Free Payback: The Men of Firehouse 69 by Lori Toland Page A

her pink cheeks to her hand holding her robe closed. Had it
suddenly just occurred to her she stood in front of three grown men who now had
fires of their own to put out?
    “Don’t be too rough on
Ronnie. She did the right thing. As long as you’re both safe, that’s all that
really matters,” he said, trying to comfort her, although he didn’t dare touch
her again. Not while she was dressed like that.
    “Well, actually,” Bud
said. “Since you misused the emergency services in such a manner, we’ll need
you to undergo a special training session on fire safety.”
    Andre whirled on his
co-worker, about to ask him what he was doing, but Bud winked and nodded at
him, silently encouraging him to play along. Did Bud really think Melanie was
going to fall for a line like that?
    But he and Brian used
to do just that, because Mel had been such an easy target. She would believe
anything, especially if it came from a trustworthy source like a fireman. He
and her brother Brian had played many pranks on her in high school. She’d
stomped off yelling about how Brian needed to watch his back.
    He enjoyed her spitfire
anger then, especially when he didn’t have to bear the weight of her fury; her
brother felt the true pain later. Her fiery green eyes would flame at him
before the door to her room slammed shut. That had been ten years ago; she had
changed a lot since then.
    “Oh, well, we really
didn’t misuse the services. Ronnie just panicked,” Mel said, covering her mouth
with her hand.
    “In the eyes of the
law, Miss, you committed a crime,” Bud said gravely, although a small smile
broke through his serious attitude.
    Andre stopped his mouth
from dropping open. He had no idea she was still so gullible but then Bud
played the part so well that Andre almost believed him too. The need to protect
her welled inside him.
     “The course doesn’t
take very long, just an hour or so,” Bud continued on. “There’s a test too. One
of us could do that anytime for you. All you have to do is—”
    His co-worker couldn’t
have been more obvious in pursing Mel if he begged at her feet. It was time to
shut this down, because Mel was better than all the guys here, including
himself.
    Andre cut Bud off.
“I’ll do the course for her.”
    Bud gaped at him
momentarily but when Andre glared at him, he chuckled. “Well there you go,
Miss. Andre will get you all squared away with a fine new certificate.”
    Her cheeks flamed as
she nodded, and then she glanced at him. “At least it’s with you, Andre. It’ll
be like old times,” Mel said. “Thank you for taking time out of your busy day.”
    Did she really mean
that? For him, old times meant sitting in a chair at his best friend’s house
watching her skip around the pool in a bikini and feeling dirty about lusting
after her as he tried to will down his erection before anyone saw it. “S-sure,”
he stammered.
    She looked at him like
he was her savior and guilt stabbed him in the gut. He should tell her that his
teammates were just being assholes; in fact when he got back to the station, he
was going to choke them for doing this to her.
    She shivered and
twisted her hands nervously. “So when should we do this course?”
    Bud spoke up. “Andre
finishes his shift in a few hours. He can come over then.”
    Andre glared at Bud,
who chuckled and took the cue well, backing off. Bud was correct; Andre didn’t
have any plans for when he got off shift but he might have. He almost scowled
but when he glanced at Mel, he tried to appear friendly. “Yeah, I can.”
    She smiled. “Sounds
great. Should we say… just after six?”
    He nodded and when he
looked over to glare at Bud, he saw the two men had walked back to the truck
already, leaving him hanging in the wind by himself. He hefted the bag on his
shoulder and waved. “I’ll be here.”
    Andre followed them out
and stowed the equipment. He managed to keep his anger in check and stay silent
until the truck was back at the