Page 42 of Betting on Lizzie

Done being polite, Lizzie found the nearest firefighter, punched his heavily padded shoulder to get his attention, and pointed to Ben.

“There might be people in that first-floor condo. That man just pulled something out. Help him.”

The fireman looked up, saw Ben, and ran to him, shouting for a paramedic. Ben laid the unconscious dog on the ground away from the danger, and an EMT tended to it. Ben talked with the firefighters, pointing to the condo.

A loud noise indicated the water was flowing, and everyone was pushed back to a corner of the parking lot to give the firefighters room to work. Firemen dragged hoses into the condo as Ben waved off an EMT trying to treat him.

They had moved the unconscious dog farther out of the way and hooked him to an oxygen mask. After a minute, they started CPR. Lizzie couldn’t help the tears when the paramedic finally stopped and they draped a blanket over his limp body.

Ben approached the crowd, found her, and pulled her into a hug. She returned it fiercely.

“He didn’t make it?” Lizzie asked, already knowing the answer.

“No,” Ben said, letting her go and stepping back. “Looks like the dogs were alone in the condo. Firemen will make sure, but I didn’t see anyone.”

“That was risky as hell to go in there,” she said. She couldn’t admit it to him, but the tears weren’t just for the deceased dog. Some were a release of the pent-up terror she’d felt when he entered the burning building.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

They waited with the other tenants—many of them thanking Ben for knocking on their doors—until the fire was out and the firemen started packing up. They had taped off all sixteen condos in the building, and folks were told to find somewhere else to stay for the night. The local Red Cross offered to pay hotel costs for those with nowhere to go.

Someone had called the owners of the burned condo. They had rushed back from an evening out to discover their home destroyed and one of their dogs dead. Ben took the surviving dog from Lizzie and walked it over to the couple. The woman hugged the dog and cried as the man held her. Lizzie overheard the woman tell a fireman they might have left a candle burning. She speculated that maybe the dogs had knocked it over.

“Let’s go,” Ben said. “Nothing left to do here.”

They slogged back to her condo, where they shed their coats on the tile in the entryway. He’d done a hasty wipe-down with a blanket a fireman had given him, but the odor of smoke still emanated from his clothes and hair, reminding her of how scared she’d been.

Unable to verbally express the fear, she pushed him against the door and pressed her lips to his, pouring all the repressed emotions into a long, fervent kiss.

“I’m not complaining,” he said. “But what was that for?”

“Just glad you’re okay.” Lizzie felt her cheeks flush and turned away so he wouldn’t see her face. Mushy feelings weren’t her thing.

He followed her into the living room.

“Look, it’s probably too early to bring this up,” he said. “But what’s happening here?” He waved a hand between the two of them.

She narrowed her brows in confusion. Surely, he wasn’t trying to have “the relationship” talk already. Especially right now.

At her silence, he continued. “I like you, Lizzie. But I’m too old to mess around, and I’m not very good at guessing games.”

“We’ve only been on one date,” she said cautiously. In Lizzie’s mind, this kind of conversation was usually a precursor to a breakup, but she wasn’t ready for that yet.

“I know. And I’m sorry about the timing. I’m out of practice, and I don’t know the rules anymore.” He threw up his hands and sighed. “I just…I feel something for you and wondered if you felt it too. I need to know if I’m wasting my time.”

“I don’t do serious,” she said.

“Well, I don’t do casual flings. I do grown-up relationships with grown-up feelings.”

Was that a dig at her? Did he think she was immature? In any other situation, with any other man, she would be handing him his walking papers. But she didn’t want Ben to leave.

She couldn’t say it out loud like he had, but she felt something too. And, curious about his bewitching lure, she wanted to see where a few more dates might lead. Instead of an adult conversation about the state of her attraction, she fell back on what she knew.

“Is lust a grown-up feeling?”

He blinked hard, and she watched multiple emotions flit across his face. She could almost see the wheels turning in his mind, trying to decide what to do with that invitation.

“Yes.”

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