Page 4 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

After getting in my car to head home, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment. Today could have been really bad. That building could have collapsed on us, but God spared us. He heard my prayers, and I was thankful. Rescues like that could be scary, but it was my job to save people, even if that meant I couldn’t save myself. As I reflected on today’s events, my phone rang through my Bluetooth.

Opening my eyes, I whispered, “Thank you,” then answered the call from my mother. “Hello?”

“Hey, Gen! I saw the news! I’m so glad God covered you, baby. That was dangerous.”

“It definitely was, Mama. How are you?”

“I’m good, baby. I know you’re probably tired, but I cooked dinner if you want to stop by to get a plate.”

“You’re a lifesaver.”

“Mm hmm. I think Judge Patrick feels the same way about you.”

“What do you mean?”

“They showed the two of you walking out of the building. He was holding on to you, and his eyes were locked in on your beautiful face.”

“The man was feeling a sense of gratitude. I saved his life.”

“Mm hmm.”

I chuckled and slowly shook my head. I refused to entertain her silent inquiry. She’d been on the prowl to find me a suitable partner. She said I had to be able to give her a couple of grandbabies before I aged out. I swore, it was like she thought I was practically forty. Whenever I tried to make that a point in my defense, she would go on and on about the timeline to meeting and getting to know someone before marriage could even be discussed.

She was traditional and expected me to get married before I even thought about having children. I wanted that as well. I wanted my child to grow up in a two-parent household, like I would have, had it not been for that senseless attack over twenty years ago. Putting my car in gear, I said, “Whatever, woman. I’m on my way over.”

“Okay. See you in a little bit,” she said after she chuckled.

I ended the call, and my thoughts went right back to Judge Patrick. Only time would tell if he was serious or not. However, I refused to simply be a sexual conquest because he was feeling sensitive toward me. He would simply be attractive from a distance.

I tooka deep breath as I entered the courtroom in Nederland, Texas. This move was because my chambers were burned to a crisp. Every time I thought about it, I released a sigh of relief. Had it not been for the quickness of those firefighters, I would have died. Genesis Farris was leading the rescue. I could clearly see her experience outweighed the others just by how quickly she was moving. She seemed so sure of herself in a moment that could have brought the strongest man to his knees.

That fire didn’t care about how strong you were. It would swallow you up whole, consuming you and using you as an accelerant. It had been two days since the incident, and it was my first day back on the job. I had minor smoke inhalation. It wasn’t serious enough for me to be hospitalized or to even stay home, although the doctor recommended it. I took my job seriously. If I was able to move around, I could go to work. It wasn’t like sitting on the bench was physically taxing.

After getting inside the chambers, I checked my email to confirm my order from the florist. I’d ordered flowers for Genesis Farris. I’d found out which fire station she worked at and also learned that she wouldn’t be back to work until Sunday. She was on her four days off. I had to pay extra to get them to deliver the flowers on a Sunday, but I didn’t care. She was worth it. That woman was so gorgeous. I could barely function enough to help her save me. Had she not been guiding us through the hallway, I would have walked right into the flames from staring at her.

It was like nothing was important at that moment, not even my life. She was an angel. I could see her light brown complexion and rosy cheeks through the respirator she wore. Once she took it off, I noticed she had thick pink lips, and her gaze was intoxicating. If I wasn’t mistaken, my presence had her shook just like her presence had me. I’d never seen a more beautiful woman. What took the cake was that I searched for her on social media and found her Instagram profile.

When I saw the pictures of her out of her uniform, I nearly found myself drooling. She had an hourglass shape that was mesmerizing. She had long dreadlocks that she somehow hid in that respirator. I wasn’t sure how she did it, but she made it work. She seemed to be extremely feminine, judging by what she wore. I liked that. However, when I came across a picture of her in a bikini, I stared at that damn picture for what seemed like hours.

The woman had me in a trance. Had I seen her pictures before actually meeting her, I never would have guessed she was firefighter. She looked like a model. That was just how perfect her body was.

“Good morning, Judge.”

I turned to see Tyson approaching me. I shook his hand as he said, “It has been a week from hell.”

“Who are you telling? After what happened Tuesday, I was done. They could have shut down everything for the rest of the week.”

“Right. Did you ever report that threat?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and brought my hand to my forehead, gripping my temples with my fingers and thumb. “I didn’t. I forgot.”

He slowly shook his head. “I asked because I pulled this note off your car on my way inside. You think this has anything to do with the case from last week?”

I grabbed the note from him and huffed loudly.Why couldn’t people just mind their business?I was more than sure this threat didn’t come from the perp. It came from someone who considered themselves a friend or a family member. I opened it to read,You actually believe that fire was because the building is old, don’t you? This will be easier than we thought if you do.

My eyes lifted to Tyson’s, and he took the note from me. Yesterday, the news outlets had reported that the courthouse fire was electrical. This note was saying the opposite. Was there corruption in the system? This note was only taking me back to my days of wanting to be a detective. I ended up going to law school instead. I felt like I could be a better judge than a detective.

“You havegotto report this, man, along with the other one.”

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