Charlotte Maclay - Bold And Brave-hearted

“I think my preference would be for a lock,” Kim said, a little suspiciously. “On the inside.”

“We firefighters are the last true gentlemen in America,” Jay assured her piously. “We’d never violate that sign. Unless we were invited to, of course. Or, in my case, if I didn’t see the sign, which would be a darn good excuse.”

She laughed. How he could joke about his blindness and at the same time be so stubborn about accepting help was beyond her.

They were in the third-floor TV room with its rows of recliners lined up in front of the big screen when the fire trucks returned. A loudspeaker announced, “Engine 61 in quarters.”

“Let’s go see how the guys did.”

She followed Jay across the room where he opened what looked like a closet door. Her eyes widened. She screamed and snared him by his T-shirt, pulling him back. “That’s not the way out.”

“Sure it is.”

“No, Jay! It’s a big hole! You’ll kill yourself.” And this was a man who didn’t think he needed help? She’d been right when she’d called him a lunatic.

“Not hole, sweetheart.” He laughed. “It’s our pole. Quickest way to get downstairs.”

She peered past him. There was a pole in the center of the closet, all right, about six inches in diameter, but it looked like a hole to her—a deep one all the way from the third floor to the ground level.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll slide down first, you follow me and I’ll catch you.”

She bristled. “I’m not going to do any such thing.”

“What’s the matter? Are you chicken?”

“Certainly not.” Although she did have a certain fear of heights.

“You’re not afraid I’ll look up your skirt, are you? I promise I’ll keep my eyes closed, if that’s the problem.”

She whacked him on the arm with the back of her hand. “It’s just that I’ve…I’ve got heels on.”

“I know. I’ve been listening to them when you walk.” He waggled his eyebrows above his dark glasses. “Very sexy.”

The heat of a blush rose up her neck. She hadn’t been aware he was paying that much attention to the details about her, fully scrutinizing her in the same way she was noticing his attributes, all of them thoroughly masculine. And sexy. Like his full lips, especially when he was holding back a smile. Kissable lips.

“You get downstairs any way you like,” she told him, whirling away from both Jay and her reckless thoughts. “I’m going to use the stairs.”

His teasing laughter followed her out of the room as did his footsteps. She was intensely aware that he was “seeing” her in ways only a blind man could and very likely with more clarity than most sighted men would. She could only be grateful her disfigurement wasn’t as apparent to him as the style of shoes she was wearing. Any man with reasonable vision would turn away from her, repelled by the scars that had healed so poorly.

At least any man she’d consider having an intimate relationship with—and that errant thought rocked her back on her mental heels.

THEY’D BROUGHT back the acrid smell of smoke to the firehouse and it hung in the air amid the sounds of his buddies checking out the equipment, readying everything for the next run they’d get.

Jay had never felt quite so left out, not even in high school when he hadn’t had time to be a part of any clique. Or had the money to ask out the girl he wanted, he recalled, aware that Kim was standing beside him. What irony that she would be here now when he was in no position to do anything except enjoy the smoky sound of her voice and remember the face that had been a frequent visitor to his adolescent dreams.

The thing he hated the most—feared the most—his blindness, had brought her to him. Temporarily.

But it didn’t change the fact that under other circumstances she’d be far out of his reach. Unattainable. And he’d still be one of the guys sitting in the stands, Kim his favorite fantasy.

He silently cursed the fact that though years had passed, their relative positions had remained pretty much the same—she was still the beauty queen, a local celebrity, and he was just a working stiff with ambitions above himself. A blind man who was only too likely to bash into a wall or trip over a crack in the sidewalk.

Buttons licked his hand in greeting, pulling Jay back to the action in the station house. In gratitude, he petted the dog and scratched him between the ears.

“How’d it go?” he called out to the men he couldn’t see.

“Looked like the lady of the house was playing a little hanky-panky in the bedroom with her boyfriend,” Gables replied. “She forgot about the lamb chops in the broiler and they turned into crispy critters with flames shooting up the vent.”

“I figured it for a stove fire this time of day.”

“Yep. Fun part was the lady’s husband came home to check on what was happening. The boyfriend was hard-pressed to explain where he’d left his clothes.”

“Oh, my,” Kim gasped, a quick giggle escaping.

“Not a pretty sight,” Gables added and the rest of the crew joined in with their laughter.

“Sometimes we need a degree in social work in addition to fire-suppression courses,” Jay told Kim, still petting Buttons.

“Yes, I can see that.” She touched his arm lightly, sending an arc of desire through him. “Look, I think I’d better be going. Would you walk me back to my car?”

For a panicky moment, he searched for an excuse to keep her around—a few minutes longer. An hour. He’d settle for whatever he could get. He didn’t want her to leave. And he didn’t have any right to ask her to stay.

“Hey, I’ve got a great idea,” he said, knowing he was being a fool.

“Why does that make me feel like I ought to be running for cover?” Skepticism laced her voice as though she’d just announced some heavy-handed politician had promised never to take a campaign contribution from his favorite lobbying group.

“Kim, sweetheart, you’ve got to learn to be more trusting of men.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I just figured—since you were so worried about me—that you’d like to help me train Buttons to be my Seeing Eye dog.”

“Your what?” she gasped.

“You were the one who suggested I get a dog. Buttons will be great, won’t you fella?” With exaggerated affection, he scratched the dalmatian’s coat.

“I thought you were going to harness your cat.”

“I promise Cat won’t feel displaced. I’ll make it up to him by giving him some extra Cheerios in the morning.”

Kim sputtered a laugh. The man was absolutely impossible, and more than a little endearing. “Just how do you propose training Buttons to be your guide dog?”

“He’s got a leash around here someplace.” As if he could actually see, he glanced around the large garage that housed the fire trucks. “Hey, Gables, can you get me Buttons’s leash?”

“Sure.” Mike jogged to the back of the building and returned a moment later with a leather leash. “Here you go.” He flashed Kim a questioning look.

She shrugged, mouthing, “Don’t ask.”

Jay bent down and snapped the leash onto Buttons’s collar. “Okay, we’ll think of this as a trial run. Buttons, heel.”

The dog immediately complied with the order.

“Good dog.” Jay grinned and rose to his feet. “Buttons, forward.”

Jay and the dog began striding toward the open bay doors, and Kim was pushed to keep up with them, forced to hurry in her high heels. Darned if it didn’t look like this experiment might—

“Jay, stop!”

He halted, turned back, frowning. “What’s wrong now?”

She caught up with him. “I think it would be safer if you walked on the sidewalk instead of in the middle of the street.”