Chapter Six
Six weeks later
Jane walked up to the firehouse, leading Frankie on a leash. “You live here now, remember?” she asked the dog.
He glanced up at her, tongue lolling through his doggie grin as his tail wagged.
“You have to stop running down to my house,” she went on. “It’s getting embarrassing.” She stopped and bent to rub his head. “You’re not my dog, Frankie. You belong here, with the firefighters.”
“I was just gonna send Raines down to your place to fetch that mutt.”
Jane straightened and smiled at Lieutenant Boone. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why he keeps coming to my house. I don’t even know how he figured out where I lived. He’s never been there before.”
“Well, he’s a smart dog, for one.” The lieutenant jerked his chin toward the open bay. “Ransom’s just inside, checking his bunker gear. You can take Elmer there in to him.”
She gave a slight frown and glanced down at Frankie. “Um, his name is Frankie.”
Boone grinned and shook his head. “The guys have taken to calling him Elmer, because he sticks like glue to you.”
“Yeah, maybe ’cause he was trained to do that,” came another voice.
As Mark Bachelier came out of the open garage, Jane braced herself. They’d had one date, and when she wouldn’t go out with him again, he’d gotten…snide. She’d been unusually lucky in the last six weeks in that he hadn’t been around when she’d dropped by to see Ransom. But now here he was, being as big of a jerk as ever.
“I’m not a dog trainer,” she said quietly. “Like I said, Frankie’s never even been to my house.”
“Yeah, and all we got is your word about that.”
“That’s enough.” Boone’s voice was deep, commanding. “You got nothing better to do than be a rude son of a bitch, you can go clean the bathrooms.”
Bachelier glared at Jane and pivoted, heading back into the station.
“Great,” she muttered. “Now he’ll blame me for that, too.”
The lieutenant heaved a sigh. “Some men don’t deal with rejection too well, Jane. You know that. They see a sweet, pretty woman, ask her out, but the date doesn’t go well and doesn’t get repeated. If they can’t even get a date with a nice girl, what hope do they have? So, it can’t be their fault, right? It’s gotta be that the nice girl isn’t really as nice as people think she is.” He shook his head. “It’s unfortunate that Mark’s one of those guys, but don’t take it personally.”
“Is he…” She pressed her lips together for a moment. “I just don’t want him lying to Ransom about me.” She looked at Boone. “Is he?”
He grimaced and shook his head, more in a I-don’t-know way than giving a negative answer to her question. “Even if he is, Ransom’s not stupid. He’s been seeing you a month and a half now. He’ll know the type of woman you are is not what Mark may be saying.”
She dipped her head, feeling heat flooding her face. “You…y’all have been keeping track of how long Ransom and I have been dating?”
He laughed and took her elbow in one big hand. “Jane, you started dating right after the adoption event, and we all know when that was.”
Her cheeks flared hotter. “Oh.”
He urged her forward a few steps. “Go on, go see your guy.”
She saw Ransom on one knee next to open shelving, split into separate cubbies with name designations listed above. Each one held the firefighters’ personal protection equipment, like their fire-retardant pants and jackets, oxygen tanks, and other items. He held a boot in his hands, turning it over, clearly checking it for defects.
“Raines!” Boone let go of her arm and used two fingers to point to Jane when Ransom looked his way. “You got a visitor.” To Jane he murmured, “See you later,” and ambled off.
Ransom got to his feet and walked over to where she stood with Frankie leaning against her leg. “Hey,” he said as he got near. He leaned down and kissed her, quick and soft, then bent to give the dog a scratch behind his ears. “I guess he took off again,” he said as he straightened. “I hadn’t even noticed.”
“Ransom, you can’t just ignore him.” She hunkered down and looped one arm around Frankie. “He needs socialization.”
“Yeah, well, we all have work to do during the day. It’s not like we can just sit around and play with a dog.”
“Oh, come on,” she muttered, getting to her feet. “That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it. What I am saying is that someone needs to be paying attention to him during the day. Then maybe he wouldn’t be running off to see me all the time.”
Ransom moved closer. “Oh, I don’t know about that. If I could get away with it, I’d run off to see you all the time, too.” He backed her up against one of the engines, caging her with palms flat against the truck on either side of her. Then he leaned in. “He’s a smart dog. He knows a good thing when he sees it.”
His mouth slanted over hers. The kiss was open and wet and deep. When he finally lifted his head, they were both breathing heavily.
“Jesus Christ,” came a deep mutter from one side of them.
Jane twisted her head to see Mark at the bunker. He shot a scowl their way. “Get a fucking room.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. She ducked her head and shifted her weight, trying to move Ransom out of her way. “I should go.”
“Not just because Bachelier’s decided to be a jackass,” he said, giving Mark a hard, dark look.
“Hey, I warned you about her,” the other man rejoined. His gaze settled on Jane, and she could see it was filled with spite. “She’s nothing but a badge banger.”
Ransom pushed away from her and turned to face Mark. Before he could say anything, though, Boone yelled, “Bachelier! My office. Now.”
Mark scowled at her but shoved away from the bunker and stalked further into the station.
Jane watched him until he went out of sight. She sighed. “Ransom, I should tell you—”
“You and Bachelier dated. One date that didn’t go too well, and that was it.”
She stared at him. “Yes.”
“And he wasn’t the first firefighter you’ve dated from Station 58.”
“No.” She searched his face but couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Aunt Millie’s been baking for the station for years. After I moved in with her she had me make the deliveries. I dated one guy for a few months, but there really was never a spark between us, you know?” At his nod, she went on. “Then about two years ago or so Mark asked me out. He’s good looking, charming—or, at least, he was—and he’s close to my age. I figured, why not?”
A muscle in his jaw flexed. He looked unhappy.
“What?” she whispered.
That muscled popped again. “I’ll be honest. I hate the thought of you being with him. Anybody else in the station, I don’t think I’d have as much of a problem, but when I think that Mark Bachelier, of all people, has seen you naked—”
“Whoa! Wait just a ding-dang minute.” She glared at him. “I don’t go hopping into bed with every guy I date, Ransom. Is that what you think of me?”
He scowled. “Jane, Deke verified you’ve dated two guys from the station before me. And all I’ve been hearing from Bachelier is that you’re a badge banger.”
“So you just believed him?” She could hardly catch her breath through the pain.
“I didn’t want to.” His face went hard. “But sometimes, when someone’s feeling like they’re getting old, they can do things out of desperation that—”
“I was not desperate!” She stared at him. “Oh, my God. So now you think I’m an over-the-hill slut.”
“No.” He closed his eyes on a huff of breath. Then he brought one hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not saying this right.”
“I’ll say,” she muttered.
He blew out a breath and looked at her. “What I mean to say is it would be okay if you’ve slept with the entire fucking station. Our pasts are just that. Our pasts. I didn’t come to you a virgin and I have no right to expect anything different from you.”
She stared at him. She had a jumble of emotions rioting around inside her, and all of them together were making her slightly nauseous. It would serve him right if she threw up on him.
Jane looked down. Feeling the familiar weight of Frankie leaning against her leg, she dropped one hand to his head and tousled his fur. “Mark wanted me to go to bed with him,” she whispered. “And I wasn’t attracted to him that way. I said no, he was…insistent. I had to…get a little…physical in my repeated no’s.”
When Ransom didn’t say anything, she looked up at him. That muscle twitched like mad in his tightly-held jaw. His eyes had darkened, and he held himself stiffly. “How physical did you have to get in fending him off?”
She pressed her lips together. “Uh…” She didn’t want Ransom to go off on Mark, and she was afraid if she told him the truth he would.
“Jane, it’s a simple enough question.” His direct gaze held hers. She was glad none of that anger was directed her way. “What kind of physical response did you have to give him?”
“I kneed him in the balls.”
His mouth tightened.
“The date was a disaster. All he did was talk about himself, and whenever I tried to change the subject, he’d just steer it right back to him. He managed to invite himself in for after-dinner coffee, and—”
“You could have told him no.”
“I did. At first.” She leaned against the truck. “Ransom, I told him I was tired. I told him I was starting to get a headache. I told him I had an early morning meeting and needed to get to bed. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer. And I felt bad because the date didn’t go well. I felt like it was my fault.”
“You mean he made it seem like it was your fault.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.” She glanced around the bay, listening for a moment. It seemed like they were still alone, so she went on. “I made coffee and brought it into the living room. When I set the tray on the coffee table and sat on the couch, he… Well, he pounced on me. That’s the only way to describe it.” She fought back a renewed sense of nausea from the memory of that night. She swallowed then blew out a breath. “I was able to get one leg into position, and I let him have it.” She looked at Ransom with a wince. “I didn’t know men could make that sound.”
“I’m gonna kill him.” He took a step back, fists clenched.
Jane grabbed the front of his tee-shirt and held him in place. “Ransom, don’t. He’s not worth it. Anyway, he got my point.”
Frankie popped up, looking from one to the other, his entire body alert.
Ransom’s eyes narrowed. “So Bachelier gets to walk around calling you a badge banger, all because he couldn’t take no for an answer? I don’t think so.”
“You get in a fight with him over me, you could lose your job.” She leaned into him. “I know how much this job means to you.” Even though it scared her to death, but she didn’t want to burden him with her fear. She wasn’t sure how she’d be able to deal with it if he got hurt, but she knew that backing away wouldn’t make her worry any less.
“You mean more.” He brought his hands up to frame her face. “Jane, you need to get this. You and I, this path we’re on, it’s leading to something. Something good and fine and lasting. Something I want. And my job in all of this is to keep harm from you. I don’t care if that harm takes the form of physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. I will run myself ragged to keep it from you so you get a good life.” He placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth and rested his forehead against hers. In a low voice he added, “And if it means I get to beat the shit outta someone now and again, that’s all right by me.”
Frankie woofed and leaned against her leg, his tail hitting her calf with enthusiastic wags.
She gave a choked laugh. “I think Frankie wants to help you.”
Ransom smiled but it was short-lived. His expression turned serious like before. “I’m fallin’ in love with you, Jane Champion,” he told her, voice low and husky.
A tear slid down her cheek before she even realized her eyes had grown wet. “Ransom…”
He brought up a hand and wiped the tear away, then left his hand cradling her jaw. “What we have is good, yeah?” He waited for her nod before he went on. “And you want it, too?”
She nodded again. She wasn’t ready to name it love, not yet, but it was close.
Oh, so close.
“Then you let me do what I need to do, baby.”
It was the “baby” that did it, combined with the gentle tone of his voice.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Okay,” he whispered back and gave her a sweet, tender kiss. When he drew back, he asked, “We still on for tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.” He stroked his thumb across her cheek. “I’m gonna feel like a tourist, though.”
“Have you ever been to Heritage Village?”
He shook his head.
“Neither have I. So, I guess we both get to be tourists tomorrow.” She smiled. Reaching up, she tugged gently on the hair at his nape. “It’ll be fun.”
“Yeah.”
A couple of Ransom’s fellow firefighters entered the bay. They lifted their hands in greeting then headed toward the bunker and their turnout gear.
“I gotta get back to work,” Ransom said, reluctance in his tone and in the slow way he reached for Frankie’s leash. “But we’ll spend the day together tomorrow. And…you’ll stay the night?”
Her body immediately perked up. “Definitely.”
His smile came with deliberate intent and made her shiver with anticipation. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.