Chapter 23
“Red Flag Warnings mean hot, dry, and unstable. Just like my ex.”
—It’s science
Iris
Because it was too hot and windy to be outside today, we had a mostly lazy day inside, and it was wonderful. I say mostly lazy day because there was some physical activity done—the naked kind.
It started when I brought up the conversation I had with Patrick last week, just to see what Hector would say.
“I ran into Patrick the other day—the lieutenant I interviewed with you at the lake,” I told him, crossing my arms under my breasts and leaning against the bathroom door while he brushed his teeth.
“Funny thing, actually. He mentioned that he’d asked you if I was single, and you’d told him I was seeing someone. ”
His eyes made contact with mine, but he said nothing, just continued to brush his teeth.
“Except I wasn’t seeing anyone, so why did you tell him that?” I asked because the nosy person in me wanted to know.
I gave him a moment to finish washing up but stayed grounded in my position in the doorway.
“He gave me a bad vibe, and I didn’t want him asking you out,” he said as if it were just as simple as that. Then he turned to me, so close I could feel his breath on my face. “Maybe deep down, I knew you would be mine eventually, so I didn’t want him to interfere.”
Before I could respond, he kissed me. That kiss led to other things—naked things—and the day progressed happily from there.
Hector watched some baseball on TV while I caught up on my needlepoint. Both of these things were done on the couch, snuggled up next to each other, and I loved every moment of it.
Now, hours later, we were cleaning up the dishes after dinner, and my plan was to finish some laundry and then talk Hector into watching a movie with me in his bed—naked.
We had a nice routine of me washing the dishes and him drying them and putting them away—mostly because he could actually reach all the high cabinets and I couldn’t.
I had just handed him a plate when I noticed he was staring at me.
“What? Do I have bubbles on my face or something?” I asked.
“No,” he replied, a small grin on his face. “Just admiring how fuckable you look right now.”
I snorted in response. I was in an oversized gray T-shirt and cut-off jeans shorts with my hair pulled up into a very messy bun, and I had my glasses on.
“Hector, my glasses are deeply unsexy, and my hair is a hot mess.”
“I happen to like the look,” he said, grinning back at me.
I rolled my eyes and put my hand on my hip, pausing with the dishes. “Don’t tell me you’re into that whole sexy librarian thing.”
“I’m into you,” he said, taking a step closer to me and closing the gap between us. “Don’t need a librarian. I got a sexy woman right in front of me. But if you wanna pretend to be a librarian, I’m game for whatever you want.”
I rolled my eyes at his comment, but I was also going to enjoy the comment and run with it. “Oh yeah?” I asked, leaning into his space and putting my chest up against his abs.
“Yeah,” he responded and leaned down to kiss me.
It was a good kiss, too. Soft at first and then more demanding as his mouth moved to take command of mine. He slid his hands into my hair, pulling slightly as he deepened the kiss. My brain began to short-circuit, and he slid his tongue into my mouth as I tasted his minty fresh breath.
Just as we started to get to the good stuff—like groping—his phone rang.
I heard a small whine leave my body as Hector broke away from our kiss. He still held me tight as he looked back at his phone screen on the counter to see who was calling.
His groan let me know it was not a call he could ignore.
We disconnected, and Hector walked to the phone to pick it up.
“Madeira,” he answered, sounding irritated already. “Where? Ahhh…shit.”
His irritation now seemed to be morphing into pissed off, and I wondered what the call was about.
“Yeah…okay,” he continued. “Give me fifteen to get there.”
He hung up and turned to me. “That was Jennings. There’s a small fire on the north side of the park.”
Crap. That wasn’t good. We had high winds and very dry conditions, so any fire that started was very likely to spread quickly.
“Is everybody okay?” I asked.
“For now, but Jennings said based on the information he has, it’s headed toward the campground, so I need to go over and help try to evacuate those folks,” he replied.
“Okay, go do your thing,” I told him. “Is it just the two of you?”
“That’s the weird thing,” he added. “Jennings said he’s been trying to get in touch with Diden to go block off the other entrance while he goes and checks it out, but she’s not answering her phone, even though she’s supposed to be on post. That’s not like her to not respond.”
Ann definitely struck me as the responsible type, but maybe something had come up.
“Sorry, babe,” he said, leaning into me. “I’ll try to make this quick.”
“It’s okay. Be careful,” I told him. “I know it’s mostly dirt out there on that side of the park, but if there’s enough vegetation to burn, it can definitely spread for a few hundred acres before it burns itself out.”
“I’m not worried about the park. I’m worried about it spreading into the campground,” he said, grabbing his badge and other gear.
“We’re under a red flag warning today, so it’s not out of the question that some of those embers could get picked up and lofted far away—and quickly,” I explained.
“Alright,” he said, leaning down to kiss me. “Hopefully, the fire department gets there quickly and I can be back soon.”
He walked over to the door to put his shoes on and grab his keys before turning back to me.
“Do not feed him extra treats,” he warned.
My only response was to smile back at him as Sarge sat happily at my feet.
He shook his head at me, as though he knew I wouldn’t listen.
Once he was out the door, I turned to Sarge and crouched down to his level. “Daddy says no more treats, but I think we’re going to pretend we didn’t hear that.”
He licked my face—clearly letting me know he agreed with me.
After Hector left, I decided to clean up the kitchen and get some laundry going. That way half the to-do list would already be done by the time he got back, allowing us to focus on picking up from where we’d left off. Priorities.
My phone rang in the kitchen, and I rushed to get it, hoping it was Hector saying he was on his way home. It wasn’t, but I still smiled seeing Christine’s name pop up on the screen.
“Hey girl,” I greeted her. “I thought you were working today. I figured you’d be busy already.”
“I’m actually about to leave here in ten minutes, but I wanted to ask if I could borrow your black sequin dress for my cousin’s wedding next weekend,” she asked me.
“Yeah, totally,” I told her.
“Can I swing by on my way home and grab it?”
“I’m actually at Hector’s place right now, waiting for him to get back, but I can bring it to work tomorrow if you want.”
“Yeah, that works,” she said. “Why are you there if he isn’t?”
“He went to check out the fire on the north side of the park,” I told her.
“There’s a fire?” she asked, seeming genuinely confused. “No one reported anything.”
“Really?” I asked, because it was usual standard protocol to report it to the weather service because it affected our warning products and the alerts we would send out to the public.
Sarge started to bark, followed by a knock on the door.
“Here, I’ll text you his number,” I told her. “Call him because he may still be driving, but he can get you some coordinates of the fire so you can get it on the maps ASAP.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I’d like to get it on there before I finish my shift.”
I looked out the narrow window on the side of the door and saw Ranger Diden’s face.
“Okay, I gotta go. Hector’s co-worker, Ann, is here,” I told her.
“No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow!” she said, and I hung up just as I swung the door open.