Feisty Firefighters Bundle

a mission to find female companionship.

Circumstances had pushed his boundaries and had had the side effect of making Jason grow up a little. He considered the sobering realisation of just how meaningless his love life had been until now. A selection of bimbos who had impressed the hell out of his colleagues, but now he could see himself through Laura’s eyes and he almost groaned aloud. No wonder she had told him he was shallow.

He was shallow. Or, at least, he had been until now. The depth to which he wanted involvement with Laura was terrifying. She had the power to hurt him very badly if she didn’t want what he could offer. And why should she on anything more than a short-term basis? Laura was so far above the kind of women he had always attracted so easily. Maybe she was too good for the likes of him to aspire to.

The fact was that Laura was out of his league in any category that really mattered, and Jason knew it. He’d have to work hard to win her and she wasn’t going to settle for second best. She’d walked out on a guy after living with him for two years because he hadn’t measured up. Jason couldn’t bear the thought of giving all he had and still finding he hadn’t made the grade a couple of years down the track.

How could he convince Laura that he was worth being with…for ever?

Darkness hid his smile. He had a bonus that no one else could offer. Something that Laura already loved.

He had Megan.

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘WHATis it, Tim?’ Laura paused in her task of restocking the resuscitation kit. ‘Have I sprouted horns or something?’

‘I’m trying to work out what’s so different about you.’

‘Can’t be my hair. I’ve had it like this for two weeks now.’ Laura pushed her fingers through the soft, loose waves framing her face and then shook them back into place. The pleasure of her new, free style had increased rather than worn off. ‘We need some more lancets for the blood-glucose kit,’ she told Tim. ‘And a couple of high- concentration masks.’

‘Sure. How’s the Entonox cylinder looking, seeing as you’re up that end?’

Laura leaned over the end of the stretcher she was sitting on and then laughed as her shirt came adrift from her trousers.

‘Oops. I wish my new uniform issue would come through.’ She tucked the shirt tail firmly back into place. ‘I’m getting sick of these baggy pants.’

‘You’ve lost weight.’ Tim nodded slowly. ‘Maybe that’s it.’

‘It’s not so much the weight,’ Laura told him. ‘I’ve just changed shape a bit. Toned up. It’s all the exercise I’m getting.’ She leaned more carefully towards the regulator valve of the Entonox cylinder, hoping that Tim wouldn’t notice the faint colour she could feel heating her cheeks. Jason had claimed all the credit for keeping her levels of physical activity up enough to burn off a few kilograms. He’d even looked worried.

‘You’ll turn into a stick insect in six months at this rate. Maybe we should have a night off.’

But they hadn’t because neither of them had wanted to. Laura would be quite happy to keep up her steady weight loss but it really didn’t matter. She was far happier with the thought of still being with Jason in six months’ time.

‘It’s probably walking Oscar every night that’s done the trick.’ Laura tried to sound offhand. ‘Everybody should adopt a very fat dog when they want to get in shape.’

They both looked out of the window of the ambulance to the fire engine parked beside them in the huge garage. The back passenger window was open and hanging out of it was the curly black head of a happy-looking dog. Oscar had been adopted as readily as Megan had been at the station. He wasn’t allowed inside, of course, but even Mrs McKendry had to acknowledge that he was a well-behaved animal. He sat guarding the fire engine during his family’s working hours unless it was required for active duty, when he was happy to sleep on the old coat that now had a permanent place on the floor by the locker-room door.

The smile Laura gave on seeing Oscar was imperceptible. Maybe everybody should bathe a very smelly dog when they wanted to kick-start the love affair of their lives. Who would have thought that an unwanted Labradoodle could provide such a romantic catalyst? The dog might have made its intention to worship Jason for the rest of its life obvious by now but he would always have Laura’s gratitude and affection. Except possibly when he indulged his passion for exploring rubbish bags.

Laura twisted the key on the regulator and watched the needle flick up the dial. ‘Three quarters full,’ she informed Tim. ‘Enough laughing gas to keep a whole busload of patients happy.’

‘That’s it,’ Tim said in a satisfied tone. ‘That’s what’s so different about you. You’re happy.’

‘I am,’ Laura admitted. Happy was a very pale adjective for how she felt but it would do under the circumstances. She was rapt. Her dream had come true. Jason had got to know her well enough to find her attractive and, judging by their love-making over the last two weeks, he found her very attractive. And she felt attractive, for the first time in her life. The weight loss had very little to do with it. Neither did the new hairstyle. Laura felt wanted and appreciated for far more than what she could offer in bed, and she was loving every minute of it. They had welded into a tight team, she and Jason, and it didn’t matter that their focus was so much on Megan-not when they could find the private moments that made every shared sleeping time so memorable.

Laura wouldn’t even allow herself the niggling concern that the main reason Jason wanted her to still be there in six months’ time might be because he was coming to like the idea of keeping his daughter. She didn’t care. She loved both of them too much to let that be a problem. If Jason asked her tomorrow to marry him and be a mother to Megan, she wouldn’t hesitate in saying yes.

‘Yeah,’ Laura said softly, as she caught the look Tim was giving her. Suddenly she wanted to share a little of her joy with her partner. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before in my life.’

Tim’s smile was wistful as he caught her meaning. ‘I’m happy for you, Laura. You make a wonderful couple. What with Megan and that funny-looking dog you found, you’ve turned into an instant family.’

Laura watched Tim disappear into the stockroom to find the supplies they needed. The almost imperceptible slump of his shoulders confirmed what she already knew. Her partner wanted a family of his own. He could see the magic that had been wrought in Laura’s life and knew that it was never going to happen that easily for him.

It felt exactly like magic. Wave a wand and…poof! An instant family. And it was all going so smoothly. They had developed a routine that seemed to work now and most jobs were shared at least to some degree. Megan was settled enough to sleep through the night sometimes, especially since they’d started their long evening walks. The days were getting longer and it was a pleasant way to end the day even after a busy shift. Laura got to hold Oscar’s shiny new lead because Jason wore the front pack, which allowed Megan to face forward and view her surroundings, not to mention wave her little arms and kick her legs when things got interesting. She was always tired on their return home and a quick feed and nappy change was usually enough to see her out for the count until morning.

Yes, it felt like a well-oiled family unit. Maybe they would have a problem if Mrs McKendry decided she didn’t want to help, but the older woman loved Megan as much as any of them now, and if the worst happened, Laura was quite prepared to consider taking maternity leave to carry on being a surrogate mother.

The fact that Megan was the key to it all shouldn’t be enough to cause that niggle of doubt, should it? Or the fact that everything was falling into place so perfectly? OK, so maybe they would have to fight to keep Megan if Shelley decided to come back for her but surely they could win? They’d be a full family unit, complete with a prime example of a contented dog, against a solo mother who’d been prepared to abandon her child.

They could even have the solid base of owning their own home. Laura hadn’t yet suggested the idea of moving into her house, but it was the logical next step. Charlie had only been intending to live with her until she got settled into her new city and job. Laura had hardly spoken to her in the last couple of weeks and she suspected it had a lot to do with whatever was going on between Charlie and that scary partner she had to work with, so it seemed like she had already settled very well. Laura only hoped that her best friend was half as