Firestorm

Chapter Fourteen

Mallory hung her gear pack on the peg inside the door in the equipment room and pressed both hands to her lower back, massaging the knots. She needed a shower to get the smoke out of her hair, the soot off her skin, and some of the kinks out of her muscles.

“See you in a few, Ice,” Cooper said as he passed by on his way to the barracks.

“Yeah,” she called, turning to wave good night to the rest of the crew. “Great job, guys.”

The guys grinned wearily, muttered see you laters, and wandered away.

Before her shower, she needed to take care of essentials. She hoisted her chute onto her shoulder and trudged into the adjacent drying room. The partial ceiling had been removed and a series of pulleys set up to hoist the forty-foot chutes up into the air where they could dry without risk of damage. She unpacked hers, laid it out on one of the folding tables, and carefully checked it over for tears, weak spots, and other signs of wear. When she found none, she attached it to one of the pulleys and winched it high above the concrete floor. By tomorrow afternoon it should be ready to repack, and she would be ready to go back on rotation.

The important work done, she headed into the locker room, stripped off her smoky clothes, and stuffed them into a plastic bag. She tied off the top to contain some of the acrid odor, propped that in the corner to drag over to the do-it-yourself laundry room, gathered her toiletries from her locker, and padded naked into the shower. She didn’t even bother to wait till the water was warm. She just wanted to be clean, cold water or not. Besides, the sun would be up in less than an hour, and she needed to see to the rookies. The cold water blasted into her face, and after the initial adrenaline shock, she got her second wind and started to feel halfway alive. She found the shampoo by feel, pumped some into her hand, and lathered her hair. The cleaner she got, the more human she felt. The icy water quickly became warm and then hot, and she turned and stretched and rinsed her hair. She was tired and sore, but satisfied. They had done good work, and she’d never found anything to make her happier. After switching off the water, she briskly toweled her hair and wrapped the slightly damp cotton around her body. The slamming of a locker door brought her up short.

Jac! Every fiber of her body went on alert. Her breath quickened and her fingertips tingled. She caught herself breathing quickly and forced herself to slow down. This reaction was ridiculous, and she definitely didn’t want Jac to get any inkling of what her presence did to her. Tightening the knot on her towel, she cursed herself for not having brought her clothes into the shower room with her. She’d gotten out of the habit of doing that with just her and Sarah there most of the time. She and Sarah knew each other so well, she never gave any thought to being naked around her. Jac was another matter. She couldn’t pretend they were just two women who worked together, not when the thought of Jac made her blood buzz, and actually seeing her made her downright stupid. She most assuredly was not going to be anywhere around Jac Russo naked. Quickly, she shoved her shower articles into their plastic case, zipped it up, and steeled herself for a brief, casual hello in passing.

When she walked into the locker room, her stomach sank. “Hey, Sarah.”

“You’re back!” Sarah threw her arms around Mallory, apparently not the least bit concerned that she was going to get wet. Keeping her arms looped around Mallory’s waist, she leaned back and gave her a thorough once-over. “Well, you look all right.” She ran her thumb over a bruise on Mallory’s cheek. “Is this the worst of it?”

Laughing, Mallory lifted Sarah’s hands from around her waist and pulled back. “I’m getting you soaked, silly.”

“So? I was about to jump in the shower anyhow. A little more water isn’t going to hurt. How did it go out there?”

“Pretty routine, except for the damn snow.” Mallory grimaced as she stowed her gear and pulled a dry towel off the shelf. After wrapping her hair, she loosed the one from her body and began to dry off. “We had the perimeter set up pretty fast, and the front never really challenged. It was just rough going, a lot of snow and ice on the ground. No injuries, everybody did great. How are things here?”

“Fine.” Sarah stripped off her sweats and underwear, threw a large towel over her shoulders, and stepped into flip-flops. “Everybody’s bored to tears—we’ve been doing a lot of the classroom stuff while you were gone. I scheduled more time on the tower tomorrow—well, today, really.”

“Good. Any problems? How’s Ray?”

“You haven’t been gone that long—what kind of problems did you anticipate?”

Mallory shook out her hair and ran her fingers through it to untangle the curls. “Well, considering the first day out I had a fairly serious injury and I’m not totally certain all the rookies are going to get along, almost anything could have happened.”

“Ray is doing great. I don’t see any reason he can’t get back into the regular rotation now.”

“Good.” Mallory pulled on clean underwear and jeans and made an attempt at sounding casual. “How’s Jac doing?”

“Jac? Jac who?”

Mallory felt her face flushing. “Sarah.”

Sarah grinned. “Jac has been doing fine, if you don’t count not sleeping and skipping meals.”

“What do you mean?” Mallory’s chest tightened, and an uncomfortable wave of anxiety fluttered through her middle. “Is she sick? Did she get hurt?”

“No,” Sarah said, collecting her shower articles. “She’s basically just been moping since you left.”

Mallory snorted. “I hardly think I’m the reason.”

Sarah looked at her as if she were dense. “Oh, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed she’s got a major thing for you.”

“I most certainly haven’t and she most certainly does not,” Mallory said hastily. “She’s a rookie, for crying out loud, Sarah.”

“Yes,” Sarah said, “and the last time I looked, quite adult and hardly someone who’s likely to be taken advantage of in this situation.”

Mallory quickly turned her back, busying herself straightening her already organized locker. She was not going to discuss Jac and something that didn’t exist and never would. “Well, I’m glad everything is stable around here. Thanks so much for taking care of everyone—everything—while I was gone.”

“Trust me, if Jac had been able to think about anything except when you were coming back, I would’ve considered giving her a whirl.”

Mallory whipped around. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Sarah pointed a finger at her. “I’m not kidding. Mostly. She’s really nice and really hot, and you know what, Mark is an a-hole.”

“He is. But I’m not sure his being one warrants quite so big a change in your approach to dating.”

Sarah shrugged. “I am bi-flexible.”

Mallory choked on a laugh. “Since when?”

“Since Mark,” Sarah said with a snarl.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’d rather you not drag one of the rookies away.”

“Ha ha. Does it matter which one?”

“Any of them,” Mallory said, only half-joking. She was pretty certain Sarah was kidding about Jac, but not entirely. And the image of Jac with Sarah, touching her, being touched by her, set fireworks off in her head. “I really can’t think about this right now.”

Sarah’s brows drew down. “Think about what?”

“Never mind.” Mallory grabbed a light windbreaker, collected her laundry, and started toward the door. “Enjoy your shower. I’ll see you at roll call.”

“Welcome back,” Sarah called as Mallory went through the door.

“Thanks.” She was glad to be back. Glad the call had been successful, glad for having done her job well. And glad that in a few minutes, she’d see Jac again. Pretending otherwise was silly. She didn’t lie to herself, even if she wasn’t about to admit how many times she’d thought of Jac while she’d been gone.

Mallory slowed in the middle of the yard. Jac was still probably asleep. Maybe going up to the loft right now wasn’t such a good idea. Abruptly she changed course. No use complicating something that didn’t have to be complicated.

*

Jac woke at dawn to the rumble of a truck engine revving in the yard. A jumble of deep male laughter rolled upward on a gust of wind, then faded just as quickly, and silence descended. A quick check of her watch told her what she already sensed—she had a few minutes before she needed to get up if she wanted breakfast before reporting for roll call. She folded her arms behind her head and tried to quiet the rush of air in and out of her lungs, waiting for the soft fall of footsteps nearing the ladder. When none came, she pushed herself up and out of her sleeping bag. She had one leg in her cargo pants when Mallory climbed into the loft.

“Morning,” Jac said, balancing on one foot.

Mallory’s eyes swept down her body and then back to her face. The spark in Mallory’s eyes stirred a fire in the pit of Jac’s stomach, heating the places where she’d been cold for a long time.

“I got you coffee and a muffin,” Mallory said, averting her gaze abruptly. She hesitated as if not quite certain what she should do with the items she held in her hands, staring at the cardboard tray as if not sure why she held it. “I was getting some anyhow and I thought…”

Quickly, Jac pulled her pants on and scrabbled around in her duffel for a shirt to cover the tank she’d slept in. She shrugged into a red cotton button-up and pushed a hand through her hair, trying for some semblance of composure. She took a step forward, intending to take the tray. “How are you?”

Mallory’s eyes met hers, and the sparks intensified and broke free. Flames danced in the air. “I’m okay. Everybody’s okay.”

“Good.”

“I really should go.” Mallory looked down at the cardboard tray and the paper cups and the plastic-wrapped muffins, wondering how she’d come to be standing in the loft with a sexily sleep-tousled Jac Russo a few feet away. She hadn’t meant to come here. She’d been on her way to grab some food, and then she’d heard Sarah’s voice in her head, telling her Jac had been restless, sleepless, skipping meals. Because of her. And she’d wanted to see her. “I’m not sure what I’m doing here.”

“Let me help you.” Jac took the tray and set it down on a small packing crate between the heads of their two cots. She straightened and eased forward again, moving slowly, hoping Mallory wasn’t going to bolt back down the ladder. She stopped a few inches from Mallory and closed her hands tightly before she put them all over Mallory. She wanted to grip her shoulders and pull her forward and kiss her. Simple and uncomplicated. Oh yeah, real simple. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“I ran into Sarah in the locker room.” Mallory pushed her hands into her back pockets. “She mentioned you were worried, maybe.”

“Maybe, a little. Yeah.” Jac added quickly, “I know that’s silly.”

Mallory moistened her lips and took a deep breath. “Yeah, maybe. Not necessary. Nice, though. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Jac gripped her hair again, contemplating pulling it out. She felt about twelve, trying to figure out how to ask for her first date. “You want some coffee?”

Mallory glanced at her watch. “I should probably get going. I want to see Ray before roll call.”

“Why don’t I walk over with you?” Jac pulled the two cups from the tray and handed one to Mallory. She unwrapped a blueberry muffin, broke it in half, and passed part to Mallory. “We can save the other one for break time.”

Mallory laughed, and the sound hit Jac like a flashover. “Thanks. They were out of bran.”

“I’ll put in a request. Charlie loves me.”

Mallory’s eyebrows rose. “Is that right? And how do you figure?”

Jac bit into the muffin and Mallory followed suit. Jac wanted to moan, not because the muffin was wonderful, which it was, but because watching Mallory eat one might be the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. “He gave me pie.”

Mallory stopped chewing. “No.”

Solemnly, Jac nodded.

“I never took you for a prevaricator.”

“Oh.” Jac slammed her hand against her chest. “You wound me.”

Mallory narrowed her eyes. “Charlie really gave you pie?”

“Two pieces.”

“Now I know you’re lying.”

Jac grinned. “I speak only the truth. Ask Sarah, she’ll tell you.”

“Sarah was there to witness this? When?”

“About three this morning.”

“Really.” Mallory’s voice became a few degrees cooler.

“I was restless,” Jac confessed. “I ran into her in the canteen.”

“You’re a puzzle, Russo,” Mallory said softly.

“I don’t think so.”

“No, you probably wouldn’t. You don’t hide much, do you?”

Jac laughed at the irony. “God, Mallory. I hide everything.”

“Why doesn’t it seem that way to me?”

“I don’t know. You make me want to tell all my secrets, and it’s damn scary.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jac’s heart beat so hard she wondered if she might be having a heart attack. “For what?”

“For making you think…” Mallory stopped, shook her head.

“I don’t think anything, Mallory. I’m not after anything. Some things just are.”

“And I don’t know what to do with that, Jac,” Mallory said helplessly. “I really don’t. And I need to go.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jac felt Mallory leaving, even though she hadn’t moved. She was helpless to hold her, knew she couldn’t. Letting go felt like her heart was exploding. “So I’ll see you at roll call.”

“Don’t be late, rookie,” Mallory murmured and climbed over the side of the loft and down the ladder.

Mallory always seemed to be walking away. Jac glanced around, feeling Mallory’s absence even more than she had the night before, and remembered the price of letting anyone close.