Tested by Fire

He hid a smile. She had a way of getting to him, all right. “Technically, I’m a lieutenant, so I outrank you.”

“Yes, sir.” She gave him a saucy salute before she turned toward the door.

Finn’s afternoon rest was cut short by a bank of clouds that moved in, drawing a dark curtain between her and the sun. A cool breeze swept across her, prickling her skin. She grabbed her beach towel and pulled it around her shoulders just as thunder growled in the distance. A quick glance at her watch revealed she had been dozing for about an hour.

There was no sign of John, who hadn’t come outside even after her grandparents left earlier. Colin was sleeping under one of the deck chairs.

“Colin, come.”

The dog sprang to his feet and followed her back home.

By the time she changed her clothes, the sky was so dark it looked like it was dusk instead of the middle of the afternoon. She lit a few candles and decided to make lasagna for supper. She enjoyed cooking and never minded making extra to take over to her grandparents.

There was a knock on the door and Finn’s heart lifted. There was only one person it could be. The one who’d been in her thoughts all afternoon.

“Anne asked me to give you your mail when you woke up.” John stood just outside, a thin stack of envelopes in his hand.

“My mail comes to them. Technically, this house is part of the same address.” Finn wondered if she was rambling, but she was glad to see him. She couldn’t deny it.

“Do you…” Her voice was suddenly drowned out as the heavens opened and it started to pour.

Laughing, she pulled John into the house. “Bad timing, John, it looks like you’re stuck here for a while.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Maybe I planned it this way.”

Suddenly Finn stopped laughing. Every breath that she took for granted was suddenly struggling to get out.

“Why would you do that?” she asked. “Do you like spending time with me?”

There it was again. Her honesty pushing him into a corner and making him aware of things he thought he had buried. Things like feelings. And needs.

A crooked spike of lightning made the lights flicker and distracted Finn for a moment. John took the opportunity to escape. He wandered into the kitchen and saw the beginnings of an Italian dinner. Coward, he told himself.

“Lasagna,” she said behind him. “You’re welcome to stay.”

For how long? He shook the thought away even as it surfaced. “Where’s your television?”

She studied him. “You don’t watch television, do you?”

“Never.”

“Quit trying to get out of kitchen duty.” Finn rummaged through a drawer by the stove. Out came a square of sunny yellow cloth. Before he could react, he was wearing an apron emblazoned with the words “For This I Went to College?”

He looked at her. “Cute.”

“It was a gift from my cousin last Christmas, but I think it looks better on you.” Finn flounced away and started to rip up a head of lettuce.

He sighed. “I’ll set the table.”

“Great.” With that simple word, she accepted his presence in the kitchen.

John watched her for a moment.

“Agent Gabriel, it’s not polite to stare.”

He set the table.

The storm didn’t subside. Outside, the wind lashed at the trees and blew rain like shot against the windows. At seven o’clock the telephone rang.

“Hi, Chief…I was thinking about that, too. No, it’s fine. John had supper with me. Yes, he’s still here. I’ll see you in the morning, then.” Finn hung up the phone. “They ended up at the Silvermans’ after dinner to play cards and they decided to wait out the storm there.”

“That’s probably best,” John agreed. “Visibility is nil out there.”

Colin went to the door and whined.

“No walk tonight,” Finn told him.

He recognized the word walk and looked at her hopefully.

“Not tonight, boy.”

“You shouldn’t run at night.” John frowned, his gaze raking Finn’s slender frame. She couldn’t weigh more than a hundred pounds.

“Miranda Station is perfectly safe.” Finn chuckled.

“There is nowhere on this earth that is perfectly safe.”

“I’m fine, John.” Finn started to walk toward the window when suddenly she was lying on her back, staring into John’s green eyes. She was pinned to the floor by his arm as he knelt beside her. His face was inches from her own.

“See, anything can happen.”

“That’s not fair, you took me by surprise,” she complained.

“You should never be taken by surprise,” he countered. “Didn’t they teach you that in recruit school?”

“They taught me to never turn my back on the bad guys.”

“You don’t always know who the bad guys are, do you.”

His words cut into her deeply. No, she didn’t know. If she did, reports wouldn’t change and court notices wouldn’t disappear into thin air.

“And are you one of the bad guys?”

“I might be.” He released his hold on her and rose to his feet. He extended his hand, but she ignored it and scooted into a sitting position.

Colin trotted over and pushed his face against John’s leg.

“Traitor,” Finn muttered. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she grudgingly accepted his hand and let him pull her to her feet.