Hero Dad. Marta Perry

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СКАЧАТЬ his job. He was a single father. He did have a potentially dangerous job. This would be so much easier if she could just tell him the truth.

      Lisa hadn’t wanted him to know about her family, either. That was the bottom line. She searched for a safe remark.

      “Are you a good cook?”

      His expression eased at the innocuous question. “My mother probably wouldn’t think so, but I’m about as good as anyone else here. All of us here have to cook for the group occasionally. I make a mean chili, anyway.”

      She took a few shots of the kitchen that she’d undoubtedly delete from the digital camera, then continued snapping as he showed her a living area furnished with what looked like cast-offs from someone’s house and a small exercise room furnished with weights and a punching bag.

      He gestured toward a closed door. “Bunks and bathrooms are that way, but a couple of guys are sleeping right now.”

      “And if the alarm goes off?”

      “If a call comes in, don’t get between that door and the pole.”

      The shiny brass pole led through a hole in the floor to the engine room below. “So the pole really exists, does it?” She began snapping again. “I thought that might be a myth.”

      “There’s a good reason for it. You have half a dozen firefighters trying to get down a flight of stairs at the same time, you got a mess. The pole’s faster and safer.”

      She focused her lens on the opening. “You wouldn’t care to give me a demonstration, would you?”

      “I will if you try it, too.”

      She studied him through her viewfinder. He looked serious. “I’m not the athletic type.”

      “If you’re going to go out on calls with us, you’ll have to stop hiding behind the camera and take a risk or two. And that’s the whole idea of this, isn’t it?”

      The idea is to observe your relationship with my nephew.

      “Sure, but that doesn’t mean I want to become a firefighter.”

      “Come on.” He grasped the pole with one hand and drew her forward, his eyes teasing. “Even the ten-year-olds in our Future Firefighters club slide the pole. I’ll show you how. Just hang on here.” He patted the shiny brass.

      “I can’t.” She pulled back, feeling his arm strong around her. “You’d have to have three or four people down there to break my fall before I’d try.”

      He grinned. “The idea is to slide, not to fall.”

      “Even so—”

      She looked up at his face, and her nerves gave that funny little jump again. He was too close—way too close. She could see the gold flecks in his brown eyes and the tiny lines that bracketed his firm mouth.

      An inappropriate wave of warmth flooded her. Seth’s eyes seemed to darken, as if he felt it, too.

      Oh, no. She could not be attracted to Seth Flanagan. She couldn’t be.

      For just an instant Seth felt the way he had when a beam came down on him in a smoky fire. His helmet had protected him from serious injury, but he’d seen stars for a week afterward.

      Looking into Julie’s eyes seemed to create a similar effect. He let go of her carefully, putting some distance between them. He wasn’t looking to see stars anymore, either physically or emotionally.

      “Tell you what. I’ll slide down to show you how it’s done, but you can take the stairs. This time.”

      “Every time.” Julie lifted the camera in front of her face. She did that a lot, maybe more than she had to. He couldn’t help but wonder why she felt the need to hide.

      “Okay.” He went into his usual pole-sliding demonstration. “The alarm goes, you charge out, adrenaline pumping, and grab the pole with your arm, wrap your legs around and slide.”

      Julie’s face disappeared as he slid down a little faster than usual. He landed hard enough to jolt him. Well, it served him right for showing off just because a pretty woman was watching.

      He looked up at the opening, but she’d disappeared. He heard her footsteps on the stairs, and in a moment she emerged from the stairwell.

      “Very impressive.”

      “Thank you. We try to keep up the image.”

      She nodded toward the closest rig. “Why don’t you go back to the cleaning you were doing when I came in, and I’ll just ask a few questions while I take a few more photos.”

      “Fair enough.” At least cleaning would give him something to do with his hands. She seemed to think he was eventually going to forget that she and her camera were there, but he doubted that would ever happen.

      He climbed up on the rig and looked down at her. “Seems like you’re going to have to come up here, too, if we’re going to talk.” He held out his hand.

      He could sense her hesitation. Then she nodded, grabbed his hand and let him pull her up onto the rig. She glanced around a little nervously.

      “I’m not going to set off any sirens by touching the wrong thing, am I?”

      “There’s nothing you can hurt back here. The controls are in the cab.” He grabbed a rag and started polishing the chrome strip. “Fire away.”

      He didn’t forget she was there. But he did, oddly enough, begin to forget after a while that she was taking photographs. He polished the chrome, the familiar routine soothing. Julie had an easy, detached way of asking questions while she snapped that had him thinking about what he was saying instead of what she was doing.

      “Does it bother Davy that you work such long shifts?”

      His polishing slowed, and he turned to frown at her. Once again, he couldn’t see her face because of the camera.

      “Do you know that’s the fourth question you’ve asked about my son? I thought this article was supposed to be about firefighting.”

      Julie held the camera in place a moment longer, but then she seemed to realize they weren’t going any further until she answered. She lowered it, but her cool gaze didn’t give anything away.

      “The story is meant to be about a family of firefighters. Naturally I’m especially interested in the effects of that on the children.”

      “Then you should talk with my sister Mary Kate. She has two kids, and her husband’s a firefighter.”

      “I plan to. But as a single father—well, you seem to have the more challenging role.”

      “I’m not so sure I want my private life included in your article.”

      Her expression grew a little cooler. “I need the contrast of work and family life. That’s what the chief agreed to. That’s what your family agreed to.”

      She СКАЧАТЬ