Fire at Twilight: The Firefighters of Darling Bay 1 by Lila Ashe Read Free Book Online

scared of needles?”
    “No.” Tox felt a thin sheen of sweat break at his hairline.
    “Really?” She was close to him again, that same sweet-tea vanilla smell in his nose. Man, he liked that smell. He inhaled and felt something inside of himself ease.
    “I don’t think I am,” said Tox.
    “But you’re nervous.”
    He shrugged and sent the recliner backward. Yeah, there was the same sweet spot as the ones at the station. Get the feet adjusted right, and the head in that comfortable zone, and you could just bliss out, no matter what dumb crap your partner was watching on the big screen TV. “Not nervous. Maybe just a little … concerned.”
    “Here,” she said, leaning over him, draping the blanket over his legs. “Adjust this so that you’re warm enough.”
    “Are you kidding me?”
    “Too warm?”
    “I’m sweating here.”
    She removed the blanket and draped it over the next chair. “Are you sure you’re not scared of needles?”
    “They’re sterilized, right?”
    Grace laughed, a light, pretty sound. “Of course. Each one has never been used.” She glanced down at her paperwork. “Why do they call you Tox?”
    The change of subject startled him. “What?”
    “Is it short for Toxic?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m a hazardous materials guy.” He paused. “Kind of the hazmat guy. If something bad blows up or off-gasses, they want me around to analyze it.”
    She looked down at his paperwork. “What’s your real name?”
    “Nuh-uh. If you need that for insurance or the gift certificate or something, I’ll just pay cash.”
    “No, no, I’m just curious, that’s all.”
    Tox cleared his throat. “How many needles are you planning on using?”
    “Not that many. A hundred and thirty or so?”
    He jerked upright. “No way. No freakin’ way. Screw Lexie and her bright ideas.”
    She laughed again and put a cool hand on his forearm. “I’m teasing you. We’ll probably do between ten and twenty points today. But at any time, if you feel uncomfortable, or if you want to leave, you can.”
    He tried to relax back into the chair, but it was hard. The fight-or-flight reflex left the webs between his fingers damp. He hoped he wasn’t sweating through his shirt. “What’s the towel for?”
    Sitting on the stool and rolling closer to him, holding his paperwork, she said, “I would tell you it’s to mop up your blood, but I think I’m at the edge of too much teasing with you.”
    Tox pushed out his chest. “Impossible.”
    “Really?” She stuck the tip of her pen lightly into his forearm, and Tox jumped so high he felt his neck protest in response. “Ow,” he said. “Man.”
    “I’m sorry,” Grace said, leaning forward again. “I don’t usually do that.”
    “Scare people into tweaking their necks?”
    “Tease patients.”
    Tox had to admit, he liked it in theory. He liked being teased, especially by a woman so hot he could barely look away from her. Yeah, his neck hurt, but the trade-off was that he got to stare at those big coffee-colored eyes of hers.
    Not a bad trade, really.

CHAPTER TEN
     
    Grace felt like an idiot. A terribly young idiot, who wouldn’t have passed her California licensing exam if she’d done anything like that. Teasing a patient until she hurt him! What had she been thinking?
    She wasn’t. That was the point. Around Tox, she acted like a twelve-year-old girl, too young to understand why she wanted to poke a boy in the shoulder as she ran past him in dodge ball.
    Taking a deep breath, she grounded herself for a moment, placing her feet flat on the floor.
    Grace was a helper. She would help Tox. It was what he needed. The fact that he made her hormones swirl like he’d stuck a spoon in them and stirred, that wasn’t his fault. She was the pro here.
    “Okay. This is to prop yourself on if you want it. It looks like your neck hurts.” Rolling the towel, she kept her gaze firmly on the area his fingers were absentmindedly rubbing. She carefully