The Fall by Kate Sherwood

Author:Kate Sherwood [Sherwood, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 9

THE BUZZING of his phone pulled Mackenzie out of a deep sleep. He had customized ring tones for all his frequent callers; if this was a telemarketing call, he was going to be pissed. He was only slightly mollified when he saw the name on the call display. “Joe? It’s the middle of the night!”

“Sorry to wake you. Can I come in?”

“Come in? Where are you?”

“Your driveway.”

“My….” Mackenzie shook his head and tried to wake up. Joe Sutton was in his driveway and wanted to come inside. It was the middle of the night. Those were about the only facts at his disposal. He sighed. “Meet me at the door.”

He stumbled through the dark, Griffin bouncing excitedly at his side. As soon as he opened the door he was met with an acrid stench and wrinkled his nose until he saw Joe’s face. The harsh glare of the overhead security light was never kind, but there was more than that making Joe look so drained.

“The smell gets in your clothes….” Joe said apologetically.

Was Mackenzie supposed to know what was going on? “Why is there a smell? What have you been doing?” The entire situation was inexplicable.

“Fire. I’m a firefighter. Part-time. Sorry.”

“Sorry that you’re combining two sexy stereotype jobs into one? You’re a cowboy fireman. Seriously?” But Joe didn’t seem like he was quite ready for humor. He looked more like he was ready to collapse. And he’d come here, looking for… something. “Strip down,” Mackenzie ordered. He wanted to be compassionate, but he didn’t need that smell in his home. “Leave the stink outside, come in, and get in the shower.”

Joe’s quiet obedience was one more sign that all was not right. Mackenzie was so preoccupied he barely even had lustful thoughts at the sight of Joe’s broad, toned chest, and was hardly tempted to reach out and touch as Joe stumbled out of his jeans and headed for the bathroom. He was still wearing his boxer briefs, but the rest of him was on display, and there were some disturbing changes to his body.

“What happened to your shoulder? And what are all those little red marks?” Mackenzie asked.

Joe lifted his hand to touch the bandage on his shoulder. “Glass. I should have cleaned the windowpane out better. The red marks are burns. Flying embers. I wasn’t wearing the right gear.”

“And your hand?” Mackenzie demanded, squinting at the clean white gauze wrapped around the hand Joe wasn’t using.

Joe looked down at the hand. “Burned it.” He frowned. “A metal roof, with the fire beneath it. Got pretty hot.”

“Jesus, Joe! You’ve already seen a doctor, right?”

Joe nodded. “I’m cleared. But… can you put the bandages back on for me? If these get wet in the shower?” He frowned, then walked back to the front door and burrowed through the plastic bag he’d been carrying until he found what he was looking for. “I can wear the glove, to keep my hand dry. But I’d really like to wash my head, and that’ll get the shoulder wet….

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.