A Silver Springs New Year’s Eve
By
Tonya Ramagos
“Watch out!”
Captain Dean Wolcott stepped out his
office, straight into organized holiday chaos, and directly in the path of a
pair of female arms laden with bottles of champagne. He backed himself against
the wall of the narrow hallway, then chuckled as EMT Terri Vega frowned at the
scant amount of space he’d left to her squeeze through.
She shook her head, sending her
short blonde ringlets swinging. “Not happen, Cap.”
No, her slim, petite, well-fit frame
would’ve had problems moving past him even if her arms hadn’t been filled with
teetering glass bottles.
“Careful,” she instructed when he
eased the top few bottles off the stack.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier to
leave them in the box?”
“The guests can’t drink them if
they’re still in the box, silly.” Terri resituated what was left of her load
and waited for him to lead the way down the hall. “And they’re going through
them like wild fire tonight.”
Dean shot her a withering look over
his shoulder. “I meant it would’ve been easier to carry them in the box, then
take them out once you got to where ever it is you’re going with them.” He
paused in mid-stride and glanced at her again, this time with his brows drawn
together in confusion. “Where are we taking them, anyway?”
“To the kitchen. We’re stockpiling
the supplies in there so we can find what we need when something on the tables
in the bays has to be replenished.”
“Is your doctor coming tonight?”
“Owen? No. He’s spending time with
his sister, brother-in-law, niece, and their loving cocker spaniel.”
“Not a good mix for you, huh?”
“You mean the spending time with his
family part or the dog?”
“I know you’re allergic to dogs.”
Dean stopped outside the door that would lead them into the kitchen and
carefully turned to face her. “I’m not sure about family.”
“So far, no allergies there,
although I haven’t met his sister and crew yet. I could have tonight and doped
up on Benadryl beforehand to handle the dog, but I didn’t want to miss out on
bringing in the new year with my
family.”
Dean smiled, knowing every firefighter
and EMT on B-shift felt the same. They were a close knit bunch, friends who
stuck beside one another through thick and thin, a family who had followed one
another through the blazes of hell and back on too many occasions to count.
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Dean said
sincerely. “It wouldn’t be the same here tonight without you.”
The door to the kitchen hung on
hinges that he pushed open by backing into it. The action worked easily enough,
until the door met resistance on the other side.
“Hey, now.” David Karlston’s amused
chuckle carried through the four inches of space Dean had managed to open.
Dean steadied his balance as the
firefighter pulled the door the rest of the way open without warning.
“You trying to take me out with the
door, Captain?”
“If that’s what I have to do to get
you out of my way.”
Karlston’s gaze skipped over Dean’s
shoulder and a mischievous grin tilted his lips. “At least you’ve got someone
behind you who can examine my injuries me when I fall.”
“Not tonight, Karlston. I might be
on shift but, until those tones drop, the only thing I intend to give emergency
attention to is this party.” Terri booty-bumped the back of Dean’s thigh. “Now
get your ass out of the way so we can offload these bottles before we drop them
and everyone is forced to lick their refreshments off the floor.”
Karlston shifted left, snagging two
of the bottles from the stack in Dean’s arms and reaching to grab a few from
Terri as the three started walking to the center island in the kitchen. “How
about tomorrow night then? We’ll go clubbing, see if we can find a single peep
for each of us to enjoy for a few hours.”
“Sorry, Karlston, my days of
clubbing ended a few years ago,” Dean told the firefighter, tongue in cheek, as
he set his load on the countertop.
Karlston shook his head, a truly
pained look overtaking his expression. “See, that’s what happens when you
settle down and get married.”
“The last time we went clubbing
together everyone thought we were
together,” Terri reminded Karlston. “We both ended up going home alone.”
“Well, that’s an easy fix. If the
same thing happens this time, you can come back to my place at the end of the
night. Then neither of us will spend the night alone.”
Terri barked a laugh.
Dean did his best to disguise a
chuckle with a cough.
Terri offloaded her bottles and
leaned against the counter. “Maybe my clubbing days are over, too.”
Karlston gaped at her. “Captain,
call Cory in here, will you? I think Terri is the one in need of some serious
emergency medical attention.”
“Leave Cory alone. He’s in the bay
with Ford and Rayne, right where he should be.”
“Jeez, love is spreading around this
department like a disease,” Karlston grumbled. “First the captain, then Jason,
then Magee, then Tripp, then Nox, and now Carter. It’s a frigging epidemic! Where’s
the lieutenant?” He turned right, then left making a show of looking for Hazmat
engineer and B-shift lieutenant Max Jasper. Despite the slew of firefighters
and other city officials milling about the room, Jasper was nowhere in sight. “We
need him to put on his mad scientist lab coat and conjure up some kind of
vaccination before it overtakes us all.”
“What’s so wrong with people falling
in love?” Dean asked, intrigued. He didn’t add that, if his gut was correct,
which it usually was, he was pretty damn
certain Max was well on his way to catching the bug already.
“Nothing, I guess. If that’s what
floats your boat. Me?” Karlston poked a finger at his chest. “I’m planning to mingle
for a long, long time before I set that ship sailing myself. And, speaking of
mingling, I’ll help Terri get some more bottles of the sparking grape juice for
us poor saps that are on shift tonight while you go mix with the crowd, Cap.”
“Why me?”
“You’re the host,” Terri said.
“B-shift is on duty tonight and you’re the highest ranking firefighter, ergo
that makes you the host.”
Dean didn’t bother to argue, knowing
it wouldn’t do him any good anyway. He left Karlston and Terri at the center
island of the kitchen and started weaving his way through the crowd. He stopped
for a moment to speak to DEA agent Michael Cosmos and his pregnant wife Rhonda
who stood with Ryan and Tina Magee, hoping none of them heard his wistful sigh
when his gaze dropped to Rhonda’s very rounded belly. He couldn’t wait to see
Veronica that way, radiant and ripe with his child. They had been married for
nearly four years and, though they tried often, Ronnie still hadn’t gotten
pregnant.
Saying goodbye for now, he continued
through the crowd and out of the kitchen, stepping into the stationhouse bay.
The doors were up, letting in the chilly evening breeze, the fire trucks lining
the pavement out front, ready and waiting in the event of a call. A-shift had
taken the responsibility of decorating during their shift. Party streamers,
balloons, and ribbons had been hung from the support beams overhead and strung
to anything and everything the firefighters could find. Tables of refreshments
had been set up along the sidewalls, leaving the floor open for people to
gather. A fast beat rock tune blared through the stationhouse speakers adding
to the noise level in the room.
“They did a hell of a job, huh?”
Dean turned at the sound of the
voice, raised to be heard over the music, and landed his gaze on Max Jasper.
With his spiky brown hair and wild dark eyes, he looked like he might have been
lost in a lab somewhere cooking up that vaccine Karlston had wanted.
Dean tipped his head back, his
attention scanning the ceiling, and he chuckled. “I’m wondering why we didn’t
get toned out when the explosion went off.”
Beside him, Jasper stiffened. “What
explosion?”
Dean grinned at his lieutenant. Mad
scientist or Hazmat engineer, the man was always sharp as a tack and raring to
get into the middle of something. “The one that blasted all the party stuff
everywhere.”
Max visibly relaxed. “Yeah, A-shift
over did it a bit. Seeing as how it’s our first New Year’s Eve party at the
stationhouse, I suppose we can let them slide. I can’t remember the last time
we’ve had everybody together like this. Hell, I don’t think it’s ever happened.
We’ve even got MIBs and DEAs here tonight.”
“I just left Cosmos with Magee in
the kitchen,” Dean commented.
“Adrien Bingham and Cameron Stone
are over there with Thaddeus.” Max tipped his chin toward the three giddily
smiling men, their arms linked as they carried on a conversation with Jason,
Angelina, and Jackson Graham and a woman Dean wasn’t quite sure he recognized.
“Is that Christa Hutchens with the
twins?” he asked Max.
“No. Christa’s here, though. The
last time I saw her she was chasing after a very frightened looking Harry
Gosher. That’s Mallory Stone, Cameron’s sister and Jackson’s wife.”
“Jason told me working with Hutchins
had messed with his brother’s mind pretty bad. Hell, I can see why. Hutchins and
Jackson’s wife could be sisters.”
“It’s a damn close resemblance,” Max
agree.
Dean let his focus move on, stopping
this time on the Alyson Hannigan look-alike standing with firefighter Kyle
Shannon. Fire investigator Regina Zimmerman smiled at something Shannon said,
deep dimples accenting her bow-shaped lips and lighting her ivory face. “Regina
seems to be enjoying herself.”
Jasper scoffed. “She usually does as
long as I’m not within a hundred feet of her.”
Dean glanced at him and lifted a
brow. “You’re barely twenty-five feet from her now.”
“Yeah, she hasn’t noticed yet
either.”
Dean shook his head, biting back a
grin. “When are the two of you going to stop butting heads every time you see
one another?”
“Hey, she’s the pit bull.” Max
frowned as he lifted the plastic cup in his hand to his mouth and sipped, his
gaze steady on the fire investigator. Dean swore he saw arrows of heated hunger
shooting from the lieutenant’s eyes. “I’m just the chiwawa she likes to chew to
bits every chance she gets.”
Dean slapped the back of the man’s
shoulder. “Then teach her not to bite quite so hard. Or, better yet, maybe you
should bite back.”
He left Jasper standing with his cup
frozen halfway from his gaping mouth and made his way across the bay to
Zimmerman and Shannon. “You decided to stay. I’m glad.”
Regina shrugged. “I decided you were
right. Hanging out here is better than bringing in the new year alone in my
apartment. And since you wouldn’t let me stay with you in your office...”
Next to them, Kyle Shannon cleared
his throat. “I’m headed to the kitchen for some of that sparkling grape juice. Can
I bring you two back anything?”
“No thanks,” Dean and Regina said in
unison.
Regina’s face flamed. “I’m sorry,” she
said once Shannon was out of earshot. “What I said. I didn’t mean for it to
sound like—”
“It’s okay,” Dean cut her off.
“Really, I’m glad you stayed.” It had taken him a good ten minutes or more to
convince her not to leave after they finished talking in his office. Tonight,
of all nights, especially after the bombshell she’d dropped on him, he knew she
didn’t need to be alone. “You would make me even happier if you would unglue
your heels from the concrete floor, though. You know half the people here, at
least by name. Here’s your chance to get to know them all better, meet the ones
you haven’t met, enjoy yourself.”
She smiled, but it was far less
brighter than he hundred watts of happiness she had beamed at Shannon when Dean
had been standing with Jasper. “I will. I promise.”
Dean turned slightly so he could see
the room behind him. He leaned closer to Regina, both to be heard over the
music and so he wouldn’t be heard by anyone standing close enough. “All these
people here tonight, they’re the perfect fix to clear your mind for a few
hours, bring in the new year without all the stress and worry about what you
believe is happening.” He put a hand on her shoulder and tipped his chin toward
Max Jasper. “Why don’t you start with that man over there. He looks like he
could use some company right about now.”
Regina looked at him, her eyes
swirling with an explosive combination of venom and sheer longing. Her smile
turned to one of pure feigned sweetness, exhibiting a row of perfectly white
teeth that might have sharpened when her gaze had landed on Jasper. “Thank you,
but I’ll pass. Your wife was looking for you awhile ago. You should probably go
find her.”
“Will you be all right?” Dean hated
leaving her alone. He searched the crowd, looking for Kyle Shannon. The
firefighter should have returned by now.
“I’ll be fine. I believe I heard
someone mention some spiked punch around here somewhere for those of us who
aren’t on duty tonight.” Regina shrugged. “A little of that and I just might
get the urge to mingle like you want me to do.”
Dean chuckled. “Liquid courage,
huh?”
Regina waggled her eyebrows at him
as she started to step away. “Hey, it’s New Years Eve, right? Why the hell
not?”
Why
the hell not indeed. Still laughing, Dean scanned the room again, this time
in search of Veronica. He spotted her almost instantly on the far side of the
bays leaning against the door to the supply closet. B-shift’s radio operator,
Zack Houston was talking with Tripp and Bailey Barrett in front of her, but she
didn’t appear to be involved in the conversation.
The group parted as Dean headed her
way. He angled his head, puzzled that she would be hanging by herself when she was
close friends with nearly everyone in the room. He knew when she spotted him.
Her blue eyes lit as her gaze landed on him, sparkling with a mischief and
happiness that had his heart swelling even as his mind kicked into wonder mode.
He knew his wife, recognized that look, and she was up to something. The
possibilities of exactly what that something could be ignited a fire inside him
that traveled a path straight to his rapidly stiffening cock.
“What are you doing?” Dean snaked an
arm around her trim waist, drawing her close. He rested his forehead against
hers and closed his eyes briefly as her scent enveloped him. Ripening
strawberries in a summer field combined with the innate aroma of an aroused
woman and sent his cock into a fit of calisthenics.
“Waiting for you.” Her arms came
around his neck, her fingers delving into the hairs at his nape as she brushed
her lips to his.
“Regina said you were looking for
me. Is something wrong?”
Veronica drew her bottom lip between
her teeth, a wicked grin tilting the corners of her mouth. She looked away from
him, her gaze scanning the room as one of her arms dropped from around his
neck.
“Who are you looking for?”
“No one in particular. Just checking
to see if anyone is watching us.”
Not as far as Dean could tell. The
music pumping through the stationhouse speakers had taken on a techno tempo and
the crowd had opened up, pushing back in a circle to create a makeshift dance
floor in the center of the bays.
“Doesn’t look like it to me.” And
why would they be? Smack dab in the middle of that dance floor, Thaddeus
Carter, David Karlston, and Zack Houston had drawn everyone’s attention by
bumping and grinding with moves they had obviously learned while rehearsing for
the Fired Up for Boobs benefit the fire department had held a few months back.
“Perfect.”
Before Dean knew what was happening,
Veronica slid the hand she still had around his neck down to his chest, fisted
his shirt in her fingers and yanked him through the door of the supply closet
he hadn’t realized she had opened.
“Ronnie?” Half amused and half
surprised, he blinked in an attempt to get his eyes to adjust to the sudden
darkness. A scant bit of light filtered through the cracks around the doorway
offering him just enough to see her amazing face and the sinfully wicked
intentions in her expression. “What are you doing, baby?”
“Looking for a place to be alone
with you for a few minutes.” She released his shirt, her palm gliding over his
chest and sending sparks of desire raining through his system. Her other hand
joined the exploration, flattening on his abdomen and turning to travel down
his gut to the waistband of his uniform pants. “I was going to catch you in
your office earlier, but you had company.”
“Regina.” Veronica’s devious slender
fingers began working the button of his pants free. Dean knew he should stop
her, but damn if he had ever been able to. Once his woman got her hands on him,
he was toast. Very burnt toast. It had been that way from the moment she had
stepped into the stationhouse locker room nearly four years ago and he hadn’t
cooled a bit.
“You were in there an awfully long
time.”
Dean felt the button on his pants
give, felt her fingers close on the tab of his zipper, and his cock flexed in
readied excitement. He had to swallow before he could speak. “She needed to
talk to me about a, uh, situation. It’s got her worked up.”
“Anything I can do?”
The closed door muffled much of the
music still playing out in the bays, but the sound of metal scrapping metal as
she lowered his zipper cut through even that. Dean felt the air in the supply
closet grow hotter by the second, diminishing until breathing became a
struggle. When her rebellious fingers slipped inside his pants, delved into his
briefs, and curled around his cock, he said a silent prayer that no one opened
the door or they would all go up in a backdraft of flames.
Her wicked fingers stroked the rigid
length of his cock and he grappled for words. “You can, ah, baby,
stop...doing...that.”
“You don’t really want me to stop,
do you?” She raked the pad of her thumb over his cockhead, pushed gently
against the slit, and smeared the bead of precome over the mushroomed head.
“Hell, no,” Dean growled, his head
falling back as whips of need slashed at his shaft and balls.
“I didn’t think so.” She fisted his
shaft, squeezing just enough to have him teetering on the edge of insanity. “I
meant is there anything I can do for Regina?”
Dean lifted his head to look at her.
The woman never failed to amaze him. She had yanked him into a supply closet,
wormed her way into his pants, and she wanted to talk about another woman?
“It’s...” Christ, with his dick in his
wife’s vixen hand he couldn’t even remember what he and Regina had discussed in
his office, let alone decide what might or might not help her.
“Classified?” Veronica suggested,
her fist loosening on his cock as it reached the base and turning to dip
between his legs to close around his balls.
“Yes.” The word left him on a
breathless rumble. In his line of work, he rarely ran across anything he
couldn’t and didn’t share with his wife. He had given Regina his word to keep
quiet about the things she had told him, though.
“Okay, make sure she knows I’m here
if she ever needs to talk.”
Just like that, Veronica dropped the
subject. Dean knew she wouldn’t press any further. She trusted him, believed in
him, and loved him in a way that had no conditions or boundaries. Jesus, he had
to be the luckiest man alive.
“Want to know something else that
classified?”
Dean could only grunt, but the sound
morphed to damn near a whimper when she let go of his cock and reached for his
hand, covering the back of it with her palm as she splayed it on her flat
belly.
“I’m pregnant.”
Dean’s whole world shifted. He felt
his eyes grow wide, the scarce bit of oxygen he had managed to take in sticking
in his throat as he stared at his beautiful wife. His heart was pounding so
fiercely he wondered she didn’t hear it. Maybe she did because she giggled and
cupped his cheek with her free hand.
“Breathe, handsome. It won’t do for
me to have our baby if you aren’t here to help me raise him or her.”
Dean drew in a ragged breath as
shock and sheer happiness raced through his system. He hooked a finger beneath
her chin and grazed his thumb along her bottom lip as he gazed at her, his
heart filling with more joy and love than he had ever felt in his life.
“We’re having a baby?”
She nodded, the sultry grin on her
lips beaming with her own elation. “In about seven months, give or take a
week.”
Speechless, Dean folded his arms
around her, yanked her against him and kissed the hell out of her. Her lips
parted on a surprised laugh that morphed instantly to a moan as he drove his
tongue into her mouth and lost himself in her taste.
A baby. They were finally going to
have a baby. Thank you God and this
amazing woman in my arms.
“I love you,” he whispered as he dragged his
tongue along her jaw, nipped it lightly, then licked his way down the smooth
flesh of her throat.
“Show me.” Her hands fell to his
waist, gripped the band of his pants, and started shimming them down his hips.
“Here. Now. I need you inside me.”
Dean didn’t think. He couldn’t. At
least not about anything beyond his wife and the baby she was carrying. Their
baby. Intense desires ruled his movements as he turned with her, backed her
against the only spot of the matchbox closet not lined with shelves, and pinned
her to the wall. He skimmed his hands down her outer thighs, fisted her skirt,
and dragged it to her waist.
No panties, he realized as his palms
met with the bare flesh of her hips. Sweet Jesus, she’d planned this and made
it easy for him. She had known once she broke the news to him that he would
have to be inside her.
He pushed his hands between her
shapely ass and the wall, gripped her cheeks, and lifted her, stopping when he
felt the tip of his cock pressing at the heated folds of her pussy.
“Ronnie.” He gulped, not knowing
what he had intended to say as emotions clogged his throat.
Her arms were around his neck again,
her fingers playing in the hairs at his nape as she smiled at him. “I love you,
too,” she whispered. “Always and forever.”
The passion of her words spoken in
her sultry, desire-filled voice undid him. With her legs wrapped around his
body, his cock perfectly positioned to enter her, Dean thrust into her awaiting
pussy.
A sound left his throat, hoarse and
primal, as he buried his cock to the hilt in her sodden cunt. Sparks exploded around them,
white-hot lights of passion and pleasure converging to create an inferno that
sent them both spiraling to the edge.
Dean felt his fingers dig into the
tender flesh of her ass and knew he would likely leave bruises, but couldn’t
force himself to ease his grip. Even when he had tried years ago, he had never
been able to force himself to ease his hold on this woman in any way, not with
his hands, not with his mind, and certainly not with his heart.
“Please, Dean. Harder. Faster. Now.”
He gave her exactly what she asked
for, using the wall behind her for leverage as he pounded his cock inside her
sodden pussy harder, faster, without an ounce of hesitation. Her legs locked
more tightly around him, her heels digging into his ass in an effort to draw
him even more deeply inside her. He widened his stance, effectively spreading
her legs farther and giving her what she wanted. Impossibly deep, mind-altering
penetration turned the sparks to flames and what was left of the oxygen in the
closet to the consistency of molten lava.
Dean felt her release as she came
apart in his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder, sank her teeth into his
flesh, and muffled her pleasured cries. Her pussy convulsed as hot juices
bathed his cock. He couldn’t hold off his own release a second longer. He
gritted his teeth on the animalistic growl that tried to escape as he came
inside her.
Spent, he nuzzled his face in the
bend of her neck as he fought to catch his breath. “Jesus, Ronnie.”
“Hmm?” Her fingers drew lazy circles
on his nape and the back of his shoulder, caressing with a passion that stole
his soul.
“One of these days someone is going
to catch us.”
She giggled. “Maybe, but wondering
when and where is half the turn-on.”
“We’re really having a baby?” Dean
couldn’t wrap his mind around it.
She pulled back to look at him, a
realm of emotions twisting in her gaze. “We’re really having a baby.”
“Fucking amazing.”
That made her laugh as she started
wiggling in his embrace. “We should probably get back out there before people
come looking for us and we do manage
to get caught.”
Dean slowly lowered her to her feet
and kissed her softly before stepping back enough he could shove his softening
cock in his pants. Veronica wiggled her hips as she pulled her skirt back into
place.
“Let’s keep this to ourselves for
now. This is my happiness tonight. I’m not ready to share it or you with anyone
else just yet.” The moment news got around, they would be bombarded with friends
offering their congratulations and who knew what else.
Veronica nodded and drew her bottom
lip between her teeth thoughtfully. “Got a clue how we’re going to sneak back
out of this closet without being noticed?”
Dean grinned at her. “Didn’t think
that far ahead, did you?”
She shook her head. “I had a one
track mind, Captain, getting you in here so I could get my hands on you.”
He reached for her, leaning in to
brush a kiss to the tip of her nose. “I like it when you’re mind is on that
track.” He released her, glancing down the front of her sinfully curvy body,
already picturing her flat belly rounded with their baby growing inside her. “I
suppose we could just stay in here till morning.”
Veronica threw her head back and
laughed. “Yeah, and what’s going to happen when the tones go off and you have
to roll?”
“I can’t believe it hasn’t happened
already.” Emergency calls on a holiday were usually a dime a dozen. So far,
they’d only been toned out for two since the sun started to set and,
thankfully, both had ranked low on the seriousness scale.
Veronica put a hand on his shoulder
as she squeezed between him and the door. She angled her head, obviously
listening to the sounds filtering in from the bays. “They’re playing our song
out there.”
Dean listened, too, and heard the
opening bars of Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want
to Miss a Thing. He pursed his lips. “Think it’s too much to hope they’re
all out there in someone’s arms dancing right now?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Veronica twisted the doorknob and eased it open. Luck was on their side as they
slowly made their escape from the closet. No one spotted them sneaking out. No
one noticed as Dean hooked an arm around his wife’s waist and led her to the
makeshift dance floor so they could blend with the crowd.
No one, that is, except Regina
Zimmerman.
Dean leaned in to nuzzle his nose in
the side of Veronica’s neck as they started to dance, but hesitated when his
gaze slammed into Regina’s. The night continued it’s growing record of
surprises when he slid his attention to her dance partner and realized it was
Max Jasper’s arms that were tightly locked around her.
He lifted a questioning brow at
Regina whose attention shifted from him to the back of Veronica’s head, her
eyes gleaming with knowledge, laughter, and a hint of wistfulness. Without
moving her head, she slid her gaze toward Max and rolled her eyes before
looking away.
Veronica’s body grazed his as she
rose slightly to her toes to whisper in his ear. “What’s wrong?”
“Absolutely nothing.” He kissed the
side of her neck, nuzzled his face in the bend of her shoulder, and closed his
eyes. Things with Regina would work themselves out one way or another in time.
He didn’t doubt that. And, as for her and Max, he wasn’t about to venture a
guess on that outcome.
“Good, because if anything tries to
ruin this New Years Eve I’ll have to get vicious.”
Dean grinned against the side of her
neck, loosing himself in the feel of her in his arms, in the scent of her
filling his senses, in the knowledge that he had never been happier in his life
than he was at this moment.
The song cut off abruptly near the
end and everyone stopped in mid-sway, pulling away from their dancing partners
as David Karlston whistled for attention. “It’s almost time, peeps. We’ve got
less than a minute till midnight.”
On a table behind David, a
television flicked on to the countdown in Times Square. Dean tightened his arm
around Veronica’s waist, holding her back as the crowd in the bays and those
who had been in the kitchen gathered around the TV. Veronica looked at him
questioningly, then nodded, smiling when he gestured to everyone with a slow
scan of his head.
Terri Vega, Bailey Barrett, Tina
Magee, and Rhonda Ramsey played waitresses, passing out chilled plastic glasses
of sparkling grape juice to those on duty and champagne to those who weren’t.
Dean bit back a grin when Veronica refused the champagne Terri attempted to
hand her and reached, instead, for the grape juice.
“A few sips to celebrate tonight
won’t hurt, sweetheart,” Dean leaned in to whisper in Veronica’s ear.
“I know, but I’d rather not.” She
winced slightly, her gaze dancing around the crowd. “Of course, considering
we’re at the department surrounded by very highly trained, keenly observant
people, the second they notice I’m not drinking, they’ll start to wonder why,
put two and two together, and our secret will be front page stationhouse news.”
“If they figure it out before we
tell them, they deserve to know.”
They deserved to know anyway and
they would. He might want a few hours to fly on his cloud of happiness with
only his wife, but he wouldn’t keep their news from his family for much longer
than that. He couldn’t. They were all here, fellow firefighters, police
officials, FBI, DEA, and the men, women, and children they loved.
“Here we go,” Terri shouted,
scrambling to ditch the tray she’d been carrying so she could take up place
near the television as the ten second countdown began.
Dean’s swallowed around a tightness
in his throat and hugged Veronica close as he watched them. Family, each and
every one of them were his family and he couldn’t think of any place he would
rather be than right here, right now with the most important people in his
life.
“Three,” Dean joined the countdown.
“Two. One. Happy New Year.”
Party whistles and noisemakers
blasted through the stationhouse bay as Dean turned Veronica in his arms. He
dipped her back, folding himself over her as she laughed before he silenced her
with a kiss. “Happy New Year, mommy,” he said against her lips.
“Happy New Year, daddy.”
Dean lifted her slowly as he
straightened and caught two widely grinning faces out of the corner of his eye.
Timmy Walker Magee and Lucas Ramsey Cosmos beamed at them, their expressions
consumed with the devious glee of two ten-year-old boys ready to shout to the
world what they’d just overheard.
“And here we were thinking it would
be the adults to catch on first,” Dean said to Veronica.
“Can we tell them?” Timmy bounced
with excitement. “No one knows, do they? Can we tell them? Can we? Please!”
Dean laughed and started to say yes
when the ear-piercing shrill of the stationhouse tones cut him off. The bays
fell into an instant, total silence as the emergency dispatcher’s voice filled
the room.
“Engine 1, Ladder 12, Rescue 4, we
have a report of a structure fire at 216 East Main Street, multiple injuries,
possible victims still inside. Time out, 1203.”
“Go.” Veronica slapped him on the
ass as she stepped out of his embrace. “We’ll be at home waiting for you when
your shift ends.”
They would be home waiting for him.
Dean nodded, leaning in to grab another quick kiss and grazing the back of his
hand over her belly before he turned and double-timed it out of the bay.
He reached the driver door of his
Incident Command SUV parked out front with the rest of the trucks just as the
lights and sirens of Engine 1 kicked on and the truck moved out of the
driveway. Adrenaline surged with the happiness in his veins as he hopped behind
the wheel of the IC SUV and started the engine. No doubt about it, they were
already rolling into what would be one explosive 2013 for the men, women, and
children of Silver Springs.
THE END
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
There are currently 9 books in The Heroes of Silver Springs series, all available at Siren-BookStrand. Get hooked on the Heroes today!
