Playing With Fire (12 page)

She'd arrived home after breakfast with Matt, physically exhausted and emotionally drained. Stopping only long enough to silence His Highness’ yowls with a can of cat food, she undressed, put on her nightshirt and fell into bed. She'd tossed and turned for twenty minutes, mentally reliving each high and low of the past day. When her mind finally shut down, she fell into a deep, dreamless slumber which lasted all day until Mahina arrived.

Taking a long, fortifying sip of her coffee, Lindsay replaced the cup on the nightstand next to her bed. His Highness lay beside her, ears alert and front feet extended in a classic Egyptian Sphinx pose.

"If Dennis Bigelow reports us to the captain, we'll lose our jobs."

"You got caught?” Her stepsister's jaw dropped. “Were you, like, in the middle of something or what?"

"No, we were dressed and on our way out the door. Thank goodness. If not, our careers with the City of Glendale would be history."

"Oh.” Mahina blew out a breath of relief. “You're in the clear, then."

"Hardly? Dennis and I don't exactly get along."

"That's because he has the hots for you."

Lindsay almost laughed. “No, he doesn't. He can't stand me."

"Not true.” Mahina wagged a finger at Lindsay. “From everything you've told me about him, I'd say he has a crush on you. He's like a little kid who doesn't know how to express his feelings, or he's afraid to, so he picks on you."

Lindsay started to object, then clamped her mouth shut. As far-fetched as it seemed, some of what Mahina said made sense. It certainly shed a whole new light on Lindsay's ongoing problems with Dennis. Could it be? Did Dennis really like her in a romantic sense?

"Ick,” she said and wrinkled her nose.

"He's no Matt. I'll grant you that.” Mahina leaned back on her elbows. Her movements disturbed His Highness, who scorned her with regal disdain. “And speaking of Matt, what did you and he do when Dennis found you?"

"Don't ask me how, but Matt managed to convince Dennis nothing happened.” Lindsay shook her head at the memory. “He told him we were checking the oxygen level in the tanks."

"And Dennis believed him?"

"I guess so. My legs were shaking so hard, it's amazing he didn't hear my kneecaps banging together."

"Sounds like Matt handled things.” Mahina gave Lindsay a sly wink. “In more ways than one."

"No jokes, please. I'm worried. There's no guarantee this won't come back to haunt us."

"It'll blow over eventually. As long as you and Matt keep your hands to yourselves at work."

"Trust me. There's no chance of a repeat performance. At work or anywhere else."

Mahina jerked upright. “You didn't break up with him, did you?"

"We were never going together to begin with."

"A technicality."

"That's what Matt thinks, too."

"What did he say?

Lindsay summarized the unsuccessful brush-off speech she'd given Matt at breakfast. “I told him a personal relationship was out of the question. Then he got all macho on me and told me he didn't agree.” She made a derisive sound.

"Cool.” Mahina grinned gleefully.

"No, it isn't."

"Did you ever think you might be in love with him?"

"Impossible.”
Or was it?
“We hardly know each other,” she scoffed.

"You've known him for two years,” Mahina corrected Lindsay. “Worked with him for nine months. That's long enough."

"We've never had a real date.” Lindsay held up a hand. “And before you say anything, sleeping together doesn't count."

"It certainly does. You took some pretty steep risks to be with him."

"Don't remind me."

"My point exactly. That's not like you, Lindsay. You wouldn't compromise your principles for someone you were merely attracted to.” Her tone softened. “But you would for someone you're in love with."

"I'm not in love with Matt. I'm not."

Lindsay pulled at her hair. Her well-ordered and meticulously planned life had taken an unpredictable turn. And she could recall the exact moment. That day at the dunk tank when she'd tripped and wound up holding Matt's boxers. She moaned miserably, which earned her a look from Mahina.

"Boy, when you anal-types crash and burn, it's not a pretty sight."

"My life is falling apart and you're poking fun at me."

"Your life is not falling apart. Okay. You made a few bad decisions. Who hasn't? Nobody got hurt, did they?"

Lindsay replied with a feeble, “No."

"So forget about it."

"I can't pretend nothing happened."

"Fine. Don't. If Dennis rats on you, admit to fooling around in the equipment room and take your punishment. One little reprimand isn't going to damage your record that much."

"It's not my record I'm worried about. We'll be the talk of the department.” Lindsay shuddered at the thought of what blabbermouth Melodie Peterson in Fire Administration would do with such a juicy tidbit of gossip.

"Yeah, you will. For a few weeks. Then when something more interesting comes along, you'll be forgotten. But in the meantime, look at all the positives.” Mahina ticked off the list on her fingers. “A promotion to engineer in the not too distant future. You and Joey are friends again. And you have a great—not to mention gorgeous—guy crazy about you. How stinky is that?"

"Not very.” Lindsay wiggled her toes, which for some strange reason, were tingling. “But I still think Matt and I should call it quits. We're not trustworthy."

"Did you ever stop and think if you and he were to sleep together on a regular basis, you wouldn't get carried away at inappropriate times?"

Mahina's logic, while unquestionably skewed, did make a certain amount of sense.

Which only added to Lindsay's confusion.

She rubbed her forehead, then swung her legs off the bed. “It's stuffy in here. I need a breath of fresh air. Maybe a jog in the park will clear my head."

The public park, a block down the road from the station, was a frequent hangout for many of the firefighters, including Matt. Besides the jogging path, there were basketball courts, volleyball courts, a driving range, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool with a high dive and a twenty foot water slide.

"Instead of a jog, how about a swim?” Mahina's eyes glimmered. A sure sign of ulterior motives.

"And I would want to go swimming as opposed to jogging because..."

Mahina hesitated, then blurted, “Because then, if you were lucky, you'd run into Dr. Travis Montgomery."

"Who is..."

"A veterinarian. His clinic is in the shopping center across from the station. I met him today when I took Baby in to have his nails trimmed."

Baby, whose name reflected the place he held in Mahina's heart, was a twenty year old Yellow-naped Amazon parrot. He'd been a gift to Mahina from her grandparents soon after she'd come to live with them at fourteen.

Lindsay took a well-calculated stab in the dark. “And during this office visit, we just happened to learn that Dr. Montgomery is single and swimming tonight at the pool."

"Every evening from seven to eight. He says regular exercise is good for the cardiovascular system."

She eyed her stepsister critically. “Looks like your cardiovascular system is operating at high speed."

"And how.” Mahina patted her heart. “Wait till you meet him."

"Uh, huh. I see. So you really came here, not to console me in my hour of need, but to recruit a partner in crime for your surveillance mission.” Mahina looked so unhappy, Lindsay caved. “A swim might be nice."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Mahina hopped off the bed and hugged Lindsay.

"I suppose you brought your suit."

"In there.” Mahina prodded the tote bag on the floor with her toe.

"You knew I'd say yes."

"I hoped.” She grabbed Lindsay's hand. “Come on. I'll help you dress. You can wear that new yellow bikini you bought at
Naughty But Nice
."

"Not in public I won't. It's indecent."

"It is not. Honestly, Lindsay. When are you going to realize you're a beautiful woman with a knockout figure? Matt obviously does, and he's not the only one."

"Forget it. If I go, I'm wearing my one-piece.” Lindsay crossed the bedroom to her dresser where she started rummaging through the drawers.

The one-piece bathing suit wasn't there.

She finally found it in the bottom of her clothes hamper, bundled into a damp, musty ball.

Under protest, Lindsay wore the yellow bikini to the pool.

Despite the addition of a sarong coverup, which she'd vowed not to remove under any circumstances, people stared at her. Men mostly. A few openly gawked, which Lindsay found unsettling, but not in a bad way. She wasn't accustomed to being the recipient of so much male attention and told herself she didn't like it. Yet when a college-aged boy whistled at her, she couldn't help the upward tug of her lips or the extra swish in her hips.

Mahina didn't notice. She was too busy scouting for Dr. Travis Montgomery and fretting she'd misunderstood his remark about his early evening swims.

They staked out a small spot at the far end of the pool and spread their towels. When they were done, Mahina paced back and forth in front of Lindsay, laying out her plan of action. Lindsay half-listened, shadowing her eyes against the glare of the setting sun. Her growling stomach reminded her she hadn't eaten dinner.

"First we hit the snack bar, then the restroom.” Like the Energizer Bunny, Mahina just kept going and going. “If we haven't found him by then, we'll make a sweep of the entire pool area. If that fails, we'll sit on the steps in the shallow end where we can watch the entrance. He won't be able to enter or leave without us seeing him."

"Sorry. No can do.” Lindsay was not about to canvass the entire grounds looking for some guy. “You're on your own."

"I can't go by myself. He'll take one look at me and figure I came here specifically to find him."

"Which is true."

"Yes, but I don't want him to know that."

"You could have come here with a crowd of fifty and it wouldn't make a difference. He'd still know."

"Fine. Have it your way. We won't sweep the pool area or watch the entrance.” Mahina clasped her hands together. “But at least walk with me to the snack bar. Please."

Lindsay
was
hungry. “Bribe me with a hotdog?"

"As many as you want.” Mahina extended her hand and helped Lindsay to her feet.

The overt stares continued. One man waggled his eyebrows at Lindsay and nodded toward the empty recliner next to him. She declined his invitation with a friendly smile and a silently mouthed, “No, thanks."

They probably made a striking pair, Lindsay thought, not with vanity but objectivity. She, with her long legs and athletic build and Mahina, whose waist-length black hair and exotic Polynesian beauty had always turned men's heads.

They entered the line at the snack bar. Seconds later, a man came and stood behind Lindsay. He was about her age, not unattractive, and wearing a Speedo bathing suit which barely concealed his masculine anatomy. His dark tan and heavily muscled limbs testified that he spent a considerable amount of his free time at the pool.

"Hi. Nice evening.” He smiled pleasantly.

She smiled back. “Yes, it is."

"Come here often?"

A pickup line, and not a very original one. Lindsay suppressed a chuckle. The guy wasn't that bad. More amusing than offensive. “Sometimes. I don't work far from here."

"What do you do?"

"I'm a firefighter."

"No kidding!” He beamed.

Lindsay felt her face grow warm and lowered her head to hide it.

"This is a great pool,” he said. “They have some awesome water basketball games. I play center.” He fired an invisible basketball in the air.

"Really?” Lindsay liked water basketball.

They moved ahead in line, and he used the opportunity to close the distance between them.

"There he is. The vet.” Mahina grabbed Lindsay's arm and shook it excitedly. “What did I tell you?"

Lindsay caught a brief glimpse of a tall, lean man before he plunged into the water. “Mmm. Nice."

"See ya.” Mahina took off and disappeared into the crowd.

"Hey! Where are you going? I thought you didn't want to appear obvious.” Then Lindsay remembered Mahina's promise. “And what about my hotdog?"

"I'll buy you a hotdog.” The man in the Speedo put an arm around her shoulder.

The gesture was a little too friendly for Lindsay's tastes. “No, thank you. I'm not really hungry.” She nonchalantly stepped sideways, thinking of leaving. Without Mahina's presence to act as a buffer, Lindsay experienced a twinge of discomfort at being alone with the guy.

"Come on. I won't bite.” He hooked her by the elbow, reeled her in, and snapped his jaw at her ear. “Unless you want me to."

She reversed her earlier summation. He was that bad. Shrugging off his grasp, she said, “I said no."

"Aw.” He acted hurt. “I was just being sociable."

His arm was suddenly jerked away.

"Water clogged your ears? The lady said no."

Lindsay had heard that voice too often not to recognize it.

Matt. He was here.

Of all the rotten luck.

"Lucky I came by when I did,” Matt said once he'd run off the guy in the Speedo.

"I could've handled him myself.” Lindsay's eyes flashed with irritation. Her hands were balled into fists and planted on her hips. “I didn't need your help."

"Sorry. My mistake. I didn't realize you liked having that sleaze maul you.” He stepped up to the snack bar window and passed the attendant a ten dollar bill. “I'll take two hotdogs and two bags of chips. Plus a couple bottles of water."

"I'm not hungry,” she grumbled. So did her stomach, and she blushed, letting her arms fall.

"Force yourself to eat."

"I can pay for my own food."

His gaze went to her and lingered. He imagined where she could be hiding money in that skimpy outfit and anticipated the pleasure of watching her retrieve it. He grinned and held out a hand. “Your half comes to four-fifty."

"I-I-I didn't bring any money with me. Mahina was going to pay. But I have some in my bag back at the towels,” she quickly amended.