One Fiery Night (7 page)

She stumbled across the room and grabbed his clothes. Gathering them into a bundle, she stalked back and threw them at him. He caught them with an astonished look on his face. His shirt tumbled to the floor.

“Get out, Luke!”

His eyes narrowed and he took a step toward her. “You’re going to kick me out without even trying to explain yourself?”

Fury claimed her heart and the tears that spurted from her now were ones of anger. “I shouldn’t have to! You just told me you love me, but you basically can’t trust me and think I betrayed you with your own brother! Ugh!” She clenched her fists and stomped one bare heel into the carpet. “You don’t even know what you want, Luke! Don’t even know what you’re feeling!”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bouncing in his throat. “That’s true.”

“Get. Out.” She pointed to the door. When he didn’t move, she spun away and started getting dressed, throwing on her jeans and panties and her shirt went on without bothering with a bra. She never wanted to see this infuriating man again. She’d always prize his act of heroism that had rescued her and Maggie from their burning home. But she didn’t need to put up with more hurt caused by a man.

He dressed slowly, throwing her long looks that threatened to steal her control. She didn’t know whether to climb on top of him and sink over his cock or call hotel security.

“Please go.” She faced him, panting for breath as if she’d run a mile in minutes.

He let his eyes slip away from hers and pressed his lips into a tight seam. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Yeah? You seemed to find some good words a half an hour ago when your cock was inside me. I guess it was all a lie though.”

His features shuddered and then settled into a mask. “I never lie.”

She stared at him, numbness stealing over her. She folded her arms over her chest. “Neither do I.”

He twisted away from her and slammed through the door. When the heavy door clicked shut on the love of her life, she crumpled to the floor in a mess of sobs.
I did the right thing.
She chanted this to herself as she tried to choke back the tears that were the result of a broken spirit. How many times could she put herself out there, only to be hurt?

Luke had agreed that he didn’t know what he wanted or what he was feeling. He’d probably told her he loved her because he was caught up in the moment. She had no idea—couldn’t think around the pain lacerating her heart.

The only thing she knew for certain was that she wasn’t going to tell him she’d betrayed him by showing interest in his brother. Josie was a lot of things—a good mother, a hard worker, honest, caring and faithful. She was also hopelessly in love with Luke Puckett.

But she couldn’t put herself—and Maggie—out there again.

Chapter Five

Luke hurried his steps and kept his head down, hoping to slip under the radar of his fellow firefighters. He strode through the lounge area and on to the locker room. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Morelli’s big form rise from the sofa and follow.

He continued, ignoring both him and Pearce, who shut the door behind the three of them. Luke shot them a glance and then spun toward his locker. He opened it with more force than necessary and it smacked the adjoining locker with a metallic crash.

“Problems, Lucifer?”

At that moment, he seriously felt like the entity he was nicknamed after. Only a devil would hurt a woman like Josie. What the hell had he done?

Broke her heart and fixed it so she’ll never speak to me again.

Without answering his captain, Luke shoved his duffle bag into the bottom of his locker and yanked his gear out to perform his routine check for wear.

Morelli circled him and Pearce closed in too, like two vultures on their prey.

“Better tell us what’s going on, Luke.” Morelli wore a no-bullshit look that would ordinarily have made Luke laugh, especially if it was trained on any man besides him.

“It’s personal.”

Pearce thumped a fist softly against the locker door. “If it’s going to inhibit your performance as a firefighter, it’s no longer personal.”

“What makes you think I’d let it affect how I respond?” Luke’s chest tightened with rage.

His captain stared him down. “Because you can’t even inspect your gear without your hands shaking. Spill it, Lucifer. You need a friendly ear. You’ve got four.”

He hesitated. He considered his captain and Morelli to be some of his best friends. As close as brothers. He no longer had a brother to confide in, and besides, he couldn’t have talked to Ryan about this particular trouble even if he’d been alive. Ryan had repeatedly told Luke the same thing Josie had—that the two of them were simply friends and Luke was crazy to suspect anything more.

“I don’t need to participate in a bad episode of a soap opera.
Firehouse 5’s Locker Room Confessions
or something like that.” He threw his gear into a heap on the floor in front of his locker and slammed the door. When it didn’t shut because of the bulk blocking the door, he kicked it.

The action eased him some and he tried again. He slammed a boot heel off the metal, denting it. Then with a harsh bellow, he let loose, punching and delivering violent kicks to his locker. His knuckles split and blood warmed his skin. The knot in his chest tightened until he thought he’d rupture.

“Goddammit! I fucked up! I lost her!”

Suddenly Morelli snagged him around the waist. Luke spun on him viciously, prepared to lay into the man.

Pearce stepped in, shoving Luke in the chest and sending him staggering away from Morelli. He clenched and unclenched his hands just so he could continue to feel the pain. Luke lunged again, but Pearce grabbed him and held him.

“Let go of me,” he growled.

Pearce shook his head. “Not yet, Lucifer. We can control you if you can’t control yourself.”

“I’m in control! Now let me go!” He cocked his elbow, meaning to deliver a blow to Morelli’s midsection, but Pearce caught his arm and ruthlessly twisted it downward. One flick and his elbow would be dislocated.

Morelli spoke. “We all fuck up sometimes, man. Does this have to do with that woman that you rescued?”

The mention of Josie took the fight from Luke instantly. His tense muscles caved in on themselves. He tore free of Pearce’s hold and collapsed on the floor with his back against the opposite bank of lockers. Dropping his head into his hands, he fought against the tears that threatened to fall. The last thing he wanted to do was break down here in the firehouse in front of his friends and his boss.

He jammed a heel into the floor. Its thud did nothing to loosen the lump in his throat.

Pearce pulled up a metal folding chair and straddled it backward. “What’s going on, Luke?”

He breathed heavily and tried to formulate the words so they could understand. “I thought something had happened between the woman I’m seeing and my brother.”

“Ryan?” Morelli sank to the floor beside him.

“Yeah. Years ago when we were in college. That’s why I broke up with her, but I never really told her the reason. It’s been eating at me. I thought I could get past it and l-love her—” The word grated from him. “But I couldn’t. I brought it up and when I did…” He scrubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, feeling more despondent than he ever had in his life. “The instant the words were out, I could tell by her face that I was wrong. Horribly wrong.”

“But by then it was too late,” Morelli guessed.

He nodded. He opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was about to say was drowned by the shriek of the fire alarm.

Pearce stood so quickly his chair scooted back and hit the lockers. The door burst open and the rest of the fire crew ran in, suiting up at warp speeds. Luke jumped to his feet and pulled on his pants, coat and boots. Reaching into his big locker, he shoved his gloves aside to locate his mask and air tank.

The particulars of a two-alarm fire blared from the radio. Pearce was issuing commands between pauses. “Morelli, you’re with me. Dobbs, Howland and Zacherel, you’re in unit one. Luke, it sounds like you’d better put on those gloves, man. The building isn’t safe and you’re going in.”

Luke nodded but ignored his captain’s command to grab his gloves. Instead, he tugged his hat down and picked up his air tank. “I’m ready, Caps. I won’t let anything hinder my performance.”

* * * * *

Josie stripped off her clothes and dropped them into a pile on the floor of the hotel bathroom. What she wouldn’t give for her own comfortable bath in her Victorian house. She’d loved the decadent tiles and the big old porcelain tub. She’d carefully chosen the most luxurious towels and brass accoutrements for the space. For many months it had been her refuge.

Now it was rubble. A black tooth in the unbroken smile of the neighborhood where they’d lived.

With a hitching sigh, she pulled the thin, coarse, hotel towel down from the wire rack on the wall and stepped into the shower. The hot water poured over her, washing away the traces of Luke’s kisses. His scents swirled down the drain, eradicated by the citrus body wash she used.

Thank goodness Maggie was with her father. At least her little girl wouldn’t see her in this state. A glance in the mirror had shown Josie a face more ravaged than it had been after the house fire.

Hours had passed since Luke had walked out. She’d spent the time alternately sobbing and inwardly raging. How stupid it had been to put herself out there again, only to be kicked into the dirt.

Well, now I really have nothing.
She turned her back on the spray and let the warm fingers of water spread over her scalp. There was little she could do but start over. New house, new car, new stuff. Luke fell into the “old” category, since he was an old boyfriend twice over.

She didn’t need love in her life. Focusing on her career and raising her daughter to be a good person were enough.

They’ll have to be.

She scrubbed her hair and rinsed it. Then she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, reluctant to get out. She could barely stand the idea of spending time alone in the hotel room where the memories of her and Luke’s lovemaking were still so fresh. He’d told her he loved her, for goodness’ sakes.

And then he’d accused her of sniffing around his brother.

“Ugh!” She switched off the shower and whipped the curtain forcefully back. With jerky movements, she toweled herself off and wrapped her hair in another towel turban-style.

Striding from the steamy bathroom nude, she caught the voice of the news reporter on the television she’d left on. “Fire crews are on the scene of a two-alarm blaze on the South Side tonight. Mary Jensen is on the scene. As you can see, flames are leaping to heights of forty feet. The roof is completely on fire, and the building is on the verge of collapse. Fire companies from the South End are working to put out the fire and it’s rumored a homeless man has taken up residence inside. Only one firefighter is specially trained to work under conditions such as these—our own hero Luke Puckett from Firehouse 5.”

Josie’s heart seized and then plummeted to her feet. A cold sweat broke over her. She folded in half, struggling to drag air through her lungs, which were somewhere around her knees.

She plastered a hand to her chest, choking and gasping.
Luke.
Inside that fireball? What if she never saw him again? Was never given the chance to tell him how much she loved him or to make things right?

In a split second, she’d made up her mind. She threw on the first thing she saw, which was the white sundress she’d worn to the award ceremony, without bothering to put on undergarments. She slipped on a pair of flip-flops and was out the door, her hotel key and her purse in hand.

Outside, the summer night was sultry. The air wrapped around her like a lover’s arms, but she continued to shiver despite the temperatures. The black sky was velvety here, but on the South Side, an orange glow would light the night from the flames of the house where Luke was doing his job.

A perilous job that could cost him his life.

Fear choked her. After their argument, she’d thought him lost to her. But death was… Well, permanent. She’d never be able to forgive him or rage at him or kiss him. All the amazing things that meant she was head over flip-flops in love with him.

She ran into the street and hailed a cab. As it skidded to a stop, she yanked the door open and jumped inside, practically yelling at the driver to take her to the fire on the South Side.

“You’re crazy, leddy,” he said in a thick accent.

“Please hurry! Someone I love is in that fire!”

He peeled out into traffic at her words and stomped on the gas. She rode the edge of her seat, too afraid to lose sight of the strip of road ahead for fear it would somehow slow them if she did.

Precious minutes ticked by while the flames on the TV screen flickered in her mind’s eye.
Luke, please be okay. Give me the chance to listen to what you have to say.

The cab couldn’t go fast enough for her. By the time they reached the first blocks of the South Side, she was bouncing on the seat, lips moving in a silent prayer.

The driver hit the brakes behind a line of traffic. “This is as close as I can get, leddy. They’ve got the street blocked.”

“Thanks!” She tossed him a big bill and hopped out of the car. Streaking down the sidewalk as fast as she could in her flip-flops, she swung her head left and right, searching for signs of the blaze. Ahead, the whoop of a siren shook the night. She surged forward as a burst of adrenaline hit her system.

The reek of smoke reached her before she could make out the roar of flames. The familiar sound caused a heavy sweat to break out all over her body as she recalled the events at her house just days ago.

By the time she reached the police barricade, she was sick with terror.

“You can’t get through, miss. The block’s closed down to allow the crews to work.”

“My husband’s in there!” she shrieked. She had no idea why those words passed her lips, but it was too late to retrieve them. The police officer looked at her hard. Then he took her arm and led her through to where the fire trucks were parked end-to-end with nary a space between.

“Stay here!” The police officer’s order sounded close to her ear. He ran up to a group of firefighters. One held a laptop and was issuing orders to another, who barked them to someone unseen.

Maybe Luke.

“Luke!”

Her cry caused two men to jerk around. The one holding the laptop motioned her over. She stumbled across the pavement, which was soaked with water from the hoses. She never removed her gaze from the blackened building with fire shooting from the now exposed rafters.

Through his mask, the fireman holding the laptop spoke to her in a muffled voice. “You’re his woman.”

She nodded, her heart surging into her mouth and rendering her speechless. She wanted to plead for this man to communicate with Luke so she knew he was safe. Then again, Luke
must
be all right, or else the atmosphere wouldn’t be one of urgency, but of gloom.

“Lucifer, do you have a visual on the victim?” The firefighter wearing a white hat spoke in a voice that carried above the flames and the rush of water.

Josie locked her fingers together and fought to keep from crying or screaming or shaking someone. The man with the laptop pivoted to her again. “Lucifer, you might want to hurry your ass.”

Her heart throbbed in anticipation.

The man threw back his head and laughed. “Why, he asks? Tell him, Caps!”

The firefighter who must be the captain focused on Josie. “We have a woman down here who claims to be your wife.” His dark eyes danced behind his mask.

She didn’t know whether to shriek with glee or sob. Luke was far from being safe, and they had so much to discuss. But as long as he was alive, they’d have a chance to make things right.