McKenzie, Cooper - Taming Blaze [Club Esoteria 8] (Siren Publishing Classic) (10 page)

Taking a deep breath, she pushed away thoughts of the handsome firefighter and forced herself back to the situation at hand. She had to get Melinda and her new family out of this run-down house that had been converted into apartments and into one that was more appropriate for them.

Melinda stared at her for a long moment before turning to pick up the newborn whose delivery had killed her mother and set in motion this current showdown. The baby had begun to cry in the laundry basket now used as a cradle of sorts. The other two children were arguing in the bedroom about who was going to sleep on the floor that night. From the sounds of it, they both wanted the privilege of camping out.

“I don’t know,
Miz
Blaze. I mean, here we’re close to the store and everything.”

Blaze had to turn away. Taking several deep breaths to keep from screaming at the woman, she turned back and used the last argument she had in her arsenal. “If you don’t move to a bigger apartment and quickly, I’m going to have to recommend to my superiors that the children be put in foster care because of inadequate living conditions.”

Melinda’s eyes got wide, but before she could respond, someone pounded on the door.

“Fire! The building’s on fire! Get out!”

Since Blaze was closest to the door, she opened it then slammed it shut again as soon as she saw the hallway full of smoke. Turning back, she looked around. “We’ve got to get out of here. Is there another way out?”

Melinda shook her head as she hugged the child in her arms closer to her chest.

“Melinda! We’ve got to get out of here. Now!”

Blaze went to the living room windows and looked out. They overlooked a side yard with a good fifteen-foot drop to the ground. Grabbing her briefcase and the oversized bag Melinda had carried the last time she stopped by the office, she raced past Melinda and into the bedroom.

Startled, the children looked up at her. The fear she saw in their eyes forced her to stop, take several deep breaths, and find a calmness. The last thing she needed was these two to panic. She looked out the single window that faced the backyard. Relief washed through her when she saw a flat porch roof extended out from just a few feet below the window.

“Melinda! Come in here!”

Blaze struggled to open the window, but it refused to budge. Looking around, she saw nothing strong enough or hard enough to break the glass. Rushing back into the main room, she passed Melinda, who watched her with a curiously blank expression. Blaze glanced around the room saw a cast-iron skillet sitting on the stove. Perfect.

Grabbing the pan in one hand she hefted it and found it was heavier than it looked. As she returned to the bedroom, she looped her arm through one of Melinda’s. Pulling her along, Blaze hurried back into the bedroom as fast as the other woman allowed.

“Okay, kids, I need you to turn around and look over there,” Blaze pointed.

The children went to stand on either side of Melinda and buried their faces in her legs. Taking the frypan handle in both hands, Blaze swung it like a baseball bat at the window. The glass shattered easily with a loud crash. At this point, Melinda and both older children joined the baby in crying.

By this time, thick smoke had begun to drift into the bedroom. Blaze used the pan to finish breaking the glass out of the window frame then tossed her briefcase and Melinda’s carryall onto the porch roof.

“Okay, Melinda, I need you to go out first then help the children get out, okay?”

“Okay,” the other woman answered, sounding stunned.

“Melinda! We’ve got to get the children out on the roof, now!” Blaze shook the woman.

“But my things!” The woman looked around as if she was going to start throwing her belongings out the window instead of dealing with the children.

“Belongings can be replaced. Take care of your children,” Blaze instructed, pushing the woman toward the open window

She waited as Melinda climbed out then handed the two children out the window. Once they were safely out of the building, she turned away and headed back through the apartment. Mrs. Collins, who lived in the other apartment on the second floor was nearly deaf and might not have heard the alarm. Grabbing a piece of clothing from the basket on the couch, Blaze covered her mouth and nose then opened the door to the hallway.

The smoke was growing so thick that she had to feel her way along the wall to the corner then along the back wall to the other side of the hall. She heard the several sirens grow louder. Help was on its way, but she continued moving forward, needing to reach Mrs. Collins. She began coughing with every step as the smoke got thicker and thicker.

The sirens went silent a moment later, and all she could hear was her own coughing. She fell to her knees as she reached the door to the other apartment. She twisted the doorknob and collapsed into the apartment as the door swung inward, unable to go any farther.

Chapter 10

Andy was out of the cab of the fire engine and shrugging on his oxygen tank before Jackson had the truck completed stopped. He was halfway across the lawn when he noticed a familiar-looking car parked in the driveway. Backtracking a few steps, he read the license plate and muttered a curse. What was Blaze doing here? She should be safely tucked away in her office doing whatever it was a social worker for the county did.

Continuing on, he forced himself to think about the job at hand and not the fact that the petite submissive was in the area. His cock ignored his brain and began to stiffen at the thought of seeing the pretty little blonde.

“Get it together, Zimmerman. You’ve got a job to do,” he said, growling at himself as he rounded the house.

“Help us! Please help us!”

The cry from overhead caused Andy to stop and look up. A woman and three small children were sitting on the back porch roof. Grabbing the walkie-talkie handset clipped to his shoulder, Andy called for help and a ladder to get the family down. Once that order went out, he stepped back. “Is anyone else up there with you?”

“Miz Blaze was here…but once we came out here, she left. I think she went to check on my neighbor,” the woman answered between gasping sobs.

“Is that Blaze Richards?”

“Yes, sir,” the woman said and nodded at the same time.

Before he could ask his next question, Jackson Matthews and one of the volunteers working that day arrived carrying a ladder. As soon as they had it set up, Andy scrambled up the ladder, with Jackson on his heels.

“Get these people down. I’m going in to find Blaze,” Andy said as he took off his helmet and pulled his mask into place as he automatically checked the air gauge and monitors to confirm he had a full tank of air.

“Blaze? Little subbie from the club Blaze?” Jackson looked stunned.

“That’s the one,” Andy said, putting his helmet back in place and turning to the broken window the young family had used to get onto the roof.

The woman holding a baby grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn back. “Go out my door and turn right. That takes you around to the top of the stairs and then over to Miz Collins’s apartment.”

“Thanks,” Andy said with a nod.

“Be safe,” Jackson called after him.

Andy raised a hand to acknowledge his friend’s words then slid through the opening. Taking a deep breath of the compressed air, he forced the thoughts of what he would do to the little submissive once they got out of there and tried to focus on the job at hand. Finding and getting her out of the smoke-filled building. Once she was safe, then they would have a long talk about what a risk she had taken by trying to do his job.

He hurried through the apartment, and once in the smoke-filled hallway, he dropped to his knees and crawled, following the wall to the end, and turned and followed it until it turned again. His pulse pounded in his ears, almost drowning out the voices squawking in his ear as he moved as fast as he dared. The building was old, and he could already feel heat coming up through the floor. If he didn’t find Blaze fast, it might be too late.

When a pair of feet in high-heeled pumps came into view, he muttered yet another curse, earning him a “Watch your language, Zimmerman,” from someone.

Instead of answering, he continued crawling up her body with his hands and legs traveling up either side of her slim form. He checked for injuries as he went, but found none. When he reached her chest, he saw she was still breathing, but it was shallow and rapid. He continued crawling until he was past her form and through the open door into the apartment. A quick look around showed there was no one else up here. Returning to Blaze, he got to his feet before pulling her up and over one shoulder.

He moved down the stairs and out the front door as quickly as he could. Once outside, he moved well away from the house before laying his precious cargo on the ground. He took a moment to stop and look at her. She looked pale and dust-covered from the smoke. She also looked too still. Had he arrived too late? Had she taken her last breath while he was busy checking the empty apartment?

His heart pounding, he checked her over but found no other injuries, except the smoke inhalation. Knowing what she was and was not supposed to be wearing under her suit, he made sure to keep her legs together and her skirt pulled down as far as it would go.

Ripping off his helmet and face mask, he then moved the mask over her face as he prayed for his little wildcat to be just unconscious and not dead. He did not check her pulse or other vitals, suddenly afraid of what he might find.

“Breathe, wildcat,” he ordered gruffly, one hand holding the mask to her face, and the other holding her wrists together. “Breathe, dammit, and then open those pretty green eyes and show me you’re alive.”

As if she’d heard him, her chest expanded as she took a deep breath. Then she began to cough. A moment later, she started pulling at her arms and wiggling around, fighting for her freedom.

“Open your eyes, sweetheart, and look at me, and then maybe I’ll release you,” he said, keeping the thread of Dom in his voice that she seemed to respond well to.

It took several more deep breaths before her eyes fluttered open. She continued to cough, but looked up at him and met his eyes with tear-filled ones the color of grass in springtime. A moment later, those eyes went wide when she recognized who was leaning over her.

“Oh my,” she whispered between coughing bouts.

“Zimmerman? How is she?” Jackson knelt down on her other side.

“Well, she’s opened her eyes, and she looks embarrassed,” Andy answered as he eased his grip on her arms. She pulled one arm away and shoved the mask off her.

“I’m fine,” she gasped before she rolled to her side and coughed some more.

“Ambulance is here,” Andy observed without acknowledging the woman’s statement.

“I’ll go help them,” Jackson said as he pushed to his feet and walked away.

“No ambulance,” Blaze gasped between bouts of coughing. “I’m fine.”

His cock throbbing with his heartbeat, Andy pushed on Blaze’s shoulder until she once again lay flat on the ground. Planting a hand on either side of her body so one arm brushed over her breast, he leaned down until they were nose to nose.

Staring into her eyes, he saw fear, worry, and something more lurking in their depths, but he did not dwell on the something more. Her coughing was getting better as she continued to breathe deep and got the smoke cleared from her lungs, but was easing off.

“I found you unconscious on the floor. You will go to the hospital and let them check you over. You will then call my cell and let me talk to the doctor. Do you understand, kitten?”

He watched as she bristled like an angry cat. She took a deep breath as if to lambaste him, but instead ended up coughing again. Before she could argue, he closed the distance and kissed her, his lips firm and intense against hers. He pulled back long before he wanted to, wishing he could scoop her up, take her home, and tend to her himself.

She pulled in a sharp breath and began coughing again.

Once she could breathe again, she asked hoarsely, “And what if I don’t?”

He leaned down and growled in her ear so softly that only she heard his threat. “Then you’d better hide somewhere I can’t find you because when I get my hands on you, I will spank your bare ass in front of whoever might happen to be around before I fuck whatever hole I come to first.”

He pulled back enough to see her eyes grow even wider. Her cheeks, that had been pale only moments before, pinked up nicely with embarrassment as she glanced around to see if anyone else heard.