Page 25 of Kissing Her Rescuer

Becky came into the kitchen, Lexi right behind her, turning down the hallway. Becky set a hand on her hip. “I'd like to point out that Cameron and Addie have yet to be found. I figure that Jimmy will let me off my next speeding ticket if I help usher along a few grandchildren.”

Dewey caught Eliza's eye. “Didn't we see them headed over by that old gazebo?”

“Was that them? I couldn't tell. Lexi and Addie sound the same when they giggle.”

Lexi came back into the room. “I don't giggle.”

“I can make you giggle,” Nash shouted from outside. She rolled her eyes and left the kitchen, the screen door slapping against the wood.

“But how would he get there? The gazebo is on the other side of that tree that fell last year in the hurricane. I never cleared out—”

“The poison ivy,” all three of them said in unison.

“Poison ivy always invades that side of your yard,” Dewey said, one reason he'd avoided it with Eliza. “God, he should remember that after your parents paid us to clean it out so many times.”

Becky slapped a hand over her mouth. “I would call Karma a bad name about Cameron, but poor Addie just turned into collateral damage.”

Both Carrieand her dad had asked why she looked so happy earlier in the day. If Eliza was an average woman and Dewey, an ordinary man, she'd chalk it up to first date excitement. But it was more than that. More between them than just a simple first date. He'd controlled the kiss, keeping it sweet and banking the fire that, if left up to her, would have consumed them both.

“You're humming again,” her dad stated, his eyes drawn down tight as he watched Eliza. “What song is that?”

Eliza thought about it for a moment, unaware she'd been humming. Carrie jumped up. “It’s the hot dog song. They play it at the end of my Mickey Mouse show.”

Eliza hung her head. She really needed to get back into the adult world a little more. Singing a cartoon theme song should not be the result after Dewey’s slow, sexy kiss.

The phone on the desk rang, and she answered it. Better that than answering any more questions from her dad about why she was humming to begin with.

“Honey,” Ms. Iris started, a little out of breath. “There's a fire out on Thompson Road. I didn't know if you wanted to cover it for the paper. I figured you could get some pictures. Phew, it’s blazin’ hot right now. I can see the smoke from here.”

Eliza reached for her keys. “Absolutely. Thanks.”

She placed a rushed kiss on the top of Carrie's head. “There's a fire that I'm going to go cover and get some pictures. Stay here and be sweet.” She made eye contact with her dad, who nodded in agreement. “Bye, Baby.”

“Bye, Mama.” Carrie continued to lick the side of her chocolate chip muffin.

Eliza left the old building. That child and her sugar obsession. It probably made her a bad parent, but Carrie was happy and appeared healthy. Besides, she didn't have to know about all the vegetables that were pureed and slipped into her favorite spaghetti.

She drove the old car to the end of Blakely Street and started down the long stretch of a two-lane road. Ms. Iris hadn't said exactly where the fire was located, but judging by the billowing smoke rising above the pine trees, it looked to be close. A siren sounded behind her and she pulled onto the shoulder to let the fire truck pass.

A few of the volunteer firefighters she recognized followed right behind it in their own trucks.

Dewey would be here. If they had someone to cover his shift at the station, he never missed a fire as a volunteer.

She pulled back onto the road and continued behind the line of pick-up trucks and SUVs. The easiest way to find a fire was to follow the truck at the front with all the sirens. The road curved, and then she saw it. Goodness, it was a big fire.

The dry summer had put most of the county at a high risk of fire the entire month of June. The farmers hated it, and so did the firefighters. She tried to figure out whose property it was. Hard to remember after being gone for so long.

She pulled to the side, keeping her distance. The heat blasted her as soon as she stepped out of the car. After a moment of shock at the intensity of the blaze, Eliza reached back inside the car and pulled out her camera.

She held it up, snapping shot after shot. The fire. The men hauling hoses connected to a water tank. The flames as they danced fifteen feet in the air.

Eliza crept a little closer, following the double yellow line. Around the bend in the road, the volunteers and firefighters sprayed more water ahead of the flames and cleared out fire breaks to contain it. Organized chaos.

And there was Dewey, in his dirty white shirt and work pants, hauling a hose over his shoulder. Even with all the destruction and danger around them, he made her heart race. He was the kind of man that would run into a burning building to save someone and not think twice about his own safety. The same way he ran toward danger as a deputy. That, in her opinion, was a real man.

She took another picture and looked at it on the back of the camera. Definitely sexy fireman calendar material. Hollywood couldn't recreate that.

As if he knew she was standing there, he stopped dead in the road and searched the street until his eyes landed on her. He passed off the hose and stalked her direction.

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