barely met the required weight for being a firefighter, and her upturned exotic eyes, long dark hair and breasts a bit too big for her body type didn’t help when it came to hefting hoses and swinging axes. So she used her smart-assed mouth and brains to gain respect.
It worked, for the most part.
Sometimes the guys even forgot she had boobs.
But most of the time they didn’t, cracking jokes about her orchid shampoo or blanching when they found a box of her tampons under the sink at the station.
In some ways it felt like the 1960s in Magnolia Bend.
She probably should have taken the job in Slidell, but the charm of Magnolia Bend and the fact that it was only a short drive to where her mother lived had swayed her.
And then there was Jake.
“Hey, Eva,” Jake called, jogging toward her, mask connector dangling, his jacket split open to reveal the softball T-shirt that clung just tight enough to show how trim his stomach was. “Want to work out later?”
“Sure. But I already told Clint I’d meet him there.” She worked out with Jake’s childhood friend several times a week. Though Clint was in a wheelchair, he was a gym rat.
“That’s cool. I can pick him up and head to Ray-Ray’s from there.”
She and Jake were on C shift and had been since she’d started three years ago. She’d transferred in from Baton Rouge FD with six years under her belt. Jake had the exact same number of years’ experience and an easy way about him. Captain Sorrento had put them on the same shift, and they’d pretty much stayed together unless someone was on vacation.
Jake was probably her absolute best friend.
And he had no idea she’d fallen head over heels for him the first time she laid eyes on him.
“Perfect,” she said, pulling his tag off the clip on the cone and handing it to him. “I’ll be glad to kick your ass again.”
“Pfft,” Jake scoffed, rolling those pretty eyes before tossing his bunker coat in the back and grabbing the nearest hose. “You kickbox like a girl.”
“Damn right.”
“Which means she fights dirty,” Moon snickered, lifting the ladder back into place.
Jake glanced up, cracking a smile, making Eva’s heart skip a beat. Why did the man have to be so gorgeous? Why did his T-shirt have to cling so spectacularly to his torso? Why did—
The radio crackled, distracting her, as Martin relayed that the apartment was clear. Time to clear the scene.
Eva tugged off her helmet and bunker coat and found a pen. Normally, she’d help stow the equipment, but since Hank had pulled her around front and several volunteer firemen had arrived to assist, she filled in the paperwork normally done by the driver. Might as well save Hank some time and earn her some brownie points. With Wendell contemplating retirement in order to run a yard service full-time, Eva wanted to make captain.
Only Jake stood in her way.
And that was a huge problem.
Not because she loved Jake, but because he deserved the promotion as much as she did.
And she might get it over him just because she didn’t have a penis—which didn’t sit well with her. Not the not having a penis part—she really didn’t want one—but that she’d get the job not based on merit but rather on her gender. The word token flitted through her mind again.
“Hey, miss.”
Eva ripped her gaze from the paperwork fluttering on the clipboard to find Kiki standing beside her. “Hey, Kiki. You need me?”
“I’m just worried about Zeke.”
Zeke? Who was that? A cat? Eva had forgotten to ask about pets. “Who’s Zeke?”
“He lives in 30A. He’s only eight.”
Eva grabbed her mic. “Did we clear 30A?”
“No occupants detected. All secure,” Hank responded.
Eva looked at Kiki. “We didn’t find anyone.”
“Well, he ain’t gonna answer. He ain’t supposed to be home. He said he was gonna stay home because Jarvis Bell said he was gonna whip his ass for telling Mrs. Haydell he cheated on his spelling test. His Big Mama will whoop him good if she knows he’s home.” Kiki looked at the closed door of the apartment housed next door to hers.
“Christ,” Eva breathed, grabbing her mask and attaching her accountability tag to the PVC pipe atop the cone. “Stay here, Kiki.”
Eva ran toward the closed apartment, calling into her mic. “FD2, reassessing apartment A. Resident indicates possible child on the premises.”
“Shit,” Hank shouted.
Eva pulled on her gloves and connected the mask to the tank, sucking in the cool oxygen. She hopped onto the porch stoop and tried the front door—it was locked. Behind her she saw Jake and Martin coming toward her with the battering ram in hand.
Eva eyed the flimsy doorknob.
Then she kicked in the door. The wood of the jamb splintered and the door flew back, slamming against the interior wall. The apartment revealed in the morning light showed a place that was definitely lived-in, with breakfast dishes piled in the dated kitchen sink and a tired tweed green couch covered in laundry.
No active smoke.
Eva pulled off her mask, sucking in the acrid smell. “Zeke?”
No answer.
“Jesus, Eva. We had the beast,” Jake said behind her. “But nice kick.”
She didn’t say anything. Just moved toward the dark yawn of the hallway.
“Zeke?” she shouted again.
The heat in the apartment wasn’t a result of the fire they’d extinguished next door. The combination of a humid August and the heavy bunker gear she wore made Eva feel as if she’d entered the mouth of hell. She flung open the first door she came to—an empty room with a floral bedspread and lace curtains.
She motioned Jake inside as she stepped toward the other bedroom.
The door stood open, a huge fathead of some basketball player dominating one wall. A small unmade twin bed sat in one corner; pajamas and tennis shoes littered the carpet.
“Zeke?” she called.
From the open closet a head emerged. Two big brown eyes, popped wide, met her gaze.
“Zeke?” she asked, softening her voice.
“Yeah?”
Eva released a pent-up breath of relief. “What are you still doing inside? Don’t
