It's a Wonderful Fireman: A Bachelor Firemen Novella (The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel) by Jennifer Bernard Read Free Book Online

truth.
    “The bad news is that his radio is out, and we don’t know if he’s been able to switch to the Mayday channel. We can’t communicate with him. And he’s somewhere behind a giant pile of extremely dangerous rubble. They can’t approach from this side.”
    “There’s a back entrance, right? There has to be. All businesses have fire exits.”
    “Yes, there’s a back entrance. Unfortunately, the collapse of the façade means the entire structure is extremely unstable. A rapid intervention team has been designated—Fred and Vader are on it—and an Urban Search and Rescue squad is working on an entry point.”
    Lizzie held tight to Stacy’s arm. “How long will that take?”
    “They’re working as quickly as they can, believe me. In the meantime, take heart, Lizzie. He’s not at risk from the fire, and as long as nothing else collapses and he can hang on, we’ll get him. You know how tough he is. He’s Mulligan. Have you ever seen him back off from a fight?”
    She shook her head slowly. “We got into a fight the first time we met.”
    Brody chuckled, and squeezed her shoulder. “There you go. Hang on to that thought, Lizzie. Remember who we’re dealing with here.” With one last reassuring smile, he strode into the melee of firefighters.
    “How did you meet Mulligan, anyway?” Stacy asked curiously.
    “You’re trying to distract me, aren’t you?”
    “Maybe.”
    Lizzie winced as she watched a firefighter run toward the rear of the building with an axe. Maybe some distraction was a good idea. “Fine. It was a softball game. Firefighters versus EMTs.”
    O F COURSE SHE’D noticed Mulligan right away. Not only did he have that tough-guy, bad-boy appeal, with his broken nose and bronzed skin, but he blew everyone else away with his on-field skills. Word had it he used to be a minor league baseball player. She wasn’t bad herself, since she’d been a fast-pitch softball star in high school. Mulligan started as the pitcher, but then switched to catcher to give someone else a chance on the mound, since no one managed to get a single hit off him.
    Lizzie got the closest, poking a slow curveball into the hole between first and second. But she tripped on her way to first base and got thrown out by her own brother.
    As she jogged off the field, she made a face at Fred, then one at Mulligan for good measure. He raised an eyebrow, then made an “I’ve got my eye on you” gesture, pointing two fingers from his eyes to hers. He wore a dark blue San Gabriel FD T-shirt and actual baseball pants, which he filled out in a way that had all the women on the field sighing.
    Lizzie flounced to her team’s bench and muttered to herself for a while. As a Breen, she possessed a highly developed competitive streak. She hated making mistakes like that.
    “It’s just a game,” one of the other EMTs told her. She glared at him, then looked again at Mulligan, who was in his pitcher’s stance, one hand behind his back, rolling the ball in his hand. Every line of his body spoke of complete dedication to the next pitch, to his team, to the game.
    “Right,” she told the EMT, and bided her time until her next at-bat. By then, Mulligan was the catcher. As she approached the plate, he met her eyes and winked, and her knees literally went weak. She lifted her chin and gave him what she thought of as a cool smile, though it probably looked more like a grimace. With her pulse skittering into triple time, keeping her composure was a challenge.
    “You swing that bat pretty well,” he told her. “Not too many girls can handle my curveball.”
    “Is that some sort of a double entendre?”
    “Do you want it to be?”
    Million-dollar question right there. “Dream on, fireman.”
    “Batter up,” said the umpire, interrupting their standoff.
    “Sure thing, Ump,” Mulligan said, giving her a last lingering glance that told her the conversation would continue.
    Mulligan squatted behind the plate, and oh Lord, how his