Fighting the Flames (Firefighter Romance #1)(17)
“Sorry to wake you, Ryan. I thought you’d be up by now.”
“Yeah, it’s okay,” Ryan assured him, running and hand over his morning scruff. “Haven’t been sleeping well lately. Didn’t realize it was nearly ten. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you could help me out with something.”
“Come in.” Ryan stepped aside so Jim could enter. “Coffee?”
“Please.”
It wasn’t odd that Jim had shown up at Ryan’s place, they were friends after all. Ryan filled a pot of coffee, yawning as he poured the water into the coffeemaker and turned it on. “So, what’s up?”
“I have a new tenant moving in next door and she needs some help getting her stuff in. She’s down on her luck. No job, no house, family can’t help, something about her sister’s kids.”
Ryan stifled a groan. Helping a total stranger was not how he wanted to spend his day off, but he really couldn’t tell Jim no. “You and your charity cases.” Ryan laughed. “She doesn’t have a boyfriend or husband to help her?”
“No, and she’s not a charity case. She lost everything in a fire. Surely you can sympathize with that.”
Ryan’s thoughts immediately jumped to Jess but he quickly dismissed the idea. What were the odds of that happening? Still, the ‘what ifs’ rumbled through his brain.
He shook his head. “Fine, I’ll help.” He gathered two mugs from the dish drainer and filled them with coffee. Handing one to Jim, he said, “We’re even after this though.”
“Deal.” Jim smiled.
“When will she be here?” Ryan blew on his coffee before taking a sip. It didn’t help. He still managed to burn his tongue on the hot liquid.
“The moving truck will be here within an hour and—”
“I thought you said she lost everything in a fire. What could she possibly have that requires a moving truck?” Ryan set his coffee on the counter and rummaged around in the cupboard until he found a box of mini-muffins. He opened them and popped one into his mouth, offering some to Jim.
“She used the insurance money to buy new furniture, but they accidentally delivered it to her sister’s house instead of here.”
Ryan chewed and swallowed another muffin. He couldn’t hold it in any longer. He had to know. “So, what’s her name anyway?”
“Jessie. Jessie Taylor.”
Ryan almost choked on his muffin. He coughed until his face was red and his eyes were watering. Jim had to be mistaken. There was no way in hell Jessie, his Jess, was moving in next door. It just wasn’t possible.
“You know her?” Jim asked with a raised brow and a smile.
Taking a drink of his coffee, Ryan nodded. “Yeah, I know her.” He refused to say any more about it though. They finished their coffees, filling the time with idle chit chat. Ryan couldn’t believe Jess was moving in next door. All those years he’d been hoping and praying he’d run into her, to be given another opportunity to make her understand just how much she meant to him. Three years of nothing. Then a week ago, he pulled her out of a burning house, and now she was going to be his neighbor. Fate had a really twisted sense of humor.
He hadn’t recognized her when he’d scooped her out of bed and carried her out of the house that night. Even when he’d handed her off to the EMT’s, he still hadn’t realized. It wasn’t until she came up to him and thanked him that he knew. And it had taken every ounce of self-control he possessed not to wrap her up in his arms and hold onto her for dear life. When he watched her walk away it had really hit him. He could’ve lost her. She could’ve died in that fire. The thought shook him to his core.
If he hadn’t been on duty, he would’ve offered to drive her to her sister’s house or even take her back to his place. But he couldn’t. And knowing she was leaving, knowing she was once again walking out of his life, well, it had been extremely hard to let her go. He thanked God that he was going to get to see her again.
“Moving truck is here,” Jim said a while later. Ryan had taken a shower and shaved, scoffing at himself for taking this much effort.
Ryan’s heart took off like a runaway train. This was it. Jess was here! “Give me a minute and I’ll meet you over there.” Jim left and Ryan went to his room. He yanked on a shirt and slipped his feet into his sneakers. Then he went into the bathroom and sprayed on some cologne, just for good measure. When he arrived next door, he found Jim carrying boxes inside the house. A fat, hairy man sat behind the wheel of the moving truck. There was no sign of Jess.
Ryan grabbed a couple of boxes and went inside. He set them on the floor, went back outside, got a few more and brought them in. Between the two of them, it took less than an hour to unload the moving truck. Jess didn’t have a lot of belongings, but the furniture she did have was heavy. “That’s it,” Ryan said, taking off his shirt and wiping his face with it. It wasn’t even noon yet, and it was blistering hot out.
“I got some cold beer at my place,” Jim said. “We can throw some burgers on the grill.”
Ryan’s stomach growled at the mention of food, his muffins having long deserted him. “Sounds good to me.” He reached for the doorknob at the same time the door swung open, bringing him face-to-face with Jess, who had a pizza box in one hand and a twelve pack of beer in the other. She was wearing a pair of short denim shorts, flip flops, and a tank top with a bra that pushed her breasts up into tempting little mounds. Her sleek black hair was pulled into a ponytail, and her big brown eyes were outlined with a touch of makeup. Her lips were shiny. He wondered if she still used the same lip gloss that tasted like exotic fruit. If he had his way, he’d find out before the day was over.