Chapter 7
Lindsay tried her best to avoid having breakfast with Matt, but he refused to take no for an answer and dogged her the entire way from the station to her car in the back parking lot. She agreed, only because she didn’t want to make a fuss in front of Dennis and Emilio, who also happened to be leaving. She and Matt did need to talk, and they’d be better off doing that in public. In private, they tended to lose their heads, as well as a fair amount of their clothing.
Why, she didn’t know. She’d never acted like that with any other man and the fact she did with Matt confused and worried her. Reckless abandon wasn’t her style.
What happened in the equipment room proved they couldn’t be trusted. If Dennis had shown up one minute earlier, they’d be seated in Emilio’s office receiving the reprimand they so richly deserved rather than at a corner booth in the Rise and Shine Café. And would be, if not for Matt’s quickly concocted and coolly delivered explanation. Lindsay still had trouble believing Dennis bought Matt’s story about them checking the oxygen levels in the tanks. Or maybe he didn’t and was biding his time until he caught her and Matt red-handed.
Only one solution made sense: end it with Matt before they jeopardized their jobs.
“So, what’ll it be?” the waitress asked, pouring coffee into their mugs.
Despite skipping breakfast with the crew that morning, Lindsay had no interest in eating. She’d been on edge ever since the encounter with Dennis and the idea of food, any food, turned her stomach. Finally, she decided on a bagel and told the waitress. “Toasted with butter, please.”
“And how about you?” The waitress turned to Matt.
“I’ll take the morning special, scrambled eggs with a side of toast and a large orange juice.”
Humph. Lindsay fumed. Nothing wrong with his appetite.
“I’ll be right back with your juice.” The waitress gave them a distracted grin and scurried off, instantly lost in the breakfast-rush crowd.
Lindsay fiddled with her silverware, her mind blank as a whiteboard. Staring at a chip in the Formica table didn’t help bring her thoughts into focus.
“You first,” Matt said, taking two sugar packets from the dish of condiments and shaking them so the contents shifted to the bottom.
“What?” Her head snapped up.
He ripped open the sugar packets and emptied them into his coffee. “You’re obviously upset, so let’s hear it.”
Not for the first time, Lindsay wished she were more like Mahina. Her stepsister had a knack for handling men, especially when it came to breaking up with them. Stabbing her paper napkin with her fork, Lindsay mumbled, “Well..,um...I’m...”
“You’re worried that Dennis will report us to Emilio.”
“Yes. And I think...” There were now several dozen fork holes in her paper napkin.
“You think we should end this before we do something really dumb, like get fired,” he finished for her.
“That’s right.” It annoyed her that he could so easily second-guess her. “A personal relationship is out of the question. We obviously can’t handle it. One kiss and the next thing you know, boom.” Her hands sliced the air as she talked. “Good judgment flies right out the window. It’s happened twice already. And in the process, we hurt a good friend, endangered our jobs, and lied to a coworker.”
Out of steam, she paused, then frowned. Why was he smiling at her? This wasn’t funny.
“Don’t you agree?” she pressed.
“Naw.”
“What!”
The waitress appeared with his juice, and Matt waited until they were once more alone to elaborate. “A personal relationship isn’t out of the question.” He spoke slowly, enunciating each word.
Lindsay shook her head. It never occurred to her he’d disagree with her, though she should have guessed. He could be so damn argumentative. Taking a firm approach, she said, “I want to end things between us.”
“Well I don’t.” His smile broadened.
“Y-y-you can’t d-do that.”
He took a sip of his coffee, and then set the mug down. Propping his elbows on the table, he leaned forward. “If you think I’m going to give up without a fight, you’re crazy. I’ll take on Dennis, the department, the city, and even you if I have to. What we have is that important and that special.”
Dumbstruck, she gaped at him. And continued to gape at him all the while the waitress served their breakfast.
Matt spread jelly on his toast, his broad smile firmly back in place. “Eat up,” he said and took a big bite.
What now? Lindsay thought when functionality at last returned.
~~*~~
“OH, MY GOD! You and Matt had sex in the equipment room at the station?” Mahina threw back her head and let out a loud whoop. She was perched on the edge of Lindsay’s bed, soaking up every word as Lindsay recounted what had occurred during the last twenty-four hours, starting with the engineer test results and progressing from there. “Who’d have thought stuffy old Lindsay Pfeiffer had it in her? I’m impressed, stepsister.
“Don’t be. It was stupid. Really, really stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Who thinks in a situation like that?” Mahina’s silly grin stretched from ear to ear. “I’d do the same thing in your shoes.” She sighed dreamily. “Would I ever.”
“Mahina. Be serious.”
Lindsay sat cross-legged on the bed with her back propped against the headboard. The oversized nightshirt she wore reached her knees, and she plucked at the hem as she talked. She’d been sleeping soundly until Mahina showed up fifteen minutes earlier and held a steaming cup of Starbucks coffee under her nose.
No matter what hour of the day Lindsay awoke, and with her schedule, it could be anytime, she insisted on a heavy infusion of caffeine first thing. Her brain refused to function otherwise. Some days more than others.
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’d undressed, donned 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 stuff?”
“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’s crushing on you. 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 that way?
“Yeesh,” 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 we were checking levels in the oxygen tanks.” Lindsay shook her head at the memory.
“And Dennis believed him?”
“I guess. I was so nervous, I couldn’t hear over 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 together in the first place.”
“A technicality.”
“That’s what Matt thinks, too.”
“Oh?
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 chest-swelling on me and told me he didn’t agree.” She made a derisive sound.
“I knew there was a reason I liked him.” Mahina grinned gleefully.
“You’re as bad as he is.”
“Did you ever think you might be in love with him?”
“Impossible.” Or was it? “We hardly know each other.”
“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.” She held up a hand. “And before you say anything, sleeping together doesn’t count.”
“It certainly does. You took a huge chance, being 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 shoved her fingers into 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,” her step-sister mused, “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 tattles 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.”
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 two 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 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 with a vocabulary of over a hundred words. He’d been a gift to Mahina from her grandparents on her fourteenth birthday.
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 you would.” 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 cover-up, 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 claimed two lounge chairs at the far end of the pool and covered them with their towels. While they reclined, Mahina laid 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.” Mahina didn’t stop for breath, 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 weak smile and a silently mouthed, “No, thanks.”
She and Mahina 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 attracted attention from men. Women, too, for that matter.
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 his surfer bathing suit rode low on his hips, revealing a patch of hair that hinted at what male anatomy lay just below. His dark tan and heavily muscled limbs testified that he spent a considerable amount of his free time at the pool.
“Hey.” He smiled. “Nice evening.”
She smiled in return, less enthusiastically. “Yeah, it is.”
“Come here often?”
A pickup line, and not a very original one. Lindsay refrained from rolling her eyes. The guy really wasn’t that bad. More amusing than offensive. “Sometimes. I don’t work far from here.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a firefighter.”
He beamed. “That’s cool.”
“I think so, too.”
“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.
“No kidding.” 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. “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 stepped closer and 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 inched sideways, thinking of leaving. Without Mahina’s presence to act as a buffer, Lindsay experienced a twinge of discomfort at being alone with this guy.
“Come on. I won’t bite.” He leaned 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.
~~*~~
“LUCKY I CAME BY when I did,” Matt said once he’d run off the guy in the surfer bathing suit.
“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 scumbag maul you.” He stepped up to the snack bar window and passed the attendant several bills. “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 drop.
“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. Grinning, he held out a hand. “Your half comes to seven-fifty.”
Shit.
“I didn’t bring any money with me. Mahina was going to pay. But I have some in my bag back at the lounge chairs,” she quickly amended.
“Don’t sweat it. I’ve got you covered.”
The snack bar attendant served their meals in a flimsy cardboard tray.
Matt supposed the promise of food was all that kept Lindsay there. Of course, if she bolted, he’d go after her. Matt fully planned on keeping Lindsay with him for the remainder of the night, fighting off any competition with a club if need be.
“Condiments are on that table over there. Grab some napkins and mustard, will you?”
Lindsay shot him a scathing look, but did as he requested. At the condiments table, she gathered what they needed, taking some catsup and relish for herself. They sat at one of the metal picnic tables under the ramada and ate in relative silence. Matt had a lot he wanted to say, but opted to wait. She’d pretty well laid down the law that morning at breakfast, and he’d thrown it right back at her. The next move was hers, though he might nudge her a little.
He’d understood her reasons for not wanting to see him outside of work and actually agreed with most of them. What they’d done in the equipment room was foolhardy. And if discovered, the penalties would have been extensive. Matt cared about his job and didn’t want to lose it. He also cared about Lindsay and because of that, he’d spent the day convincing himself to play by her rules.
All that changed the second he’d surfaced from his last lap in the pool and spotted Lindsay lying on that lounger. She’d looked like a model from the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated Magazine. Eyes glued to her lithe form, he’d watched her rise and stroll to the snack bar, as did every other man present past the age of puberty. When the jerk in line with her overstepped his boundaries, Matt hauled himself out of the water, all his previous resolutions forgotten. She was his and his alone.
“I’ll walk you back,” he said when they’d finished eating.
“I don’t need an escort.”
“Sweetheart, in that getup, you need an armed guard.”
The irritation in her eyes gave way to pleasant surprise. “Is that a compliment?”
“No, this is.” He reached across the table and lifted her fingers, lacing them with his. “You look fantastic tonight and if another guy dares to come on to you, I’m going to bash his teeth in.”
“Thank you, I think.”
She appeared pleased, which pleased Matt. After depositing their trash, they walked back to her lounger, hand in hand. A spray of water showered them as they rounded the slide area. The lifeguard’s shrill whistle blew, and he admonished some children for running too close to the water.
“Where’s Mahina?” Matt asked when they reached her towel.
Lindsay scanned the pool area and pointed. “Over there.” She squinted. “Getting a cardiovascular workout by the looks of it.”
“A what?”
“It’s a joke. She met a man earlier today and he mentioned his nightly swims.”
“Which explains why you’re here.”
“You know how women are. We travel in packs.”
“But not now.”
Matt moved closer, pulled her into a loose embrace. Her lips tempted him. He thought of kissing them, of running his tongue along the seam until they parted and she welcomed him into her mouth. Why not turn fantasy into reality since refraining was clearly impossible for either of them? He lowered his head.
She placed her hands on his chest. “I came here to swim.”
“So we’ll swim.” She shrieked when he scooped her up in his arms, strode to the edge of the pool and jumped in. The water was waist-deep where they landed.
Lindsay sputtered and kicked, pushing back the damp hair from her face and attempting to wrestle free. “Put me down!”
“Not yet.” Not ever, if he could help it.
He twirled her in a circle. Water rolled over Lindsay and sluiced between their slippery bodies, creating a silky friction where their skin met. Matt liked the sensation. More so when she linked her arms around his neck and her shrieks melted into laughter. He came to a stop when he felt himself swell and thicken inside his bathing suit.
Lindsay must have felt it, too. “This probably wasn’t such a good idea.”
“You’re right. I have a better one.” He carried her to the steps in the shallow end, then set her down. Together, they climbed out of the pool. When she turned left, the direction of her and Mahina’s lounge chairs, he caught her wrist. “This way.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the Jacuzzi.”
Her steps slowed. “Maybe we shouldn’t—”
He spun her around and took her in his arms again.
“For once, Lindsay, let’s just enjoy each other’s company without worrying if what we’re doing is right or wrong. Later, we’ll deal with the repercussions.” He reached up and cradled the side of her face, tracing her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Tonight, it’s you and me.”
She stared at him, her eyes searching. After a moment, she nodded. “Okay.”
The Jacuzzi was separate from the pool, situated on the other side of the water slide. Wispy clouds of steam rose off the churning turquoise water. Two senior ladies, the only other occupants of the Jacuzzi, greeted Matt and Lindsay with warm, aren’t-they-the-cutest-couple smiles.
Lindsay preceded Matt into the Jacuzzi, holding onto a handrail as she lowered herself into the hot water. They took a seat opposite the two ladies. Bubbles from the swirling jets collected in a white froth around them. After a short exchange of pleasantries with their companions, Matt and Lindsay faced each other and tuned out the rest of the world.
“I’ve missed you,” he said in a low voice. Powerful jets of water struck them in the sides, the loud noise blocking their conversation from any listeners.
Lindsay scooped up a handful of bubbles, watched them quickly dissipate, and then repeated the process. “It’s only been since breakfast.”
“Too long.” Under the water, Matt’s hand searched out and found the small of her back.
The blanket of bubbles surrounding them provided a modest covering. Working his way to the edge of her bikini bottom, he toyed with the stretchy material.
She shifted and smiled self-consciously at the two ladies. “We have company,” she said to Matt under her breath.
“Do you suppose they’d mind if I asked them to leave?” He slipped his hand inside her bikini bottom. His fingers settled in the cleft of her buttocks. She jerked slightly, but didn’t move away.
Matt wondered if any man had touched her there before. It made him want her all the more, if that were possible. He inched his hand lower, measuring her reaction as he did. One little flinch from her, any indication of resistance, and he’d back off.
She scooted closer to him. Matt was ready to suggest they abandon the Jacuzzi in favor of a more private setting when her fingers grazed his stomach. Then traveled lower. He ground his teeth together with force, afraid one touch would set him off. It didn’t. But almost.
He fought for control, preferring to avoid a repeat of the previous night, this time, with witnesses. Their escapade in the equipment room, while definitely enjoyable, didn’t compare to making love. His need to touch and taste her most intimate places was surpassed only by his need to sink himself deep inside her.
“I’d like to take you home, Lindsay.” He removed his hand so that his fingers could scale the column of her spine to her neck.
“I’d like that, too.”
“You sure? Once we leave, that’s it. There’s no going back.”
“I’m sure.”
“And no regrets, either.” He angled her head so their eyes met.
“None.” She held his gaze without wavering.
That was all he needed to hear. “Tell Mahina we’re leaving.”