Hard to Resist - By Kara Lennox Page 0,7
Tony said, “she’s all yours. You know I never poach.”
Did he? Have a “thing”? Ethan wanted to tell Tony he wasn’t interested, that he’d visited Kat and Samantha at the hospital as a professional courtesy. But he’d have been lying.
* * *
SEVERAL HOURS LATER, Ethan was in his backyard, painting his garage. He’d promised himself that once his firefighter training was completed and he got assigned to a station, he would get to work on this eyesore. The two-story detached frame structure, with garage below and a small apartment above, had been added sometime in the 1940s. But unlike his hundred-year-old house, which he’d meticulously updated when he bought it a couple of years ago, the garage was a wreck. He’d replaced a few rotting boards and fixed a leaky roof, but he hadn’t done much in the way of cosmetic work.
His first step was to paint the garage charcoal-gray to match the house, so at least his neighbors would no longer have to look at the peeling walls. But he still had a lot of finishing work to do inside—painting, plumbing updates, a new kitchen. The wiring was old, but he’d examined it closely and deemed it safe, at least.
Ethan intended to get as much done as he could before he started his paramedic training. All Dallas firefighters had to get their paramedic certification. When the summer term started, much of his time off would be consumed by classroom instruction via computer. He didn’t relish sitting for hours at a terminal. But it was necessary, and in a few months he would begin clinical work, which would be more interesting.
“Lookin’ good.”
The voice came from over the fence. Tony, in the yard next door, wrestled with a new hedge trimmer. He attacked an overgrown row of privet with the critical eye of a sculptor.
Priscilla had bought the house next door when it had come on the market recently. She’d wanted to live closer to the station, which was by pure good fortune just a couple of blocks from Ethan’s. And since the large house was divided into two apartments, Priscilla had talked Tony into renting the downstairs unit from her.
Tony had never lived in a place that required yard work. But since moving here he’d discovered the joy of power tools—mowers, trimmers, blowers. He couldn’t be stopped.
Ethan ambled over to the fence. “So, how was it?”
“You mean Kat? It was fine. I gave her the flowers, and she thanked me for taking care of her daughter. I said you’re welcome. I said hello to the girl, and then I left.”
“You saw Samantha?”
“Yeah. Cute kid. She’s only a couple of years younger than Jasmine, but I can hardly remember Jas being that little.” Jasmine was Tony’s almost-nine-year-old daughter.
“Samantha didn’t…scream?” Ethan asked.
“Scream? Nah, she was talking a blue streak, though. Smart kid. I like her.” Tony buzzed at the hedge some more, trying to get an even top line.
“Hmm.” So Samantha hadn’t been afraid of the paramedic who’d poked and prodded her. Only the firefighter who’d dragged her to safety. Ethan didn’t really want to hear any more, but for some perverse reason he asked, “Did you get her phone number?”
“Samantha’s? I think she’s a little young for me.”
“Don’t be a doofus. Kat’s.”
“You’re the doofus. She doesn’t have one. All her phones got burned up.” He paused, then added, “Man, you already got it bad for her. Understandable—she’s hot.”
“Is that all you can think to say about her? She’s a lot more than just hot.” Yeah, Ethan was attracted. What red-blooded male wouldn’t be? But it was her softness, her vulnerability, that really drew him in. The thought that she and her little girl might be all alone in the world. The possibility that she might need him.
Did she really have a friend to stay with? Why was no one at the hospital with her? Did she have any money? Her apartment building was typical for the area. Certainly there were many worse places to live in Oak Cliff, which featured everything from million-dollar mansions to falling-down shacks. But it hadn’t been anything special, either.
He could walk away from a pretty woman. But a wounded bird—that was a different matter.
Tony chuckled. “Just ask her out. It’s not that big a deal.”
“I’ll see how it goes,” Ethan said noncommittally. He had no way of getting in touch with Kat. All he could do was wait until she contacted him about her kitten.
And who knew when that might happen?
* * *
DURING THE HOURS after