Hard to Resist - By Kara Lennox Page 0,19

returned to their tasks.

“Why do they have to be such jerks?” Priscilla wondered aloud as she resumed her ineffective mopping.

Ethan actually laughed. “Count your blessings, Pris. Last week they were ignoring us, looking right through us. This week they’re harassing us. I think it’s a step up.”

CHAPTER FIVE

ETHAN AND TONY WERE clearing the lunch dishes when Bing Tate entered with a bookish young woman dressed in khakis and carrying a tape recorder. “Got a young lady of the press here, wants to talk to the hero,” Tate announced.

Aw, no.

Tony nudged him. “That would be you.”

“I don’t want to talk to a reporter,” he whispered. But it was too late. The reporter rushed up to him, eyes wide. “Are you the fireman who dragged Kat and Samantha Holiday from a burning building?”

“Lieutenant Murphy McCrae is the one you should talk to,” Ethan said, drying his hands on a dish towel. “He was in charge of the search-and-rescue.”

“But you did rush into a burning building and carry out an unconscious woman and her child?”

“A lot of us were in that building.”

“But you did the rescuing?” she persisted.

“Look, I’m just a rookie. I was doing my job. You’ll have to talk to my captain if you want to do an interview. It’s policy,” he said apologetically.

“Aw, don’t go all modest on us now,” Tate said. “You’re the hero, the man of the hour. His first fire, and he turns into Superman.” Ethan might have taken it in the same vein as the earlier teasing—as good-natured ribbing. But there was nothing good-natured in the tone of Tate’s voice.

“It was your first fire ever?” the woman asked, shoving the tape recorder in his face. She was oblivious to the undercurrents.

“Look, why don’t you talk to the captain?” Ethan suggested again. “I can take you to his office.”

“Ethan just started two weeks ago,” Bing said. “That’s Ethan Basque. E-T-H—”

Fortunately, just then the alarm sounded.

“Excuse us,” Ethan said brusquely, hoping the reporter would be gone when he got back from his run. Firefighters weren’t allowed to talk to the press without prior approval. Bing knew that, and he’d deliberately tried to get Ethan in trouble.

That day, Tate was on paramedic duty, while Tony rode the truck with Ethan. It wasn’t ideal, two rookies in the same unit. But no amount of shuffling personnel prevented it from happening sometimes.

As the engine and truck rolled out, details of the emergency filtered in. A young child had dialed 9-1-1, reporting that his mother had fallen and something was burning. Potentially, a disaster. When they arrived at the small house, at the end of a row of abandoned houses in a blighted neighborhood, they found three tearful children standing in the front yard of a humble frame house. One of them pointed to the house and rattled off rapid Spanish.

Everyone looked at Tony. Most of them understood some Spanish, including Ethan. But not when it was spoken that quickly. Tony, however, was fluent.

“He says his mother’s inside and she fell,” Tony translated.

Four firefighters tried to get through the front door at the same time. Inside, the house was smoky, and the source was quickly found—a pot on the stove. McCrae stepped forward matter-of-factly and put it out with an extinguisher.

Tony and Ethan located the woman—lying on the floor, nine months pregnant if she was a day, screaming incoherently.

They knelt down beside her and Tony conversed with her for a bit, calming her as he did. Ethan couldn’t understand the words, but he recognized what was going on. The woman was in hard labor.

Tate and his partner, Kevin Sinclair, were right behind Tony and Ethan with the gurney. Tony stood aside.

“What’s she saying?” Ethan asked.

“She says she’s having the baby. Like, right this second.”

And sure enough, she was. Before they could even transfer her to the stretcher, the baby crowned.

“Oh, boy,” said Tate. “It’s gonna be one of those days.” And with eight firefighters gaping, the woman swiftly gave birth.

Ethan, shocked at how fast it happened, had to hand it to Tate, who handled the situation well. “You rookies pay attention,” McCrae said with a laugh. “You’ll have to do this soon enough.”

Ethan had never seen a baby being born before. It was awe-inspiring. He thought about how it would be when he had a wife and they had kids. Not if, but when. He’d always known he would get married and have kids someday. The prospect hadn’t ever felt so terrifying. It would be awful watching someone he loved in that