Fire at Dawn: The Firefighters of Darling Bay 2 by Lila Ashe Read Free Book Online Page B

but it sounded good.
    Tox put the plates he’d brought on the counter, and Coin started slicing pie.
    “What if I told you I didn’t want any?” asked Lexie, crossing her arms.
    Tox laughed.
    Coin said, his voice kind, “Of course you do. You love apple pie, especially Josie’s.”
    Lexie softened, as if her insides were made of the same pink ice cream Hank was scooping onto each plate. That pie was special—Josie put something into the filling, something with a kick, almost as if she put a dash of cayenne in with the cinnamon. Whenever she was asked, though, Josie said it was just something she’d never had a recipe for. No one believed her.
    Lexie reached forward and took a forkful. She couldn’t help it—she moaned. “It’s warm. Did you nuke it down the hall?”
    Coin shook his head. “She’d just taken it out of the oven.”
    “You are forgiven.” She took another bite. “In fact, you could swear at me on the radio. You could tell me I have no idea what I’m doing—” she glared at Tox “—which is pretty much what you did, and I’ll forgive you every single time. As long as you bring me this.”
    Tox ran his finger along the edge of the plate, where the syrup had dripped down. “We are sorry, though. We were just venting.”
    Lexie pointed at the steam coming out the top of the slits in the pie crust where it hadn’t been cut yet. “That’s venting. What you were doing was being a jerk. But I don’t care.” She took her plate with pie and ice cream to her terminal. “Now get out of here. I want to enjoy this in peace, and I have to go to bed soon. Megan's getting up in thirty minutes.”
    Coin frowned, meeting her eyes for a moment.
    No. She didn’t want to deal with him.
    “You, too. Go.”
    Coin said to Hank and Tox, “I’ll meet you down there.”
    “Coin …”
    “We have to finish the thing.”
    Tox and Hank didn’t even bother to pretend to act interested. “See ya. Sorry again, Lex.”
    “Fine, fine,” she said as she pushed another forkful of heaven into her mouth. It really was fine. How many times had she cussed the firefighters out for being stupid? It was only by the grace of a kind heaven that she hadn’t accidentally stepped on the foot pedal when she’d been saying it.
    When they were gone, Coin sat next to her again, as if he hadn’t left, as if he hadn’t gone on that last call.
    “You know what the worst part is?” Lexie asked.
    Coin looked at her, his eyes soft, as if he were really listening to her. She normally loved it when he looked like that. This was her friend. A man she trusted.
    “The worst part is that I saved that guy’s life. The wife had no idea what to do.”
    “And we didn’t even say that.” Coin looked stricken. “We just forgot. Tox was so upset by what he said on the radio—”
    “In his conversation to you two,” Lexie clarified.
    “That we forgot to confirm you had a field save.”
    Lexie shrugged. “Well.”
    “Good job,” said Coin, his voice warm. “He didn’t seem like the most healthy kind of guy. I think he’d already had at least six or seven beers by the time he choked on the meatball. If you hadn’t talked his wife through the Heimlich, it would have probably gone a lot worse for him, later.”
    Lexie looked at her lap. It had hurt her feelings, yeah, hearing them talking crap about her. But it hadn’t hurt as much as it had that Coin had passed right by her photo, not seeing her as pretty or special in the slightest.
    Lexie sighed. “I’m tired, Coin.”
    “Can we just finish this?” He reached forward and touched her upper arm. “I’m not good at this personal ad stuff, and it’s making me nervous. I like looking at it with you.”
    But instead of drawing his hand away, his left it on her arm for a moment. His hand was wide, and warm. Solid. Lexie wanted to lean against it. His touch sent a jolt straight down her spine, and she got warm from the inside out. Steam. He created a column of steam in her.