Cowboy raised a brow. “You read all those?”
I nodded. “I enjoy reading.”
He lifted a romance book I’d left lying in my chair, scanned the title, and chuckled. “Sounds like some kind of guidebook for birth control, rather than a romance.”
Mentally cringing, I moved into the tiny kitchen to keep from awarding him with the blush I felt slowly creeping into my cheeks. His boots clomped on the floor behind me, signaling he’d followed. I glanced over my shoulder and caught sight of him eyeing the steaming white teapot on the glass-top stove.
“I was preparing a cup of tea when I heard the popping sounds coming from outside,” I explained, my voice shaking a little.
“Would you like a cup?” he asked.
I nodded and opened the cabinet nearest the sink, where I kept my good china and a small box of tea bags.
“Sit down,” he ordered, reaching over me and taking them from my hands. “I’ll get it for you.”
Wordlessly, I obeyed his command and sat at the small round dining room table. I reached over and flipped the switch on an electronic warming plate that held a vanilla-scented candle in a glass jar, needing the calming Zen the aromatherapy would provide. Then I took a couple of slow, deep breaths.
It was hard to believe Cowboy was inside my home, much less making me a cup of hot tea. Every vision I’d had in the last week of him being here with me had always had way more to do with my bedroom than a kitchen. And the thought of Cowboy and me anywhere near a bed together made my heart race and my breath quicken. Not that I’d ever tell him that, though.
My irritating mind used the pleasant fantasy against me to slowly drive me insane. I’d be leaving in a few months. Besides that, Cowboy had never been attracted to me. How could he be? Especially now when I resembled a worn, wrung-out mop.
Standing outside in the wind had dried my damp hair, but now it felt like an unruly ball of tangled twine on top of my head. Drab, stringy, and no doubt completely unflattering. Then again, I doubted he’d even notice. Cowboy’s only interest in me had to do with him bedding a woman who’d turned him down flat. That’s what he’d said, after alclass="underline" I’m intrigued by you because you didn’t want anything to do with me.
Cowboy brought over two cups of the aromatic tea, placed one in front of me, and plopped down in the empty chair beside me with his cup still in his hand. He brought it to his lips and took a large swallow before cringing, making a god-awful face, and setting the cup down. He pushed it away from him. “That tastes like shit.”
I dunked my tea bag a couple of times and cautiously took a sip from my cup. As I swallowed, the warm, fragrant liquid traveled down my throat, soothing me from the inside out. Puzzled, I shook my head. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“Tastes like dirt and grass.”
I smiled lightly. “It’s herbal.”
He crooked his mouth and wrinkled his nose, as if he couldn’t understand why anyone would drink the earthy stuff. Then his green eyes flickered to the flameless candle warmer, which apparently reminded him why we were sitting there together. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly.
I didn’t. Not really.
All the slow breathing I’d done earlier had helped lower my blood pressure and pulse rate, but I suddenly felt both rising once again. I’d carried the guilt over my mother’s death with me for so long. Maybe it was time I let someone in and get it off my chest. But then I wondered what he’d think of me once he knew the truth, and the fear clamped my vocal chords into silence. Bringing the cup back to my lips, I took another sip and shook my head.
Cowboy’s eyes narrowed in determination. He took my cup from me and set it aside, then he grasped my seat with both hands and scooted my chair around to face him. “Talk to me.”
Guess he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
I couldn’t look directly at him. A long pause ensued until I felt calm enough to speak the words out loud. “I was…six years old at the time,” I whispered, wringing my hands together in my lap. “My mother was cooking dinner while I finished my homework at the kitchen table. My stepfather had just called to say he was on his way home from work when the doorbell rang.” I paused.
“Go on,” he encouraged.
I swallowed hard. “My mom went to answer it. I…I should’ve stayed in the kitchen like she told me to…but I didn’t.” I was having a difficult time talking and shook my head in disgust as a fat tear dropped onto my cheek. “Had I stayed, I could have stopped the fire from happening. Things might’ve been different,” I told him, my lips trembling with remorse. “S-she might still be alive.” With that admittance, a sob tore from my throat and guilt stabbed into my chest, piercing my heart. Angry tears assaulted my cheeks, and although my hands flew to my face to fend them off, it was useless. The battle was lost.
Drawing me to him, Cowboy pressed his lips to my ear and made a shushing sound. He rubbed my back lightly, allowing me to release all the pent-up regret I’d held onto for so long. “I’m sorry, Anna. I should’ve trusted you from the beginning. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
I squeezed my eyes closed. I was a coward. He trusted me…yet I still couldn’t bring myself to tell him the whole truth.
When my cries finally died down, he asked, “Want to know why I became a fireman?”
His chin rested on top of my head, but he must’ve felt me nod.
“When I was thirteen, a single mother moved in across the street from my parents’ home. She lived in a double-wide trailer and had three kids, all under the age of six—Danny, Lynn, and Suzie Q. Well, that’s what I used to call her, anyway. The kids would come over on the weekends sometimes to play with my dog.
“One morning, I was out back working on my go-cart when I picked up a strong whiff of smoke blowing in the breeze. I’d circled the house trying to figure out where it was coming from, when I looked across the road and saw their trailer on fire.”
My temple was pressed to his throat, and I felt him swallow hard.
“I knew they were inside and yelled for my mom to call 911 while my dad and I ran over and pounded on their door. It was locked, though. We couldn’t get in. We knocked in a few windows and yelled, but no one answered. Every time we tried to enter, the smoke choked us and the heat from the fire burned our skin.”
I pulled back and looked at him, wide-eyed. “They didn’t make it out, did they?”
Solemnly, he shook his head. “I was there when the firefighters pulled their bodies out, one by one. It made me sick. The fast-moving fire had spread before their mom could wake up and carry them to safety. I stood outside that charred trailer and said good-bye to each one of those babies. They never even had a chance at life.”
I studied his face. His eyes were glossy from tears that hadn’t yet fallen. The cool arrogance he normally displayed was long gone, replaced by things I easily recognized. Grief. Sadness. Regret. Maybe we weren’t as different as I thought.
“It’s always tougher when it involves children.”
“Yeah. But it’s worse when you realize that if only you’d had the right tools for the job, they would all still be alive.” He shook his head at the injustice. “That’s only one of two reasons why I joined the fire department, though.”
“What’s the other?”
Cowboy grinned a little. “Danny wanted to be a fireman. That’s all the kid ever talked about.”
My heart squeezed as I smiled warmly at him. Without thinking, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his cheek, surprising the both of us. He stiffened at the unexpected gesture, and I pulled back immediately. But his hand caught me behind my neck, stopping the motion.
His face lingered near mine, and his gaze landed on my mouth as I licked my lips with nervousness. Okay, anticipation. So I wanted to kiss him. Big deal. Who wouldn’t?