Flirting With Fire (Hometown Heroes) (7 page)

“You really
think that’s safe, subjecting the kids to so much testosterone?”

Sarah laughed.
“They’ll live. And maybe,” she added, walking with me toward the front door, “by
then you’ll be ready to spill about who’s caught your eye this week.”

Damn, she’s
good.
I opened my mouth to deny her claim, then snapped it shut and shook
my head in defeat.

* * * *

Brittany caught me on my way out to lunch Thursday. “I filled in your break at two with one
of your regulars. Hope that’s okay?”

“That depends,”
I said with arched brow. “Which regular?”

“Torrunn
MacKay.”

“Yeah, I guess
I’ll manage.”

We exchanged a
wink, and I headed downstairs. No Wendy’s for me today. Nope, I was heading out
to some nearby popular hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant. Tony had told me about
it this morning, and I’d had Sesame Chicken on the brain ever since.

The air outside
was crisp, the sun blinding against a clear blue sky. Signs of spring were all
around me, with buds peeking out on the trees lining my walk. In Autumn Lake, I’d always packed my lunch. Stayed inside all day and missed out on the
sunshine. Why step outside when there was nowhere to go and eat beside my
lonely apartment?

But here I had
so many choices even within walking distance! I dragged in a long, deep breath
and smiled. Now
this
was the life. I continued down the sidewalk,
soaking it all in, when the cry of a siren rose above the usual, midday city clatter.
Two fortyish-looking women, one wearing a charcoal gray pantsuit, the other in
a flowery, spring dress, paused at the street corner ahead of me.

“Uh oh. Must be
another accident,” said Ms. Pantsuit, shielding her eyes as she squinted in the
direction of the sound.

Ms. Dress shook
her head. “Or another fire. Did you hear about the one over here on Friday?”

“In the alley?
Yeah, scary that it happened so close to us. And in broad daylight! Do you
think the Ball Diamond Firebug is back?”

“I don’t know.
He can’t be out of jail already, can he?”

The crosswalk
signal changed and they hurried off, taking their conversation—and their
worries—with them. It was too beautiful a day for me to waste it getting
wrapped up in someone else’s gossip. Besides, the sirens didn’t necessarily
mean something horrible had happened—Torrunn told me they get called out on all
sorts of runs, from car accidents to kittens stuck in trees.

Torrunn.

A smile bloomed
on my face. His was definitely the nicest body to visit my massage table all
week. Truth be told, most days I didn’t really notice body shapes or sizes,
furriness or odors. The massage oils I prefer tend to mask most scents, and my
mind is usually too focused on chasing knots or loosening tight muscles to stop
and consider the ‘total package’.

But then along
comes Mr. Abs who offers me a table full of whoa-baby, and now I find myself
looking a little closer at everyone else. Not a good habit to get into, with
the lineup of Dawn’s other clients, bless their hearts. Though most were sweet
as can be, they just weren’t nearly as…yum.

I still couldn’t
understand what he saw in Bunni, because I sure as heck wasn’t seeing it. From
the few encounters I’d had with the woman, she seemed to be his polar opposite.
Where he was jovial and laid back, she was high-strung and paranoid. Maybe she
knew he was too good for her. Maybe she knew he could do better.

Maybe I should
stop judging people I hardly know. Because truthfully? It didn’t matter one bit
what I thought. If they were happy together, then more power to them. I never
dated my clients, so it wasn’t like I had anything to gain or lose one way or another.

The Sesame
Chicken was fantastic, but I forced myself to only eat half the heaping
plateful. I didn’t want to be overstuffed and bloated all afternoon. So I had
them box up the rest, and then I headed back out the door. I paused on the
sidewalk, though, debating which way to take back to work: the way I came, or
the long way around the block to burn a few extra calories. A quick glance at
my watch found I had plenty of time to spare, so I opted for the longer walk.

It’d help keep
my girlish figure.

I caught
repeated glimpses of my reflection in the windows of the other restaurants and
shops on West Wayne, and cast myself a critical eye. It was always easier to
appreciate—or chastise—everyone but yourself. At five foot six, I was of
average height. And my weight was fine by me, I guess. It was just these darned
curves that I wasn’t sure about. So many of today’s models were stick-straight,
and the clothes on racks across the country seemed to be catered to them. That
made shopping for jeans a real pain, and meant a lot of shirts felt a bit tight
across my chest—not that I’d trade my beautiful D’s for the world.

I continued on
and sighed. Now was not the time to go and get all hypersensitive about my
appearance. Especially not before Torrunn arrived. I was usually fairly sure of
myself, but something about him left me second-guessing just about everything. Which
was ridiculous—he was just a silly client of mine, nothing more. Who cared what
he thought?

* * * *

“You alright?”

Torrunn’s back had
tensed once more beneath my touch. “Yeah. Back’s just giving me grief today.”

I stood at the
head of the table, pushing and pulling at the wall of muscles along each side
of his spine with my fingertips. It was going to be another long, tiring
session, but the view was well worth the price of admission.

“Really? I’d
never have guessed.”

He chuckled, and
the tension in his shoulders ratcheted down a notch. “Guess I should have
called ahead and warned you, huh?”

“No,” I said
with a grunt. “I’ll just charge you double.”

“Is that why you
came to work here?” he said now through clenched teeth. “Because your old
clients got fed up with extra fees and ran you out of town?”

“No. I left
because the place I worked closed.”

“That stinks.
You liking it here so far?”

I shrugged, and
walked around to his right side. “I am. But it’s temporary, of course. Once
Dawn comes back, I’ll be moving on again.”

“Give me some
warning before that happens, will you?”

“Why’s that?”

“Because you’re
a freaking miracle worker, that’s why. I walked out of here on Monday feeling
like a new man. Nothing against Dawn, but she’s been going way too easy on me.”

A smile tugged
at my lips. “I’m glad I could help. When she comes back, though, just ask her
to apply more pressure. Sometimes it’s a guessing game for us, whether or not
we’re being hard enough on you.”

Hard enough on
you?

One. I get one
hot guy on my table and my mind goes straight to the gutter!

Torrunn
chuckled, the pitch deep and low. “Sometimes a good beating is exactly what I
need.”

I broke into a
cold sweat. Time to change the subject, and fast. “So, I tried a new place for
lunch today. The Crooked Wok. Ever been there?”

“Actually, it’s
one of my downtown favorites. But wait, go back a second. After Dawn returns
from maternity leave, where will you go?”

“I have no idea.
Hopefully, by then I’ll have saved up enough money to open my own place.”

“Cool. You
thinking a spa like this?”

“Oh, no. I don’t
want to have to manage a bunch of employees. Just something small, probably out
of my house.”

“Ah, keeps you
off the police radar, too. You’ll be able to offer those
happy endings
and no one will know.”

I gave his
ribcage a little poke. The last happy ending I’d heard of cost me my job, and
it wasn’t even my fault. “There will be no happy endings on my table, Mister.”

“A cryin’
shame,” he said with a wince.

I felt his back
tense back up in response. Even so, it’d been worth it.

A happy ending
in my massage room? Not on my watch.

“So, what’d you
get?”

“Sorry?” I
asked.

“For lunch.
What’d you get?”

“Sesame Chicken,”
I said, glad the subject had reverted back to something safe. “And I have to
say, it totally rocked.”

“Mmm, that’s one
of my favorites, too.”

We spent awhile
exchanging our favorite Chinese dishes, which then spun into that scene from
A
Christmas Story
. Fa-ra-ra and all that jazz. He was ridiculously easy to
talk to, and I couldn’t help but be at least a little jealous of Bunni. Surely
there had to be someone out there like this for me?

“Okay, big guy.
I’m going to have you turn over now.”

He shifted
around then stilled. I straightened the sheet over him, then pulled the wheeled
stool over to the head of the table. Since he hadn’t mentioned doing anything
to aggravate his legs, I figured today was a good candidate for some head and
neck therapy. I traced my index fingers up along the bridge of his nose, then just
above each brow I dragged them in opposite directions toward his temples. His eyes
closed, his shoulders relaxed, and his breathing deepened once more.

I watched his
face while I worked, savoring the sight of his perfect nose, long, dark lashes,
and full, pink lips. Seriously, the guy had missed his calling. He’d give Ryan
Reynolds a run for his money at the movies any day of the week.

“So why’d you
become a fireman, anyway?”

His eyes opened,
and he stared unfocused at the ceiling. “When I was a kid, one of our
neighbors’ houses caught fire. I remember watching from my bedroom window as
the fire truck arrived and the battle began. They saved the house, and everyone
inside.”

“That must have
been a scary sight for such a little boy.”

“It was.” He
fell silent for a moment. “So, how about you?”

“Why did I
become a fireman? Because of my stocky build and ability to blow out fires with
a single huff and puff, what did you think?”

“Nice,” he said
with a grin. “No, I mean why did you become a massage therapist?”

“Well, like you,
the idea formed in my mind when I was young. I had an aunt with chronic back
pain. She was always so much fun to be around, but when the pain would set in,
she’d be nearly incapacitated. Then one day she went to a therapist, and came
back home looking good as new and telling everyone what a miracle it was.

“I’d always
known I wanted to do something to help people. But the whole nurse or doctor
thing just never interested me. With reflexology, I can interact with my
clients and help ease their daily aches and pains. And by doing that, I always
leave work feeling better myself.”

 “Liz the
giver.”

I laughed. “Um,
yeah, something like that. It’s too bad I’m not better around blood and gore,
or maybe I’d really be able to help people”

“Oh,” he said.
“I bet you help them more than you know.”

CHAPTER
7

I dug through my
front closet Friday evening, cursing as I looked for the twin to the leather
sandal in hand. Kim had swapped a pedicure for an hour massage with me today,
and I wanted to show off my pretty pink toes. Maybe then Sarah would see that
me working in Fort Wayne wasn’t
all
bad. And maybe it’d distract her
from interrogating me about my latest crush.

Well, one could
only hope.

After I’d
emptied the closet and still not found my sandal’s mate, I sat back on my
haunches and sighed. “Yet another reason I never bother with pedicures. What
good does it do you to pretty up your feet if no one else can see them?”

My cell phone
rang, and I tossed the orphaned leather sandal onto the heap of shoes now
cluttering my living room.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetheart.
Everything alright?”

I headed down
the tiny hallway toward my bedroom. “Oh, yeah. Just trying to find a pair of
sandals to wear over to Sarah’s. I actually got a pedicure this week.”

“Oooh, a
pedicure. I haven’t had one in, well let’s see. At least a few weeks.”

I rolled my
eyes. My mother had always been more hip than me. Moving to Indy only seemed to
widen the gap. “Well, this was my first in years. Probably since Ball State.”

“You really must
treat yourself to one more often, dear.”

“I never had
time before,” I said, flipping on the light to my bedroom closet. There,
peeking out from beneath my small row of dresses, was that darned second
sandal. I snatched it up and headed back out to the living room. “But at my new
job, if we have down time the owner doesn’t mind us swapping services with each
other. This gal, Kim? Oh my gosh, Mom. She was incredible.”

“Hmm, I might
just have to make a trip north and try her out for myself.”

“That’d be
cool.” I slid my feet into the sandals and wiggled my toes. Yep, Sarah was sure
to notice this. “Maybe we could do dinner and shop after I got off work, too.”

There was a pause
on the other end.

“Mom?”

“Yes, sorry,
dear. I…I thought you just invited me up to
shop
.”

“I did, didn’t
I?” I laughed and plopped down on my couch.

Her laughter
mirrored mine. “Sounds like someone’s enjoying city life.”

Enjoy nothing—I
truly loved Fort Wayne and the perpetual bustle going on all around me.
Everywhere I went, there were sure to be other people out doing their own
thing. Business men and women walking to and from appointments, teenagers
riding bikes or sneaking a push on a skateboard down the alleys.

The alley—not my
favorite place. As the newbie at work, I’d been assigned to take out the trash
nearly every day this week. It was no big deal, really, except for the fact
that our dumpster sat at the back corner of our building between it and a
crowded parking lot. That gave miscreants about a hundred different hiding
places. My imagination had run wild on me this afternoon, when I swore I’d
heard the sound of rapidly retreating footsteps as I made my way to the
dumpster. I shook my head and pushed the memory aside.