Into the Fire (6 page)

“Moose is fine now. Let’s get you up out of there,” Chris said, holding out a hand.

She put her fingers in his warm, sure grip and let him pull her out of the corner. She patted her leg and Moose followed meekly. She had to swallow against the thickness in her throat. Poor Moose looked exactly like she felt. Fenced in by circumstances and unhappy. At least Moose had Chris. Chris never did anything halfway. He’d make sure Moose had a good, loving home.

“You want some coffee?”

She checked her watch. “I probably shouldn’t. The 4-H bake sale is happening and I need to put in an appearance.”

“Even if you’re not going to reopen?”

She nodded. “The bank account that was set up has looked after the vet bills, thank goodness. The bake sale won’t bring in much, but it will help with the care and food for our foster families. I’m still committed to finding good homes for those animals.”

They passed the living room and the couch. Her cheeks heated. Only a few days ago she’d been practically naked, sprawled on its length. She looked up at Chris’s back and felt an all-too-familiar burn. Attraction. Desire. Need. Whenever they’d met in the past she put that butterfly-type feeling down to the fact that they had a past. It had seemed natural given the circumstances. But now she recognized it for what it was. A sexual recognition that had never truly gone away. It didn’t help that he was so nice either. It would be easier to ignore if he was full of himself, or selfish, or something. But he wasn’t.

He was perfect.

And perhaps that was the one thing that kept her walking towards the door. It was hard to go toe-to-toe with perfect. And she already felt inadequate most of the time.

As soon as the door opened, Moose darted out around her legs, knocking her off balance and back against Chris. His hand settled on her arms, steadying her. “Are you sure you have to go?” he asked, his breath warm against her ear.

She nodded, even as she wanted nothing more than to stay. But it wouldn’t solve anything. They weren’t starting up again, were they? So what would be the point of taking things further?

She moved away from his touch and stepped out into the crisp fall air. It really was beautiful up here. The trees were all changing color and the air was ripe with the scent of it. Not far down the road was a winery, and she would almost swear she could smell the musty scent of the crush.

He followed her to her car while Moose investigated a corner of the back lawn. “New purse?” he asked as she opened the door. A new handbag was lying on the passenger seat.

“Old one pressed into everyday duty,” she replied. “I had to trash the other.” She didn’t want to admit that she hadn’t wanted to spend the money on a new one. It only made her look more pathetic.

His face lost all traces of levity and he put his hands on the top of the car window. “Better to lose a purse than have something happen to you.”

“Chris—”

“I mean it,” he answered. “I’ve responded to a lot of calls since I joined the department, and for people I knew too. But nothing froze me up like seeing you standing in that kennel with a towel over your face. I couldn’t let anything happen to you. I just couldn’t.”

“And you didn’t. When I saw you there I knew I could count on you.”

There was a significant pause, and then Chris met her gaze evenly. “Then why didn’t you count on me years ago? Why’d you have to give me back my ring, Ally?”

She never expected him to ask that, especially in such a forthright way. She floundered, unsure of what to say. “I thought we were past all that. Ancient history.”

“I thought so too. Until the other night.”

“The other night was just us reacting to everything that had happened.” Her heart thrummed heavily. It was bad enough thinking about it. Talking about it just made it worse. And better at the same time. Which meant things were about to get complicated.

“That’s not all it was to me.” He came around the car door. Her only escape was to get in, but she couldn’t seem to quite do it.

“Getting married would have b-b-been a mistake,” she stammered, terribly flustered and wonderfully aroused by the proximity of his body to hers. She had to keep her head. “I was flighty and irresponsible, remember? I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do and I knew you’d regret jumping into marriage so soon. We’d only been dating a year…”

“I never said you were flighty and irresponsible. Quirky, maybe.” He grinned. Mercy, his lips were awfully close to hers, weren’t they?

“Yes, you did,” she replied, looking up into his eyes. “You told me I never settled on anything. You were right. And you were leaving to do your training. You were determined, even though you knew I was so afraid of you becoming a firefighter.”

“You didn’t seem to mind what I did for a living when I pulled you out of that burning building,” he pointed out.

He was so big. With barely an inch separating them and her back up against her car, she was well aware of the length of his legs and the breadth of his chest and shoulders. He was in prime physical shape.

“I’m aware of the irony,” she replied.

“And yet here we are. You rushed right over here this morning, didn’t you?”

“For Moose,” she said. And she meant it. If she’d been in the mood to seduce she wouldn’t be in faded jeans and a plain sweater. She would have taken greater pains with her hair and put on a little more makeup. If she’d been interested in picking up where they left off, she’d have put on other underwear than her plain white cotton panties and bra. But she could hardly point that out. He’d likely bring up the fact that the last time she hadn’t been wearing
any
underwear…

“For Moose,” he parroted softly, and he leaned the rest of the way in.

His body touched her at hips, breast and mouth—all places that came alive at the mere brush of cotton and denim. Frozen to the spot, her lashes fluttered closed as he toyed with her lips, teasing, tantalizing. He’d always been the most marvelous kisser—time hadn’t diluted that talent in the least. He braced his hands on the car behind her as he pressed lightly against her, inviting rather than forcing. Luring her in rather than demanding.

“Chris,” she began, taking the opportunity to protest—weakly—when they came up for air.

“Mmm, I’ve wanted to do that ever since I dropped you off the other night.”

“You have?”

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Way more than I should.”

Any reply she might have made evaporated as he pressed against her, more firmly this time, and slid his tongue over her lips.

It certainly felt like starting something up. And the very idea frightened her to death. She was right back where she started, wasn’t she? Nothing had changed. She was still unsure of what the future held, undecided about what she wanted to do, still afraid for him. And Chris could be terribly persuasive. Especially when he licked just under her ear like that…

She gathered up every ounce of willpower and pushed against his chest with her palms. Chris knew all her favourite pleasure points, and he wasn’t above using them, was he? And all he was doing now was muddying the waters. The shelter had been the only thing she’d ever truly been good at. Now it was time for her to apply that decisiveness to the rest of her life.

He staggered back, surprised.

“I’ve got to go. I’m going to be late.”

“We should talk about this,” he said, beginning to move forward, but she took the opportunity to slide behind the wheel. He had his hands on the top of the door so she could hardly shut it, could she?

“No, we shouldn’t. I have enough to worry about right now.”

“And I’m an added worry?”

She wished he’d move his damned hands. “To be honest, yes, you are. I need to think clearly, and you’re not helping. And right now I need to be helping sell cupcakes and apple pie and Mabel VanOord’s Cinnamon Raisin Bread. So let me go, Chris. Please.”

She looked through the windshield and saw that Moose had dug a hole near Chris’s garage during their little interlude. “Moose is digging. You should go.”

He took his hands off the window as he turned to look and Ally took the opportunity to pull the door closed.

She couldn’t come back here again. Both times she had, she’d fallen into his arms without any fight at all.

She hadn’t really stopped caring about him, had she? Not just the sexual chemistry part. But liking him. That was the whole problem. It would be better if they just kept their polite distance. But that had changed the moment he’d put his arm around her waist, stopping her from going back inside as her dream burned to the ground.

She put the keys in the ignition and turned it over. Nothing.

“Come on,” she whispered, her heart leaping around in her chest. Of all the times for her car to conk out… Why couldn’t a girl have one dramatic exit when she needed it?

She tried it again, heaving a sigh of relief when the engine roared to life. She faked a smile at Chris and began backing out of the driveway.

At the bottom, she looked up and saw Chris holding on to Moose’s collar. There was a pause as she shifted from reverse to drive in which she considered not leaving. Considered seeing where this would go. A curiosity about what it would be like to make love with him, and a certainty that it would be as good as she remembered.

It was only the knowledge that nothing had really changed from that day until now that kept her going. And the stark realization that something
had
to change somehow, because she couldn’t go on this way, stuck in the past and repeating the same patterns.

Chapter Four

The last thing Chris wanted to do was go up and knock on the Gallants’ door. Ally’s parents had been very supportive of them as a couple when they’d gotten engaged, and he didn’t quite know what Ally had told them after the wedding was called off only a few months after he’d proposed. But he knew Ernie Gallant gave him the stink-eye around town and that Judy wasn’t much better, except she gave him this baleful, sad look that made him feel about two inches tall.

Ally wouldn’t have put the blame on him. He was certain of that. She was the one who’d changed her mind and she was the most honest woman he knew. She would have told them that she broke it off.

But that didn’t mean her parents didn’t blame him somehow anyway.

And now he was standing on their front step, his hand poised to knock, nervous as hell about facing them
and
about the news he had for Ally.

Funny. He’d prefer suiting up and walking into a burning building ahead of stepping across the Gallants’ threshold.

He squared his shoulders and knocked. Might as well get this over with.

Judy answered the door. “Oh, my. Chris. What a surprise.” Her hand fluttered to her hair and back down again and she looked at him uncertainly.

“Hi, Mrs. Gallant. Is Ally in?”

“Let me check.” She gave him a watery smile, reminding him of a stunned bird who’d run into a glass door. He’d always thought her a little flighty and wondered if she were a nervous sort. It had been a rhetorical question, after all. Ally’s car was in the driveway.

She came back to the door and opened it wider. “Won’t you come in? Ally will be right out.”

He ran a finger around the collar of his work shirt. God, this was worse than showing up for a date in high school. He should be glad that Ernie didn’t appear to be home. The last thing he needed was a father grilling him on…whatever. He already felt about sixteen.

“Chris?”

Ally stepped carefully into the kitchen. She looked beautiful tonight. She was wearing a skirt that came just above her knee and black boots to match, sexy as hell. The shirt she wore had see-through sleeves, and came to a suggestive dip in the front, the pattern a mix of red and black and charcoal. It was classy and sexy and he suddenly realized he’d been standing there staring for far too long.

“Wow. You look…wow.”

Her cheeks colored prettily. “I have an appointment with a career counsellor this evening. I was hoping to make a good impression.”

“Mission accomplished.” He smiled, pleased the words came out clearly when he felt like he might swallow his tongue. “I don’t want to make you late, but I have some news. Want to step outside?”

“Let me get a coat.”

She retrieved a hip-length wool jacket from a closet and followed him outside, shoving her arms in the sleeves. It was dark already and they stood in the circle of the porch light. “I didn’t want to tell you in front of your mom,” he said quietly. “But the official word is that the fire was arson.”

She gasped, her fingers going to her lips. “But who would do something like that?” Her face paled. “They don’t think that I…” She couldn’t even finish the thought, and he put a hand on her arm.

“No, no, of course not. People know you.
I
know you didn’t do it. And the evidence will show it too. But it has turned into an official investigation, and I would expect you’ll be asked a few questions.”

“We’re a charity, for Pete’s sake.” Her lips thinned. “Accidental was bad enough. But to think someone set that fire, knowing there were people inside. That the animals were there…”

“It’s sick,” he confirmed. “Anyway, it’ll be news tomorrow, but I thought you should know.”