Sean's Reckoning Read Free Page A

It’s important to me. Where can I find you?”
    “At the fire station three blocks over most of the time,” he said, though he was mentally kissing that money goodbye. Years ago he’d learned the lesson never to lend anything if he couldn’t afford to lose it. He’d taken very few possessions with him when he’d left home, and since then he hadn’t bothered to accumulate much that had any sentimental value. As for money, it was nice to have, but he wasn’t obsessed with it. And he had few material needs that couldn’t be met with his next paycheck.
    “Bring my pal Kevin by sometime, and I’ll let him try out the siren,” he suggested, giving the boy a solemn wink.
    “All right!” Kevin said.
    Satisfied at last that Kevin was in better hands thanhe’d originally assumed, Sean jogged back across the street to check on the progress being made at the fire. Only an occasional wisp of smoke rose from the ashes. They’d be out of here soon and he’d be off in a couple of hours. Sleep beckoned like a sultry mistress.
    “Way to go, Sean!” Hank said, enthusiastically slapping him on the back. “I saw you with the only two females under the age of seventy in this entire neighborhood. Did you get the number of the hot blonde?”
    “Like I really wanted it,” Sean scoffed. “She’s your type, not mine.”
    Hank regarded him with disappointment. “How about the brunette with the kid?”
    “Nope.”
    “Two gorgeous women and you struck out completely?” Hank asked incredulously. “Man, you are slipping.”
    “I didn’t strike out,” Sean told him patiently. “I never even got in the game.”
    “Why the hell not?”
    Sean wondered about that himself. Maybe it was because one woman was definitely not his type and because the other one struck him as being just a little too needy and vulnerable, despite that streak of stubborn pride. It was one thing to rescue someone who’d just lost her home. It was quite another to allow himself to get emotionally entangled. He always tried to keep his protective instincts on a short leash.
    Hank sidled up to him and held out a metal toy fire truck. “It’s not too late,” he consoled Sean. “This probably belonged to the kid. Hang on to it. Unless you’re a whole lot dumber than I think you are, something tells me one of these days you’re going to be looking for an excuse to see his mom again.”
    “No way,” Sean said fiercely.
    But even as he uttered the denial, he took the truck and tucked it into his pocket. He told himself it was a reflexive gesture simply to keep it out of Hank’s hands, but the truth was, his partner had him pegged. Despite all the alarm bells in his head, Deanna Blackwell’s vulnerability tugged at him like an invisible rope.
    He glanced back toward the spot where she’d been standing, but she was gone. He was surprised by the intensity of his disappointment.
    Then he caught a glimpse of the flashy blonde disappearing into a building across the street, and something akin to relief spread through him. If—and that was a really huge if —he ever lost his mind and decided he wanted to see Deanna Blackwell again, Ruby would know where to find her.
    He grinned as he considered whether Ruby would be inclined to give up that information, or whether, like Kevin, she’d choose to be tight-lipped. Only one thing to do if that happened, he concluded. He’d introduce her to Hank, who could wheedle information out of any female on earth.
    Now there, he thought with a chuckle, was a match made in heaven. Maybe one day when he was really bored, he’d get the two of them hooked up together just to watch the sparks fly. And if he ran into Deanna Blackwell in the process…well, that would just be an accidental act of fate.

Chapter Two
    “T hat man was so into you,” Ruby teased Deanna as they climbed the steps to Ruby’s third-floor apartment, which was going to be home for who knew how long.
    “He was not,” Deanna said, grateful for the