The Firefighter's Appeal. Elizabeth Otto

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       CHAPTER TWO

      GARRETT HAD BEEN in center of a raging house fire yesterday, and yet the adrenaline rush he’d felt fighting that flame didn’t compare a lick to the one Lily was giving him.

      He’d seen her the minute she’d swayed into his bar a couple of hours ago; he’d had a hell of a time keeping his eyes off her so he’d quit trying. In a sea of stick-thin, cookie-cutter blondes, this tattooed beauty was a midnight dream come to life. She was tall and curvy, and the coconut bra she wore did little to hide the round sides of her breasts. The tie around her back was fashioned into a bow that accentuated smooth muscles and supple skin. A faux-grass skirt hung low on the curves of her hips—full hips that embraced a smooth, soft belly. He loved that she didn’t try to cover up her curves. The colorful tattoo sleeve, stick-straight, long black hair and red lipstick she wore only kicked his interest into overdrive.

      He hadn’t been this attracted to a woman in a long time. Usually the women he flirted with, and ultimately took home, offered the bare minimum of emotional connection. He was all right with that, and, though he was always a gentleman, he tended to seek out women who were single-mindedly interested in the same thing he was: sex without commitment.

      He’d been in a bit of a dry spell lately, though. The work it took to flirt and woo his way through the bar scene to find a suitable woman was getting old. Flat. Boring. He kept telling himself it was okay to step back from the dating scene. But as the weeks of lonely nights and an empty bed went by, he wasn’t sure he knew what he was holding out for anymore.

      Lily had just dumped an ocean all over his dry spell. She wasn’t his normal type, but she had fun written all over her. Looking at the crystal lights shimmering over Lily’s hair and the lushness of her body in that Hawaiian outfit made his libido adamantly agree. But long-term? Hell, no. Marriage led to kids, a house, a dog and all that jazz. All the things that could go up in flames in the blink of an eye. No way. He’d settle for a dry spell rather than let his heart take in too much, only to lose everything.

      He’d been down that road too many times now, watching people he cared about suffer tragedy. Bad things happened to good people, wasn’t that the saying? Being a fireman, he saw it all the time, even among his own men. Divorce, deaths, affairs, accidents—all the things that jacked up the cost of love. No one was immune when fate decided to play a dark game.

      Lily’s eyelashes fluttered, and her scarlet-red lips parted slightly. Garrett recognized her sensuality but had a pretty good inkling that she was completely unaware of how siren-like she was—and that she probably intimidated the hell out of the male population in general. She gave off a type of Brigitte Bardot pinup allure with a hard Jillian Michaels edge. Yet, when he’d made her laugh, Lily had looked genuinely surprised—she craved the attention, though outwardly, she tried not to show it.

      Women like that—the ones who wanted you to notice them but didn’t always want you to know—meant he’d had to work harder to get what he wanted. And he’d never been one to back down from a challenge.

      Before he could speak, a shout burst through the room. “Bingo!” A petite woman with bouncy cinnamon curls stood on a stool, shaking her plastic coconut-covered chest with her fists in the air. A collective cheer roared through the room. The woman spotted Lily, pointed at her and damn near bounced right off her stool.

      “It’s her board. She won!”

      Lily put her hands out quizzically. The woman cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “You won the grand prize!”

      Well, wasn’t that just his luck? Garrett ran a hand over his belly, pleased with this turn of events. He recognized Pete Ambrose, sporting a fire department T-shirt and a smile, as he approached Lily and patted her on the shoulder. Lily spun so her back was to him, and though Garrett couldn’t see her expression, he could see that every muscle in her back tensed.

      “Congratulations.” Pete’s deep baritone was loud in the sudden hush of the room. “What’s your name?”

      Lily didn’t reply immediately. Garrett saw Pete’s brows drop a little.

      “Lily,” she said flatly.

      Garrett filled a couple of drink orders, still watching Lily from the corner of his eye. From somewhere in the back of the room, a female voice shouted, “Yeah, Lily!”

      Pete gave a toothy smile as a camera flashed. “The grand prize includes movie tickets and dinner reservations at Chalet de Blume—and your escort? Did you see the fire department calendar that went out this year? You’ll be going with Mr. September.” Pete winked and gestured to Garrett.

      Lily turned and looked blankly at the bar. If she realized Pete was talking about Garrett, she didn’t acknowledge it in any way. Instead, her forehead wrinkled as if she was remembering something or thinking way too hard. Garrett stopped filling glasses as he tried to read Lily’s reaction. Most women would be bouncing up and down at the news. Not that he was conceited or anything, but Garrett knew he had a certain effect on women. His pose for the calendar hadn’t hurt.

      Lily shook her head, cutting Pete off and causing the already quiet crowd to hush even more.

      “A date with a fireman?” Her voice was uncertain, her expression dropping into a scowl. She almost looked disgusted. Pete nodded, looking just as confused as Garrett felt.

      “No, thank you.” Lily pushed away from the bar and squeezed her body between Pete and the crowd. Almost instantly, the curly-haired woman was at her side, grabbing Lily’s hand. Their heads leaned low together as they walked to their table. Prickles nagged at the back of Garrett’s neck. Her sudden mood change seemed to have left a tangible chill in the air.

      Something had set Lily off, and though he really shouldn’t waste time worrying about what it was, he did.

      Was it possible that she didn’t know he was Mr. September? It wasn’t a secret—anyone who saw the calendar and came to the bar knew it. But she’d said she wasn’t a drinker, so maybe she hadn’t seen it, hadn’t put the pieces together.

      He wasn’t ashamed of his sexy no-shirt-pose-against-the-fire-truck picture—hell, it helped sell thousands of calendars across the county. The fire department needed that money, and he was glad to do his part. He was the assistant chief of the department, and, as such, had been roped into being part of the grand prize if the winner was a woman. Take her to dinner and a movie for a good cause. Lily, apparently, hadn’t liked that idea. It felt like a flat-out rejection, though a part of him said there was more to it than that. After all, she’d seemed to like him well enough at the bar.

      Rejection wasn’t something Garrett took lying down. He liked the way she moved, the way she looked, and, after talking to her, he didn’t want to give up without at least finding out why she was rejecting the prize. When she slung a purse over her shoulder and hugged her friend, Garrett knew he had to make a decision. He spotted his best friend, Mikey, out in the crowd, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled his name.

      “Fill in for me. You’ve done it before,” Garrett said when Mikey came around. Before his friend could protest, Garrett set a bar towel on Mikey’s shoulder. “You СКАЧАТЬ