Love Under Two Jessops (23 page)

Grant frowned. And then he nodded. “For days afterward I convinced myself it had been a dream, that I’d somehow lost consciousness during that jump—or rather, during that Godawful landing.” He met Andrew’s eyes, and then put his gaze on their woman.

“We were jumping to help battle a fire. I was nearly down when my chute got torn by a high tree branch and I more or less plummeted the last twenty feet.”

“My God, baby, you could have been killed!”

“I know. Landed badly, suffered a very bad sprain to my left ankle—and broke my left arm, too.”

“Poor you. That must have hurt something awful.”

“Not near as much as all the damn coddling I got once I came back to Lusty,” Grant said.

Chloe smiled. “So tell me about your grandfather.”

Grant shrugged, and Andrew could see his embarrassment. “I was lying there on the ground, more than a little dazed. Closed my eyes for a moment and felt someone kneel over me. Figured it for one of my jump buddies. Opened my eyes and…” The expression in his brother’s eyes changed, and Andrew shivered from a sudden chill. “I wondered for a moment if I was dead, because there was Grandpa Pat—Patrick Benedict, one of Kate’s husbands. He gave me that quick grin—remember how he’d do that when he was being a little sneaky, Andy?”

“Yeah, I remember. You couldn’t help but grin right back at him.”

“Yeah. Anyway, he said, ‘You’re not dead, boyo, just a little messed up. One of your team will be here in a bit.’ Then he reached over and touched my arm, and, swear to God, the pain eased right up. Then he said, ‘It’s time for you to head back to Lusty. She needs you.’ Then he was gone, and Jimmy arrived. Then, I passed out.”

Andrew knew Grant felt most embarrassed about the fact that he did pass out.

“At the time, I thought Patrick meant that
Lusty
needed me. But not long after we came home, we met you.” He leaned over and kissed Chloe. “Now I know he was talking about you.”

“And you fought it,” Chloe grinned.

“I did. But I can’t say why, because I love you, and you’re the best damned thing that ever happened to me.”

“I’ll second that.” Andrew kissed her. His tongue stole into her mouth, and he gathered her taste—a flavor he knew he would never be able to live without.

“I don’t know what happens next. I thought—” Chloe stopped, and Andrew flicked a quick look at his brother, and then focused on her again.

“You thought what, Chloe-doe?”

“In my head, I thought I wanted to find something that would be forever. Then Beck proposed and I had to turn him down, because I knew I didn’t love him enough.”

“No shame in that, sweetheart.”

“No. But now I’ve fallen in love with you both, and it’s the kind of love I’ve always dreamed of…”

“And you’re still scared of making a commitment.”

Grant said it, but Andrew nodded. They’d talked about it, briefly, when they’d headed off to get her last night.

“Yes. And I feel ashamed of that fact. Like I said, it’s not you. It’s
me
.”

“As long as you don’t push us away, Chloe, we can work on it.”

“Don’t push us away, baby girl. You love us, and we love you. The rest will happen in time.”

“But what if it doesn’t?”

Andrew could see how worried she was. He didn’t want that. Hell, after all she’d been through, not just since she was seventeen, but lately, how could anyone expect her to act as if none of that had happened?

“One day at a time, Chloe-doe. One day at a time.” And then, because he guessed she needed to be distracted, he lifted her up and laid her on top of him. “Kiss me, please.”

Chloe shook her head, and gave him a little smile. And then,
thank you God
, she lowered her mouth to his.

He kissed her, his arms encircling her, his tongue drinking her. Andrew knew the truth with absolute clarity, even if their woman didn’t. If they kept loving on her this way, they could love her fears, and her insecurities, away.

For now, having her in their bed, and her lips on his, was heaven. And Andrew vowed they’d stay in heaven for as long as it took.

Life was good.

Hell, life was better than good, and Grant figured that he was one of the two luckiest men in the world.

His attention drifted away from his computer screen. He gazed out his office window, but his mind was just taking a break to appreciate all he had to be thankful for.

He and Andrew were both fortunate enough to spend their lives pursuing their dream of being firefighters. And, best of all, they both had the woman of their dreams in their bed
most
of the time.

Since that one night a couple of weeks before, they’d convinced Chloe to stay with them most nights, and, more importantly, to bring some of her stuff over, so it would be there when she needed it.

There was one drawer in the master bedroom that held her lingerie, and another that had jeans and shirts. Her toothbrush occupied the same glass theirs did.

Not much, but it’s a start.

Neither of them would push for more for a little while. Her spa was scheduled to open in just eleven days, so they both understood she was preoccupied with that and understandably a little tense.

They’d give her a couple more weeks before taking their relationship to the next level.

Grant finished his e-mail to the International Association of Arson Investigators in Granbury. He and Andrew both wanted to embrace as many aspects of fighting and controlling fires as possible. Arson Investigation was the next step. They both wanted to take the necessary courses to become certified arson investigators. Only one of them could pursue that avenue at a time, as they still had responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the Lusty Fire Department. But that wasn’t a problem.

They were as used to doing things one at a time as they were together.

“Hey, Grant, do you have a minute?”

“Sure.” His cousins, Warren and Edward Jessop—Lusty’s two EMTs—stood at the doorway as if they were waiting outside the principal’s office.

The woman that takes these two on is going to have to be a saint.

The men came in and didn’t sit down until he gestured for them to do so.

“What’s up, guys?”

Warren was two years, and Edward three years younger than Grant. This meant that while they’d known each other all their lives, they’d never hung out together when they were teens, or even much before. He did know that the two tended to keep to themselves, and that they took their roles as the towns EMTs very seriously—practically to the exclusion of all else.

They’re as much nerds, in their way, as the geek boys.
It wasn’t the first time that Grant thought of his close cousins as being more like Josh and Alex Benedict in temperament than they were anyone else in the Jessop branch of the family.

He waited while the two men looked at each other. Finally, Warren turned to him. “You and Andrew are the fire chiefs now.”

“That’s right, we are.” Grant knew his cousins well enough to understand that in any conversations with them, patience was always the only option.

“So you’re the next step up in our chain of command. Before, there was a shift coordinator, but no actual fire chief. And more often than not we took our direction from your dads. But the chain of command was murky.”

Grant nodded. “The dads were in charge when, as EMTs, you would communicate with the doctors in the course of performing your duties out in the field. That still doesn’t change, when you’re on scene. Even if it’s Rob or David you’re in communication with.”

“Exactly, that part hasn’t changed. But the rest of it did a couple of months ago when the Town Trust decided to offer a more full-service fire department. So that makes you and Andrew our bosses when we’re not on scene.”

“Yes, it does.”

The men looked at each other again, and Grant continued to wait.

After a moment, Edward said, “We need help.”

Grant bit the inside of his cheek. The urge to make a smart-ass comment was there, but he ignored it. “All right. In what way?”

“There are only the two of us. And it’s not that we can’t manage, and it’s certainly not a case of our being overworked,” Warren said. “But we’ve been thinking about the growth potential.”

“Since we’ve been on the job, if we take a day off, we could still get called in. That’s not a problem, we really don’t mind, and it’s rarely happened. But, if we want to take a vacation, we can’t do that without leaving the town unprotected.” Edward’s expression reflected the serious nature of his point. “I mean, sure, there are EMTs in outlying communities and of course they would come if needed, but you’re looking at lost time, there. Some of our residents are getting older. Lost time impacts the Golden Hour.”

The Golden Hour referred to the optimum period of time directly following traumatic injury when treatment would be most effective. Grant was easily able to connect the dots. Actually, they had a damn good point.

“Accidents can happen at any place, and at any time,” Warren said. “Not to mention the fact that over the last year or so this town has had more than its fair share of criminal activity.”

Now that last part was also totally true. Grant thought about the most recent incident of “criminal activity,” the incident that had ended up with his sweet Chloe having to kill the man who’d terrorized her sister, and taken
her
hostage.

“So we think someone needs to ask the Town Trust to hire another team of EMTs. We’re willing to give up some of the hours we get now, to make the possibility of employment attractive to the new team. We could switch off shifts, and we could also cover each other for vacation times. Having two teams instead of one just makes sense.”

Grant nodded his head. It did make sense. “All right. If you write up a formal proposal, I’ll put the request in to the Town Trust myself.”

Both men sighed as if a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders. Grant understood why. First, both men—extremely competent EMTs—were very nervous in any situation involving large groups of people not in need of their professional services. Grant’s offer to approach the Town Trust on their behalf likely seemed like a lifesaver to them. Second, and more important, though, if an idea had merit, and made sense, the Town Trust—a body made up of family members—more often than not said yes.

Theirs was a unique, and very logically maintained, community.

“Thanks, Grant. Really.” Warren sprang to his feet as if this
was
the principal’s office and he’d just been given a pass. “We’ll get to work on it now, and have the proposal on your desk by the end of the week.”

“No, thank you, for bringing this need to my attention.” Grant grinned as his cousins exited his office as if their pants were on fire.

Those boys need a woman
. The fact that they weren’t boys and were still unmarried made him think of the few men who, every generation, for one reason or another, never found a partner. Grant shrugged. He’d never given the matter much thought before Chloe came into their lives. Now he couldn’t imagine living his life without her.

This brought him right back to his musings on her over the last couple of weeks. He sensed her defenses were weakening. They simply had to win her. There was no choice in the matter.

They
had
to convince that woman to marry them.

His cell phone started playing The Doors, and Grant answered it immediately. It was Artie Ferris, Fire Chief in Hamilton County.

“Hey, Grant. Listen, I have a situation here, and I’m giving you a heads-up. It looks as if we do indeed have an arsonist on the loose.”

“You’ve had another fire?”

“Actually, we’ve had three. We’re no closer on detecting a culprit, or a pattern, except one.”

“You think he’s working his way toward Benedict County.”

“Yeah, I do. Now, he may just be following the wind, and maybe it doesn’t mean anything. But I think this bastard has an agenda. I wanted you to know, in case his goal
is
to set fires in your county.”

“I appreciate the heads-up. Listen, why don’t Andrew and I come over? You can show us what you’ve got. Maybe between us we can come up with something.”

On the other end of the call, Artie sighed. “I was hoping you’d say that, man. You and your brother have tons more training and experience than the rest of us do. We sure would appreciate picking your brains.”

“We’re glad to help. We’re all in this together, Artie.” Grant agreed to drive over just before lunchtime. Actually meeting with Artie at that particular time would be a good thing.

Chloe and Carrie were going to be meeting with Melvin Richardson for lunch at
Lusty Appetites
today. He and Andrew had not been invited to the meeting—and neither had the cowboys.

Apparently, despite the fact that the four of them had more or less arranged for this investigation to happen, Melvin wanted to speak to the women on their own first.