baby?” God, he had to leave.
“I love you.”
Even in her sleep, she could rip his heart in two. He closed his eyes and pressed a long kiss to her forehead. After tonight, he’d never see her again. “I love you, too, angel. Be happy. Live well, baby.” When he opened his eyes, his gaze fell on a tall, slender form in the open doorway, shadowed in the darkness by the light in the hallway. Einstein pranced into the room and rested his chin on the sheets next to Cassie’s arm.
Quinn stood, his gaze slowly sweeping over Cassie for one final glimpse, devouring and memorizing every beautiful detail. He snatched his jacket and removed her birthday present to set it on the nightstand, whispered her name on a pained exhale and did what he did so well—denied and buried the pain.
Becca reached to stop him when he exited the room. “Why won’t you tell her how you feel? I can see what this is doing to you and I know how crazy she is about you.”
Silent, he shouldered past her and stormed down the steps, abandoning the better part of his world.
Quinn slouched in the orange plastic chair, his legs spread, eyes half closed. Despite his nonchalant state, he cataloged his surroundings—like the organized interior of Captain Noah Steele’s office and the captain’s end of a phone conversation regarding a firefighter’s treatment at the emergency room. Muffled sounds of running showers and typical station banter filtered through his superior’s office walls. Smoke stench still hugged the lining of Quinn’s nose, fainter now after a shower and flushing out his nasal passages. He tilted his head to the right and absorbed Wolf’s tense demeanor. The man hadn’t stopped glaring at him since he’d set foot in the fire captain’s inner sanctum. Evidently Wolf was still pissed over the way he’d spoken to Cassie yesterday.
Requesting a meeting with his two bosses so soon after a three-alarm fire at a high-rise probably wasn’t the best timing. The call had come in about twenty minutes after he’d returned from leaving Cassie at Becca’s, and the blaze had taken nearly six-hours to contain. Everyone was drained, physically and emotionally. Still, he needed to put his plan into effect before his candy ass chickened out. God, walking out of Cassie’s life was going to rip him apart inside, yet he’d been sliced-and-diced before and endured…in a half-assed manner of speaking. No doubt he’d survive another ration of pain.
Noah settled the receiver back on the desk phone. “Boyd’s got smoke inhalation, diminished lung function and signs of angina.” He stretched his arms over his head, fisted his hands and yawned. “Typical stuff. They’re keeping him overnight and running more tests in the morning. He’ll be off a week and then light duty for a few more.” He leaned back in his chair and locked his hands behind his head. “I want his equipment checked. Should never have happened.”
“Maybe Boyd didn’t connect everything correctly. His first fire with us. New gear and all.” Wolf lifted a shoulder. “Could happen. I’ll inspect his apparatus once numbnuts here spills his guts.” He jerked his head toward Quinn before slumping farther into his chair and gulping from his water bottle.
Quinn inhaled and searched deep for the right words for his fire captain and the commander of his Marine Rescue Unit. Hell, just spit it out. “I’m giving my notice. One more forty-eight hour shift and then I’m gone.” He owed them more notice than this, but he had to get away from Cassie before he lost the battle to keep his hands off of her.
Wolf jerked upright in his chair and fired the empty water bottle into the trash can, the plastic clanking against the metal container. “The hell you say.” His dark eyes narrowed on Quinn and his broad hands slowly swept up and down his jeans as if he was trying to keep from wringing Quinn’s neck.
“First the Drug Enforcement Agency and now us.” Noah pinned Quinn with a hard stare. “You’re starting a dangerous pattern of not sticking, man. Careful, it’ll quickly become a loser’s habit.” His chair squeaked when he straightened and planted his forearms on the desk. “You better have a helluva good reason for walking out on us like this.”
“Wait!” Wolf’s gaze hinged from Noah to Quinn, his mouth agape. “You were DEA? Fuckin’ DEA?” He leaned forward, his piercing eyes stared at Quinn as if seeing him for the first time and taking his measure.
Unable to hold it back, Quinn laughed at Wolf. “Can’t stand being left out in the cold, can you?” Wolf obviously had a nut in a twist discovering he knew so little about his co-worker and friend. He shifted his attention to Noah. “To answer your question, Captain, my reasons for leaving are personal.”
“Are you having personnel issues with a member of the squad? ʼCause if you are, I’ll haul his ass in here, and we’ll have it out.”
Shit, if he did, he’d handle it his damn self. “No. Things here are cool. These firefighters are a great bunch of guys. I’m honored to be counted among them.” He shrugged. “Just feel a need to move on.”
“You were DEA?” Wolf seemed caught on that one nugget. “Why the hell am I just now learning this? Man, we’ve been tight. I’ve included you in my family circle. Allowed you to spend time with my baby sister.”
“True that.” And I’ve fallen in love with your baby sister. If I don’t get away from her, I’m going to ruin her life, and damn if she doesn’t deserve better.
“Are the pressures of the job getting to you? Part of being a firefighter is seeing everyone’s pain after they’ve lost everything. Their belongings, a pet…family members.” Noah exhaled and shot a pained expression at Wolf.
The ex-SEAL crossed a booted foot over his knee and picked at the worn sole, his mouth a firm, straight line. Several years before Quinn came to Clearwater, an arsonist had set Wolf’s parents’ house on fire, killing them and leaving his four younger sisters orphaned. Cassie had barely been a teenager at the time. From what Wolf and his brother Jace had shared with Quinn over the last three years, it had been a particularly rough time for the family.
Wolf resigned his commission with the SEALs to finish raising his sisters and to keep Jace in college. Cassie went through some major behavior issues, which she nor Wolf rarely mentioned. Quinn always imagined Wolf easing her through whatever teenage angst she dealt with at the time, his steely fingers encased in kid gloves. He still handled his little sister with strict yet gentle commands. The bond the two siblings shared was substantial.
Noah repeated his question, irritation tingeing his voice. The fire captain was ex-military and didn’t suffer fools lightly.
“No, I can handle the job stress. I’m thinking of moving up north with my parents.” Or not. His dad had never forgiven him for losing his men in Chile and resigning from the State Department. As soon as he was through with this meeting, he planned to email some of his old co-workers to test the waters—at least the ones who’d still give him the time of day.
He’d already emailed his remaining team member, asking if he needed a new fellow on his mercenary squad. T-Bone had turned paranoid after Chile and did strange things to hide his identity. Imagine, an ex-military explosives expert using “SparklePrincess” as his email address. Quinn had to chuckle at the thought. If no openings were to be had with T-Bone’s ragamuffin gang of brothers and a couple old Army buddies, or one of the government agencies, Quinn would start an online search at various fire stations in other states.
“You’d move back to DC? Leave the sun and sand? They just got eight…nine inches of snow up there a couple days ago. You feel the perverse need to shovel that shit?” Wolf slung an arm across the back corner of the chair and arched a dark eyebrow. “Or the need to walk away from Cassie?” He exhaled a harsh bark of laughter. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it, you son of a bitch? Damn your soul to hell for the pain you’re going to cause her. You think Becca didn’t start texting