Page 6 of Fireman Daddy’s Tempestuous Little

CHAPTER FOUR

Drew

There wasn’t much I could do in the house to stop the fire. What I did manage was to find a bedroom Mira used as a library of sorts. There were books there that seemed valuable as well as items of art. Convinced the fire was containable, I spent almost all the time in the house carrying books and paintings from that room to the kitchen table. The bulk of the fire was on the second floor and traveling up the stairs and down was like stepping into hell and then back out. Just after I got the last armload of books off the last shelf, the wall separating the library room from the burning rooms collapsed. I made it out and ran downstairs.

I got the books on the table, and it was apparent I wouldn’t be able to go back up. I wasn’t sure how best to use my time, so I just went to the foot of the stairs and started pushing furniture away and to the front and side of the walls. That had the effect of taking fuel away from any sparks or burning debris but also clearing a path so when the men got there, they’d be able to get straight to the flames.

I rolled up a large Persian rug on the floor and put it on top of a sofa against the wall. With any luck, all of this stuff would be saved. Without enough luck, it wouldn’t burn but the smoke would forever taint the smell of it. A thought occurred to me, and I grabbed the rug back up and then spread it over the stacked books and art. I knew the house would survive as long as there were no delays. I hoped a lot of the things inside the house would survive as well.

“For Christ’s sake, you stupid asshole!” came my sergeant’s voice. “Get the hell out of here, Bridger!”

I nodded and headed for the door. “I’ll gear up!”

“Just get out!”

Just getting out wasn’t a command not to suit up, so I passed by the men holding the fire hose and headed out. There would be protective gear at the trucks, and I’d put it on and help. I’d probably get chewed out for it, but I was already going to get chewed out for being in there. Hell, it was possible I’d get an ass-chewing because I had her call dispatch directly anyway. That probably depended on whether or not this place really was county or city jurisdiction.

How the hell was it that I, a firefighter, didn’t know what fire authority had jurisdiction over my house?

“Drew!” I turned and heard Miri’s voice just as her arms wrapped around me. I held her as she wept against me. It was such a shocking thing, a display of anything other than irritation from her. I put my arms around her and willed my cock to behave because if it responded the way I thought it would respond, there would be no hiding my erection through the pajama bottoms I wore.

I held her for a while and updated Shane on the fire. When I heard the fire hoses start, I asked him, “Could you guys use some help?”

“No,” he replied. “But I’m going to put you to work anyway for getting me out of bed at two-thirty in the morning. Suit up and you can use the second hose to douse the fence and the yards.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “But you’re still a prick.”

“Best prick your sister’s ever had,” he fired back.

We got the fire under control in fifteen minutes. When we were satisfied the blaze no longer presented a structural threat, I led three other firefighters into the house, and we put out the remaining hot spots.

After that, we looked around to see what might have caused the fire. The cause was very quickly discovered when we entered the upstairs restroom and saw one of the walls almost entirely burnt out. Inside the walls, the wiring had melted into a four-foot by three-foot hole.

When I walked downstairs, I shared the news with Miri. She nodded and asked, “Can I see?”

“I think we should wait until after you get some sleep,” I said. “There’s nothing much we can do tonight.”

“I want to see, Drew,” she insisted. Incredibly, I found myself relieved at hearing some of her aggressiveness return. It was a good sign that she would recover from this.

A few minutes later, as she wept on my shoulder after walking through the ruins of her house, I wasn’t so sure. I decided to share some good news in the hopes of cheering her a little bit. I led her to the kitchen and said, “I was able to save most of these. There were a few shelves of books on the side of the wall that collapsed but I got almost everything out.”

When she saw the stacks of books and artwork on the table, her eyes widened. “Oh!” she cried. “Oh, Drew!”

Then she wept again, this time with profound relief. I felt a powerful rush of sympathy for her and was surprised that, though I was keenly aware of the feel of her body on my mind, none of my sympathies was driven by sexual attraction.

After crying for a few minutes, she asked, “How—how long before I can go back?”

“Several weeks,” I reply. “Probably a few months. Most of the second floor will need to be rebuilt and the wiring throughout the house will need to be thoroughly inspected and probably replaced.”

She nodded and her lips trembled a little. “Will you help me find a hotel?” she asked meekly.

“Not a chance,” I responded immediately. “You can stay in my guest room tonight. We’ll figure everything else out tomorrow but right now, you need to get some rest.”

“You—you’d do that for me?” she asked.

“Of course,” I said. I grinned and added, slightly sarcastically, “We’re neighbors.”

She snorted laughter and I joined her, and it felt good to share a moment with her not defined by mutual dislike or terror. I wrapped things up with the other firefighters and led Miri inside.

By the time she was set up in the guest bedroom, she seemed much better and I went to my own room satisfied that we had resolved our differences.

When she knocked on my door and came in wearing absolutely nothing, I was certain of it.

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