
with good-looking guys.”

“I was honest. And fair, I think.”

“Yes, I agree.”

Glancing around, he asked, “Are we eating?”
He winked at her. “For some reason, my appetite came back.”

“Oh, sure.” Well, she didn’t expect him to
sweep her out of here and into bed. Not really.

They ordered a seafood platter for two and a
bottle of white wine. Over lettuce wedge salads, he shook his head.
“I’ve got to distract myself from the thought of getting you in
bed. Tell me about Parker Allen, your sorority sister. Nobody can
figure out why she’s on a rampage about us.”

“You know, she was always aloof. We were
surprised when she wanted to pledge for Delta K. I was glad she got
in, hoping maybe she’d open up. She didn’t really, only once or
twice when we worked ourselves through a keg. Something happened to
her family, I know. And she was pretty much alone in the world. Oh,
yeah. I think she dated a firefighter after college. Maybe even
married him.”

“This is all because of
a woman
scorned
kind of thing?”

“Imagine what I could have done to you.”

His didn’t laugh. “I’m so sorry, Emma.”

“That was dry humor, Brody. I don’t remember
any more details about Parker’s life.”

“At least it’s some information. Maybe I’ll
try to find out what happened to her family. We already googled
her, but not much came up. It galls me that she’s slanting things
against us. And that the blogosphere has taken to her.”

“You still have a lot of adoring little fans
in my class.”

He smiled.

Reaching over, she touched his hand. “And a
big one.”

A brow arched. “That’s good to hear.”

When they finished dinner, he stared hard at
her. “So, darlin’, where do we go from here?”

“How about to your place? It’s outside of
Camden Cove, and I want to be with you.”

“How?”

Geez, he was going to make her spell it out.
“I’m ready to make love, Brody.”

“Thank the good Lord. I’m dyin’ to have you.”
He glanced around and snagged a waiter. “Check please.”

oOo

Firelight kissed her hair, highlighting the
deep red strands. Her cheeks were flushed and her skin glowed.
Brody sat with his back against a sturdy chair he’d moved closer to
the fireplace, and she was straddling him.

“Watch me, love,” he whispered hoarsely.
“Look at me when I come inside you.”

She held his gaze. “Don’t take too much time.
I’m almost there.”

How could she not be? He’d spent an hour
relearning her body, exploring every inch of it, talking naughty
about what he wanted to do with her. He was granite hard and
struggling to control himself.

Lifting her hips, he slowly brought her down
on his cock. Her warmth closed around him, and when she clenched
her muscles, the impact was almost unbearable. He didn’t remember
sex ever being so acute it almost hurt.

“Hmmm,” she whispered and closed her eyes. “I
never forgot how this felt. Maybe because you were my first.”

“Stay still for a minute or I’ll go off like
I did that time.”

“You’ll make up for it.” She met her forehead
with his. Her skin was moist. “You did then.”