Light up the Night (Firehouse Three #2)(11)

“You guys are just easier to relate to than those giant sexy firefighters.” She ruffled the dog’s ears as she turned the water bowl over and began filling it from the jug she held. The dog licked her arm repeatedly, his thick tail whacking the sides of the crate.

“Calm down, baby. You’re going to get to go for a walk soon.”

With that, she glanced over her shoulder. It was time for the next shift to come and take over. The last two had already turned in both their animals and the donations they had managed to get from the milling crowd at the art festival.

She had to hand it to Allison. This really was an excellent idea so far. They had pulled in over $900 in donations, and it was only three quarters of the way through the first day. The bachelor auction was tonight, and if people gave anywhere near as generously as Allison had suggested, then Everly wouldn’t have to worry about bills for a couple of months. It was a cushion that could help her breathe, for sure.

With thoughts of the fundraiser on her mind, she moved to the front of the booth. Where was that schedule? Charlie had been coordinating with the fire department and Allison to fill the volunteer slots for the booth. But surely someone else was supposed to be here by now?

Rifling through some papers, she finally spotted the corner of the yellow sheet that Charlie had been checking off all morning. Scanning the document quickly, her eyes lighted on the timeslot.

2 p.m. Kyle Winters and Drake—

“Hi, again.”

Her eyes had seen his name at the same time she heard his voice, and her heart did a double backflip. “Hi.”

He smiled at her then, and her body froze in place. She couldn’t so much as blink.

“Been stuck up any trees recently?”

And just like that, her frozen flesh thawed instantly from the heat of her temper.

“No, I haven’t. But I bet you’ve been a smartass every moment we’ve been apart.”

His startled laugh almost wrung a smile from her, but she smothered the expression quickly. Damn him, he didn’t deserve that kind of expression from her. Not with the way he bossed her around and needled her by turns.

“You’re right. My momma would be ashamed.”

“She should be,” Everly sniffed. She wasn’t sure whether she should be grateful or irritated that the other fireman volunteer chose that moment to wander up.

“Miss Pitts?” The red-haired man smiled as Drake moved aside. “Hi, I’m Kyle Winters.”

For some reason, with Drake there, Everly didn’t have nearly the same amount of trouble forming coherent sentences with the muscled and burly Kyle that she normally would have. Kyle was as tall as Drake, but stockier, with a well-groomed reddish beard and brilliant blue eyes. Definitely the kind of man that intimidated the shit out of Everly usually, but today? She was okay. Weird.

“Nice to meet you, Kyle. Did Charlie get both of you the information about how today’s going to work?”

Kyle and Drake both nodded.

“Great. Kyle, are you comfortable with dogs?”

Kyle grinned. “My dad’s been a K-9 officer since I was in elementary school. I used to help him work his canines on the weekends.” He ruffled the hair that curled at his nape. “I miss them, actually. My roommate is allergic, so I can’t have a dog at home now.”

“Great. You can take Lila around. She’s a Dane/Shepherd mix. Huge, sweet as can be, but not the brightest kid in class. She loves people though. Think you can handle her?”

Kyle knelt beside the largest crate, offering his knuckles to Lila. “We’ll get along just fine.”

With Kyle settled, seemingly overjoyed to be in the company of a four-legged furbaby for the first time in a while, Everly turned her attention to Drake, who was standing at the corner of the booth with his hands in his pockets. He was eyeing the line of crates at the back of the booth with some consternation.

“What about you? Are you comfortable with dogs?”

“I like them okay. But the only one I’ve spent a lot of time with is Hunter’s pit bull, Elsa. Never walked one on a leash before.”

She shouldn’t. She really, really shouldn’t.

She was going to anyway.

“Well, in that case, I’ve got the perfect dog for you. Come here.”

Smiling much too brightly, she reached over and grabbed his hand to pull him toward a medium-sized crate in the corner.

Taking her revenge for the way he’d teased her shouldn’t be this much fun.



For some reason, the overly bright smile on Everly’s face made the hair on the back of Drake’s neck stand on end. As she dragged him to the back corner of the booth, and then knelt down in front of a small-ish crate, an ominous sense of foreboding accompanied his nervous laugh.

“This is Gossamer,” Everly said as she swung open the cage door and reached inside. A weird, wheezy sound with several exuberant snorts emanated from the creature Everly produced.

It was a tan-colored, squish-faced, fat little bastard of an animal.

“What is that?” Drake didn’t know whether to pity it or congratulate it for surviving while looking that ugly.

“Like I said, this is Gossamer. She’s a pug, well, mostly. I think there might be some Chihuahua and rat terrier in there too. Other than the smell and the looks, she’s a really good dog.”