hallway? “Would that I could wake up every morning feeling this...marvelous.” If he wasn’t mistaken, she blushed. “But I need a minute to shower. Promise me you won’t leave, or you’ll have to put up with a grubby firefighter whose beard must be two inches long.”
Her eyes studied his features. “Maybe an inch,” she teased.
“By what miracle are you here?”
“I called to see how you were. Sharon said you were still sleeping and Tessa had gone out with her grandmother. When I asked if there was anything I could do, she said I could babysit while she went shopping. Since I promised to stay till she came back, you have my word I won’t leave. But after your shower, you need to lie down, Rick. Doctor’s orders.”
He grinned. “Yes, nurse.” Rick pressed a hot kiss to her mouth before disappearing, but knowing she was waiting for him, he decided it was going to be the fastest shower and shave in history.
RICK MIGHT BE recovering from smoke inhalation, but the way he’d kissed her in the hallway just now, she still hadn’t recovered from what she considered a more serious problem. Andrea sat down on the couch and had to acknowledge she was crazy about him.
To be alone with him for any length of time could be disastrous if she didn’t want to end up in his bed. Hopefully Sharon would return soon. Rick seemed to have this power over her. When she was near him, rational thought ceased and only desire remained. Deep down she’d known from the first he could become an addiction. He already was her addiction. The only way to break it was to go cold turkey.
“Andrea?”
She hurried into the hallway. “Yes?”
“I’m waiting for you. It’s the last door on the right.”
Since she’d told him to lie down, she couldn’t very well tell him it wouldn’t be a good idea to join him. Her stomach got flutters when she found him clean shaven and stretched out on top of his bed in a different pair of sweats and T-shirt. He was gorgeous no matter his physical condition.
“What took you so long?” he asked in a deep voice that sent delicious chills through her body. “Come and sit by me.” He patted the place next to him.
Since he didn’t have a chair, Andrea chose to sit near his feet. His half smile turned her heart over. With charm like that he could get her to do whatever he wanted. “Can I bring you something to drink?”
“I’m not hungry or thirsty. What I want is to talk to you. Without Tessa, it’s the perfect time to get some matters straight with us.”
Andrea took a shuddering breath. “I agree, but doesn’t your throat still hurt?”
“No. That long sleep did me a world of good. Finding you here has made my day.”
Finding you alive yesterday made mine.
“I have a confession. On my way home from Barrow’s Cove, I bought a book for Tessa. I was going to send it to her from me, but everything has changed since then. Since I agree she needs the emotional love that gifts can’t give her, I thought maybe you could slip it in with her toys from Santa. It’s in my purse in the living room.”
He leaned forward with a concerned expression in his eyes. “I’m sorry I came across so heavy-handed with you in the beginning, Andrea.”
“But I understand why you did.”
“You’re an amazingly forgiving, generous person. You need to know I’m no longer going to tiptoe around Tessa where you’re concerned. You shouldn’t have to either, because I intend to go on seeing you. Yesterday I told her you’re my friend. It gave her a lot to think about.”
Andrea stood up in panic. “We can’t be friends, let alone anything more. It won’t work.”
His handsome face darkened with lines. “Why not?”
“You know why.”
“Because of Tessa?”
“That’s a part of it.”
He got to his feet. Suddenly the bedroom seemed so small. “What’s the other part?”
“I meant what I said before. I don’t want to get into another relationship if that’s where this is headed. Just a few minutes ago you admitted you fought your initial attraction to me, too. It’s because in the end I can’t give you what you want any more than you can satisfy my needs. We’re better off parting company for good today.”
A dark brooding look descended. “How can you be so cold-blooded when just a few minutes ago we were communicating in the most elemental of ways and didn’t want to stop?”
She lifted her chin. “That’s called chemistry, but it doesn’t supply all the other things needed to make up a relationship that will last forever.”
“You and I have both learned the brutal lesson that nothing can be counted on to last forever, but a fire’s been lit and it’s not going to go away any time soon.”
“It will if we don’t see or talk to each other again,” she responded emotionally.
“You think it’s that easy to douse the flames licking at us? I fight fires every day. Some become fully involved. That’s what has happened to us.”
Andrea shook her head. “I don’t believe it can’t be put out. I met that attractive female firefighter Susie at the party. Deanna told me she’s single. During the time I was there, she didn’t take her eyes off you. A woman with interests like yours would be a great match for you.”
His mouth thinned. “What interests?”
“You both fight fires. It’s who you are and what you do.”
“If I’d been interested in Susie, I would have taken her to the party.” His voice grated.
“Fine. All I’m saying is, there’s a whole world of wonderful women out there who, given the chance, would love you and your daughter and want to start a new family with you.”
“But you’re not one of them.”
“I can’t be.”
His dark expression grew forbidding. “You’re keeping something from me, and I mean to find out what it is.”
“Yoo-hoo, Rick.”
Mrs. Milne couldn’t have chosen a better moment to return. “I have to leave now.” Andrea started down the hall to the living room. Rick was right behind her.
“If you want me to fix you and Andrea something to eat, just tell me,” his housekeeper called from the kitchen.
“Thanks, Sharon, but we’re fine right now.”
Andrea hurried over to the couch to get her purse. Just as she pulled out the gift-wrapped book to give to him, Tessa came
