“I don’t know what you think you saw. Randi and I were over a long time ago.”
“Not if the look on your face is any indication. Come on, tell papa.”
Noah shrugged. “Nothing to tell. We were done six years ago. Life goes on. End of story. That coffee was just to give us both some closure.”
“Closure? I thought that’s what you got six years ago.” He narrowed his eyes. “Or did you somehow fuck up back then and leave a mess.”
God, he hated thinking about what an ass he’d been. Such an egotistically confident jerk, so sure that he knew what was best for both of them. All he’d done was make a mess of everything, a painful fact he’d had to live with ever since then.
He rubbed the bottle back and forth in his palms. “I, uh, might have been a little heavy handed that last night we were together.”
“Heavy handed?” Jeff made a rude sound. “Let me guess. You were so full of yourself with this new job you told her how much she’d love New York, without even giving her a chance to say yes or no. Right”
“Worse.” Noah hated remembering every agonizing moment of his speech. “I told her that women shouldn’t be firefighters and that she should stay an EMT so I didn’t have to worry about her.”
Jeff’s jaw dropped. “Are you shitting me? You were actually stupid enough to say that out loud to her?”
“Yeah.” He took another hit of his beer.
“You’re lucky she didn’t cut off your dick and feed it to you in pieces. Damn, Noah. Don’t you know anything about women? Especially a smart cookie like Randi. Half the men in San Antonio would stand in line for her if they thought they had a chance.”
Noah wrinkled his forehead. “What do you mean? She dates, right?” Although the thought of it made him sick.
“If you want to call it that. She goes out now and then, but never more than a couple of times with any one guy. A lot of times she just comes to parties or get together with the guys from her firehouse. Now and then she shows up with Dan Kessler.”
“Who’s he?” Was this someone she had a relationship with? The thought of it made him physically ill.
“Detective on the arson squad. They’ve been sort of partners since she got her promotion.” He laughed at Noah. “You should see the look on your face. I should let you wallow in your misery but here’s the truth. Dan would be with her in a heartbeat but it’s strictly professional between them. She made that plain for the very beginning.”
He was just selfish enough to feel a wave of relief. Somehow he had to figure out how to turn things around with her, whatever he had to do. Because there was one fact staring him in the face. He wanted Randi Alexander in his life and he’d do whatever it took to get her there.
“I don’t know how, if we got back together, I could let her go to work every day knowing the dangers out there.”
Jeff laughed again. “First of all, my friend, if you want this thing to work again with the two of you, get it through your head you don’t let her do anything. She’s a smart, savvy intelligent woman and you should respect her for her choices. If you can do that, maybe you have half a chance.”
Noah raked his fingers through his hair. “That’s tough.”
“So is anything worth having.” Jeff took another swallow of beer. “Okay, how about telling me what’s brought you back to San Antonio? I can’t think of anything going on around here that would warrant national coverage. You’ve made quite a name for yourself with the big stories you covered. What on earth brought you back here?”
“Chasing a story. There seems to be a sudden rash of apartment complex fires in this city. Normally we would bounce this back as being too local to cover. However, two things. First, we got a tip that it’s more than just an insurance scam going on here. Something big is happening and this may just be the tip of he iceberg. My editor thought since this is really my home town I could dig around and see if this tipster is blowing smoke up our collective asses or there’s something really going on.”
Jeff’s jaw dropped. “You’re shitting me, right?”
“Not a bit. And you can’t say one damn word to anyone. Not yet.”
“But—“
Noah shook his head. “Not one word. Agreed?”
Jeff sighed and nodded. “Agreed. At least for the moment. Now spill it. At least you can pick my brain.”
Noah rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, I was hoping you’d say that. There’s just one problem.”
Jeff lifted an eyebrow. “And that would be?”
“I want you to see if you’ve got any influence in the fire department to get Randi pulled off her current investigation. I’m pretty damn sure the string of apartment complex fires she’s looking into are the work of my target. And he’s not ready to stop here. That means she could be in a lot more danger than just getting burned by a fire or hit by falling beams.”
Scot threw back his head and laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I don’t see what the fuck is so funny.” Noah was getting annoyed with his friend.
“Okay, for the moment we’ll leave out the fact you wanted her to pull up stakes and follow you to New York without even the prospect of a job.”
“But—“
Jeff held up his hand. “Not done. You just got through telling me that Randi kicked you to the curb because you were all macho about her becoming a firefighter and being in danger. If you
