The Firefighter and the Single Mum, page 8
“Oh, yeah?” he taunted. “Give it your best shot, babe.”
Babe? She wasn’t anyone’s babe. Betting that Austin didn’t know she’d spent several summers on the beach as a lifeguard, she slid beneath the water and silently made her way across the pool. When she found his legs, treading water, she gave a hard yank and then jackknifed out of reach.
They goofed around in the water, each trying to sneak up and dunk the other. Austin was fast, but she had stealth, keeping the score fairly even until Austin caught her off guard for a second dunking moments after the first one.
She pushed off the bottom of the pool, breaking the surface while coughing and sputtering, having swallowed a mouthful of water.
Austin’s strong arms lifted her up, holding her safely against his chest while she struggled to breathe.
“I’m sorry. Are you all right?” he asked, his tone contrite.
She gasped between coughs, “I give up. You win.” She rested her hands on his slick, broad shoulders to help maintain her balance.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated in a low tone. His chest was warm, her legs entangling with his as he held her.
“I’m OK,” she managed, although she wasn’t certain it was true. Being close to him was wreaking havoc with her common sense. Her breasts were pressed against him, the tips aching with desire, and she knew she’d better move away before she did something she’d regret.
Although she honestly couldn’t say she’d experienced regrets after kissing him the other night.
Their bodies bumped together in the buoyant water. His arms tightened, holding her close.
“Lindsey,” he murmured, smoothing her wet hair away from her face before lowering his head toward her mouth. She met him halfway, eager to taste him.
Oh, heavens, this kiss was much better than the first. This time there wasn’t any hesitation. The moment their mouths touched, she parted her lips, inviting him deeper.
She barely noticed when he drew her toward the shallow end of the pool. When he stumbled on the steps, she broke free.
“Austin?” she wasn’t sure what she was asking.
“Come here, to the lounger.” Austin’s voice was low, rough with need. “We need to talk.”
“Talk?” She blinked, trying to read his expression in the darkness. Since when did a guy stop kissing a woman in order to talk?
A low chuckle escaped him and he stretched out on the lounger, pulling her down beside him. There was barely room for both of them. “Lindsey, I think it’s obvious how much I want you. But I promised you could stay here without strings. This isn’t a part of our deal.”
He was sweet, the way he spoke so earnestly. “I know,” she said, not sure what else to say. She honestly didn’t believe he expected her to sleep with him as a part of their deal.
“I don’t want to give you a reason to leave,” he admitted finally.
She wet her dry mouth with her tongue. Never had she wanted a man as much as she wanted Austin. For so long passion had been missing from her life. She found she couldn’t walk away from it now. “Maybe I’m looking for a reason to stay.”
“I’d like that,” he murmured, before capturing her mouth in another deep kiss. This time she could feel the evidence of his arousal as he molded her body to his.
When his fingers brushed the curve of her breast, finding the tight nipple through the thin fabric of her suit, she arched against him, wishing her swimsuit, the one that had seemed so scanty before, would simply disappear.
She trailed her hand down his back, finding the top edge of his waistband. His trunks needed to disappear, too.
“Lindsey, please, be sure about this…” he whispered, as she slid her fingertips beneath the elastic waistband.
“I’m sure.” She followed the curve of his butt, marveling at the sculpted muscles. His hands tugged at her swimsuit, trying to free her breasts.
“Mom? My stomach hurts.”
They both froze at the sound of Josh’s voice. Lindsey scrambled off Austin, trying to pull the straps of her swimsuit back into place.
“Too much pizza,” she whispered, running a hand along her body to make sure she was safely back together. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s OK, I understand,” Austin assured her.
Lindsey headed inside to find Josh, ruefully wondering if Austin had ever been interrupted by one of his girlfriend’s kids before tonight.
Somehow she doubted it.
What was she thinking, playing with fire? She was lucky that Josh had interrupted when he had, before she managed to get burned.
Josh finally fell asleep, after she’d given him some medication she’d found in Austin’s medicine cabinet. By the next morning, Josh was tired but otherwise felt fine and insisted on going to school.
She’d been tempted to keep him at home. Especially as both she and Austin had the day off and she couldn’t help reliving those moments at the side of his pool.
Was he planning to pick up where they’d left off?
Did she want him to?
Months ago she’d accused Austin of trying to take over her life. But while that was sort of true, the real reason she’d pushed him away had been because she’d known it would be like this between them. Hot. Sensual. Intense. Far too tempting.
She needed to get a grip. Deciding it was best if she kept busy, Lindsey drove to the bank to check on the status of her loan.
The loan officer kept her waiting almost twenty minutes. When he finally returned, she could tell by the serious expression on his face that the news wasn’t promising.
“I’m sorry, Mrs Winters, but you didn’t qualify for a loan.”
Stunned, she stared at him. “I need to pay for the repairs on my house. What do you suggest I do?”
He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, tugging at his tie. “There are places that will give high-risk loans to people like you for a much higher interest rate. You might want to try one of them.”
Annoyed, she grabbed her purse and stood. “Thanks for nothing,” she told him, before walking out of the bank, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. A high-interest loan because she was high risk. The payments were going to be difficult enough, without adding a high-interest rate to the mix.
Depressed, she headed over to her house to check on the status of the repairs. Inside, she could see evidence of work that had been done, bits of wiring scattered around the floor, along with a fine sheen of drywall dust, but the place was empty.
Where were the workers? Was it a holiday of some sort? Columbus Day? Presidents’ Day? She frowned. No holiday that she could remember.
Austin showed up, surprised to find her there. “What’s wrong?” he asked when he saw the expression on her face.
“Where is everyone? Why aren’t they working?”
“The crew is working on a couple of projects at the same time,” he explained. “This is the height of the building season and besides, it’s one of the reasons their bid was lower. I knew it was going to take a little longer this way.”
“I thought you were going to put a rush on this?” she said abruptly, knowing she sounded angry but unable to help herself.
He frowned. “I tried, Lindsey, but I figured cheaper was better.”
She let her breath out in a deep, heavy sigh. How could she argue with cheaper? Heck, even the cheaper rates were going to be difficult to pay. Especially without her bank loan.
Austin pointed out what the electricians were doing, going into a technical explanation of how they were going to bring the wiring up to code. Then he showed her the water-damaged drywall, extending over half the corner of her house.
It would take weeks to get everything completed. If they were lucky.
She forced herself to meet Austin’s gaze. “I was turned down for a bank loan. I’m going to look into other options, but you need to know, I’ll figure out some way to pay you back.”
“No problem,” he quickly assured her. “Don’t even worry about paying me back. Just make sure you and Josh have what you need.”
A flash of anger burned in her belly. Did he expect her to borrow money from him? Then conveniently forget to pay him back? What sort of person did he think she was? “If it takes longer to get a loan approved, I’ll pay the going interest rate, in addition to the balance of the amount you’ve paid out so far.”
He scowled. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not going to make money from helping you, Lindsey. Forget about paying any interest. I told you, don’t worry about the money.”
“No. I won’t forget about the interest or the money.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I know you sincerely care about my welfare, Austin, but there’s no reason to act as if I can’t support myself.” She’d considered asking him for a loan, but not anymore. The high-interest place would be a much better way to go.
Especially after the heated kisses they’d exchanged beneath the stars last night.
“There is another way to do this,” he said in a low tone.
“There is?” Warily she looked at him. “Like what?”
“You could marry me and move in with me permanently.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
AUSTIN HADN’T PLANNED to propose, but the moment the words had left his mouth he realized marrying Lindsey was the perfect solution.
Too bad that Lindsey’s reaction wasn’t exactly encouraging.
She went pale, her eyes widened and her pupils dilated to the point he couldn’t see the blue of her irises. She shook her head, taking several steps backward as if needing to get away from him.
“Marry you? Are you kidding?” Her voice rose, nearly hysterical. “No. Oh, no. Absolutely not.”
He tried not to be hurt by her flat-out refusal. His fault, for blurting out the proposal without any forewarning. And, hell, couldn’t he have chosen a more romantic setting? But she didn’t have to act as if being with him was totally out of the question. Their relationship had gone from mere friendship to a heck of a lot more on the patio surrounding his pool last night.
If not for Josh’s upset stomach, he was fairly sure they would have made love. The memory of having Lindsey in his arms, wearing nothing but a scrap of a swimsuit, was enough to make him hard and aching. He was trying to prove he wasn’t interested in a fling or a one-night stand.
He was interested in far more.
“Lindsey, I know I shouldn’t have blurted it out like that, but I want you to know I’m serious. I— We don’t have to do anything right away. Just think about it, OK?” He took a step toward her.
“No!” she shouted. She spun on her heel and practically ran from the house. He took off after her, but she was surprisingly quick, jumping into her car and backing out of the driveway almost before he could blink. She drove down Puckett Street as if the hounds from hell were hot on her heels.
He stared after her bright yellow car, watching as the taillights disappeared around the corner.
Sighing heavily, he massaged the muscles behind his neck.
Damn. His impatience had caused him to blow it with Lindsey, big time.
Lindsey was so upset her hands were shaking. She couldn’t believe Austin had actually proposed to her. Out of pure pity! To help her avoid being in debt!
Worse, she’d almost said yes. Had been far too tempted to say yes.
What was wrong with her? She was sending conflicting signals to Austin, wrestling in the pool with him one minute, arguing over her house repairs the next. No wonder he’d proposed. Was she more like her mother than she’d realized? She needed to move out of Austin’s house as soon as possible.
Some of her panic deflated though when she went to a high-interest brokerage house and saw just how much she’d have to pay on a monthly basis. One extra shift a pay period wouldn’t be enough. She’d have to work two extra shifts in order to make ends meet.
Still, she didn’t want Austin to think she’d marry him to avoid paying her debts, so she signed the papers and walked away with a fat check and high loan payments.
At Austin’s house, she set the check in the center of the kitchen table, where Austin couldn’t help but see it when he came home.
Austin wasn’t her type. She knew his reputation wasn’t exaggerated. Many a nurse in the ED had raved over what it had been like to go out with him. His proposal had caught her so off guard, she didn’t know what to do or to say.
Avoiding him wasn’t easy, with them living in one house. Where could she go if she and Josh did need to move out? She couldn’t afford a hotel, not with the loan payments. She had friends from work, but none of them had much extra room. She sat on the edge of the bed in Austin’s spare bedroom and gazed around helplessly.
She was stuck here until she could find another place to stay.
Austin knew how much he’d blown it with Lindsey when she avoided him for the rest of the day. He saw the check on the kitchen table from one of those high-interest loan places, but refused to take it.
Hefty interest payments wouldn’t help her become independent. She was already independent, doing a fine job of raising her son on her own. Why couldn’t she see that?
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to relax his tense muscles. He shouldn’t have shocked her with his proposal. Although he’d meant every word. The thought of marrying Lindsey didn’t scare him as much as it probably should have. He’d never really planned on marrying anyone. The women he’d dated hadn’t remotely interested him enough to consider spending the rest of his life with one of them.
And despite his tendency to avoid relationships, he didn’t take marriage lightly. Thanks to the example set by his parents, he believed in marrying for keeps. One of the reason’s he’d been so picky before.
Giving Lindsey the space she needed wasn’t easy. Especially when he missed talking to her.
He was almost grateful he could leave to go to work the next day. Living in the same house with her when she was barely speaking to him wasn’t easy.
He got his first call within the hour, responding to a bad single-vehicle crash on the interstate highway. After hitting a concrete barrier, the vehicle had flipped over and skidded on its roof for almost fifty feet.
Austin was glad he was partnered with Big Joe to assist with the extrication. Two teams had been dispatched to the scene of the crash and traffic was backed up for miles. Luckily, both occupants of the car, a husband and his wife, had been wearing their seat belts.
“Are you all right?” he asked, kneeling down to peer into the space where the driver’s side window had once been. The driver looked to be worse off than the female passenger.
“My chest hurts.”
Austin didn’t like the way the guy looked—he was pale, sweaty and complaining of chest pain. Had he suffered a heart attack before the crash or as a result of flipping over the concrete barrier and sliding on the car’s roof for fifty feet?
“Let’s get some oxygen on him,” he said, reaching in to wrap the oxygen mask around the guy’s head. “On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst pain you’ve ever felt, how much does your chest hurt?”
“Eight. Maybe a nine.” The man’s words were muffled by the oxygen mask.
“Let’s try some nitroglycerine,” Big Joe said, pulling out the small vial of soluble tablets.
He urged the patient to place the medication under his tongue. While they gave the nitro a chance to work, they discussed the best way to get him out of the car.
“Through the window,” Big Joe decided. He gave a yank on the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Unless we want to wait for the jaws of life to get here?”
“No, let’s try the window. I’ll cut through his seat belt.” Austin used his knife to free the driver, and then slowly eased him out of the car, doing his best to keep the guy’s head and neck in alignment.
“How’s the pain?” he asked, when the driver’s head was free.
“A little better.” The guy lifted bloody hands to his chest, rubbing the center. “Still hurts, though.”
“Joe, start an IV to give him some morphine.” Austin didn’t like the driver’s pale, cold, clammy skin. They needed to get his pain under control, and quickly.
With Big Joe’s help he managed to get the driver free of the car and safely strapped onto the long board. Using padded head and shoulder blocks, he kept the guy’s neck stabilized as Joe started the first IV.
The driver relaxed once they had the IV morphine in him. But hooking him up to the portable monitor showed he had some acute myocardial changes going on in his heart. Austin called the hospital and discussed the case with the ED doctor as they prepared to transport him for further treatment.
A doctor met them at the doorway of the ED, and Austin swallowed the stab of disappointment that Lindsey wasn’t there, as well. The transfer of care went very smoothly. The doctor had already contacted the cardiologist on duty and was discussing the need for the patient to go straight to the cardiac catheterization lab.
Austin was glad they’d been able to get the poor guy out of his car without taking too much time.
He saw Lindsey taking care of the passenger of the motor vehicle crash, and as much as he wished he could talk to her, now wasn’t the time. She saw him, though, and acknowledged him with a nod and a smile.
Had she gotten over being mad at him? He knew she wasn’t the type to hold a grudge for long. He wished more than anything they had time to talk. Maybe tomorrow, after his twenty-four-hour shift was over, they’d have time.
The rest of his day remained busy. He’d thought about calling Lindsey a least a dozen times, but managed to talk himself out of it. Better to make sure their next conversation was in person.
That night, as he stared up at the ceiling over his bunk in the fire station, he relived those moments at his pool. The fun they’d had playing in the water, and then the kiss that had turned innocence into burning desire.
He was dreaming of Lindsey when the fire bells went off. The alarm had the effect that the moment he heard them he jumped out of bed and slid down the fire pole before he was fully awake. He stepped into his gear and was seated on the truck in less than two minutes, wishing there had been time for coffee to help clear the cobwebs of sleep from his mind.
