All Fired Up Read Online Free Page B

that now she was out of the academy, this harassment would cease.
    Footsteps sounded loudly behind her. She spun around to see Dave glaring at her. “Reece, this is not a high school. You are a professional firefighter. I will not tolerate tardiness from any of my officers. Never be late for parade again.”
    His words made her flinch inwardly, such was the sharpness of their delivery. Her head spun all of a sudden, and she felt faint.
    “Are you sick? You look very pale.” His tone, still obviously angry, was just slightly more gentle. She couldn’t speak, and looked down at the floor as she felt tremors begin to creep up her body, making her shake. He took a step toward her, and pulled open the locker door that she was holding onto. His face darkened as he gazed at the photo of the two naked people engaged in a sex act.
    “Sonofabitch!” He growled as realization hit. “That’s you!” He reached in and tore down the photograph, and ripped it into little pieces. Then he turned on his heel, marched out of the locker room, and disappeared from sight.
    With shaking hands, she closed the locker and sat down on the bench seat behind her. She put her hands up to her face and bent her head, resting there. After what seemed like ages, she heard the two fire units return. Noisy chatter and the sounds of cleaning the trucks and checking equipment filled the fire station. She slowly got to her feet and went out to take over her job of refilling the onboard water tanks.
    The men chatted amongst themselves as they worked. “Nasty car accident. Two hurt quite badly. We had to use the jaws to free ’em.”
    “Yeah Jerry, they were sure lucky. They nearly bought it.”
    She listened to Jerry and Curren talking, trying to clear the hazy fog in her brain. One of these men—these nice, upstanding and heroic men—was an asshole, trying to discredit her. Her thoughts zipped through her head. Why? Why would they do this?
    The image of her, naked with that jerk from the academy, seared her brain. How did it come to end up in her locker? Heck, she didn’t even know anyone here at Hillwood. And she wasn’t at all sure who took the photo that horrible night. A chill shot up her spine. What if there were more photos? Maybe someone was not content with just embarrassing or discrediting the new officer—maybe they were trying to blackmail her!
    The end-of-shift horn couldn’t come soon enough, but when it did, she finally let out a loud sigh, slowly grabbed her things and headed down the corridor toward the exit.
    “Reece. Can you come in here please?”
    Damn! Dave was the last person she wanted to talk to today. She entered his office and stood just inside the doorway, her backpack slung over one shoulder.
    “Come in and close the door.”
    Suddenly, she felt the heat of a blush rise on her cheeks. This was no time to remember what happened—in this very office—less than twenty-four hours ago.
    He rose from behind his desk and came around to stand in front of her. She looked at his chest, then, slowly, raised her gaze up to his face. He regarded her steadily. Emotions churned inside her. Humiliation, guilt, embarrassment. She felt like running out of his office. How could she keep working here after what she’d done in such a short time? He’s probably going to ask me to go to another fire station jurisdiction, she thought.
    “Who is it? In the photo. How come you’re…fucking him…on a fire truck?”
    The room suddenly began to spin. He reached out and grabbed her by the upper arms, steadying her.
    “C’mon. Sit down.” He helped her to a chair, and sat on the edge of his desk with his arms folded, looking intently at her.
    She cleared her throat. “Pete. Pete Monaghan. He was in my first year class at the academy. We had a…brief fling. After a party.” She looked up at Dave with tear-filled eyes. “I had no idea that someone was…watching. I knew we shouldn’t have done it at the academy, but…”
    His face was