Free Ride the Fire by Jo Davis Page B

became very warm and she turned to face Shea, leaning on her pool stick.
    Shea straightened from her shot and gave her a curious look. “You okay?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Something going on with you and Sean?”
    Crap. “Why do you say that?”
    “Oh, maybe because the man is ogling you like he’s a lion and you’re a three-legged antelope?”
    “That transparent, huh?”
    “Yep.” The other woman skirted the table and came to stand beside Eve, who grimaced.
    “Great.” She sighed. “Honestly, I have no idea where this is going. Or even if it can go anywhere.”
    “But you want him,” Shea said confidently. “And the consensus is he wants you. Everyone knows that.”
    “What?” she croaked, startled. “Like who?”
    “The guys. Tommy says they figured it out months ago.” She gave Eve’s shoulders a comforting squeeze. “Oh, it was nothing either of you knowingly said or did. Mostly it was the tension between you two that gave it away. But don’t worry—according to Tommy, nobody’s going to say anything bad if something does develop.”
    “But they would get involved. I know those guys.” Not a delightful prospect.
    “Only out of love and concern for you both, nothing more. You know that.”
    She did. Didn’t make it any easier to face them, however. Their female teammate was completely, head-over-heels in love with their captain, a sticky situation that would divide most station houses and turn the workplace into a battle zone.
    She’d quit the department before she’d allow that to happen.
    “Eve? I’m sorry if I’ve overstepped.” Shea bit her lip in worry. “I thought you’d want to know.”
    “No, I’m glad you told me. Forewarned and all that.”
    “Can I ask you a personal question?”
    “Sure.”
    “How long have you been in love with Sean?”
    She took a long look at the man in question, then turned back to Shea. “He had me at 'I’m Sean Tanner and I’m your captain,’ ” she said with a sad smile. “From the second I stepped foot in Station Five, he was my hero. He was the firefighter I aspired to be, had the courage of ten men, and he owned my heart the instant I saw him standing in the bay.”
    Shea sniffed, brushed at her eye with one finger as Eve went on.
    “As badly as I wanted him, it hurt me so much when his family died to see him broken and lost, no longer the man we’d all known. Tell me, Shea . . . do you believe any woman could heal his heart after all he’s lost?”
    Shea had no answer to such an impossible question.
    Unlike Eve, who was very much afraid she did.

    God, why couldn’t he take his eyes off the woman?
    Stupid question. He’d always been attracted to Eve, but he’d been married. Happily, in the beginning. Then in recent years, he and Blair began to have problems and he clamped down on his desire for Eve. He wasn’t the sort of man who’d cheat on his wife, and he certainly wasn’t going down that path with a colleague.
    Even if he strongly suspected Blair hadn’t remained true to their vows.
    Then he’d been widowed, his children dead, and he’d disappeared inside himself.
    But the forbidden yearning hadn’t died along with the rest of his life. If anything, his feelings had strengthened into . . . he didn’t know. Was afraid to find out.
    “Um, earth to Sean?”
    “What?” He blinked at Tommy.
    “I said, I heard you’re going to participate in the fire department’s bachelor auction thing.”
    “Howard didn’t give me much choice.” He curled his lip at Six-Pack, but the big guy just snickered along with everyone else.
    “Hey, you’ll be the coolest guy there. For your age, anyway,” Tommy drawled.
    “Very funny, kid. What about you? Isn’t the fire marshal’s branch participating?”
    “Yes, but without me. Shea made it clear that I’m off the market.” The younger man looked smug about it, too.
    “I’m gonna do it,” Six-Pack said. “We all are, right?” The others agreed.
    “But Grace informed me she’d