Payback: The Men of Firehouse 69

Table
of Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Epilogue

About The Author

Dedication

Special Thanks to Kele M. and Emily C. for their
guidance and advice on my book. You guys rock!

To my friends and family, thank you for always being
there for me. Love you!

To my husband, you are my hero, always and forever.
Little hearts!

Chapter One

Andre was ready to bust
out of the truck and break down her door.

Ryan, the driver,
pulled up in front of the two-story apartment complex, which appeared to be
fire and disaster free though that provided him little relief. “Easy there,
tiger,” Ryan said. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

Andre grimaced as he
nodded and hopped out the truck, following procedure but all the while scanning
the building for any signs of fire damage.

When they left the
station, it took him a few seconds to remember why the address seemed familiar.
He hadn’t been there except for once and when the realization hit him, that was
the moment when crippling fear set in.

The apartment belonged
to Melanie, his friend’s younger sister. Why wasn’t she outside at the curb at
a safe distance? Couldn’t she hear their sirens or was she badly hurt?

He hoisted the medical
kit on his shoulder and walked toward the apartment building with Ryan trailing
behind. His heart thudded so hard that it made him nauseated and all the while
every terrible scenario ran through his head.

Relief flooded him when
he saw Melanie in the hallway. She seemed fine as she talked animatedly to his
teammates who had arrived ahead of them. “My roommate just panicked when she
saw the pan of alcohol on fire,” she said. “You didn’t have to come out.”

Andre stopped behind
Bud and Dylan, and looked her up and down, checking for injuries. Once he was
satisfied she didn’t appear to be hurt, he took in her clothing. What the hell
was she wearing? And in the near freezing temperatures no less? Wasn’t she cold
dressed in that thin fabric?

A black satin robe
covered her night gown, although it gaped at her neck and showed off her ample
cleavage. She probably didn’t realized she pressed her breasts together as she
crossed her arms to keep warm and her slender arms didn’t do much to cover them
up.

With her attention on
Bud, he let his gaze roam over every inch of her curvaceous figure. It had been
a long time since he had seen those gorgeous legs and he tried hard not to
stare at all her bare, pale skin.

“Miss, when you call
911, we have to come investigate to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m so sorry.” She
wrung her hands and then covered her face.

Andre scowled. He
wanted to punch his co-workers for ogling her, not that he blamed them. Mel had
always been a looker, but she was his best friend’s baby sister and he
shouldn’t be eyeing her, either. “Mel?”

Bright green eyes
peeked out at him as she looked up from between her fingers. A flush spread
across her pale cheeks as she pulled her hands away from her face. “Hi Andre,”
she said as her voice trembled. “Oh God, what are you doing here?”

She visibly cringed as
she greeted him, which made him feel like a real asshole for some reason. Maybe
his glower intimidated her. He tried to smile nicely as he said, “I work at
your local station, remember?”

She sighed as her
shoulder slumped. “Could my day get any worse?”

“Are you okay? You’re
not hurt, are you?”

Her pale cheeks turned
bright pink. “I’m fine. We’re both fine. My roommate panicked and called 911
when she heard me scream and saw a fire on the stove.”

He frowned. Mel was a
damn good cook, most of her knowledge coming from her mom who ran a bakery in
town. “What was in the pan?”

“I made these
bite-sized rum cakes for a Christmas party, but a little alcohol splashed out
and hit the burner. That’s never happened before so it scared me and I screamed
but I put it out quickly.”

He took her by the
shoulder, and angled her so he could evaluate her injuries. He tried to keep
his assessment purely professional, but when he saw no injuries, he couldn’t
help but stare at her full breasts a moment longer than necessary. “Are you
sure you’re okay?”

She pulled away,
looking anywhere but him. “I’m fine. So is my roommate, until I kill her
later.”

Her embarrassment was
obvious, from her pink cheeks to her hand holding her robe closed. Had it
suddenly just occurred to her she stood in front of three grown men who now had
fires of their own to put out?

“Don’t be too rough on
Ronnie. She did the right thing. As long as you’re both safe, that’s all that
really matters,” he said, trying to comfort her, although he didn’t dare touch
her again. Not while she was dressed like that.

“Well, actually,” Bud
said. “Since you misused the emergency services in such a manner, we’ll need
you to undergo a special training session on fire safety.”

Andre whirled on his
co-worker, about to ask him what he was doing, but Bud winked and nodded at
him, silently encouraging him to play along. Did Bud really think Melanie was
going to fall for a line like that?

But he and Brian used
to do just that, because Mel had been such an easy target. She would believe
anything, especially if it came from a trustworthy source like a fireman. He
and her brother Brian had played many pranks on her in high school. She’d
stomped off yelling about how Brian needed to watch his back.

He enjoyed her spitfire
anger then, especially when he didn’t have to bear the weight of her fury; her
brother felt the true pain later. Her fiery green eyes would flame at him
before the door to her room slammed shut. That had been ten years ago; she had
changed a lot since then.

“Oh, well, we really
didn’t misuse the services. Ronnie just panicked,” Mel said, covering her mouth
with her hand.

“In the eyes of the
law, Miss, you committed a crime,” Bud said gravely, although a small smile
broke through his serious attitude.

Andre stopped his mouth
from dropping open. He had no idea she was still so gullible but then Bud
played the part so well that Andre almost believed him too. The need to protect
her welled inside him.

 “The course doesn’t
take very long, just an hour or so,” Bud continued on. “There’s a test too. One
of us could do that anytime for you. All you have to do is—”

His co-worker couldn’t
have been more obvious in pursing Mel if he begged at her feet. It was time to
shut this down, because Mel was better than all the guys here, including
himself.

Andre cut Bud off.
“I’ll do the course for her.”

Bud gaped at him
momentarily but when Andre glared at him, he chuckled. “Well there you go,
Miss. Andre will get you all squared away with a fine new certificate.”

Her cheeks flamed as
she nodded, and then she glanced at him. “At least it’s with you, Andre. It’ll
be like old times,” Mel said. “Thank you for taking time out of your busy day.”

Did she really mean
that? For him, old times meant sitting in a chair at his best friend’s house
watching her skip around the pool in a bikini and feeling dirty about lusting
after her as he tried to will down his erection before anyone saw it. “S-sure,”
he stammered.

She looked at him like
he was her savior and guilt stabbed him in the gut. He should tell her that his
teammates were just being assholes; in fact when he got back to the station, he
was going to choke them for doing this to her.

She shivered and
twisted her hands nervously. “So when should we do this course?”

Bud spoke up. “Andre
finishes his shift in a few hours. He can come over then.”

Andre glared at Bud,
who chuckled and took the cue well, backing off. Bud was correct; Andre didn’t
have any plans for when he got off shift but he might have. He almost scowled
but when he glanced at Mel, he tried to appear friendly. “Yeah, I can.”

She smiled. “Sounds
great. Should we say… just after six?”

He nodded and when he
looked over to glare at Bud, he saw the two men had walked back to the truck
already, leaving him hanging in the wind by himself. He hefted the bag on his
shoulder and waved. “I’ll be here.”

Andre followed them out
and stowed the equipment. He managed to keep his anger in check and stay silent
until the truck was back at the station. When his teammates hopped out, he
shoved Bud against the truck. “What do you think you were doing back there?”

Bud held up his hands
in defense. “I swear, I didn’t think she’d fall for it. I thought she knew I
was playing with her. I wasn’t trying to pick her up. I thought since she
obviously knew you, she would play along and laugh it off. ”

His ire dissolved
quickly once he knew Bud had meant Mel no harm. Andre let Bud go, but still
glared at him and Dylan. “She’s a nice girl, but she’s gullible and now you’ve
got me involved in this bullshit.”

“She seemed to know
you.” Dylan raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so worried she’ll be angry at you?”

Andre grimaced. “She’s
my friend’s sister.”

Bud grinned. “And you
like her.”

“Well, I don’t hate
her,” Andre clarified.

“No.” Dylan shook his
head. “You like
like
her.”

They both saw right
through him. He was so screwed and it would be a long time before he lived this
down. None of these guys would understand how he just didn’t want to hurt her.
“Anyone with eyes would think she’s beautiful,” he admitted.

Bud whistled. “You’ve
got it bad. How long have you had the hots for her?”

“I don’t like her like
that,” he said. “She’s my friend’s little sister and he would kill me if I
looked at her.”

“But I’m sure that
didn’t stop you from looking, you dirty old man.” Dylan smirked before walking
away. “You keep telling yourself that and you just might believe you don’t want
to jump her bones.”

Andre snarled, the
comments hitting a little too close to home for comfort. Lucky for Dylan, he
was already too far away for Andre to start anything and once Bud got a look at
his expression, he suddenly had somewhere else to be.

 He looked at the
clock. It was just under three hours until the end of his shift. This was a
great mess his teammates had thrown him into but he knew what he had to do. He
would tell her the truth about how there was no course and with any luck she
wouldn’t be too mad. He could take her for sushi, maybe they could be friends
and hopefully this attraction to her would die.

Hopefully.

* * * * *

Mel looked down at her
flimsy silk wrap. At least the firemen hadn’t seen what was beneath the robe: a
curve hugging black lace and satin gown. She hadn’t thought to change while
cooking since she had been cooking for years. No one except Ronnie would see
her but she hadn’t expected the liquor to catch fire like that.

And who had charged in
on his white horse — or rather his red fire truck — but Andre Wellings, her
longtime crush. Maybe she could have moved on, but it was almost impossible to
get away from him since he attended all of her family functions.

Her brother Brian and
Andre were inseparable when they were younger and today they were only closer.
Mel leaned against her door and bit her lip. Why couldn’t one of the other guys
offered to give her this course? At least then she could have concentrated on
passing the test. But Andre Wellings had always been her weak spot. She was
going to fail this for sure.