Chapter 6

Kristi glanced up at the sound of the deep, sexy voice to see Patrick Hayes standing there. He was looking a little bedraggled himself, no doubt from the hassle of corralling bystanders and directing traffic around the scene. Still, the sound of his voice warmed her.

She gave a slightly hysterical laugh. "No kidding."

"Damn good job today. As usual."

"Thanks." She gave him a tired smile. "For a while there, I thought the line would never stop. I'm just glad things weren't a lot worse."

"Someone was saying the building was a total loss."

"True that." She sighed. "This is the third one in two weeks. I hate to think we've got an arsonist at work."

"Me, too." Captain Stewart had walked up just then. He was always on-site for major incidents and this certainly fit that category, especially if it was more than an isolated occurrence. "I've already called headquarters and requested Dan Varney. He's working the other two sites so he's got continuity."

Kristi had met Dan, one of the arson-fire investigators who were part of the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department, a few times. She knew him as a man well-trained in his job.

"You really think it's arson?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Only an investigation can say for sure, but if it looks like it and smells like it, it usually is. I requested him on-site immediately. We'll get him inside as soon as it's safe. We need to look for evidence here while it's still fresh and see if it matches up with the other two incidents."

Kristi's stomach tightened. They all were far too aware of the danger of an arsonist in their midst. It meant the fires were not predictable and no one was safe. Everyone would be on edge wondering where the criminal would strike next.

She looked up at the captain. "There's always someone who pays no attention to the danger they cause."

"That's the damn fucking truth." Stewart looked from her to Jared. "Good work today, both of you. They just kept coming, and you got them all taken care of. You're a credit to the station."

She flushed with pleasure even as she thanked the chief. She saw Jared do the same. Then she sobered again.

"Everyone will be edgy," she mused. "That's for sure."

"You be careful," Patrick told her in a low voice. "You know the dangers if there really is an arsonist out there."

"Don't worry, I will." She blew out a breath. "Well, I'd say we're done here, at least Jared and I are. We should get out of everyone's way. Besides, we need to get back to the station in case, god forbid, we get another callout this shift."

"Yeah." He took a look around the area where the other cops were working. "I think I'm looking at another half hour here, at the very least, to untangle the traffic and get rid of the rubberneckers. Even after all the firefighters and equipment are gone, we still have traffic to unsnarl."

Kristi hitched herself off the end of the ambo and stood up. As she did so, she brushed against Patrick, who steadied her with a hand at her elbow.

"Careful, there. You don't want to end up as your own passenger."

Kristi grinned at him. "Oh, I don't know." She glanced over at Jared. "I might enjoy making Jared here wait on me hand and foot."

"In your dreams," he laughed.

Patrick still had his hand cupping her elbow. She felt the warmth of his fingers even through the thick fabric of her jumpsuit, and something unseen sizzled between them. They had run into each other several times since that first night at McNally's when they'd met. Each time, that little spark of electricity snapped in the air. When he looked at her, banked heat flared in his eyes.

He was a familiar face now to the firefighters at Station 58, and not just from McNally's. He'd been the cop assigned to work several of their callouts, and they respected him and his work ethic. She could tell how comfortable he'd become with everyone. He came into McNally's frequently, usually with Keith McCormick, and often some of the others from his precinct, too. He was friendly to her and didn't crowd her but there was unmistakable interest. It was evident in the way he looked at her, in the tiny flare of heat she would see in his eyes and the way he always maneuvered to get a seat next to her.

She was still searching for her comfort zone with him. As much as she kept trying to tell herself this was nothing more than casual friendship, whenever she found herself with him, the electricity in the air fairly crackled. He'd hinted more than once that he wanted to take her out, waiting for her response. She always turned him down, although she smiled when she did it, sometimes even making a little joke.

Except...damn!

The more time she spent with him, the more she enjoyed his company. And the more she felt that hot attraction simmering just beneath the surface. Sometimes she went home so frustrated and turned on that she had to haul out her toys and pretend it was Patrick in bed with her rubbing her clit and deep inside her. Was she letting the past put a chokehold on the future? Patrick Hayes was the first man she'd really been attracted to-no, make that attracted to and interested in-since her disaster of a meltdown. She couldn't make the memories go away, but she found it harder and harder to keep the wall up between her and the very hot cop.

Now she looked up and found him watching her with a half grin and a question in his eyes. His gorgeous eyes. His very sexy eyes. His eyes that were like the deep blue of a whitecapped ocean. She had to give herself a mental kick when she found herself mesmerized by them.

"Well, um, I need to get going here." Wasn't she just the smoothest person in the world.

"So you said." He grinned, those sexy eyes crinkling at the corners.

God! Even in a disaster area that smile just got to her, right down where all her lady parts began singing the Hallelujah Chorus.

"Take care," he told her. He started off but, after a couple of steps, turned back. "Okay, this isn't the place for it so I apologize but...."

"Come on, Hayes," someone yelled at him. "We got stuff to do. Get over here."

"You'd better go," Kristi told him. "I've got things to take care of here, too."

"Just say yes, and I'll go." He stood right in front of her, waving back at the other cops working the scene.