Page 10 of Grid Search

“Yeah. Her brother called her. He’s gotten mixed up with a bad crowd, and now they’re coming around our place and causing issues.”

“I’ll drive down to campus in a couple of days and help you out.”

She reaches across the space and pats my arm. “You’re the best big brother. Not a monk at all.” Her speech is starting to slur.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on.” I stand and reach down, lifting her into my arms to carry her to the spare bedroom.

“You’re so sweet. You should meet my new friend, Lynae, except she has more secrets than the monk does. I know she’s hiding things from me. She was married before and says she won’t do that again. But I think if she met the right guy, she’d give it another chance.” She giggles as she settles into bed and passes out. I set up Tylenol and water for her on the nightstand before heading upstairs to the main floor.

I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and take a big gulp. As I look around my house, I realize how much it’s set up as a home. It just needs a family. The thought bothers me because I never wanted a family until now. Until that night with Lyn.

Riding in the passenger seat of the firetruck on our way to the school, I look out over Prominence Point. The small town sits between Sedona and Flagstaff. As always, I think about all the times I’ve been offered positions in bigger towns, but I’ve always liked the small-town feel. I never had the desire to leave until recently. Now, I feel unsettled, and I don’t know why.

We pull up to the school, and I jump out and finish suiting up. Lance heads inside to notify the principal that we have arrived. Once I have all my gear on, I make my way to the entrance, where Lance is waiting.

Today, we go from classroom to classroom, allowing the kids to check me out so they won’t panic or run from a firefighter if there’s ever a fire. The community council and school board believe that more kids are injured while trying to escape from firefighters in full gear, especially when there’s smoke. So, weare working to desensitize the kids to our equipment. In some classrooms, the lights will be turned off or dimmed so the kids can see what a firefighter looks like in the dark with the reflectors on our gear glowing and lights blinking. They’ll also hear the sound of my PASS alarm and learn more about the equipment we use.

We’ve gone through several of the older kids’ classrooms and are now making our way to the younger ones. We start with the kindergartners, then move on to the first-grade class.

Lance opens the door, and I step into the room. The students are all waiting at their desks, arranged in groups around the bright classroom. I hear a click, and the lights go out. Some of the students scream, while others giggle.

“It’s okay. Remember we talked about this,” a soft Southern-accented voice says from behind me. It’s muffled through all my gear, but something about it sounds familiar. I want to turn and look at her, but I have to stay focused on what Lance is saying.

When my lieutenant gives the signal, I get down on my knees and begin crawling across the floor, just like we do in heavy smoke areas. I push my Halligan bar ahead of me, and when I reach the first desk, I look up at the young girl seated there. She shies away, but then hesitantly reaches out to touch my mask.

“You’re doing great, Ariel,” the woman says.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of black leggings encasing shapely legs and tiny, brightly colored Converse on small feet. Something makes me want to follow those legs up, but another kid touches my pack, and I get distracted.

I continue to make my way through the room. Sometimes crawling, sometimes walking. I keep my focus on the kids and not the teacher, but when another student gets upset and starts crying, that voice of hers is back.

“Oh, Gina, it’s okay,” she says from beside me, and I turn to see beautiful amber-colored eyes looking at me through the mask. Her full lips curl into a smile. “See, Gina,” she says, reaching out to touch my mask. Long fingers on a delicate hand extend toward me, and the memory slams into my mind.

“Lyn,” I say her name, and she rears back, almost falling over.

I quickly grab for her, steadying her as I stand. I shut off my air, remove my helmet, and set it on the child’s desk before pulling off my mask and Nomex. She watches me, and when I finally see her face clearly without my mask between us, I want to yank her to me. Her mouth pops open in surprise. Her long blond hair is cut to her shoulders, falling in waves around her face.

I start to reach for her to sip from those beautiful, full lips again, but she steps back. That’s when I take her completely in. The long sweater she’s wearing fits tight to her body, showing a small swelling at her abdomen. I step back, my jaw tightening, as my eyes shoot sparks at her.

How could she keep this from me?

Lynae

Iknow the moment he sees my stomach. The doctor said because I’m so tiny, I’m showing earlier than some women do at nineteen weeks. Ryker is just staring at me, and I can feel the anger radiating off his body. His hair is sweaty and messy from being under all his gear. His blue eyes track every movement I make. I take another step back. When I hear theshuffling of my students, I’m snapped from the fog I was in. I have struggled with sexy dreams from our time together. I blame it on hormones, but when I’m this close to him, I wonder if I more than missed him.

“So, students, as you can see, he’s just a man like your daddies under all that gear.”

“Ms. Amberly, he knows your name.” One of my students points out.

“He does. I know Ry—” I stop and look at the name on his gear. “Mr. Murphy.”

Ryker steps close to me. “Mr. Murphy is my father. I’m Ryker to you,” he growls low enough for no one else to hear.

Murphy. The name hits me.

My landlords are the Murphys. The girl who’s becoming like a best friend to me is a Murphy too. She’s talked about her two brothers. Oh shit. One of them, the firefighter, is named Ry.

A wave of nausea washes over me as my blood starts to race. I feel faint for a moment. When Ryker reaches out and grabs my forearm, electric sparks shoot across my skin, up my arm. I yank my arm away and unsteadily make my way to my desk. I stand there for a few moments, taking calming breaths, before I turn back to the classroom. The man who walked in with Ryker, Lieutenant Courtney, approaches me.

---