Page 27 of Fire and Ice
Chelsea gripped the polished wood rail and made her way up the staircase to a small landing outside a closed door. Muffled sounds of talking and laughter came from the other side of the entrance.
Grady reached the landing, opened the door, and stepped back to let Chelsea precede him. Her belly fluttered at the thought of meeting his fellow firefighter friends, but she took a deep breath and walked through the doorway into a large common room.
Two men lounged on worn big leather couches in front of a big-screen TV. On the right side of the room was a round table with a checkerboard laid out, and it looked like a finished game was on the board.
On the other side of the couches, a couple of firefighters played Ping-Pong, and another stood in front of an open locker in the middle of the row along the wall behind the game’s table. The lockers were made of wood, and each one had a number on it with a nameplate beneath it. Donovan was engraved on the plate of the door closest to them. Right next to that was an open doorway, and she caught a glimpse of twin XL-sized beds.
Grady stepped beside her, and one of the men playing Ping-Pong noticed them. The black-haired firefighter looked familiar. He caught the ball with his hand and headed toward them. “What are you doing here on your day off, Donovan?”
“Just getting into trouble.” Grady nodded to Chelsea, “Meet Chelsea Dunn.” He turned to her. “This is Cord Elliott.”
“A pleasure, Chelsea.” The blue-eyed man extended his hand. “I’ve seen you around town.”
“I thought you looked familiar.” She smiled and took his hand. He had a firm grip and a sexy grin. “Nice to meet you.”
The other men stopped what they were doing and introduced themselves—Archer, Beckett, Hunter, and Dawson. She’d seen all the men around King Creek but had never introduced herself to any of them. They made her feel comfortable and welcome.
They each wore a navy-blue T-shirt with a white firefighter symbol on the left side of their chests and “KCFD” on the back. The tall, muscular men were good-looking, but as far as she was concerned, Grady was the sexiest of the bunch.
“Come on in, Chelsea.” Archer inclined his head toward a doorway. “We’ve got some sludge in the coffee pot if you’d like something to warm you up.”
“Sounds great.” She rubbed her hands together. “It certainly is chilly today.”
Grady rested his arm loosely around her shoulders and guided her into a large kitchen. It had two industrial refrigerators, a stove, a microwave, and a dishwasher. In one corner stood giant white boxes with Holiday Toy Drive written across each one. Toys were piled up, including a large stuffed brown bear, a toy firetruck, a board game, and two e-tablets. Everything was new and in its original packaging.
Archer took a navy-blue mug out of one of the white cabinets, went to the coffee pot by the stove, grasped the handle of the clear carafe, and poured the dark liquid into the mug.
Grady helped her out of her jacket and draped it over a straight-backed chair at the long dining table across from the appliances. He put his own jacket on another chair.
She took the mug from Archer and cupped her hands around it. “This will warm up my hands.”
“Creamer and sweetener are over there.” He inclined his head to the end of the counter as he pulled a spoon out of a drawer. He handed it to her. “Help yourself.”
“Thank you.” She smiled at him as she took the spoon and proceeded to heavily doctor up the coffee with lots of creamer and sugar.
The other men joined them, and they all sat at the table with mugs of coffee and a bag of Oreos they passed around.
Chelsea took a cookie and set it on the napkin in front of her. She drank the still-bitter coffee and grimaced. “This really is sludge.”
The men laughed. “It’ll put hair on your chest,” Dawson said, with a twinkle of amusement in his chocolate brown eyes.
Chelsea smiled. “That used to be one of my dad’s sayings.”
“I hear you were a champion ice skater.” Hunter thumped his mug on the table. “Grady says you skate like an angel.”
Grady nodded. “She does.”
“Thank you,” Chelsea said to Grady and then looked back to Hunter. “That was a long time ago. Now I instruct my students on the side.”
“Do you own Chelsea’s Closet?” Cord focused on her. “On Main Street.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “My store has been there a couple of years now.”
“My sister likes to shop there.” Archer leaned back in his chair, holding his mug. “Knowing her, she’s probably one of your best buyers.”
Chelsea cocked her head. “What’s her name?”
“Beth Roberts.”
