Page 26 of From the Embers

“So, remember my wise words. Take control. Ask him out. Stop worrying all the time. If he brushes you off or makes excuses then you know he isn’t the one.”

The one.

Delaney knows I’m a one-man-at-a-time kinda gal. I love love, and I’m not afraid to say it, but having spent time by myself this last year, I’ve come into my own. Before I was all about needing a man, but it was for all the wrong reasons. What I needed to do was find myself, and I’ve done that. I don’t mind a manly man, in fact I prefer it, but Cam never had that balance of letting me take the lead sometimes without feeling his masculinity was in question. I was always in his shadow.

I snort. “It’s too early in the morning to have this conversation.”

“It’s never too early, buttercup. Plus, if Denver is a dud there’s like two million people in Chicago, half of them are men, so there’s plenty more pepperoni on the pizza, so to speak. Broaden your horizons.”

“Your mind is always on the pepperoni,” I sigh, though I’m grinning from ear to ear.

“If your mind was on Denver’s pepperoni a little more you might actually get some action.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Some of us just like to take our time. I can’t just blurt out that I like him and that kiss wasn’t fake for me. He’ll run a mile.”

“Life is about chances,” she says, her tone softening. “I get you’ve gotta read the room with this guy, but from what you’ve told me, he sounds like he’s totally into you. Who doesn’t want a hot firefighter who walks you home every night without laying a hand on you? Swoon.”

She’s got a point. Life is for living and all of that. Plus, he did give me some serious eyes. I wasn’t just imagining it. As much as I try to blow it off as a fluke, or him being in the moment when I kissed him without warning, I know I’m self-preserving. I need to take control.

At the very least I know he has zero respect or interest in Hannah after last night. She dug her own freaking grave and good luck to her.

“Babe? Are you still there?”

“S-sorry,” I say, my mind flashing back to all of the events that unfolded.

“You’re already crazy about this guy, just admit it. You’ve talked about him nonstop for years.”

“That’s because he was always around growing up,” I say. “I kind of idolized him over the years, especially after the rescue. I was so young I barely remember it, but he was just… different.”

“Just pork him already and the second you do, I want to know everything.”

I shake my head. “Not happening.”

“Got to go. I want full details. Take control. Mark my words, the second you really come into the understanding that you can conquer the world, everything will fall at your feet.”

“I love you,” I say. “Truly, you do wonders for my ego.”

“Love you, too. Don’t disappoint me.”

nine

Denver

A few days later

Dylan, one of the guys on our rescue team, runs by me. JJ is barking orders as we make our way to the floor where the elevator is stuck. The call came through saying there was an elevator entrapment with the address across town. No injuries reported.

It’s fairly routine to be honest, but this time there’s a woman and her baby stuck inside.

“Denver, Jasper, and Dylan, head up to the floor and keep her calm,” JJ says as we nod and take the stairs. “The car is stuck. It looks like an electrical fault.”

The building engineer is already in the lobby, so JJ takes it from there.

Car number four is stuck between floors fifteen to sixteen, and it’s been forty-five minutes.

Not all of our rescues are complex or involve fires, but it always makes my gut wrench when kids are involved. The things I’ve seen over the years haven’t always been what you’d call a happily ever after. I’ve completed around sixty complex rescues, and in that time, I’ve seen people perish.

“You good?” I ask Jasper, who we all refer to as JC.