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CHAPTER ONE

SALLY DAVIS PULLED her bag and a portable bottle of oxygen out of the back of the ambulance. The heat from the burning abandoned warehouse was almost unbearable. Her work coveralls were sticking to her sweating body.

This structural fire was the worst she’d seen as a paramedic working with the Austin, Texas, Fire Department over the last year. Her heart had leaped as the adrenaline had started pumping when the call had woken her and the dispatcher had announced what was involved. These were the fires she feared the most. With a warehouse like this, there was no telling who or what was inside. There were just too many opportunities for injury, or worse.

She watched as the flames grew. The popping and cracking of the building burning was an ironic contrast to the peace of the sun rising on the horizon. She didn’t have time to appreciate it though. She had a job to do.

Moments later a voice yelled, “There’s someone in there!”

Sally’s mouth dropped open in shock as she saw Captain Ross Lawson run into the flames. Even in full turnout gear with the faceplate of his helmet pulled down and oxygen tank on his back, she recognized his tall form and broad shoulders. Sally’s breath caught in her chest. What was wrong with him? Her heartbeat drummed in her ears as she searched the doorway, hoping…

Sally had seen firefighters enter a burning building before but never one as completely enveloped as this one. She gripped the handle of her supply box. Would Ross make it out? Would there be someone with him?

The firefighters manning the hoses focused the water on the door, pushing back the blaze.

Every muscle in her body tightened as the tension and anticipation grew. Ross was more of an acquaintance, as she’d only shared a few shifts with him since moving to Austin. However, he and her brother were good friends. More than once she’d heard Kody praise Ross. From what little she knew about him he deserved Kody’s admiration.

Right now, in this moment, as she waited with fear starting to strangle her, she questioned Ross’s decision-making. Since she had joined the volunteer fire department back in North Carolina, Sally had been taught that judgment calls were always based on the safety of the firefighter. She doubted Ross had even given his welfare any thought before rushing into the fire.

The loss of one life would be terrible enough but the loss of a second trying to save the first wasn’t acceptable. In her opinion, Ross was taking too great a risk, the danger too high. He hadn’t struck her as a daredevil or adrenaline junkie but, then again, she didn’t know him that well. Was this particular characteristic of Captain Lawson’s one of the reasons Kody thought so highly of him?

James, the emergency medical tech working with her, stepped next to her. “That takes guts.”

A form appeared in the doorway, then burst out carrying a man across his shoulders. The sixty pounds of fire equipment he wore in addition to the man’s weight meant Ross was carrying more than his own body weight. Sally had to respect his physical stamina, if not his reckless determination.

Two firefighters rushed to help him, but he fell to the ground before they could catch him. The man he carried rolled off his back to lie unmoving beside him, smoke smoldering from his clothes.

“You take Captain Lawson. I’ll see to the man,” Sally said to James as she ran to them.

Ross jerked off his helmet and came up on his hands and knees, coughing.

Placing the portable oxygen tank on the ground, she went to her knees beside the rescued man, clearly homeless and using the warehouse to sleep in, and leaned over, putting her cheek close to his mouth. As the senior paramedic at the scene, she needed to check the more seriously injured person. Ross had been using oxygen while the homeless man had not.

Her patient was breathing, barely. She quickly positioned the face mask over his mouth and nose, then turned the valve on the tank so that two liters of oxygen flowed. By rote she found and checked his pulse. Next, she searched for any injuries, especially burns. She located a couple on his hands and face. Using the radio, she called all the information in to the hospital.

“We need to get this man transported STAT,” Sally called to her partner.

Another ambulance had arrived and took over the care of Ross, leaving James free to pull a gurney her way. With the efficiency of years of practice, they loaded the man and started toward the ambulance. She called to the EMT now taking care of Ross. “How’s he doing?”

The EMT didn’t take his eyes off Ross as he said, “He’s taken in a lot of smoke but otherwise he’s good.”

“Get him in a box. I still want him seen,” she ordered.

Ross shook his head. “I’m fine.” He coughed several times.

“I’m the medic in charge. You’re going to the hospital to be checked out, Captain.”

He went into another coughing fit as she hurried away. She left the EMT to see that the stubborn captain was transported back to the hospital.

Minutes later she was in the back of the ambulance—the box, as it was affectionately known—with the homeless man. While they moved at a rapid speed, she kept busy checking his vitals and relaying to the hospital emergency room the latest stats. The staff would be prepared for the patient’s arrival.

The ambulance pulled to a stop and moments later the back doors were opened. They had arrived at the hospital. A couple of the staff had been waiting outside for them. Sally and one of the techs removed the gurney with the man on it.

As other medical personnel began hooking him up to monitors, she reported quickly to the young staff nurse, “This is a John Doe for now. He was in a burning warehouse. Acute smoke inhalation is the place to start.”

Just as she was finishing up her report, the gurney with Ross went by. She followed it into the examination room next to the John Doe. Ross’s coat had been removed and his T-shirt pulled up. He still wore his yellow firefighter pants that were blackened in places. Square stickers with monitoring wires had been placed on his chest connecting him to machines nearby. Aware of how inappropriate it was for her to admire the contours of his well-defined chest and abdomen, she couldn’t stop herself. The man kept himself in top physical shape. It was necessary with his field of work but his physique suggested he strove to surpass the norm. No wonder he’d been able to carry the man out of the burning building.

His gaze met hers. Heated embarrassment washed over her and she averted her eyes. Ogling a man, especially one that she worked with, wasn’t what she should be doing.

Ross went into another round of heavy coughing that sent her attention to the amount of oxygen he was receiving. The bubble in the meter indicated one liter, which was good. Still, at this rate it would take him days to clear the smoke from his lungs.

Sally stepped closer to his side and spoke to no one in particular. “How’s he doing?”

One of the nurses responded. “He seems to be recovering well. We’re going to continue to give him oxygen and get a chest X-ray just to be sure that he didn’t inhale any more smoke than we anticipated.”

“I’m right here, you know.” Ross’s voice was a rusty muffled sound beneath the mask. He glared at her. This time her look remained on him.

“You need to save your voice.”

He grimaced as a doctor entered. What was that look about? Surely, he wasn’t afraid of doctors.

Slipping out of the room as the woman started her examination, Sally stepped to the department desk and signed papers releasing Ross and the John Doe as her patients into the hospital’s care. Done, she joined the EMTs at her ambulance.

She gave James a wry smile. “Good work out there this morning.”

“You too,” he replied as he pulled out of the drive.

In the passenger seat, she buckled up, glad to be out of the back of the box. She wasn’t a big fan of riding there.

She shivered now at the memory of when she’d been locked in a trunk and forgotten while playing a childhood game. To this day she didn’t like tight spaces or the dark. Being in the square box of the ambulance reminded her too much of that experience. It was one of those things she just dealt with because she loved her job.

Sally leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Ross’s light blue gaze over the oxygen mask came to mind. She’d met Ross Lawson soon after she had moved to Austin and gone to work for the Austin Medical Emergency Service, the medical service arm that worked in conjunction with the fire department that shared the same stations and sometimes the same personnel when a fireman was also qualified to work the medical side. As an advanced paramedic, she was assigned Station Twelve, one of the busiest houses of Austin’s forty-eight stations. It just happened that it was the same station where her brother and Ross worked. She hadn’t missed that twinge of attraction when she and Ross had first met any more than she had this morning. But she had never acted on it and never would.

A relationship, of any kind, was no longer a priority for her. She’d had that. Her brief marriage had been both sad and disappointing. Now she was no longer married, all she wanted to do was focus on getting into medical school. It had been her dream before she’d married, and it was still her dream. At this point in her life a relationship would just be a distraction, even if she wanted one. She was done making concessions for a man. Going after what she wanted was what mattered.

The ambulance reversed with a beep, beep, beep. It alerted her to the fact that they had arrived at the firehouse. When they stopped, she hopped out onto the spotless floor.

She loved the look of the fire station. It was a modern version of the old traditional fire halls with its redbrick exterior and high arched glass doors. A ceramic dalmatian dog even sat next to the main entrance. The firefighters worked on one side of the building and the emergency crew on the other. They shared a kitchen, workout room and TV room on the firefighter side. They were a station family.

James had backed into the bay closest to the medical side of the building. The other two bays were for the engine, quint truck and rescue truck. They hadn’t returned yet. The company would still be at the warehouse fire mopping up. When they did return, they would also pull in backward, ready for the next run.

Before she could even think about cleaning up and heading home, she would have to restock the ambulance and write a report. The ambulance must always be ready to roll out. More than once in the last year she’d returned from a call only to turn around and make another one.

“Hey, Sweet Pea.”

She groaned and turned to see Kody loping toward her. “I told you not to call me that,” she whispered. “Especially not here.”

He gave her a contrite look. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“What’re you doing here anyway?”

“I left something in my locker and had to stop by and get it. My shift isn’t until tomorrow.”

Sally smiled. She couldn’t help but be glad to see her older brother. Even if it was for a few minutes. He was a good one and she had no doubt he loved her. Sometimes too much. He tended toward being overprotective. But when she’d needed to reinvent her life, Kody had been there to help. She would always be grateful.

“I heard that Ross was the hero of the day this morning.” He sounded excited.

“Yeah, you could say that.” He’d scared the fool out of her.

“You don’t think so?”

Sally started toward the supply room. “He could have been killed.”

Kody’s voice softened. “He knows what he’s doing. I don’t know of a better firefighter.”

“He ran into a fully enveloped burning warehouse!” Sally was surprised how her voice rose and held so much emotion.

“I’m sure you’ve seen worse. Why’re you so upset?”

“I’m not upset. It just seemed overly dangerous to me. Instead of one person being hurt there, for a moment I thought it was going to be two. He has a bad case of smoke inhalation as it is.” She pulled a couple of oxygen masks off a shelf.

“How’s he doing?” Kody had real concern in his voice.

She looked for another piece of plastic line. “He’s at the hospital but he should be released soon. They were running a few more tests when I left.”

“He’s bucking for a promotion, so I guess this’ll look good on his résumé. See you later.”

“Bye.” She headed back to the ambulance with her arms full. She had no interest in Ross’s ambitions and yet, for some reason, his heroics had been particularly difficult for her to watch.

Ross returned to the station a week after the warehouse fire. He had missed two shifts. The doctor had insisted, despite his arguments. He liked having time to work on his ranch but the interviews for one of the eight Battalion Chief positions were coming up soon and he should be at the station in case there were important visitors. Now that he was back, he needed to concentrate on what was ahead, what he’d planned to do since he was a boy.

Thankfully the man he’d gone in after was doing okay. He would have a stay in the burn unit but would recover. Just as Ross and his grandfather had. Ross rolled his shoulder, remembering the years’ old pain.

He’d hated to miss all that time at the station, but it had taken more time to clear his lungs than he had expected. Still, he had saved that man’s life. He didn’t advocate running into fully engulfed houses, but memories of that horrible night when he was young had compelled him into action before he’d known what he was doing.

Memories of that night washed over him. He’d been visiting his grandpa, who’d lived in a small clapboard house outside of town. He’d adored the old man, thought he could do no wrong. His grandfather had taught Ross how to work with his hands. Shown him how to mend a fence, handle a horse. Most of what he knew he’d learned at his grandfather’s side. His parents had been too busy with their lives to care. So most weekends and holidays between the ages of ten and fourteen Ross could be found at his grandfather’s small ranch.

The night of the fire, Ross had been shaken awake by his grandpa. Ross could still hear his gruff smoke-filled voice. “Boy, the place is on fire. Get down and crawl to the front door. I’ll be behind you.”

The smoke had burned Ross’s throat and eyes, but he’d done as he was told. He’d remembered what the firefighter who had come to his school had said: “Stop, drop and roll.” Ross had scrambled to the door but not before a piece of burning wood had fallen on his shoulder. But the pain hadn’t overridden his horror. He’d wanted out of the house. Had been glad for the fresh air. He’d run across the lawn. It had been too hot close to the house. Ross had coughed and coughed, just as he had the other morning, seeming never to draw in a full deep breath. He’d looked back for his grandpa but hadn’t seen him. The fear had threatened to swallow him. His eyes had watered more from tears than smoke.

Someone must’ve seen the flames because the volunteer fire department had been coming up the long drive. Ross had managed between coughs and gasps of air to point and say, “My grandpa’s in there.”

The man hadn’t hesitated before he’d run toward the house. Ross had watched in shock as he’d entered the front door. Moments later he’d come out, pulling his grandpa onto the porch and down the steps and straight toward the waiting medics. It wasn’t until then that Ross had noticed the full agony of his back.

Both he and his grandpa had spent some time in the hospital. They’d had burns and lung issues. His grandfather had been told by the arson investigator that he believed the fire had started from a spark from the woodstove. Ross only knew for sure he was glad his grandpa and he had survived. Regardless of what had started the fire, Ross still carried large puckered scars on his back and shoulder as a reminder of that fateful night.

Last week, the moment he’d learned there was someone in the house he’d reacted before thinking. His Battalion Chief hadn’t been pleased. Only because the outcome had been positive had Ross managed to come out without it damaging his career. He had been told in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t to happen again. The message had been loud and clear: don’t have any marks against you or you won’t make Battalion Chief.

It was midafternoon when he was out with the rest of the company doing their daily checkup and review of the equipment that he saw Sal walking to the ambulance. Her black hair was pulled up away from her face and she wore her usual jumpsuit. She glanced at him and nodded. Memories of the look of concern in her eyes and a flicker of something else, like maybe interest, as she’d watched him in the hospital drifted through his mind.

Ross had known she was Kody’s sister before she’d joined the house. Over the past year they had shared shifts a few times. With him working twenty-four hours on and forty-eight off and her not being able to work the same days as her brother, they hadn’t often been on the same schedule. Still, he’d heard talk. More than one firefighter had sung her praises. A few had even expressed interest in her. They had all reported back that they had been shot down. She wasn’t interested. There was some speculation as to why, but Ross knew, through Kody, that she was a divorcée. Maybe she was still getting over her broken marriage.

Swinging up on the truck, Ross winced. He had hit something, a door facing or a piece of furniture, on his way out of the burning house. At the hospital they had been concerned with the smoke inhalation and he’d not said anything about his ribs hurting because he hadn’t wanted to be admitted. The pain was better than it had been.

He checked a few gauges and climbed out again. This time he tried not to flinch.

Sal came up beside him and said in a low voice, “I saw your face a minute ago. Are you all right? Are you still having trouble breathing?”

“No, I’m fine. I’m good.”

She gave him a skeptical look as her eyebrows drew together. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” If he wasn’t careful, she’d make him see a doctor. Did she have that God complex firefighters joked about? The one that went: What’s the difference between a paramedic and God? God doesn’t think he’s a paramedic.

She scrutinized him for a moment. It reminded him of when his mother gave him that look when she knew he wasn’t being truthful. “You were in pain a second ago.”

He’d been caught. She wasn’t going to let it go. Had she been watching him that closely? He’d have to give that more thought later. “I have a couple of ribs that were bruised when I came out of the house.”

“Did you tell them at the hospital?”

Now he felt like he had when his mother had caught him. Ross gave her a sheepish look. “No.”

“That figures.” She shook her head. “You firefighters. All of you think you’re superheroes.”

He grinned. “Who dares to say we’re not?”

She just glared at him. “Feeling like one of those a minute ago?”

He relaxed his shoulders. “I’ve been wrapping it. I just have trouble getting it tight enough without help.”

“You shouldn’t be doing that. You need to stop that and just take it easy. Ribs take a while to heal.”

“It’s hard to do that when you have chores to do at home.”

“Don’t you have a wife or girlfriend who could help with those?”

“I don’t have either.” He’d never had a wife. Had come close once but it hadn’t worked out.

“Come in here—” Sal indicated the medical area “—and let me have a look. Get rid of that bandage.” She didn’t wait for him, instead she walked toward the door as if she fully expected him to follow her orders.

Ross hesitated a moment, then trailed after her. He looked back over his shoulder. He didn’t need any surprise visits from the bosses just when he was being looked over for more injuries. He hated showing any signs of weakness.

He rarely came to this side of the building. Sal was in the spacious room with a couple of tables and chairs, and a wall of supply cabinets.

She pushed a stool on wheels toward him. “Take your shirt off, then have a seat.”

He couldn’t do that! She would see his scars. He didn’t completely take his shirt off around people for any reason. How to get around doing so had become a perfected art for him. The other morning at the hospital it had been a fight, but he’d convinced first the EMT and then the hospital staff it wasn’t necessary to take his shirt off.

She left him to go to a cabinet across the room. Ross took a moment to appreciate the swing of her hips before he pushed his T-shirt up under his arms.

When she returned, she had a pair of scissors in her hand.

“Hey, I don’t think you’ll need those.”

She smirked. “They’re to cut the bandage if I need to.” She then gave him an odd look but said nothing about his shirt still being on.

He explained, “It hurts too much to lift my arms.”

She nodded, seeming to accept his explanation. “Your bandage is around your waist, not your ribs. It wasn’t doing you any good anyway.”

He gave her a contrite look. “I told you I’d done a poor job of it.”

“You’re right about that. It doesn’t matter. I’m taking it off. And you’re leaving it off.”

“Is that an example of the tender care I’ve heard so much about?” Ross watched her closely.

Her gaze met his. “I save that for people who shouldn’t know better.”

One of his palms went to the center of his chest. “That was a shot to my ego.”

She huffed. “That might be so but I’m stating truth. Can you raise your arms out to your sides?”

He winced but he managed to do as she requested. Sal stepped closer. She smelled of something floral. Was it her shampoo or lotion? Whatever it was, he wanted to lean in and take a deeper breath. Her hands worked on the bandage, removing it; her fingers journeyed across his oversensitive stomach. He looked down. Her dark hair veiled her face. It looked so silky. Would it feel that way if he touched it?

No! What was going on? He’d never acted this way around any of the other women he worked with. He hardly knew Sal. She was the sister of one of his best friends. Was he overreacting because he’d not had a date in so long? Whatever it was, it had to stop. His sister wanted to set him up on a blind date. Maybe he should agree.

Sal gathered the bandage in her hand, stepped away from him and dropped the wad into a garbage can.

Ross couldn’t help but be relieved, but he was disappointed at the same time. He lowered his arms.

“Okay, arms up again. Show me where you hurt.”

With his index finger, he pointed to the middle of his left side. Sal bent closer. Seconds later, her fingers ran over his skin. “Does it hurt here?”

“Yeah.”

“I can see some yellowing of the skin. You should’ve said something at the hospital.” She straightened.

Why did she sound so put out? “You’ve already said that. Besides, the chest X-ray was clear.”