Free Burning Up by Sami Lee Page A

time and she’d been too stupid to see what a gem he was.
    The news that everyone was safely out of the science block traveled to them soon enough, and both women breathed a sigh of relief. Still, the team of firemen remained inside the building for a long while, searching for flare ups. The teachers got the okay to take the students back to the unaffected buildings and Pam did it, all the time thinking what’s taking so long? What if there was a flare up and Steve got caught in it?
    Erica was right. Pam was obsessing over his safety. She was a total goner.
    Having heard what happened—more than one kid had taken a photo of the smoking building and posted it to Facebook—parents began arriving to take their children home early. Pam oversaw their departures from her class, all the while keeping an eye on the fire truck and the men milling around it. Maybe they’d finally finished their search, because there they were, taking off their helmets. Pam saw Rob’s golden hair, she recognized Mitch West and one other guy whose name she couldn’t quite recall.
    No Steve.
    Why wasn’t Steve out?
    Pam couldn’t stand the tension of waiting any longer. She asked the few remaining kids she was supervising to wait in the class next door. Then she stalked across the grounds, heading for the car park.
    “Rob!”
    Rob turned when she called his name, flashing his smile when he recognized her. “Hey, Pam.”
    “Is it over?” she asked. “Where’s Steve?”
    “He’s doing a final check of the rooms. He’s always got to do a final check. He’s obsessive compulsive about putting out fires.”
    When Rob had the audacity to smile, Pam withered him with a fierce look. “That’s funny? He’s in there by himself and you’re laughing?”
    Rob’s expression sobered. “He’ll be right out, Pam. It was a small fire in one of the classrooms, a science experiment gone wrong. The flames were mostly out by the time we got here. We’re only taking precautions.”
    “He’ll be right out? You promise?”
    “Yeah.” He smiled again and this time it was a comfort. He put an arm around her shoulders. “Come here.”
    When he drew her close to his body, Pam leaned into him willingly. Rob rubbed soothing circles over her back and slowly the stress of the last hour began to seep out of her. She held on to some of it though. She wouldn’t feel completely at ease until she saw Steve and knew for sure he was all right.
    After a moment, Pam pulled back. It was easy to do. As nice as it was to receive comfort from Rob, there was no real magnetism keeping them together, no sexual heat. He was as handsome as sin, but he simply didn’t make her heart skip beats. Pam couldn’t remember if he ever had.
    She peered up at his face. “I lied to you, Rob.”
    “About?”
    “About being twenty-eight.”
    “Ah.” He shrugged, appearing chagrinned. “I lied to you about being twenty-five.”
    “Really? How old are you?”
    “Twenty-three.”
    All this time she’d been berating herself for being attracted to a man seven years her junior, when in fact he was… “Oh my God. You’re nine years younger than me.”
    Rob used his fingers to count up from twenty-three. When he got to twenty-nine, Pam smacked his hand. “That’s far enough. If you can’t work it out quicker than that, you don’t deserve to know.”
    He chuckled. “So you’re in your thirties. Big deal. If I wanted to go out with you, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference to me. You didn’t need to lie.”
    “ You didn’t need to lie.”
    “Oh, yes, I did.” He laughed. “You’ve got the hang-up about it.”
    Pam crossed her arms over her chest. He had a point there. There was no way she could see herself dating a twenty-three-year-old. “Well, I suppose it’s lucky for me we’re not going to go out then.”
    “Lucky for both of us. Steve would kill me if I asked.”
    “He would?” Pam stared at Rob in shock. “Why?”
    Rob rolled his eyes. “I might be nine