Ablaze (Dallas Fire & Rescue Book 2) Read online

  After sending Melinda a quick text to let her know she was there, Lexi reached into the backseat to grab the bag of books and magazines she’d brought for Wayne. Since she was meeting Melinda for lunch anyway, she figured she’d stop by and visit the older man while she was there.

  Lexi waved at a few of the doctors and nurses she knew as she made her way to the nurse’s station in the ER. Melinda wasn’t there yet, so Lexi asked the nurse at the desk if she knew what room Wayne was in. Since his injuries were minor, she doubted they’d left him in one of the urgent care rooms. She only hoped they hadn’t already released him.

  The nurse at the desk was still checking which room Wayne was in when Melinda’s voice interrupted them.

  “You don’t need to do that, Kim. I got it.”

  Lexi turned and gave her roommate a smile. Melinda had worked late last night then come in early this morning. It was barely noon, and she already looked exhausted.

  “Hey,” Lexi said. “I brought some books and magazines for Wayne to read. I thought I’d drop them off before we grab lunch.”

  Melinda didn’t return her smile. For some reason, Lexi suddenly got a funny feeling in her stomach. She wasn’t sure what her friend’s silence meant, but she didn’t like it.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  Melinda shook her head. “I’m sorry. Wayne didn’t make it.”

  Lexi stared, sure she hadn’t heard right. “Wait…what?”

  “Wayne passed away during the night.” Melinda sighed. “I think it was his heart.”

  Tears stung Lexi’s eyes. She blinked them back, stunned by her reaction to Wayne’s death. She’d been doing this job for a long time. Although losing patients was always hard, she’d gotten used to it. But Wayne was different. He wasn’t supposed to die.

  “How is that even possible?” she demanded. “Dane stopped to see Wayne yesterday and said he was fine. They talked for hours.”

  Tears trickled down her face. She tried to dash them away so no one would see. She was a paramedic, dammit. Paramedics weren’t supposed to cry.

  “Melinda, is everything okay?”

  Lexi turned and saw a middle-aged man in a white lab coat approaching them, a concerned look on his friendly face. She recognized him as the doctor the news crew had been interviewing the other day about the kid who’d had saved his family from a fire.

  “Lexi, this is Dr. Lambert. He’s the attending physician in charge of our residents. Doctor, Lexi Fletcher, a paramedic at one of the local fire stations.” Melinda’s smile was sad. “She’s the one who brought in Wayne Moore.”

  Dr. Lambert nodded. “I’m sorry about Mr. Moore. Was he a friend?”

  Lexi shook her head, tears threatening to flow again. Crap. “No. I’d never met him before bringing him in the other night.”

  Whether she wanted them to or not, the tears made another appearance. She wiped them away with the heel of her hand. She wasn’t sure why Wayne’s death was hitting her so hard.

  Dr. Lambert gave her an understanding smile. “It’s okay. You don’t have to try to hide the fact that you have a heart and care about the people you rescue. I only talked to Mr. Moore once while I was taking a group of residents on a rotation, but he seemed like a very nice man. Someone should mourn the loss of a person like that.”

  Lexi nodded, not trusting herself to speak right then. She could see why the hospital had put Dr. Lambert in charge of training the next generation of doctors. He clearly cared about the people he’d taken an oath to heal.

  “How could this have happened?” she asked, wondering if she and Trent had missed something when they’d treated Wayne. “His pulse and blood pressure were slightly elevated when my partner and I brought him in, but nothing serious.”

  Dr. Lambert shook his head. “There was nothing in any of the initial screening work that indicated a problem either. It was a surprise to us when Mr. Moore’s heart gave out during the night, but he was in his seventies, so it isn’t unusual. Especially after what he’d been through. The stress of the fire, the concussion, and his anxiety over what he was going to do next now that his home was gone were probably too much for him.”

  Lexi frowned. “Wayne couldn’t be revived?”

  “Unfortunately, no. Dr. Patton did everything he could, but he couldn’t save him.”

  Lexi sighed. Poor Wayne had no one in his life to miss him or mourn him, except for them. It made Lexi realize more than ever the importance of friends and family, and about surrounding yourself with people you loved and who loved you in return. The time she and Dane had spent together last night seemed even more special.

  Chapter Six

  I’VE NEVER GONE paddleboarding before,” Lexi said “Is it difficult to learn?”

  Dane glanced at her as he took the exit for Lake Carolyn, letting his gaze linger on her bare legs before turning his attention to the road again. The shorts and tank top she wore revealed a lot more skin than they concealed, and the sight was doing a number on him for sure. Not that he was complaining. The biggest reason he’d suggested going paddleboarding was so he could see Lexi in a bikini.

  “I don’t think so. I’ve never done it either.” He grinned as he turned into the parking lot. “That’s why I signed us up for a class and a guided tour of the lake.”

  “Good thinking.” She smiled. “Now I have to hope I don’t make an idiot of myself.”

  Dane pulled into a space and cut the engine. “I’ve seen you doing yoga in the gym at the station. You’re too graceful ever to make an idiot of yourself.”

  Lexi unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned closer, one hand on the bench seat between them. “So, you’ve been watching me, huh?”

  “Every chance I get. In a completely non-stalker kind of way, of course.” He kissed her. “Come on before I say the hell with paddleboarding and spend the rest of the day right here making out with you.”

  She was still laughing as he got out of the truck and came around to her side to open the door for her.

  “It might be easier if we leave our clothes and stuff in the truck,” he suggested.

  Lexi nodded, pulling her tank top over her head then skimming off her shorts.

  Dane’s breath hitched. Damn. With her toned body, healthy curves, and long, sexy legs, she looked good enough to eat.

  He yanked off his shirt then they sprayed each other down with sunscreen and headed for the board rental place located right on the Mandalay Canal. As they walked, he let Lexi move ahead of him a little bit so he could enjoy the view. And man, what a view. The woman had a spectacular ass. Of course, he’d already discovered that in the best way possible while riding that mechanical bull Thursday evening.

  He’d slept in on Friday then lay in bed for another hour thinking about their date the night before. He’d never been with anyone like Lexi. She was easy to talk to and fun to be around, and the moment he’d left her apartment, he couldn’t wait to see her again. In fact, he’d been contemplating calling to see if she wanted to dinner and a movie when she’d called and told him about Wayne. Suggesting doing something frivolous hadn’t seemed right after that.

  As a firefighter, Dane had to deal with death sometimes. More in car accidents than in fires, but it was all bad. He still couldn’t believe the old guy hadn’t made it. He’d seemed completely fine when Dane had visited him earlier that day. It made him appreciate life even more.

  Things at the station had been interesting on Saturday. Everyone there had known he and Lexi had gone out and demanded details about their date. It was like they were back in high school. Calls had started coming in soon enough, though, and their coworkers forgot all about their date. It had been a tough day on the highways yesterday. Three car accidents caused by some A-holes out street racing in weekend traffic. It was lucky no one had gotten killed.

  Dane was still thinking about that when he and Lexi joined the dozen other people who were there to paddleboard. The lessons turned out to be a good idea. Dane had never realized there was so
much technique to the whole thing, but they spent forty-five minutes learning how to mount the board, stand up, balance on the water—that was more interesting than he would have thought—paddle the board the right way, different ways to turn, and finally how to fall off the board properly then get back on.

  Admittedly, he spent most of that time watching Lexi. Like he’d thought, she was a natural when it came to keeping her balance. The way the muscles in her legs flexed as she moved was a thing of beauty.

  After the lessons, the guides led them into the canal then let everyone move at their own pace. Dane and Lexi hung back from the rest of the group, slowly paddling past the shops, tourist attractions, walkways, and waterfalls.

  “I’ve been down here a dozen times, but it looks completely different from out on the water. It’s beautiful.” Lexi smiled at him. “Thanks for thinking of this.”

  “I’ve always wanted to do it,” he admitted. “Just never found the right person to do it with.”

  Dane couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw her blush.

  “You sure this wasn’t an excuse to see me half naked?” she teased.

  He chuckled, admiring the way her abs rippled as she paddled her board. “You caught me. Seeing you in a bikini was all part of my devious plan.”

  “You are so bad,” she laughed.

  Dane paddled up beside her and leaned over for a kiss. “Maybe a little.”

  Dane was disappointed when the guides turned everyone around and headed back to the dock. He could have stayed out there with Lexi the whole day.

  “We should come back and do one of their sunset paddles,” Lexi said as if reading his mind. “Or maybe rent the boards ourselves. What do you think?”

  “I think it sounds like a plan,” Dane said, leaning over to kiss her again.

  * * * * *

  When they got back to shore, Lexi and Dane changed out of their swimsuits and into the extra clothes they’d brought with them. For her that meant slipping back into her shorts and tank top—minus the bikini this time—while Dane came out of the changing room wearing cargo shorts and a T-shirt. She didn’t mind the cargoes because they still showed off his muscular legs, but she was a little bummed he’d put on a T-shirt. She’d enjoyed seeing those washboard abs of his ripple and flex while he’d worked it on that board.

  “You feel like stopping by Keller’s Drive-In for burgers then taking them back to my place and eating there?” Dane asked.

  Lexi was all about that. She’d never been to Keller’s, but everyone she knew raved about their burgers being the best in Dallas. And after basking in the hot, hunky firefighter that was Dane Chandler all day, she definitely wouldn’t mind having him all to herself. She was kind of curious to see where he lived, too.

  She smiled. “Sounds good to me.”

  Keller’s was a few miles from the paddleboarding place, so it took barely ten minutes to get there. Lexi glanced at Dane as he pulled into one of the drive-in spaces.

  “How did you find this place?” she asked. “Another late night shift at the station?”

  He chuckled. “Pretty much. We’ve stopped here a couple times in Engine 58 on the way back from a call.”

  Lexi ordered a cheeseburger with all the standard fixings while Dane got a double meat with chili and cheese. They both got fries, plus an order of onion rings to share between them as well as chocolate shakes. Because if you went to a drive-in, you had to get shakes. Everything smelled so delicious, she couldn’t resist stealing a fry or two on the way to Dane’s apartment.

  “I’ve been dying to see where you live,” Lexi said as they took the elevator up to the eighth floor of his apartment building.

  Dane waited for her to step into the hallway before following her out of the elevator. “It’s kind of small and not nearly as nice as your place.”

  She laughed. “My place is only nice because there are two of us paying the rent.”

  Dane hadn’t been exaggerating when he said his one-bedroom apartment was small. But it was neat and clean and had a big window in the living room with a killer view that made it seem bigger than it really was.

  While Dane went into the kitchen to grab some plates, she lingered in the living room to check out the framed photos on the walls. There were some of him with a dark-haired woman with eyes so similar to Dane’s she could only be his sister, which meant the middle-aged couple in the pictures must be his parents. All the other photos were of him with the firefighters and paramedics from Station 58. Besides the regular cookouts, there were a few from the various charity and sporting events as well.

  “You’re really close to the crew at the station, aren’t you?” she asked as she joined him in the kitchen.

  “Yeah.” He reached into the fridge and came out with mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard. “Until my sister moved back to Dallas, the people at the station were the only family I had.”

  Lexi’s heart ached at the reminder of what happened to Dane’s parents all those years ago. She was glad he and his sister had reconnected. While her family might drive her crazy, she wouldn’t trade them for anything.

  “You mentioned the other night that you’re a Texas girl, but I never did get a chance to ask you exactly where you’re from,” Dane said as they sat at the tiny table in the eat-in kitchen.

  She blinked as he squirted a big dollop of mustard on his plate then dipped some fries in it. He must have seen her staring because he offered the mustard to her. “You want some?”

  “No, thanks. I think I’ll stick with ketchup.” Lexi watched in amazement as he dunked another fry into the spicy stuff. “How can you eat that much mustard all at once? I might put a little bit on a sandwich, but no way would I even think of putting it on fries. In fact, I think Melinda and I have probably had the same bottle of mustard in our fridge for two years.”

  Which was kind of gross, now that she thought about it.

  He dipped an onion ring into the same puddle of mustard and wolfed it down. “I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved mustard on everything.”

  Lexi suddenly pictured Dane bringing mustard into the bedroom to slather on her. Okay…not going there.

  “I’m from San Marcos,” she said when she finally got around to answering his question. She took a few onion rings from where he’d dumped them on a plate and stacked them on her burger. “It’s halfway between Austin and San Antonio. Kind of quiet compared to a city like Dallas, but it was a nice place to grow up.”

  “Does your family still live there?”

  She nodded, grabbing another onion ring and crunching into it. “Two brothers and two sisters, along with a whole bushel load of cousins, nieces and nephews. I’m the only one who ever moved away from home for more than a couple years. Both sisters and one of my brothers went off to college, but they all moved back to San Marcos after graduation.”

  As they ate, Lexi found herself telling him about her family and all the crazy things she and her siblings did growing up. Like the time she and her sisters decided to have a picnic with their teddy bears when she, Heidi, and Misti were four, six, and eight respectively.

  “The only problem was that there was a herd of free roaming cattle who thought the lush field of grass was the perfect place to graze,” she said. “As you can imagine, the bull wasn’t too happy with us. He chased us and our teddy bears right out of there.”

  Dane chuckled.

  “Don’t laugh! I was afraid of cows for years after that. Something which my brothers tease me about to this day.” Lexi picked up her drink. “Which is when I remind them of the doofuses they made of themselves at the state fair.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite,” Dane said with a grin. “What’d they do?”

  Lexi sipped her chocolate shake. “Drew volunteered to sit on the seat over the dunk tank. He wouldn’t have minded getting dunked except Craig rigged the mechanism to dunk him every time someone threw a ball at the target regardless if they hit it or not. Drew was so pissed he chased Craig around the fairgrounds
throwing baseballs at him.”

  Dane snorted out a laugh. “Sounds like something Jax and I would have done in high school. And Skye would have never let us live it down either.” Out of fries, he dipped his burger in mustard. “Your family seems really close.”

  “We are,” she admitted. “I visit every year for Christmas and any other chance I can get. How about you and your sister? Do you two spend the holidays together?”

  He finished chewing his burger before answering. “We haven’t done that for a long time, but now that she’s back in Dallas, I think we’re going to start. I look forward to making up for all the time we lost when she was living in New York City.”

  “She sounds pretty awesome,” Lexi said. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

  “You up for stopping by to see her tomorrow at the ranch? I’ll give her a call and make sure she’ll be there.”

  “I’d love to! You sure she won’t be too busy? She and Jax are getting married next week, right?”

  Dane shook his head. “Nah. We’ll hang out for a little while, maybe spend some time with the horses then get out of their way.”

  That sounded good to Lexi, especially the part about the horses. She’d ridden a lot when she was younger and never got tired of being around such beautiful animals.

  “Do you want to go see a movie or something?” Dane asked after they finished eating.

  She shook her head. “We don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want to. I’m fine with hanging around here.”

  “Want to catch something on Netflix then?” He flashed her a grin. “I’ll even break out the popcorn.”

  She returned his smile. “As long as I get to pick what we watch. Or you’ll have us watching some meaningless action flick.”