Bring Your Heart (Golden Falls Fire Book 2) Read online

  16

  Josh woke in Hayley’s bed shortly before he had to be at work for his seven o’clock shift only because his watch alarm vibrated. Otherwise, he might have slept for hours.

  So this is what it’s like to sleep well, he thought as he came awake relaxed and happy. After their luxurious bath, they’d retired to the bedroom and gotten busy under the covers. He couldn’t remember when he fell asleep, and he wondered if he’d fallen asleep before Hayley, which would have been a first for him with a woman.

  Laying on his side, he watched her sleep. She had the softest, smoothest, creamiest skin, and he couldn’t resist softly stroking her cheek. He found himself not wanting to leave her. Not wanting the night to be over. Definitely not wanting her to work her charms on the next guy. He wanted to claim her as his own, knowing it went against everything he’d told her and every day he’d lived since arriving back in Golden Falls.

  It was just good sex, he told himself as his arousal began again, wanting to pull her close before he had to leave for work. You’re thinking with your dick as usual, while she’s thinking with her heart. But even as he thought it, Josh knew it was more complicated than that.

  He decided to leave without waking her. Since his clothes were still in the living room where they’d first had their way with each other, he made his way silently from her bedroom, closing the door behind him. He dressed quickly, stepped outside her front door into the hallway to put on his parka, and headed in to report for his shift.

  The early morning air was a bitter-cold slap in the face as he walked to his truck. With a wash of guilt he thought of his dad, feeding the dogs by himself back at the kennel, and he brought out his phone and fired off a quick text.

  Hey, Dad. Sorry for the no-show this morning. Stayed in town last night. See you when I’m off shift and thanks for taking care of the dogs.

  He let his diesel engine heat up for a few minutes and sat there, breath fogging, looking at the small second-story balcony that he knew belonged to Hayley. And with more longing than he could ever remember feeling, he wanted to be back up there with her, cozy in bed, sleeping soundly, his arms wrapped tight around her luscious curves and his nose buried in the flowery scent of her hair.

  For the first time in ages, Hayley was on time for breakfast with Claire at the North Star Café. Still, Claire was there before her, and she didn’t waste any time asking about the previous evening.

  “Did you hit it off with Evan after my introduction last night?”

  Hayley flushed, thinking of last night and everything she’d done with Josh. She was saved by the waitress bringing her a hot cup of fresh coffee. The wake-me-up smell brought her back to her senses. “Evan! Yes. He asked me on a date for Saturday.”

  Claire beamed. “I have a good feeling about him. I got to know him well enough during the interview process for the manager job, and he’s friendly, curious, pursues his passions. Plus, he loves old movies as much as you.”

  They placed their breakfast orders, a cinnamon bun for Claire and a veggie omelet for Hayley. She was meeting Cassie after breakfast to try a spin class and didn’t want to throw away calories on one of Rebecca’s glorious cinnamon buns, which were not only huge and mouth-meltingly soft, but drizzled with the yummiest white glaze.

  Over Hayley’s coffee and Claire’s tea, they discussed a few details of the employment agency’s involvement with Hayley’s “Bring Your Heart” campaign. Since Hayley was using the agency’s resources, she felt Claire should take a percentage of the money generated by placing newly recruited women in jobs. She’d argued this for weeks without getting Claire’s agreement. When Hayley began to bring it up again, Claire stopped her.

  “I have a proposal I’d like you to consider,” she said. “As you know, I’ve been thinking for a while about transitioning into semi-retirement.”

  Hayley smiled. “For as long as I’ve known you, it’s been your plan. But you’re still as busy as ever. You even bought that new apartment complex near campus.”

  “I just didn’t want it to go to Gordon Begay, that bastard,” Claire said. “He lets his places get so rundown it’s a disgrace to the community. But I’m getting serious about my desire to slow down. I’ve had my hat in so many things for so long, and I want to begin to downsize my involvement.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

  “You’re seeing it now,” Claire said. “I’d like to make you a managing partner of the employment agency.”

  Hayley’s jaw dropped. “Really?” she squeaked, with unprofessional enthusiasm, but Claire didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she smiled.

  “Over the coming years, we would set up a buy-out agreement. You’d go from employee to part-owner effective immediately, and then transition to full owner over a period of time which works for both of us.”

  “Claire, that’s … that’s so kind, but I don’t think I could come up with the amount of money I’d need to buy you out.” She knew Claire grossed in the mid-six-figures from the employment agency, as most of the hundreds of summer workers were recruited and placed through the agency, and it was the sole local recruiter for the hospital and university, where placement fees could sometimes total the entire first year’s salary of the new hire.

  “You can now that you’re partnering with Devotion.com for the ‘Bring Your Heart’ campaign,” Claire said. “And from the business acumen you’ve shown, I have confidence that you’ll be able to buy me out sooner than you think.”

  Hayley mentally doubled her projected program goals on the spot, and it still seemed she’d get the best end of the deal. “Are you sure it’s fair?”

  “Fair shmair,” Claire said. “I’ve watched you grow from a teenager to a self-assured, open-hearted woman in the past eight years, and I know how much you love Golden Falls. You love it as much as I do, which is saying something. That’s worth its weight in gold to me, Hayley. I’ve worked my entire life to build this community—myself and several others—and now I want to put the pieces in place so it continues to thrive for decades to come.”

  Tears filled Hayley’s eyes. To be loved by Claire, to be understood by her and supported by her, was the greatest gift of her life. This was the validation of her worth that her parents had never given her.

  “I will do you proud,” she said.

  “I know you will.” Claire patted her hand. “Now, do you remember my niece, Jenna?”

  “The one from Chicago who used to spend summers up here when she was a kid?”

  “That’s the one. I’m hoping she’ll come up here for a bit, put her MBA to good use, and help me do an audit of some of my businesses and help me streamline some things. In my ideal world, she’d dump her jerk of a boyfriend and move up here, and the two of you could take over my little empire together, but it’s not likely. In any case, she can help me structure the buyout so that it’s as slow a transition as you need.”

  “Gosh, I just … I don’t know what to say.” Hayley went around to the other side of the booth and threw her arms around Claire. “You’re the most generous person I know.” Then an awful possibility occurred to her. All this about settling financial matters, handing off responsibility … “Claire. Wait a second. Are you feeling okay? Healthwise?”

  “I’m fit as a fiddle,” Claire said. “I just had a complete checkup and my blood work’s perfect. Don’t worry—I’m not ‘settling my affairs’ in that sense. I’m just feeling restless with life and, believe it or not, I have a bucket list I’ve been ignoring for years.”

  “Travel?” Hayley asked, because it seemed Claire never went anywhere beyond Anchorage and occasionally Seattle.

  “It’s so silly, but ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved the story of Eloise, and I’ve always wanted to stay in the Eloise Suite at the Plaza Hotel.” Claire smiled and for a moment looked positively girlish. “So I’m going to do that for a few nights and then move to a regular grown-up suite and spend a week or two living it up in New York City. I’ll take in some B
roadway shows. Indulge in some fine dining. I’ll go in autumn, of course, because New England in the fall is supposed to be spectacular.”

  “Will you go by yourself?”

  Claire’s eyes sparkled. “Hopefully not.”

  “Ah, so you’re going to snag yourself a man? Can I help with that?”

  “I figure I have one great love affair left in me, but it’s got to be someone who’ll indulge my every whim.”

  Hayley looked at her closely and saw a secret in her eyes. “Have you got anyone in mind?”

  “Maybe I do.” Claire said, looking very much like the cat who swallowed the canary.

  “Well, who?” Hayley’s mind raced but came up empty. Claire had a flirtatious personality, but she was an equal-opportunity flirt. No one stood out as having received special attention. “It’s not fair you have secrets. I tell you everything about my love life.”

  “Oh, you do?” Claire sipped her tea daintily, and for the second time that morning, Hayley’s jaw dropped.

  “What do you know?” she asked.

  “Did I ever tell you I grew up next door to Bruce Barnes?” Claire set down her teacup. “I ran into him last night after the mixer, and we went for a late dinner at the Pioneer. We had an interesting talk about his son, Josh.”

  “Oh, really?” It came out weak, like Hayley was a little girl getting busted for being naughty.

  “Oh, really.” Claire’s smile widened. “And then we went for a walk around the square, and imagine our surprise when we saw Josh’s truck parked outside your apartment.”

  Embarrassed, Hayley covered her face with her hands. All she could think was how glad she was her curtains had been drawn.

  “Bruce is very hopeful Josh will settle down soon,” Claire said. “I guess he’s about to turn thirty, and his dad thinks that’s long enough for him to live the bachelor life.”

  “Josh is a great guy,” Hayley said. “A fantastic guy, but I’ll be honest—he doesn’t want a relationship, so he was more like someone I needed to get out of my system before I could move on with Evan or with anyone else.”

  “I see,” Claire said.

  “Do you hate me?” Hayley said. “Do you think I’m a slut?”

  “Oh, please.” Claire laughed. “Trust me, I understand the intoxication of a one-night stand.”

  “With who?” Hayley was laughing now, too. And very curious about Claire’s past “intoxicating” encounter.

  “I’ll never tell—but I will change the subject. I was thinking we should change the name of the employment agency to the March & Roberts Staffing Agency. Sound good to you?”

  March and Roberts. It was music to Hayley’s ears—almost. “I think it should be Roberts & March because you came first. You’re the legacy.”

  “And you’re the future.”

  Josh found himself uncharacteristically grumpy at work.

  The morning started busy, with calls coming one after the other, many of them non-emergencies by so-called “frequent flyers.” One guy called three separate times for chest pain, but refused to go to the hospital. Someone else called for difficulty breathing which turned out to be a stuffy nose. Two drunks got stuck in snow banks, and a car without snow tires went into a ditch. There was an overdose. In addition, they had a small fire caused by a portable space heater which displaced eight people in an apartment complex. And then an icy rain began, generating several slip-and-falls and “lift assist” calls.

  That wasn’t what irked Josh, though. It was Troy Garrett, the other firefighter who rode in the backseat with him. Garrett was “temped” on Ladder One, meaning he occupied the spot temporarily, while the ladder’s normal paramedic-firefighter Rick “Maddog” Madsen was deployed in Afghanistan with the Army Rangers. Josh was good friends with Maddog, who was not only fellow military, but an all-around good guy who specialized in extreme practical jokes. Everyone loved Maddog. No one loved Troy Garrett.

  “Get lucky lately?” Troy said to Josh on the way to one of the day’s many calls.

  Josh wasn’t about to mention Hayley to Troy. Instead he said, “Why, you interested?”

  “I got lucky.” Troy chortled into the microphone. “Fine little coed I met at one of the campus bars.”

  “Good for you,” Josh muttered. Troy had a fiancée on whom he cheated with regularity.

  “Heard you went to that Singles Night event without me.”

  Now we get to it, Josh thought. It was bad enough being around Troy on shift; there was no way he’d socialize with the guy.

  “Dude, you’re not single,” Josh said. “Didn’t think you’d want to go.”

  “Well, I’m not married yet,” Troy said. “So according to the IRS I’m single.”

  Josh thought about Hayley and how her ex-boyfriend had cheated on her. He thought about the hard work she put into her Singles Nights and how she brought earnest, looking-for-love women there. He thought about what would happen if one of Hayley’s clients met and hooked up with Troy Garrett, only to find out he was already in a relationship and looking for a piece on the side.

  And Josh snapped. He didn’t care that Nate Halstead, the engineer, and Captain Tom Steele were listening over the headset.

  “Troy, you’re a lying, untrustworthy sack of shit. So why don’t you spare me and the rest of this crew all your infidelity stories and just do your job.”

  Troy sat back in his seat, glaring at Josh, but said nothing as the ladder truck pulled into the fire station bay. No one else said anything, either, and there was awkward silence as the four men climbed out of the truck.

  “Josh, a word?”

  It was Tom. He motioned Josh into his office, which doubled as his single bunkroom. They stood just inside the door.

  “Listen,” Tom said. “None of what you said is wrong. Garrett can be an asshole, but he’s also the one who’s got your back when you’re up there on the roof.”

  “I doubt he really has my back.”

  “You’re here, aren’t you?” Tom’s voice hinted at his impatience with Josh. “You’re taking it too far, is what I’m telling you. You don’t have to be his best friend, but you do have to keep things civil at work.”

  “The guy’s a buddy-fucker and you know it. If you did anything that could be spun out of context, he’d be the first in line to report you to Chief and try to make himself look good.”

  “I know what he is. And when he really gets out of line with his mouthing off, it’s my job to check him, and I do. Why’s today any different for you? Have you got something going on you want to talk about?”

  Yeah, I met this fantastic woman who rocks my world and I’m inexplicably letting her get away. To Tom he said, “No. It just pisses me off how we all hold ourselves to high standards every damn day at work and in life—we all try to do the right thing, get the job done—but this guy treats people like shit and can’t be trusted. I just got sick of hearing about it. Sorry I lost my temper, but I can’t guarantee it won’t happen again.”

  “I get it, Josh. Remember he’s temped. Rick will be back in less than a year.”

  “Can’t be soon enough.”

  “Tell you what,” Tom said. “You go mop the garage bay and give Garrett some space.”

  “By myself?” Usually, it was a task done in pairs.

  “By yourself,” Tom said. “It’ll give you a little time to cool off.”

  “Fine.”

  But as Josh moved the first of the three units from the apparatus bay, his brother Jack showed up to help. Josh was not in the mood to deal with him or his big-brotherliness, which all too often came unasked-for. He also suspected Tom had sent him out there to help; the two captains were close friends.

  Jack must have read Josh’s mood because he kept quiet for a while, but Josh knew he was only biding his time. As they filled their mop buckets at the spigot, he tried to ward off the brotherly lecture.

  “Listen.” He turned to Jack. “I blew up at Troy, and I know I should have controlled my temper. I was just
sick of his shit and felt that someone needed to say it.”

  “I get that.” Jack met Josh’s sideways glance. Despite their difference in age—six years—and the present difficulty with Jack’s relationship with their father Bruce, both men had been raised to be decent to everyone they encountered. “Tom and I have already had several conversations with him regarding his attitude, but in the end, we’re just gonna have to put up with him until Maddog gets back.”

  “That’s seven months from now, which is a long damn time.”

  “I’ll make sure Tom and I have another word with him. He’s had a few incidents with my engine guys, too.”

  Jack grabbed the mop bucket and began to pull it to the bay. When Josh didn’t follow, Jack looked up.

  “What?” he said.

  “I was expecting a lecture.”

  “I can give you one if you want, but since when did you ever listen to me?”

  Josh smiled. “Never.”

  It wasn’t true. He’d actually taken every bit of advice Jack had ever offered, although sometimes begrudgingly and sometimes secretly.

  “Try not to let him rattle you,” Jack said. “When you do, he wins.”

  They began mopping in companionable silence, broken only occasionally by Jack’s small talk during the short breaks they took, leaning onto their mops. During one, he told Josh about how he and Tom had gone horseback riding on their day off, and a red fox had followed them for their entire ride. Jack kept a horse boarded at the stable next door to his property, and between his own place and his neighbors’, they had a forty-acre spread on which they let the horses roam. His horse, Honest Abe, was a perlino paint gelding with one blue eye.

  Of course, Jack lived on the opposite end of town from where Josh and his dad lived. A person couldn’t be within the city limits and be further apart. Josh felt it was another deliberate slight to their dad, and Josh had to admit he felt annoyance every time he made the drive out there for one of Jack’s regular firefighter social gatherings.

  “How’s Honest Abe doing?” he asked his brother.