What Echoes Render Page 23

  “I was here filling out reports when her tires were slashed, I was on shift when the bomb went off at the shop, I was at the restaurant waiting for her when she was run off the road, and the men’s size-seven shoe prints they found in the field? I don’t think so.” Both men looked down at his size-ten-and-a-half feet.

  Caleb grunted. “How did you know about the shoe size?”

  “Ian’s taken a liking to me.” Sort of. Well, at least Ian believed that David cared enough about Jesse to keep him informed.

  “Ian never thought you were good for it when I suggested it to him,” Caleb conceded with a shrug.

  “Ian’s a smart man.”

  The two men stared at each for a long moment. Caleb opened his mouth to say something, but the ringing of the firehouse bell cut him off.

  David straightened. “I don’t know what your story is, Forrester, but I can’t be there with her all the time. If you can help keep her safe, have at it.”

  Caleb actually cracked a smile. “That’s very brave of you. Like I said, she’s a beautiful woman.”

  He inclined his head as he began backing away toward to the station. “She is, but you’re not her type.”

  “How do you know?”

  David cracked a grin, one that was probably cockier than nice. “Because I am.”

  He left Caleb staring after him as he went to gear up. But the call was just a small fender bender so after sending one truck out to respond, David removed his gear and made his way to the station’s communal room. As much as he trusted Jesse, he still wanted to check in. They only called each other every so often while either was at work, but they texted quite a bit. They laughed about feeling like teenagers whenever they did, but it let them have conversations—as stilted as they were—without being overheard.

  “Met your friend Caleb.” He typed in. He wasn’t sure if she had her phone or was in a position to answer so was pleased when her response came less than a minute later.

  “???”

  “He stopped by. Wanted to know if I was involved.” In what, David didn’t need to say.

  “I don’t think I like him as much anymore.” Her reply made him smile.

  “He’s worried about you. I get that.”

  “I know. It’s his only redeeming quality right now.”

  “Are you home?” He thought she was, but he wanted to make sure.

  “Yes, with the alarm on.”

  “Good girl.”

  “I’m calling Dash about a dog tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be there tomorrow.”

  “I know.” Who knew two little words could be so suggestive?

  “You never read me the texts from my night out.” She added.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “I know.”

  “Be safe.”

  “You too.”

  And that was that. He would much rather have heard her voice, but with all the people around, it was easier to keep thing private this way.

  “You look smug,” Kurt said, walking into the room.

  “Any news on the fender bender?” He wasn’t about to discuss anything but work.

  Kurt rolled his eyes at David’s refusal to respond but answered. “They’re already on their way back. Ralene from the admin office called and said the plans you requested were ready.”

  “Wow, that was fast. She said it would take two days—it’s been less than two hours,” David replied.

  “She has a thing for you,” Kurt grinned.

  “She’s the same age as my mother, I think she just feels sorry for me. All of you have family around here. I don’t.”

  “You have Miranda. Speaking of which, when are you going to bring her around?” Kurt asked.

  David chuckled and shook his head. “Not going to happen. Not for a while anyway.” Miranda had spent her summer doing an internship down near DC. He’d seen her a few times over the summer and they talked a lot, but on the few occasions she’d been to Albany, they’d spent their time hiking, checking out the historic sites, and generally hanging out. Not meeting his colleagues.

  “I hear she’s pretty cute.” Kurt egged him on.

  David’s brows went up. “That’s my daughter. Do you really want to go there? I may have a few years on you, but in my book that also means a few more years of experience.”

  Kurt let out a bark of laughter. “Okay, old man, I’ll let it go. You’re not that old, anyway. You just got started young.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it.”

  “You ever regret it? Feel like you missed out?”

  David glanced at his teammate, surprised by the sudden seriousness in Kurt’s voice. “Regret it? No.” He shook his head. “Would I recommend it? No to that too. As for missing out, sometimes, yeah, it crosses my mind. But then I see all my friends just settling down with young kids and I kind like knowing I’m done with all that. Besides, you know what they say, that youth is wasted on the young. Now I have all that freedom and know how to appreciate it.”

  “But do you appreciate it?” Kurt asked. “You never go out with us after shift, we never see you at the bars. As far as we know, you live like a monk. And do you really think you’ll never get married? You’re young enough to have another family. Do it all again.”

  He shook his head. “Not doing it again. I love my daughter and in many ways she is the best thing that ever happened to me, but I’m not about to do it again.”

  “What if you meet someone who wants kids?”

  He thought of Jesse. She knew exactly where he stood on the issue and why. And more importantly, she agreed with him. “Not going to happen.”

  “You sound awfully certain.”

  “And you’re asking a lot of questions. Something on your mind, Kurt?”

  His friend shook his head. “No, you’re still just a little bit of an enigma to us, that’s all. We work together, live together a few days out of the week, we generally know more about each other than is probably healthy, but we have no idea what goes on in your life outside of here.” He gestured around the station.

  David shrugged. “It’s not that exciting. There’s nothing to know.” But he was living the life he wanted and that was good. Well, except for someone being after Jesse. His face must have darkened at the thought because Kurt sat back and gave him a questioning look.

  “Did Ralene say when I could pick up the schematics?” David asked.

  “I told her you were on shift until tomorrow so she’s going to drop them tonight. Are they for a case?”

  David shook his head. “No, just an old fire I’m looking into for a friend.”

  “Which one, maybe I was on it?”

  He gave Kurt the date and the specs.

  Kurt leaned back, mulled it over a minute, then nodded. “Yeah, I remember that fire. A guy died. A professor at the university. It was gnarly. One of those old university houses. It went up in minutes. The guy never had a chance.”

  “What guy?” Dominic asked entering the room.

  “That fire a couple of years ago at the university. The one where the professor died,” Kurt supplied.

  Dominic let out a whistle. “Yeah, that was bad. The building was nearly consumed by the time we got there.”

  David winced internally at the description. It was hard to believe they were talking about Jesse’s husband.

  “Was there anything suspicious about the fire?” he asked. He didn’t miss the how-much-should-we-say look the two men shared.

  “Your predecessor investigated it. He’d been on the job for over twenty years,” Dominic answered.

  Which could mean any number of things in David’s mind, so he tried a different tact. “Did you guys notice anything unusual when you were in there?”

  “We didn’t even make it in.” Kurt shook his head. “Like Dom said, the place was engulfed by the time we got there. We had to do everything externally.”

  “And did anyone ever think an accelerant might have been used, for something to go up that qu
ickly? Or something had helped the fire along?” he pressed.

  “Of course,” Dominic responded. “But the walls were insulated with hay. The building was a hundred and fifty years old. It was a tinderbox waiting to happen.”

  David didn’t like the sound of this. “It was a public building. Wasn’t it retrofitted with a sprinkler system?”

  Kurt wagged his head. “It was, but the temperatures were below freezing and had been for a while. The sprinkler never went on.”

  “The pipes froze?” He supposed it was possible, but it didn’t sound right. In all his years working in the Truckee and Lake Tahoe area, an area that regularly saw subzero temperatures in the dead of winter, he’d never seen sprinkler pipes freeze.

  “That was the finding,” Kurt supplied.

  David thought about asking more questions, but decided he needed to do a little research first. When he was better armed with the facts and circumstances, he might come back to his team and dig a little deeper. Dominic and Kurt seemed to sense that the conversation was over; Dominic got up to pour himself a glass of water.

  “So, was he in here texting again, Kurt?”

  Kurt grinned. “Yep.”

  David rolled his eyes.

  “Someday we’ll find out what that’s all about.” Dominic gave David a mock salute with his glass.

  “You’ll be disappointed, I’m sure,” David retorted.

  Dominic’s eyes slid to Kurt’s before he answered. “Somehow, I doubt that.”

  David thought of some of the messages on his phone. Especially the ones he was saving to show Jesse from her girls’ night out. Yeah, he kind of doubted it, too.

  CHAPTER 16

  OVER A WEEK HAD PASSED since someone had rifled through her home, and though she had moments when panic slammed into her, all in all she was beginning to feel back to normal. She had the week off, ostensibly to get ready for the coming school year, but Matt was already at school and James was still in Boston. She and David had already spent a few days together, but she was still looking forward to having more time with him once he got off his shift later that night.

  But as Jesse looked at the text he’d sent moments earlier, she frowned. It was a far cry from his previous, flirty messages.

  The message simply read, “On a call. It’s bad. Will talk later.”

  She flipped on the news and was somewhat mollified not to see any reports of dangerous fires. There was a report of a single-house fire but it was already out. There had been fatalities but the victims had not yet been identified. The reporter mentioned it was being investigated and they would have more news later. Given that the death or serious injury of a firefighter would have been included in the news clip, at least she knew David wasn’t hurt.

  Not knowing when he would be done for the night, Jesse poured a glass of wine, drew a bath, and slipped into the bubbles for a good long soak. After turning her skin nice and pink, she got out, dried her hair, and slid between her sheets without bothering to dress. If David was able to come tonight, she wanted him to know she’d been thinking of him. In the meantime, she turned on the television, curled under her blankets, and watched an old Audrey Hepburn movie.

  She was just drifting off when her phone buzzed beside her.

  “Hello?” She assumed it was David, given the hour, and hadn’t bothered to look at the number.

  “Are you awake?” His voice sounded grim and angry.

  She hesitated. “Yes.”

  “Good. I’m pulling up your drive now.”

  She sat up and saw the reflection of his headlights wash through her bedroom as he drove up the long drive. She got up, pulled on a robe, and went to meet him in the kitchen. He was already toeing his boots off and resetting the alarm when she came in. She paused in front of the island. Something was off. Something was very off.

  Wearing an expression she’d never seen on his face before, but one she recognized all too well, he paused and looked at her. His text message flashed through her mind. “It’s bad.” And she knew how bad it could be.

  She opened her arms to him and he came forward, burying his hand in her hair. Tilting her head up, he drew back, then covered her mouth with his in a punishing kiss even as his other hand yanked the tie of her robe. It fell off her shoulders and gathered beneath her on the island.

  He pressed into her, crowding her, pushing her against the counter. She didn’t know what had happened at that fire, but he was exorcising it with her and she was going to let him.

  The counter dug into her back and he lifted her up just enough so that she perched on the edge. Stepping between her legs, he continued kissing her, nipping at her lips, her neck, and her breasts, not saying a word.

  Leaning back, she braced herself with her hands and offered her body up to him. There was no doubt in her mind that he knew who he was with, but at that moment, he was lost and angry and blindly taking it out on her. She knew he wasn’t going to hurt her, but he wasn’t going to spare a thought for her pleasure either; he was only hoping to kill his own pain.

  His mouth closed over a nipple and he sucked hard enough for her to feel it throughout her entire body. Pulling her closer to the counter’s edge, roughly, he slid two fingers all the way inside her without any warning. She sucked in a breath at the sudden intrusion but forced her body to take him, for his sake.

  One hand still tangled in her hair, pulling her head back and keeping her body arched for him, he nipped and bit and sucked her breasts as his fingers moved in and out at an angry tempo.

  But still, it was David, and she trusted him completely. His rough treatment didn’t scare her and she soon found herself pressing her pelvis into his hand. She felt a small tremor begin in her thighs, and she opened them more, encouraging him to continue. For both their sakes.

  With a curse, he yanked his hand away. Confused and dazed, Jesse tried to see why, but with his other hand still holding her hair, her head stayed back. Suddenly, she felt him, thrusting himself into her, without much more than the sound of a foil packet being torn open as a warning to her. Her body froze at the new sensation but David didn’t seem to notice. He gripped her hair with one hand and her hip with the other as he thrust himself in and out, pushing her farther back onto the counter with each movement.

  There was nothing she could do but hold on and let him ride his demons out. But the heat and the friction, coupled with the knowledge that he’d come to her, that he needed her for this, refused to let her stay passive.

  She wrapped her legs around him and the sudden movement on her part made him pause. He drew back enough to look at her, then looked down at the two of them, joined. A long moment passed, and then, with deliberate intent, he took each of her feet, one at a time, and placed them on the barstools on either side of him. Moving the stools out inch-by-inch, he spread her wide open.

  With a gesture for her to stay still, he slid his pants and boxers all the way down, then somehow managed to kick them off along with his socks, without withdrawing himself from her. After pulling his shirt off and tossing it on the floor, he was finally as naked as she. Pausing for a moment to look at her, he traced a line from her neck, down between her breasts, and across her belly with a fingertip. Then, leaving his hand there, he gently pushed her upper body down onto the counter.

  From her position lying on the island, her legs spread and David between them, she raised her head and watched his face as he lost himself in her. Her hands curled into the robe that still lay beneath her as he touched, stroked, and tasted as much of her as he could. And then, finally, he started to move within her again.

  She laid her head back down, closed her eyes, and focused on the feel of him. This time, he kept one hand on her breast and the other on her hip as he moved slowly, intently, in and out, as if he were studying her, memorizing her.

  She squirmed against him as much as she could and tried to encourage him with her own small movements, but he refused to let her set the pace or call the shots. And he didn’t vary his rhythm by s
o much as a beat.

  And then she understood. This was all about control. Whatever had happened that night, at that fire, had left him feeling so out of control that he needed to gain it back. In whatever way he could. He needed to know that there were some things he still had a say in. Some things he could dictate.

  So she acquiesced. Completely.

  She quieted her movements, and while she normally let her body tell him what felt right and what didn’t, tonight she did nothing. Intentionally, she let him do what he wanted, what he needed, to her body. Handing over all control wasn’t easy for her, but to her own surprise, she heard sounds coming out of her mouth and words leaving her lips that she’d never made or said before.

  And when she heard herself tell him how good he felt inside her, how he could do anything he wanted to her because he made her feel so good, his pace changed.

  “Tell me,” he demanded.

  She almost couldn’t speak anymore, the sensations in her body were so strong, but she managed a few breathy words here and there. And when his finger very gently brushed over her, everything burst. She arched up off the counter, but his hand on her hip held her in place. The restraint seemed to make everything that much more intense, seemed to concentrate the energy, and for a moment, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she stopped breathing as her entire body jerked in spasms.

  When she was finally able to open her eyes again, she found David braced above her—head fallen forward, face and chest beaded with sweat. They were both breathing hard and she felt her own body damp with perspiration.

  She managed to raise a hand and draw a finger down his forearm. He looked up at her and she saw that the anger was gone from his eyes. But the pain, the sadness, was still there. Without a word, she sat up. He withdrew from her and she swung her legs down. With a tentative step to make sure she could bear her own weight, she stood before him and, taking his hand, she led him to her room.