Rescue Me (Sparks Of Desire Book 2) Read online

  Rescue Me

  Sparks Of Desire

  Valerie Twombly

  Copyright © 2018 by Valerie Twombly

  All rights reserved.

  Edited by The Editing Hall & JRT Editing

  Cover by Taria Reed

  ISBN: 978-1-5323-7280-3

  Print ISBN: 978-1-5323-5598-1

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Dedication

  For all the first responders who fell on September 11, 2001. Your courage and bravery will never be forgotten. To those who continue to risk themselves to save life and property, you are the worlds true heroes.

  Acknowledgments

  I would not be where I am today without the support of some awesome people.

  The Sparks Of Desire series had some special help. Author Paige Tyler deserves a huge thanks for inviting me to write in her Kindle World, Dallas Fire & Rescue. It was the excuse I needed to finally launch that firefighter series I’d been contemplating. Be sure to check out her world over on Amazon and the kick off to this series, His Burning Desire.

  I want to thank station 3 in DeKalb, Illinois for showing me around. The lesson was awesome and I feel like I can never learn enough. The look you get when you walk into a fire station and say, “I’m a romance writer and I’m here to learn about firefighters.” It really is priceless, but they are awesome people and willing to help.

  Denny Cavanaugh from the Kingston, Illinois fire department for taking time to sit and chat with me.

  I cannot thank my FFF (firefighter friend) enough for agreeing to read my scenes for accuracy. I was able to step outside my comfort zone because I knew he would have my back.

  My biggest thanks goes to my readers. I am humbled every day by your kind words and encouragement. You feed my soul and I love you to the moon!

  Fireman’s Prayer

  When I am called to duty, God

  whenever flames may rage,

  Give me the strength to save some life

  Whatever be its age.

  Help me to embrace a little child

  Before it’s too late,

  Or some older person

  from the horror of that fate.

  Enable me to be alert

  And hear the weakest shout,

  And quickly and efficiently

  to put the fire out.

  I want to fill my calling

  and give the best in me,

  To guard my neighbor

  And protect his property.

  And if according to Your will

  I have to lose my life,

  Please bless with Your protecting hand

  My children and my wife

  Firefighter A.W. “Smokey” Linn

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Valerie Twombly

  Prologue

  Dallas, Texas

  Smoke, thick and deadly, rolled into view as the squad rounded the corner. The darkness of the late hour interrupted by street lamps and the flashing of red and blue lights. Derrick Taylor stared out the window and thought back to his academy days and a conversation he’d had with his old man.

  “Dad, were you ever scared?”

  His father had stopped cleaning his gear and gave him a serious look. “Every call. Son, the day a firefighter stops fearing is the day he needs to retire.”

  His old man’s words rang through Derrick’s mind every time a call came in. Words he’d lived by for the last nine years and often recited to the probies he worked with. You couldn’t allow fear to consume you or it took control. A firefighter always had to keep perspective. His own fear still sat with him and offered a sense of peace. He shoved it out of the way, allowed the adrenaline to pump, and put his mind into work mode just as he had so many times before. This was what he did. What his father and grandfather before him had done as well. It was in their blood.

  When they rolled to a stop behind the engine, he studied the two-story home in front of him as he and Davis jumped from the truck. Smoke squeezed from any crevice it found and billowed into the air. Flames made an escape through a section of the roof toward the back of the house.

  “Fire’s in the attic, but we don’t know where else,” Chief Warren said. “Taylor, you and Davis are going to have to go in. Neighbors claim no one has seen the residents, so we have to assume they are still inside.”

  “Got it, Chief,” Davis replied.

  Derrick opened the compartment that held his lifeline and slipped the tank over his head until it settled against his back, giving it a quick adjustment before securing the clip around his waist. Possible victims inside meant no water would be put to the flames unless absolutely necessary. If anyone was in there and still alive, the heated steam from dousing the fire would kill them for certain. He and Davis had to move quickly. With only ten to maybe fifteen minutes of air, both their clock and that of anyone inside was ticking.

  A jab in Derrick’s arm had him looking to his partner. Davis pointed, and Derrick’s attention swung to the kids’ bikes left in a haphazard pile in the driveway. His adrenaline rose as he prayed for the house to be empty.

  “Let’s go,” Davis said.

  Derrick and his partner grabbed the ladder. Hauling it across the yard, they smacked it against the aluminum siding to the left of the second story window. Likely a bedroom, it would be secured first.

  Derrick ascended the ladder until he was close enough to break the glass. With a swing of his ax, he aimed for the top pane of the window closest to him. After several forceful hits, he had enough glass cleared from the frame to crawl through.

  “I’m going in.”

  “I’ll be right behind you,” Davis replied below.

  Derrick rolled into the room and over fragments of glass as he began to crawl. The smoke was quick to snake its way past him in search of the opening he’d just made. Visibility was nil as he felt his way along the floor. Moments ticked by before he heard a thud.

  “I’m in.” Davis was behind him.

  “Status,” Command crackled over the radio.

  “Smoke’s rollin’ in, but no fire in this room,” Derrick replied, though the beast could be heard rearing its ugly head just outside.

  “Tanner’s team is venting the other side and performing a search. Be prepared.”

  “Copy, Command.” The warning issued, Derrick kept moving. “Davis, we better clear this room.” As soon as the words passed his lips, he bumped into something. Reaching out, he realized it was the bed.

  “Found the bed,” he called out to Davis. Feeling his way, he finally hit pay dirt. “Fuck! I’ve got a foot.” Derrick gripped an ankle and pulled.

  “The bucket’s heading your way,” Command replied.

  Derrick was thankful he didn’t have to extract and carry down the ladder. This meant he and Davis could continue their search. He lifted a soft body––curves indicating a
female––over his shoulder and made his way toward the voices now yelling from the window. Smith reached and pulled the female from Derrick’s hold.

  “I’ve got her.”

  “Got one!” Davis yelled behind them, and Derrick turned to help his partner. The light from his helmet pierced the darkness, and the now clearing smoke, to catch Davis struggling with a man twice his size. Together, the two managed to get their other victim in the bucket with Smith, who headed back to the ground. Once the room was cleared, Derrick and Davis made their way to the door then into the hall. Fire consumed the landing and stairs, cutting off the lower floor. Part of the ceiling had already collapsed, allowing for a partial view into Hell itself.

  “Command, the stairs are a no go and we have a partial collapse,” Derrick said. “Tanner’s team?” He hoped the others were successful in their rescue.

  “Found nothing. They had to pull out.”

  “We’ve got to clear the other rooms. I’m going, Taylor. There may still be kids in this house.” There was no missing the panic laced with pain in Davis’s voice. He had two kids of his own at home. His son Josh had just celebrated his third birthday, and Emily would be starting school in the fall.

  Burning debris fell, missing Derrick by inches. “Fuck. Command, we need a line up here now!” There was no longer a choice. This fire had to be tamed before it took them all out.

  “Negative. Get out. Now!”

  Shit! Command must see something outside that spelled bad news for them. Could it look any worse out there than it did in here? He and Davis had already made their way down the short hall. Looking behind him, there was no going back the way they came. Debris had fallen, and fire claimed the space where they had once been.

  “Copy that? Taylor? Davis?”

  “Command, our entry point’s blocked. We’ve got to find another way out.” Derrick knew those were not the words the men outside wanted to hear. He’d been on that end. Holding his breath waiting for his brothers to emerge, praying the entire time. This time his prayers were for Davis and himself as they searched for a doorway. If they could get into one of the other bedrooms, they could bash out the window and hopefully make their escape.

  A deafening roar filled the air, and Derrick flattened to the floor as the inferno rushed over his head.

  “Davis?” he called out, but there was no response. Fire surrounded him as he belly-crawled, searching for his partner. Clicking his mic... “Mayday, mayday, mayday from truck sixty.”

  “This is Command, go ahead with your mayday.”

  “This is firefighter Taylor. I’ve lost contact with Davis––” An alarm sounded that sent a shiver to Derrick’s very soul. Davis’s personal alert safety system had activated.

  Cracking timbers came from above Derrick, followed by a sharp pain across his legs. He tried to claw his way out but was pinned. If that wasn’t enough to fuck up his day, his mask vibrated.

  Mother fuck!

  “Ten-four, we have rescue coming to you.”

  Derrick searched for his years of training and tried to find calm, clicking his mic again. “Command, this is firefighter Taylor. I’m pinned and running out of air in the hallway.” He activated his PASS then took a breath, counted four seconds. Held it then slowly let it out, again he counted four seconds. Fighting the urge to inhale, he repeated his exhale, expelling as much carbon dioxide as possible.

  “Copy that. Activate your PASS.”

  The pressure on his legs grew, making controlled breathing difficult, but he pressed on. Remained calm and trusted his brothers to locate him and Davis, despite the fact that he was literally in Hell on earth. He would only make radio contact if necessary.

  Thinking of his father, he wondered if the same thoughts of life and death had passed through his dad’s mind during the man’s final moments. Had the man Derrick looked up to his entire life suffered? Or, as Derrick had always hoped, had his father died quickly.

  An eternity slipped by before he heard the shouts of the others and realized they were close. Colorful spirals filled his vision as he tried to suck from an empty tank.

  The same fate as my father, he thought as he was sucked into the depths of darkness.

  Derrick stared into the sink, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge of the counter. When he finally lifted his head to gaze in the mirror, disgust stared back at him. The chief’s words still rang in his ears.

  “Davis didn’t make it.”

  Derrick’s grip tightened as he ground his jaw and fought to control the emotions bombarding him.

  Rage.

  He was pissed at Davis for not hanging on. For leaving Derrick the sole survivor.

  “You fucking coward, Davis. How dare you take the easy way out.” His arms shook until he finally released his grip on the granite. Grabbing the towel, he wiped his face then tossed the terry to the floor before he stormed from the bathroom. He stopped short, staring at the dress uniform laid across the bed. The last time he had pulled it out was when his father had died in the line of duty. Jeremy Davis had been at Derrick’s side when he’d buried his father, the last of his family. Today, Derrick would lay his best friend to rest.

  Memories of Sarah Davis and the tears that filled her eyes when he had personally gone to give his condolence kicked him in the chest, taking his last breath. The words were unspoken, but he knew her thoughts. Why had her husband died while Derrick survived?

  He wanted an answer to that question as well.

  It wasn’t his time, didn’t cut it for him. Derrick had no one to mourn his death, but Jeremy did. As he picked up the photo of himself and Jeremy on a fishing trip last year, he swore a vow as the pain in Sarah’s eyes came back to haunt him. He was done getting close to people. Caring about them was a sure way to a broken heart.

  1

  Two years later

  Halee propped her boots on her brother’s desk as she inspected her nails.

  “Do you think it wise to keep putting Mason off?” Kadin asked, his brow lifted high.

  She couldn’t stop the roll of her eyes. “I wish you would stop trying to involve yourself in my love life.”

  Kadin tossed his pen and it bounced across the expanse of his wooden desk. He focused blue eyes that reminded her of glacial ice straight at her. “How many times do we have to have this conversation?”

  Halee’s left eye twitched. She loved her brother but so help her... “We’d never have to if you’d just let me live my own life.”

  He grunted. “Our species––”

  She held up her hand. “Needs you, Halee. Yada, yada.” She crossed her arms. “Spare me, please.”

  Kadin rose and leaned over his desk, palms flat on the dark surface. “I’ll spare you nothing. Mason is a good man and you need to get these silly ideas of love out of your head. You’re a full-blooded shifter, and I don’t have to tell you how rare that is. We need more shifter females, and mating with one of your own will guarantee that.”

  Halee pushed from her seat so fast the chair scooted across the room. “Then why don’t you settle down and find a mate?” Even though she already knew the answer to that.

  “If there were more full-bloods, I would consider it.”

  “You can mate with a human. With our family’s DNA, you stand a good chance of having full-blooded daughters.” After all, their mother was human and had born two boys then Halee, before she had the youngest of the Murphy children. Isabella, their baby sister, was human.

  He simply glared at her. “I’ve no desire to mate with a human.”

  “You’re such a fucking hypocrite. Human women are good enough to wet your dick, but nothing more?” She uncurled her fingers trying to relax, or she was going to punch her brother in the throat. “Our mother is human.”

  “I know damn well what mother is and I love her. A human.”

  Counting to ten, Halee reminded herself that her eldest brother wasn’t a bad person. He did love their mother and worshipped the ground she walked on. Kadin was simply
stuck in the same ancient thinking many males of her species had held for the past thousand years. There had been a time when an illness had spread like a plague and killed almost all of their females. Being resourceful, the men soon realized they could mate with human women and produce offspring. Granted, the females born were usually human or halflings. Babies like Halee came along... Well, only one other full-blooded female had been born since the plague, and she had died giving birth to an over-sized baby boy.

  How could Halee walk away from her people? But she didn’t want to simply be someone’s mate. She wanted love. Acceptance for who she was and not what. Could she find it with one of her own? Doubtful. Men had been fighting over her hand in marriage since she was a young girl, but none of them loved her. She was an end to a means, so they could beat their chests and claim their seed produced a shifter daughter.

  “My shift’s over. I’ll see you in a couple of days.” She didn’t bother to wait for his reply but headed out the door. Inhaling the pine-scented air of her beloved Minnesota, she made a snap decision. She’d be going out of town for a few days. The urge to throw caution to the wind and do something outside her comfort zone overwhelmed her. For once in her life, she wanted a man to want her for what she was. A sexy woman.

  Derrick stretched his neck as he exited the highway. Except for gas and piss stops, he’d been driving for ten hours straight. Time to stop and relax for the evening. A Hyatt loomed in the distance so, he decided to splurge on a little luxury. Besides, they would have a bar and restaurant. He liked one-stop shopping, and the thought of getting out of this truck for several hours was beyond appealing.