Everything Bared (Six-Alarm Sexy) (19 page)

His feet were wearing a path in the tiles when a vehicle pulled into the visitor parking lot. “Fire Inspection” was emblazoned on the side doors. Dressed in her house uniform, Dani climbed out of the SUV. She opened the back hatch and pulled out her white helmet as well as a metal box that looked like it might contain official forms. He’d longed to see her in uniform again, but not like this. Fuck. If this report were valid, the company’s sterling reputation for employee safety would be shot. As would CFF’s negotiating position with the union.

After locking up the SUV, Danielle headed toward the entrance. William stepped on the floor sensors and the sliding glass doors opened. She smiled softly when she saw him. Tapping the radio on her shoulder, she said, “Dispatch, this is Firefighter Harris. I’m on-site at Caldwell Fine Furnishings. Do you copy, over?”

A voice answered. “Copy that, Firefighter Harris. Please report back once the inspection has been completed. Over.”

“Roger and out,” she said, clicking off the radio. William sighed. He’d suspected this was an official visit, but had hoped it was more of an informal inquiry.

Danielle plopped the helmet on her head and opened the metal box, revealing a clipboard and some forms. “Here’s a transcript of the call we received.”

He took the paper and quickly scanned it. Anonymous. Vague. But the words
deadly
and
negligence
stood out like headlights in the dark.
Shit
.

A warm hand touched his forearm. “I’m sorry, William. But we need to check it out.”

He pressed his lips together and nodded. “Of course. Where do you want to start?”

“Wherever most of the employees work.”

“The shop and the warehousing sections then.”

For the next hour, William led Danielle through the work areas, offices, cafeteria, and restrooms. She methodically checked the equipment, the signage, emergency shut-offs, equipment alarms, manual fire extinguishers, and the fire-suppression systems. They inspected the stairwells and emergency exits in each section. Everything seemed to be in order, until they reached an emergency exit down a narrow hallway off the kitchen. It had been chained and locked.

William’s stomach roiled and hot bile filled his throat. “What the fuck?”

Danielle whistled. She stepped closer and yanked on the thick chain that was wrapped around the push handles and held in place by a large sturdy padlock. “No one’s getting out this way unless they have a set of oversized bolt cutters. I take it this isn’t per company policy?”

“No.” He could barely speak. If a fire had erupted, the kitchen staff and perhaps many others would have flocked to this exit and been trapped. He’d seen news reports of this kind of thing happening in clubs and at restaurants. His initial reaction had always been to think the owners were idiots, prizing profit over safety. In this case, he knew for certain that wasn’t the reason. But what was?

When his gaze returned to Danielle, she was scanning the walls and ceiling. “Any security cameras in here?”

He rubbed his face, frustration bleeding from every pore. “Not in this corridor. But I’ll put the head of security on it. Maybe he can piece something together from the cameras we do have. Maybe at least get a range of time when this could have been done.”

“I’m going to have to write this up.”

Tucking his fists in his pockets, he nodded.
Fuck!
He couldn’t believe this was happening. The timing couldn’t be worse. And once Torval caught wind of it—
double fuck!

“I’m so sorry, William.”

He ducked his head and ground his teeth, not wanting to see the pity on her face. “At least no one was hurt.”

“This time.”

His abdomen clenched as though she’d delivered a swift kick to his stomach. “This time?” he gasped.

“Unless this was done by some incredibly stupid person in an act of truly random ignorance, this was a deliberate act of sabotage. In my experience, the usual path is escalation.”

What she said made perfect sense. “Next time will be worse.”

“Do you have any idea who might have done this?” she asked, her voice gentle.

He scraped his fingers through his hair, intentionally scratching his scalp. The pain helped to center him. “You know we’re in union negotiations.”

“So it could be anyone who works here and isn’t happy with the way the discussions are going.”

He shrugged. “It could also be a competitor pouncing on an opportunity to weaken us.”

“Why do you suspect a competitor?”

“We have a hotline to report this type of issue. It wasn’t used. Whoever reported this didn’t want it to be handled in-house.”

“The fire service will help in any way we can.” She made a few additions to her report, signed it, and handed him a copy. “Until this is resolved, only employees are allowed on the premises.”

Only employees?
His eyes widened and he gripped her arm. His father would kill him if the anniversary party had to be called off. “What do you mean by ‘resolved’? We might never catch this person.”

“CFF needs to prove to the fire service that all fire-safety precautions are in place and that you have implemented a strategy for ensuring something like this can’t happen again.”

“Like cameras at all exits and more security guards?”

“That would be a good start.”

“Christ, that gives me only a week to figure all this out.”

“What’s in a week?”

He spun around and punched the emergency door, the crunch of bone on metal echoing on the cinder blocks lining the narrow corridor.

“Will, what happens in a week?”

“The Caldwell Fine Furnishings one-hundred-sixtieth anniversary party. All the employees, the board,
and
their families are invited.”

She frowned and tapped her pen against her bottom lip. “How many people are you expecting?”

“Five to six hundred. More if everyone decides to come for the big bash we can’t even afford.”

She tapped her lip again, drawing his attention to her finely shaped fingers, her nails clipped short and unvarnished. “With that many people, the only way around the restrictions is to have on-site support from the fire service.”

“Damn.”

“This might be a good thing, Will.”

“How can it be? I told my dad we shouldn’t be having a damn party. But would he listen? Of course not.”

“I have to agree with you there, but if this party is going to take place, having firefighters present might scare the saboteur away. And if it doesn’t, at least we’ll be close by.”

He offered her a slight smile. “I know it would make me feel a hell of a lot better.”

After a quick glance up and down the corridor, she wrapped her arms around his waist. The clipboard dug into his spine, but he didn’t care. He circled her shoulders and gripped her nape. When her helmet started to slip, he grinned and placed his hand on the top of her head to hold it steady for his kiss.

Had it only been a few hours since she’d left his bed? It felt like days. His lips brushed hers in a light caress, his tongue bathing the seam, begging for admission. As soon as her lips parted, his tongue swept in, sliding along hers, testing the softness of her inner cheeks, the hardness of her palate, and the sharpness of her teeth. She nipped the tip of his tongue and laughed. Except that with his tongue in her mouth, it came out as more of a snort.

Grinning, he leaned back a little so he could stare into her eyes, drown in the chocolate depths of her gaze. He ran his finger down her cheek, along her jaw, and over her plump bottom lip. Unable to resist, he gently caught it between his teeth and suckled. She moaned and leaned in to him, her eyes closing. He licked the spot he’d bitten and pressed his forehead against hers. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

Pride swelled in his chest at the breathless quality of her voice. Kathleen
never
sounded breathless. Pushing that thought aside, he focused on the fireball in his arms. “For being you. For helping me with this. For understanding why it’s important.”

She cupped his cheek. He nuzzled her hand and kissed her palm, adding a little lick for the simple pleasure of seeing her squirm. Which she did, then rolled her eyes. After a moment, she turned serious. Their gazes seemed locked together, neither one of them able to break the connection. “What’s important to you, Will, is important to me.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she pressed her lips together and pulled out of his embrace. “I’ve got to go.” She turned and hurried down the corridor.

William stood rooted to the spot. What the hell had just happened? Shaking off his stupor, he set off after her. Rounding the corner, he shouted, “Danielle!”

A security guard approached, his body shifting into high alert. “Is there a problem, Mr. Caldwell?” His hand hovered above his gun.

Shit.
“No. Everything’s fine. Thank you.” William hurried to the lobby at a more sedate pace, knowing the security guard wasn’t far behind. But he was too late. The Fire Inspection vehicle turned onto the main road and disappeared from view.

The security guard entered the lobby and feigned surprise when he saw William. Had the man seen more? Had the guard seen him kiss Danielle? Fuck, he hoped not. One scandal a day was more than enough. “Pull up the security tapes on all the cameras. I want to know who’s gone near any of the emergency exits in the last week. Then call a meeting with the entire security team. Anyone not on duty can dial in. But first, find some fucking bolt cutters and get the damn chain off Exit 21.”

“Sir?” The alarmed look was back on the man’s face.

“Someone chained the emergency door shut.”

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

“Right on it, sir.” The guard ran back the way they’d come, his walkie-talkie already in his hand.

With heavy steps, William headed to his office, mentally preparing how he was going to break the news to his father and the board members. His quiet day had turned into a major clusterfuck and his to-do list was already as long as his arm. But at the top of his list, foremost on his mind, floating around like a song on repeat, were Danielle’s words:
What’s important to you, Will, is important to me.

What had she meant? And if she’d meant what he thought she’d meant, how did he feel about that? His one month no strings, nonexclusive adventure had just taken a sharp right turn into uncharted territory. And here he was with no compass.

Chapter 10

At six o’clock, William entered the Dragon’s Lair, where Drew regularly trained. His brother was already warming up on a treadmill. William quickly changed into his workout clothes and hopped onto a free machine next to Drew. Drew eyed him, frowning. “You look beat, man. Bad day?”

“Very.” He programmed a routine into the treadmill’s console and started a light jog. Drew was still staring at him. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Sure. Whatever.” They ran in silence for a while. William was just starting to work up a bit of sweat when he noticed Drew’s grin. “What now?”

“You know, when I see you like this, tall and fit—actually running!—it’s hard to remember how you used to be when we were kids.”

“The wuss who needed his older brother
and
his little brother to defend him from bullies.”

“Hey! Who you calling little?” Drew teased. William had an inch on his brother in height, but Drew beat him in muscles. Hell, his little brother was built like a Mack truck.

William slugged Drew’s arm like he’d done when they were boys. Drew shrugged him off easily and they kept running. “So that asthma, it went away? Completely?”

“Yep. Five years, no attacks.”

Drew smirked. “If you keep hanging out with Dani, I’m sure she’ll have you on the verge of an attack sooner rather than later.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You guys are oil and water. At least you used to be.” It was a statement, but Drew said it more like a question.

“I can be perfectly civil with Danielle when the situation warrants.” And he could be incredibly dirty with her too. His cock twitched. He needed to stop thinking about a certain sexy firefighter. Hmm. Maybe Drew was onto something about those attacks. If anyone could make him hyperventilate, it would be Danielle.

“Why do you do that?”

Huh?
Fantasize about Danielle? Because she was fucking gorgeous. Okay, that probably wasn’t what Drew was asking about. “Do what?”

“Call her Danielle.”

“It’s her name.”

“No. Only
you
call her Danielle. Everyone else calls her Dani. Why?”

“I like it better.” He paused and thought about the real reason. “It suits her.”

Drew’s eyes bugged out. “Are you high? Danielle is all romantic and feminine. Dani is hard, strong, no-nonsense. Now you tell me, which one sounds more like our girl?”

Both.
That’s what he wanted to say, but he suspected few people were aware of Danielle's romantic and feminine side, especially not her coworkers. He felt a little thrill of pride that she’d let him see it. “She calls me Will even though I go by William. I guess we’re even.”

“Just another way you two poke at each other.”

Not really.
He had other, much more satisfying, ways to poke at her. “Exactly.”

“Except I didn’t see much poking at lunch last week.” Drew’s eyebrows waggled.

Drew was right. William had been far too worried about his father’s reaction to his proposals, and then later, he’d been too confused and concerned about Danielle’s abrupt departure to be his usual abrasive self with her. Not to mention that her unconditional support had left him warm and soft as a toasted marshmallow inside. But if even Drew had noticed… shit. How obvious had he been? “She’s my condo mate for the next few weeks at least. We’ve called a truce. Laid down the arms.”

“Laid something, that’s for sure.”

“Drew.” William glared at Drew and used his best big-brother tone. It clearly didn’t work any better now than it had then. Maybe he should use his dog handler voice next time.