“Okay.” The softest of whispers. “You won’t hurt me, will you?”
Ember squeezed the kid’s hand. Her eyes were soft as she looked at him. A deep brown. The sort you could drown in.
“Of course not.”
Lucas looked back at the teacher. “I think we’ve met before. You’re the propane girl,” he said, giving her the smallest of smiles. “I saw you at Megassey’s the other day.” As soon as he said it he wanted to kick himself. A blush stole up her cheeks, and she pulled her eyes away from his.
So much for making sure everybody was calm.
Damn.
“Sorry. I meant woman.” Yeah, as if that was any better. Propane Woman. Way to go, Russell.
She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth, a smile forming on her lips. “Propane girl,” she said. “I like it. Saving the world, one tank at a time.”
Lucas’ chest loosened with relief. “Sorry. I just knew you looked familiar.” Okay, back to business. He had a job to do here. Time to get on with it and stop talking to the pretty lady.
Pretty? Yeah she was. If you were looking, which he shouldn’t be.
“Okay, Carter,” he said, dragging his attention away from her. “Everything’s gonna be just fine. My buddy, Simon is inside the house. He’s a trained medic, and he’s going to check your legs and make sure everything’s okay. And then he’s going to check out the rest of you.” He smiled at the boy again. For the first time, Carter smiled back. “You think you can stay still for a bit, Carter?”
“Yes.” Carter tightened his hold on his teacher. “Can Miss Kennedy stay, too?”
Lucas caught her eyes. “Yeah, of course she can stay. I might need her to climb down for a while though, but she’ll still be nearby.”
“We need to do what the firefighter says. Okay, Carter?” She kept her voice soft. Lucas couldn’t help but like the way she talked to the boy.
“Okay.” Carter gave a brief nod.
His eyes caught Ember’s again. He rolled his shoulders back, centering himself. Time to do what he was trained to do. He’d been waiting weeks for this.
After a minute, Shaw came out of the house and walked around the back to talk to Lucas. “His legs are fine,” he said quietly. “No sign of damage, and blood flow is good. I’ll come up and check the rest of him before we get him out.”
“Carter, my friend is going to climb up to the roof now,” Lucas advised. “Miss Kennedy, you think you can come down for a minute?” He didn’t know how much weight the roof could stand, and he wasn’t prepared to risk the teacher
’s safety right then. “Carter, Miss Kennedy is going to climb down the ladder with me, okay? But she’ll still be right here for you.”
He watched as the teacher leaned forward to whisper in Carter’s ear, then ruffled his hair. She scrambled backward along the roofline, her skirt hiking up a little more. Any minute now and it would be more of a belt than anything else.
“Let me help you,” Lucas murmured. He reached out to aid her descent, his hands skimming the back of her thighs. They were shockingly smooth. Immediately, he pulled away.
“You think you can climb down alone, or do you want me to spot you?” His voice was thick.
She still had her back toward him. Turning her head, she looked at him over her shoulder, then at the top of the ladder. She hesitated, it reminded him of the way she’d paused when he’d offered to help with that propane tank.
In his years working for the fire department, he’d learned there were two types of people when it came to an emergency. Those who fell apart and let you take over, and the ones who rose to the challenge, and wanted to take care of themselves.
By the looks of Ember Kennedy, she was definitely one of the latter. In a fire, or a life-or-death situation, the strong ones made his job harder. They’d argue, take too long, and sometimes put his whole crew’s life in danger.
The ones who fell apart were easier to carry.
“Miss Kennedy?” he prompted again. “Ember?” Her face had turned pale. She closed her eyes, and shimmied herself around until her feet were dangling from the roof. He could hear her breaths coming thick and fast.
Her adrenaline was kicking in. He’d seen that enough times before.
“You need to let yourself slide down,” he said, keeping his voice as soft as he had with Carter. Maybe she wasn’t as in charge as he’d thought. There was every chance she was going to freeze up there if he didn’t get her on the ladder. “I’ll be here to catch you, I promise.”
He gave her five more seconds. That’s as long as he was willing to wait. There was a child up there, a child who needed to get out of there.