Authors: Jennifer Bernard
“No.”
“Will the Dane family sell the land or try to rebuild?”
Everyone looked at Katie. “I . . . I suppose that’ll be up to my father.”
“What will you recommend to him?” Ella Joy asked. “Surely as the manager, he’ll listen to you.”
Katie didn’t hesitate. “I’d recommend he sell the land to the fire department. And yes, I do believe he’ll listen to me.”
“But what about the arsonist?” The question didn’t come from any of the reporters. It came from someone at the edge of the crowd, which had now spilled onto the street. Which just went to show how easily distracted the media was compared to regular people, thought Katie.
Katie stepped in front of Ryan to reach the microphones. “About the arsonist . . .”
“Yes, about the arsonist.” A hand waved wildly from the middle of the crowd. Melissa elbowed her way through the crowd until she reached the little ring of news professionals. “Do you have any comment on a reported confession from a Douglas Alan Atwell the Third?”
“What?” Katie gasped. “No. I . . . uh . . . hadn’t heard about that.”
“My informant says he left town earlier today in a Saab stolen from his father. But before he left he wrote a full confession in the form of a song and uploaded it to YouTube under the name Atwell the Outlaw. Any comment?”
“Well, he’s a pretty decent songwriter.” Katie couldn’t come up with anything else to say.
“Apparently it’s already been downloaded several hundred times,” continued Melissa, who seemed to be working very hard not to laugh. “The chorus goes like this.
My my, sparks they fly, flames they burn and so do I
. Apparently the song’s going viral.”
Doug, an Internet video star. Worked for her, as long as a YouTube confession satisfied the investigators. “I have no comment on Doug Atwell. All I can say is the Hair of the Dog was a wonderful place and will be missed.”
Ella Joy shouldered Melissa aside, which reminded Katie that they’d worked together in the past. “One more question, Katie and Ryan. I see you two are holding hands. Do you have any comment on that?”
Heat flooded Katie’s face. She dropped his hand as if it were a burning coal.
Ryan leaned into the mic. “Just one.” He handed one crutch to Brody, then turned to Katie and swept her into his free arm.
“Ryan, your ribs!”
“Shut up and kiss me, Katie,” he whispered. “Unless you stopped loving me.” Crystal clear, as if seeing right into his heart, she saw his nagging doubt, the fear that a kid like him, with a father like his, would never be good enough for . . .
She wrapped her arms around him as gently as possible while still making her point. “I couldn’t stop if I tried.” She stood on tiptoe and tilted her face to his. Their lips met tenderly, deeply, their kiss a private communion, a public promise, and the most satisfying moment of her life.
T
he reporters’ shouted questions pulled them from their kiss. “Does this mean another bachelor fireman is off the market?”
“Has the curse been broken for good?”
Katie peered from the shelter of Ryan’s arms. “Have we been live this whole time? The little red lights are off.”
Ella Joy sauntered up to them, pouting. “No, they cut away for the mayor’s budget hearing. Talk about a snoozer. They missed all the good stuff, as usual.”
“So why are they all still here? Just being nosy?” Ryan cast a glare around the ring of reporters. Katie noticed white lines around his mouth and a droopiness around his eyelids.
“You should get back to the hospital.”
“Hell no. But I wouldn’t mind some private nursing back at my place.” He winked. She let herself relax a little. He couldn’t be too bad off if he could still joke around. But still, she intended to keep an eye on him. Not that she could keep her eyes off him anyway.
Captain Brody tapped on the microphones for attention. “I believe that concludes the absurd news media nonevent of the day. Thanks for coming out. You’ll be hearing more about the bond very soon.”
“Hey,” protested Melissa, as she joined him and Danielle at Ryan and Katie’s side. “We nailed the Hair of the Dog arsonist, got you well on your way to getting your bond passed, and broke the Bachelor Curse
again
. I believe you owe the news media an apology.”
“You’re so right. I always forget how much I owe the news media.” He handed Ryan’s crutch back to him. “Excuse me for a second, Danielle. I have something to say to the news media.” He swept his wife into his arms and kissed her full on the lips.
Katie felt Ryan’s weight press more heavily against her. It could have been due to exhaustion, or affection inspired by Brody and Melissa.
Ella Joy stuck her perfect nose in the air. “It’s a good thing someone hasn’t forgotten about work around here. That someone being me. And if someone—I mean someone else—doesn’t give me an exclusive on this whole story, I’m doing another Bachelor Fireman of San Gabriel piece.”
Captain Brody broke free. “No.”
“Don’t you dare,” said Ryan, simultaneously. “Besides, I’m exempt from the curse. I was on a leave of absence.”
Ryan and Brody looked at each other, revelation dawning on their faces, one so stern and handsome, the other so golden and playful. Melissa caught Katie’s eye and winked.
We got ourselves some gorgeous men
.
“I didn’t meet Katie until I left,” Ryan said slowly.
“Ten thousand broken hearts, then you temporarily leave the force and meet The One.”
“I never really thought much about the curse, but now—”
“Wait. Ten
thousand
?” Katie interrupted with an appalled squeak.
“Captain Brody, permission to tell you to shut up. The curse won’t be broken until we get married and I can’t have you scaring my girl.”
“
Married?
” Katie was having trouble catching her breath.
“Let’s get out of here before Ella Joy gets any more dirt for her story.”
Ella looked up from her BlackBerry. “What? Did someone say Ella Joy?”
“I was just saying how much I like that suit on you.” Ryan blinded her with a smile, then nudged Katie away from the Hair of the Dog toward her waiting Datsun.
He stretched out on the backseat, his cast taking up most of the room. She drove carefully, watching out for every little bump and pothole. She angled her rearview mirror to keep an eye on him. Every time she looked at his reflection, her heart ached with love and worry. Whether from pain or exhaustion or something else, he looked older. Lines etched his face where she didn’t remember any. They didn’t detract from his good looks one bit, at least to her they didn’t. They probably wouldn’t for any other woman with a heartbeat either.
The thought cast a shadow over her joy at being in Ryan’s presence again. She loved him, through and through, but wouldn’t he always have women trailing after him? Could she handle that? She knew ten thousand broken hearts was an exaggeration. It had to be. But who wouldn’t fall in love with Ryan, once they really knew him?
“What’s the matter?” His head rested against the window, his eyes closed. She’d thought he was sleeping.
“What do you mean?”
“You got sad all of a sudden. I felt it.”
“I was just thinking . . . nothing.”
“Come on. Where’s that famous Katie Dane bluntness?”
Apparently it had gone for a long walk around the block. Anyway, bluntness was one thing, exposing all her worst fears and insecurities was another. “I don’t want to upset you. You’re exhausted.”
“Seeing you sad upsets me. Is it because of the bar? I thought I fixed it so your family would come out okay. We can’t pay a million dollars, but we’ll pay fair market value. A lot in the middle of town like that must be worth quite a bit.”
“Yes. A hundred thousand dollars. I saw an appraisal.”
“Will your family be happy with that?”
“I think they will.” So Bridget wouldn’t get her own studio and Dad might have to cut back on his gnome acquisitions. And maybe they wouldn’t move to Baja. She didn’t want them to move, anyway. She wanted them to stick around, as long as she didn’t have to run any more bars.
“That’s good.” He cranked open the window and turned his face to the breeze. “I missed this smoggy air in the hospital.”
“You could have anyone,” Katie blurted out, then instantly turned red. “Lots of anyones.”
Ryan’s eyes flew open and met hers in the mirror. “What are you talking about?”
“Girls are always chasing after you. They always will.”
“No, they won’t.”
She didn’t answer. If he couldn’t see that he would always be a magnet for women, that the female gender would always be drawn to his smile, his fun-loving spirit, his unfairly, ridiculously extravagant good looks, then what was the point?
She pulled into his driveway and opened the back door to help him out of the car.
He was still glowering at her from his supine position on the backseat. “We’re not done with this discussion.”
“Maybe we should continue it over some painkillers.”
“No painkillers. Just help me get inside.”
She held his crutches while he maneuvered himself out of the car, head first, then grabbed the roof to swing his legs out. Her heart ached for him. The skin around his eyes looked bruised from fatigue.
“I should have taken you back to the hospital,” she scolded as they headed up the tidy walkway to his door.
“I don’t want to be there. I want to be with you.” He faced his front door blankly. “Hell if I know where my keys are. Spare’s somewhere in the shrubs.”
She found the key, opened the door, and watched him swing himself inside. She hovered outside, wondering if she should let him rest. Maybe run to a pharmacy and pick up some supplies. He turned and looked at her impatiently.
“Well? If you’re expecting me to carry you over the threshold, you’re going to have to wait until after the wedding. Or at least until I get rid of these crutches.”
Her face burned as hot as the fire that had ended the Dog. “The
what
?”
But he’d already turned away and headed for his bedroom. He couldn’t keep dropping these hints about marriage, like little bombshells, and get away with it. She found him flat on his back in bed.
“Don’t you dare go to sleep yet.”
“I thought you said I needed my rest.” One eye opened in a slit of lazy blue.
“I think I hate you right now.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say to your future bridegroom.”
“There!” She pointed at him triumphantly. “You did it again.”
“Come here.”
She took a step toward him. He crooked his finger. Really, she ought to protest at the nerve of him, expecting her to come when he beckoned, but he looked so pale and tired that she didn’t have the heart. She stepped closer, then closer still until she stood at his side. Then, so quickly she barely knew it was happening, he flipped her onto the bed next to him.
Now she was the one flat on her back. He leaned over her, braced on one elbow, surrounding her with the blue heat of his gaze.
“I only want one woman. I don’t go chasing after girls, never have. I liked to flirt as much as the next guy. But ever since you came along, everything’s been turned upside down. I felt things I’d never felt before. I didn’t know what it was at first, all I knew was I wanted to be with you and keep you out of trouble and make you believe in me.”
“I believe in you—”
“Shhh. Don’t interrupt. I love you, Katie. And that’s for good. If other girls pay attention to me, I can’t do anything about that, except maybe wave a big wedding ring in their faces and go on and on about the wonderful girl I’m married to, the one I love with all my heart, the one I plan on spending all the rest of my life with.”
Katie’s heart seemed to have turned into a manic bunny rabbit, hippity-hopping around her rib cage. And something strange was happening to her face. It was melting into a smile she had no control over. That goofy grin spread and spread, until it felt like her face would crack open. “I love you so much.”
“Good.” He nodded as if to say,
That’s settled
. He rolled off her, onto his back, with a long groan of satisfaction. “And what about you? Are you going to be happy with a dyslexic guy who doesn’t read thousand-page novels in French for fun?”
“As long as that guy is you.” She curved a hand under his jawbone. He snuggled his cheek against her palm. The pleasure of it made her blood sing.
“Am I going to have to fight a bunch of textbooks to get my Katie time?”
“Yes. Big ones. How does sociology sound?”
“Sounds like it has nothing to do with literature, and something to do with people.” He adjusted the pillow under his head.
“I think people are growing on me. Especially the older ones. I want to switch fields and study ways to help the aging population. The Drinking Crew gave me a check, did you know? I love those guys. They were the best thing about the Hair of the Dog besides you.”
Ryan pulled the covers up to his chin with a long, ragged sigh. “The Drinking Crew rocks. It all sounds great. I gotta sleep now.” He sounded drunk with oncoming slumber.
“About time.” She traced his forehead with loving fingers. “I hope you do what I say more when we’re . . . married.” The word “married” danced along her skin like a fairy wand spreading shimmers in its wake. She was going to be married. To Ryan. Her heart nearly cracked with joy.
“One more question.” Ryan sounded already half asleep.
She snuggled her face into the warm curve where his shoulder met his neck. “What?”
“Are you wearing lipstick?”
From her intimate nest, she giggled. “Ella Joy gave it to me. For my big moment.”
“Your big moment?”
“Yeah. Apparently one must look one’s best when one is going on TV to confess to an act of arson one didn’t commit. It’s probably in Emily Post somewhere.”
He laughed softly and ran his fingers through her hair. It felt divine. “That was not your big moment. This is. The beginning of us.”
An exquisitely tender meeting of lips ended that discussion. As big moments went, Katie thought it hard to beat.
W
hen Ryan woke up, Katie was still cuddled in a curlicue under his arm. He touched her silky hair with a sense of reverence. This girl, this fierce-hearted, loyal, smart, honest, wonderful girl, had agreed to become his wife. No moment in his life, not even the day he became a fireman of San Gabriel, could compare with this.
Funny, though, about the curse. He hadn’t even considered it a curse back then. He’d seen it as a convenient excuse for not getting serious. And now—he couldn’t wait to get serious, if it meant being with Katie and starting a family and all that stuff he’d always assumed wasn’t for him, not the way he’d grown up, not with a father like Zeke.
But now, with Katie by his side, everything felt different. So what if he’d had to leave the force, leave San Gabriel, leave his buddies in order to come back and find her? It was all worth it. As for the rest of the guys—the other Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel—well, they’d have to find their own way to break the curse.
He couldn’t wait to laugh his head off the entire time.