We’re downtown at a restaurant on the water and the sun is setting in the distance. Rosabelle looks so fucking beautiful sitting across from me with a smile on her face as she shakes her head.
“It’s true!” she cries out as she hits me with her cloth napkin. “I was so worried a watermelon would grow in my belly I stayed up for three days straight.”
I’m finally able to take a full breath and lean back in my chair. She’s wearing a black strapless dress that hugs her breasts and waist but is loose at the bottom. But when I saw her wearing pink Converse with it, my heart leapt. She’s not like any other woman I’ve ever met, and something about how she follows her heart makes me want to stand closer to her, be a part of her.
“That’s so adorable.”
“I was terrified.” She shakes her head as she sips her wine.
I’m not drinking tonight just in case I get a call. We have enough guys to cover the shifts, but one guy broke his leg earlier today and the other got called out of town for a family emergency. Plus, Chief got a stomach flu yesterday, so it seems it all happened at once. They should be fine unless something bad happens, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed it stays quiet.
“What finally made you stop worrying?”
She takes another bite of her steak and shakes her head. “No way.”
“No way what?” I smile at her and lean close. “Now I have to know.”
She rolls her eyes and covers her face. “Let’s just say I saw the evidence that they were no longer inside me.”
I burst out laughing and she throws a roll at me. I catch it and put it on my plate, shaking my head.
“If it makes you feel any better I swallowed a penny when I was eight and my parents never found it,” I say, and her eyes widen.
“Seriously?”
“For weeks my parents had to check for it.” I give her a knowing look and she laughs in delight. “Nothing; it never came out. I keep thinking one day on an X-ray someone is going to find it.”
“You’re just telling me this to make me feel better.” She looks over her glass at me and I shake my head.
“I would have given anything to have known you as a kid.”
“Me too,” she says, and a comfortable silence passes between us.
“I can’t stop looking at you.” Her eyes cut away and her cheeks flush. “I’ve never seen something that makes me ache right here before.” I put my hand over my chest and I can feel my heart grow with every beat. It’s making room for her, for everything about her.
“You say such sweet things. I wonder if this is real.” She traces the edge of the table as if to test it to see if it will disappear.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say without breaking eye contact, but just then my radio goes off and it’s dispatch telling me there’s a fire in the area.
“Looks like you might be,” Rosabelle says, and I shake my head as I call it in.
“Looks like we both are,” I say after I talk to them and throw some cash on the table. “Let’s go.”
I grab her hand and rush out of the restaurant with her hot on my heels. “You’re taking me with you?”
“No time to drop you off and the guys need me.” I open my driver’s side door and put her in that way to keep me from having to go all the way around. “Strap in, little unicorn. We’re breaking the speed limit.”
“Oh shit,” she whispers when I hit the siren, but I see the edge of excitement in her eyes.
“I won’t let anything happen to you.” I put my hand on her thigh and she leans in to me.
“I know you won’t.”
There’s something between us that is so familiar and intimate. It’s like we’ve done this dance before and we each know the steps and which way our partner will turn. It’s so strange to just have met someone but to feel totally and completely enveloped in them. It’s like she walked up to me and gave me the keys to her heart. I can’t explain it and I’m not sure I want to try and figure it out. I just want to feel it and keep it forever.
“We’re here,” I say as I pull up on the curb and open my door. “Stay in the truck, and I’ll be back soon. You’ll be safe right here. Understand?”
“Got it,” she says with confidence and I drop down out of the seat. “Blaze!” she calls out right before I shut the door. She opens her mouth and then closes it but nothing comes.
“Yeah, beautiful?”
“Be careful.” There’s something in her eyes but I don’t have the time to read it or ask her about it.
“Anything for you.” I wink at her and the look goes away. Was she worried about me?
Her feeling anything for me puts a little pep in my step as I rush over to the truck to talk with the guys. They’ve got extra turnout gear in the truck and I suit up. They’ve already got things going and I look up to see smoke billowing from the upper stories of the building, and people are coming down the emergency escape. Once my oxygen is hooked up I start climbing the ladder to where a group of people are stuck.
It’s a long night but thankfully we get everyone out and nobody gets hurt. That’s what we want above all—to save lives.
But the best part about tonight is when it’s over, Rosabelle jumps out of the truck and leaps into my arms. She wraps herself around me and I hold her for a long time, just because
