Hearts on Fire Read Free Page B

in letting good beer go warm.
    Cort kept a wary eye on her beer mug as he responded. “I remember everything. How you told me you loved it here, that you’d never leave this place, not for love or money.”
    Exasperated, Jess retorted, “If I’d known you were leaving when you asked that question, my answer would have been different. Of course I didn’t ever consider leaving this place. Because you were here.”
    “Christ, Jess.” He took a deep breath, his lips pursed tight. Given a million more years, maybe he’d figure out women. Maybe. He gave her a long serious stare before continuing. “Being a smokejumper was my dream. Was it wrong to leave? Yes. But I can’t go back and change it. All I can do is come back and fix what I broke. To continue where we left off.”
    “We left off with you leaving. So, bye.” Turning her back on him, she carried the pitcher back to her table and the still-quiet crowd of guys, who were now pretending they hadn’t been gawking and placing bets on what would happen next.
    Jess slid her arms into her coat, pulling her long hair out from under the collar.
    Chief Clay looked up. “You’re not leaving are you Jess? I just got here.”
    “Sorry Chief, it’s too crowded in here.” She sent a withering sidelong glance toward Cort, then turned to the others. “Thanks for the beers, ladies. See you in forty-eight.”
    As she walked to the door, all eyes were on her snug-fitting jeans, or rather what was filling them, and Chief Clay scurried up and placed a hand on her sleeve.
    “Jess, wait. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you at the station earlier. I told you to get out of that building and you disobeyed my order. I don’t know who you think you’re impressing with stunts like that, but rest assured that crap won’t be tolerated. However, you…”
    “I wasn’t pulling a stunt,” she interrupted, “nor was I trying to impress anyone. I really did hear a baby cry. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman and somehow innately more in tune to things like that, but you can give me all the orders you want and if there’s anyone, anyone still inside alive, I’m going in after them. It’s who I am. It’s what I do. It’s how I sleep at night, knowing I did everything I could to save a life. No regrets. You need to fire me for it, go ahead. I’ll totally understand. But don’t ask me to consider a survivability profile when I go in there. Don’t ask me not to save a life.” Her voice was getting steadily louder, and her temper was showing, but more than that, her past. “I’d rather die than know I left someone in there alive, just waiting to die.”
    “Jess,” Chief Clay ran his hand through his hair in frustration, “I was just about to add, before I was interrupted, that you did the right thing. The baby lived. The mother lived too, and she can rest easy knowing she can still hold her baby because of you. In this case, you did the right thing.”
    He reached for the door to open it for her. “Good job. Now relax for a couple of days. You need a ride home?”
    Jess snorted out a laugh. “Hell no. I’m stone-cold sober. Most of my beer went on Cort’s face.”
    Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she stepped out into the cold, dark night.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
    The next day dawned cold and rainy. Jess hated winter rain. It was relentless and miserable, just like her thoughts. She sipped at her lemon tea as the rivulets ran down her windowpane, and she thought about Cort.
    Closing her eyes, she relived that kiss. If she had any doubts about her feelings for him, those doubts were now laid to rest. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest as she remembered the softness of his lips, the warmth of his hands on her back as he pulled her in close.
    Valentine’s Day was the day after tomorrow. She’d done a fairly decent job of avoiding the kind of places that displayed frilly hearts and teddy bears and candy. Every heart seen was another rip in