might want to pop a pair of these in as well if you’re going to hold the little fella’s hand while I crank up the pliers.”
Startled, Liesel stared uncomprehendingly at the orange foam orbs Jack held in front of her. “Sorry! I was miles away.”
“No kidding.” His eyes held hers in a questioning gaze. Not accusative, just curious. “It wasn’t hard to miss.”
Telling him the truth wasn’t an option. Neither was acknowledging the tingles working their way up her arm after he’d handed her the earplugs. For crying out loud! She was behaving as if she’d never spoken to an attractive man before. For the first year after she’d lost Eric being with another man hadn’t even occurred to her. Nine months later it had all been about Liam. Now, three years later … Was this really going to be the day?
“I was just thinking about whether or not I should take a picture for his parents or if it’s best to just leave it to the imagination.”
Jack unleashed another relaxed smile as he bent to start the small generator for his pliers. “I think this is one best left to the imagination!” He signaled for her to put her earplugs in then checked Devlin’s were securely in place before pulling the cord on the generator. With one sharp tug it roared to life.
Curiosity overcame nerves as Liesel watched Jack pick up the enormous pair of pliers attached to the hydraulic hose. He indicated she should shield Devlin’s face with her hands as he slipped the pliers between the steel bars. In less than a minute the bars were gently pried apart and the little boy effortlessly pulled out his head, shooting out of the crush at high speed. Above the din she could hear him calling to the other students about his great escape.
Laughing, Liesel turned back to Jack, who was expertly returning the bars to their original position. If Mr. Jones hadn’t already seen Devlin’s shenanigans gone wrong, he would have never known they were there.
After snapping the generator off, the peaceful cadence of the countryside once again took over.
“Well, thank you so much.” Liesel resisted looking too deeply into the blue eyes trained on her. She was in serious danger of mooning. And swooning. She really needed to get a grip. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time on something that wasn’t a real emergency.”
“What?” Jack stepped back in mock horror. “That wasn’t a real emergency? I thought I’d got myself a humdinger of a job there.”
Despite herself, Liesel felt drawn to his easygoing nature. Never mind the man was gorgeous—he also seemed to inhabit an infectious sense of fun. She hadn’t felt carefree in—well, in a long time, and it was something she missed.
“You know what I mean.” She swatted at the air between them. “It wasn’t like it was a bushfire or a car crash.” She suddenly found herself unable to maintain eye contact. Firemen—especially men who volunteered to go into hazardous situations—were definitely in the no-go zone.
His voice turned serious. “Of course I do—but we take all of our callouts seriously and I, for one, would hate to think anyone would hesitate to call us if we could help.”
She looked up into those amazing blue eyes of his as if to confirm that the words he spoke were genuine.
“Truly,” he reiterated solidly, as though mind reading the few threads of doubt tugging at her conscience.
“Well, I know one little fellow who will be dining off your heroics for weeks.”
Jack leaned back against the cattle crush and nodded appraisingly at her. “So, you think I’m a hero, do you?”
A flush of heat rushed up her throat as he waited for her answer.
“Of course not! I mean, you definitely were to Devlin—”
Jack’s easy laughter stopped her inane flow of apologies.
“Don’t worry, Miss Adler. I’m always out for a free compliment if I can get one.” He tilted his head in her direction, capturing her attention with another one of those winks. Resist, Liesel. Resist.
“There is one way you can repay the Country Fire Service if you feel you owe us one.”
Liesel crooked her chin up at him, curiosity getting the better of her.
“Murray Valley needs more volunteers. Big-time. A nurse would be a great addition to our local crew.”
Liesel felt herself physically recoil from the suggestion.
Not a chance.
She didn’t do hazardous things anymore. Not with a son to look after. Not after the loss she’d suffered.
Jack knew in an instant he’d overstepped the mark. Her gentle, sunny personality vanished the moment he’d made his suggestion. There was definitely something painfully private she was keeping close to her chest. Fair enough. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have his own secrets. Secrets he kept to make his life easier, more honest. Or was that an oxymoron? Keeping secrets to stay honest.
“Liesel! Quit flirting with the handsome fireman,” a female voice called from across the farmyard. “We’ve got to get the kids back to school for pickup!”
Jack and Liesel instantly widened the space between them, staring stricken-faced in the direction of the voice. Liesel looked absolutely mortified and Jack hadn’t felt so caught out since he’d been found snogging the headmaster’s daughter behind the bike shed when he was thirteen. As if by design, he and Liesel simultaneously looked back at each other, saw their mutual expressions of dismay and immediately burst into unrestrained guffaws.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to look so disgusted! I mean, no—not disgusted.” He waved away the choice of words as if the gesture would erase them. “It’s not that you repel me or anything—”
“I think you’d better quit while you’re ahead!” Liesel laughed, wiping away invisible tears from her eyes. She threw a quick glance over her shoulder toward the growing hubbub of children. “I had better go.”
Jack felt a tug of resistance. So soon? “Right. Yeah, of course.” He stepped forward and offered a hand. “Nice doing business with you, Miss Adler.”
What a first-class dill!
Liesel’s green eyes flashed up at him, unsurprisingly bemused. He’d really gone in for the bad conversational hat trick. Nice doing business with you?
She slipped her petite hand into his and offered him a quick shake of thanks. The delicacy of her fingers instantly made him feel protective of her. Not his usual response to a woman. Normally he wanted to protect himself from whatever she might want from him. Time. Commitment. Less time at the fire station. Too much history in that department had made him wary. But this one, Miss Liesel Adler, something about her told him she wanted nothing more than to stand on her two feet.
“See you around.” Liesel threw the words in her wake as she accelerated her brisk walk into a jog to rejoin the group.
Jack watched her retreat round the corner toward the school bus and spoke to the empty barnyard. “I certainly hope so.”
It
