The situation was bad. Really bad.
But he"d made Megan a promise, d.a.m.n it.
And he had to keep it.
No matter what.
Chapter Twenty-seven.
Megan couldn"t do it.
She"d known all along that she wasn"t strong enough to be with a man who risked his life every day. It was what she"d told Gabe over and over. Immediately after their first kiss, and then again after their first night together. She"d tried to make him understand how impossible this was for her, had tried to keep her heart safe from falling.
But, oh, how she"d wanted to be with him, how she"d wanted the thrill of his kisses, the warmth of his smile, the special connection he had with Summer. So she"d tried.
She"d really tried.
But the panic that had slammed into her when he"d told her about the fire, about the hazardous materials...no, there was no way she could handle being this terrified on a daily basis.
Even after Gabe left his apartment to head for Chinatown, Megan remained right where she was, in his bed, surrounded by his scent, his things, wanting to feel even that small connection a little longer.
Mere minutes ago, she"d been about to take the biggest risk of her life by telling him she loved him and she"d thought that was so difficult. But now she knew what would be infinitely harder: telling him goodbye.
Forever.
As she finally left his apartment, she was followed by the wonderful memories of being with him. Sitting on his lap looking out at the city lights, watching-and creating-fireworks up on the roof, slipping and sliding together in the bathtub, and then curling up with him in his bed. Warm. And safe, so much safer than she"d ever felt before.
No. She couldn"t let herself think about any of that.
She needed to go home. Get to work. Stay focused on her client"s spreadsheets until it was time to pick Summer up from school. And then, when Gabe came back from the fire-if he came back-she"d steel herself to make the final break with him.
Her steps faltered as she slowly walked along the sidewalk. How much easier would her life have been if she"d never met Gabe? If some other firefighter had saved her and Summer, and she"d simply have continued her normal life-meeting with clients, taking care of paying the bills, raising her daughter the best she knew how...and dating perfectly nice men with safe jobs.
No question about it, that safety was what she should have been wishing for.
But now that she"d tasted real joy, utter sweetness, she knew anything else would be bland. Boring.
Oh G.o.d, she was in trouble.
Because even though she was terrified about letting herself love Gabe, wholly and completely, she couldn"t seem to save herself-and her daughter-by walking away from him either.
All the rational arguments, all the spreadsheets and calculations of risk versus reward in the world couldn"t stop Megan from turning in the opposite direction...straight toward the dark smoke spiraling up from the busy streets of Chinatown.
It was worse than she could have imagined. So much worse. Not only were several buildings on fire, but there was singed food and clothes from the stores all over the street, rolling down gutters running fast with the water from the fire engines.
As Megan moved through the crowd she caught snippets of conversation about the fire.
"Do they know what the hazardous materials are yet?"
"I heard it was a gas leak that could blow the buildings sky high."
"I"m scared, Mommy. Are the firefighters going to be okay?"
A line of police officers was holding people back along the street, behind a row of fire engines. She had no idea how they"d managed to get the engines into the narrow street, through the crowds of cars and people.
A moment later a sudden burst of flames shot up out of the roof of one of the stores just to the side of the truck"s smashed-in engine.
"We need all of you to back up."
She knew the police officer was right, that she"d be safer farther back. It wasn"t fair for her to expect Gabe to be safe if she wasn"t doing the same thing.
A few minutes later, when they were almost a full block away from the fire, she saw Gabe"s truck double-parked on the corner. Pushing her way through the crowd, she pressed her hand against the cool metal of his door. Realizing he"d left it unlocked, she opened the door and climbed inside.
His truck smelled like him, clean and smoky all at the same time. Her hands were tight on the steering wheel as she stared up at the black smoke spiraling into the air, forming clouds of ash in the previously blue sky.
Her brain was stuck on Pause, on a far-too-vivid mental picture of Gabe surrounded by flames, just the way he"d looked the first time she"d met him in her burning apartment building.
Those visions had started to fade during the past months, but now she was bombarded with them one after the other. Looking up and seeing him gesturing for her to get out of the tub, to follow him through her apartment to the stairs. How strong, how steady he"d been as he"d helped her and Summer get to safety.
And yet, even though they all could have been killed and Gabe had ended up in the hospital after the beam fell on him, she knew deep in her core that everything he"d done-everything he"d asked of her that horrible afternoon-had been as safe as it could possibly be.
Gabe hadn"t been running around or freaking out. He"d been determined. Smart. And his clear-headed approach to firefighting was the reason she and Summer were alive.
The epiphany hit her, so hard and fast she wondered how she could possibly have been so blind all this time, blind even in his apartment when she"d been on the verge of declaring her love to him. She"d still been so caught up in the prospect of danger, in thinking he was going to take unwarranted risks and end up dead.
Of course Megan had known, early on, that Gabe was different from David. Her husband had been an adrenaline junkie. He"d thrived on risk and he"d never thought beyond those thrills, not even after he"d become a husband and father. Yes, while she knew that Gabe thrived on the excitement of his job, she knew he wasn"t in it just for the risk, for no other reason than to see how far he could push himself this time.
For Gabe, being a firefighter was about so much more than the thrill of putting out fires. It was about helping people and being an important part of the community.
If anyone could work a dangerous job safely, it was Gabe. There were no guarantees for any of them about getting sick or being in an accident. But if she"d been able to look past her fears, Megan knew she would have realized all of this long before now-that he loved them too much to ever purposely put himself in the path of foolish danger like David had done so many times.
So many things clicked into place for Megan in that moment. She hadn"t wanted Summer to turn what had almost happened to them in the apartment fire into a fear that she"d take forward with her in her life. She wanted her daughter to be fearless, but smart, too. She didn"t want Summer to hide her light, didn"t want her to shy away from taking intelligent risks.
But even though she understood that kids learned by example, those things were exactly what Megan had done. Until Gabe came along and forced her to face the truth of who she really was.
His love gave her the courage to take risks again.
Now, even though she wasn"t close enough to the buildings to see if any of the firefighters coming in and out could be the man she loved, sitting in his truck, she felt better just being this close to him.
It wasn"t an easy fire to take down, but several hot, dirty hours later, Gabe was satisfied with his work, with what all of the crews had accomplished in Chinatown. The gas leak hadn"t turned into something worse, and while the store owners were going to need to deal with their insurance companies to replace their inventory, the fire had been beaten down before it could demolish everything. A few new front walls and windows would take care of most of the structural work.
He had removed his mask and turnout coat by the time he was halfway down the block. Already, his mind was back to Megan. To what she"d been about to tell him when the call had come in.
And the fear in her eyes when he"d promised to come back safely from the fire and she hadn"t let herself believe him.
His truck was right where he"d left it, and he was just about to pull off his turnout pants and throw them, along with the rest of his gear, into the bed, when he got the best surprise of his life.
Within seconds, Megan was out of the driver"s seat and jumping straight into his arms, her legs wrapped around his hips, her arms around his neck.
"Thank G.o.d, you"re okay." She kissed him, fast and hard, once, then twice, then three times as if she could hardly believe he was there.
"I"m just fine, sweetheart," he told her when she let him up for air, but he didn"t let her go, loving the way she felt in his arms.
She was kissing him on his mouth, on his cheeks, on his nose, his eyelids, everywhere her lips could reach.
He knew how scared she must have been, enough that she"d come to the site of the fire to keep watch over him.
"I"m so sorry I acted like that when you got the fire call." Her words were falling so fast, he couldn"t interrupt. "I"m sorry for the way I acted that first time we made love in the hotel, the way I begged you to love me, then threw you out because I was so torn. For so many years I"ve been putting up walls, big thick bars, around my heart. But even then I knew that trying to control the wild in you would be like trapping you inside that prison with me. So I told myself I needed to let you go for both of us." Tears slid down her cheek, one after the other. "But I can"t let you go."
"You don"t have to, sweetheart."
"You told me over and over again how much you love me. How much you love Summer. So many times, I had the chance to say those words back to you, but I didn"t take them. And I thought that not saying the words meant I was still safe. But I wasn"t, Gabe. Whether or not I was ever brave enough to say it out loud, I still loved you. With all of my heart...and every last piece of my soul." She rested her hands on either side of his face and looked at him with wonder in her eyes. "You shouldn"t have to choose between your job and me. I know you love being a firefighter. And I will support you. Always." She kissed him, and then said again, "I love you, Gabe. I love you so much."
"I love hearing you say it," he said, and it was so true that he was nearly overcome with emotion. "But do you think I didn"t already know how you felt?"
Her eyes widened at the realization that he"d known her true feelings for him all along. "I didn"t say it. I should have said that I"m in love with you. I should have told you I fell in love with you that day in the hospital when Summer ran to hug you and you hugged her back just as tight. I should have been honest about falling more in love with you every second since then." She barely paused for breath. "If anything had happened to you today, if you"d been slightly distracted because of me, because of what I wasn"t brave enough to say-"
Gabe pressed one sooty finger over her lips. "I"ll never get tired of hearing you say you love me, but whether you"re saying it or not, I feel it every time you look at me, sweetheart. Every time you kiss me. You say it every time you come apart in my arms and you give your heart to me." He smiled down at her. "Do you want to know how I felt today when I was fighting this fire?"
Her eyes were sparkling with tears as she nodded.
"I felt stronger than I ever have before. I felt confident. Steady." He tipped his finger beneath her chin, made sure their gazes held. "I felt loved."
He pressed his mouth to hers and the kiss they shared was soft and sweet and pa.s.sionate all wrapped into one.
"I knew you and Summer were waiting for me to come back to you, safe and sound. I"m not going to let you down, Megan. You both deserve forever this time. Let me be that forever."
Tears ran down her cheeks.
"Forever," she whispered, and then Gabe was claiming her mouth again as people watched and smiled at the heroic fireman and the beautiful young woman embracing on a sidewalk in the middle of downtown San Francisco.
Epilogue.
Sophie Sullivan sat at her mother"s kitchen table, brochures spread out all around her for the various surprises she was planning for Chase and Chloe"s upcoming wedding.
Gabe, Megan, and Summer had joined her and her mother for lunch and now Summer was riding her bike out in the front yard, a bike similar to the one Sophie had when she was seven, with a banana seat and pink streamers flying from the handlebars. Back in December, the last time they were all together at her mother"s house, she"d felt a little bad about playing matchmaker by mentioning Gabe"s plans to go skiing in Lake Tahoe to Summer.
But look how well it had turned out.
Sophie was beyond happy for her brother and her friend. They clearly belonged together, even though they"d both obviously tried to-foolishly-fight their connection at first.
The door flew open and Gabe ran inside and into the kitchen. Megan and Summer walked inside holding hands a moment later, the little girl sniffling and limping on a leg with a b.l.o.o.d.y knee.
Sophie immediately went to them and had just given Summer a hug when Gabe returned with their mother"s first-aid kit. He looked strangely pale, despite his tanned skin, as he lifted Summer onto his lap. Speaking softly to Megan"s daughter, he gently cleaned, then bandaged, her knee.
He"d just finished putting on the last Band-Aid when Summer hopped off his lap and said, "Race you to the tree house."
Sophie watched as Megan put her hand on his shoulder. "You did great."
Gabe blew out a hard breath. "Seeing her fall off the bike onto the street and not knowing how badly she was hurt made me the most nervous I"ve ever been in my life."
Megan leaned over and kissed him and Sophie moved back to the table to give them some privacy. Her heart squeezed tight at watching her brother be so paternal. It was so sweet.
And yet, as the two of them headed into the backyard to join Summer in the tree house, Sophie sighed, trying not to compare the way Megan and Gabe looked at each other to the way n.o.body looked at her. Especially not- "Hey, Nice."
She whirled around, shocked to find Jake McCann standing next to her mother on the Persian rug. "What are you doing here?"
Her mother raised an eyebrow at her snippy tone. "He offered to help with the bar."
Chase and Chloe had plenty of money-and contacts-to put on a wedding without any of their help. But that was beside the point. Everyone who loved them wanted to help.
Why hadn"t her mother told her Jake was coming over? If she"d known, Sophie would have worn something other than the most boring white long-sleeved dress in the world.
Not, she knew, that it would have mattered what she was wearing. She could have been completely naked, spread-eagled on the table, and Jake wouldn"t notice. In fact, if he did notice her nudity, he"d probably toss a couple of pillows at her to cover her up without so much as blinking.
The phone rang and her mother excused herself to answer it, leaving Sophie and Jake alone.
"Pretty crazy," he drawled as he looked out the living room window and saw Gabe, Megan, and Summer playing in the backyard, "all you Sullivans pairing up like this."
His mouth was quirked up into one of those ridiculously hot half-grins that turned her insides to jelly and her heartbeat kicked into overdrive, just as it always did around Jake. It didn"t help that he was wearing a short-sleeved black T-shirt that showed off his muscular, tattooed forearms and dark jeans that showed off his tight a- No. She couldn"t go there. It was too pointless.
Too pathetic.
She"d wasted enough time mooning over Jake. Approximately twenty years, to be more precise. But it was one thing to be a five-year-old with a crush. It was another entirely to be a twenty-five-year-old woman who couldn"t get over the one guy who barely noticed she was alive.
He thought of her as Nice, for G.o.d"s sake.
Which pretty much summed things up in the most depressing way, considering there was no one she wanted to be naughty with more.
"I"m happy for them," she finally said, unable to quell the defensive tone in her voice. "Chase and Marcus and Gabe all deserve to be happy."