Hearts on Fire 4: Kisses Sweeter Than Pie(11)

“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to give you my life story. You’re right. I probably did lose everything I have in that fire. I even lost the only hope for income, too. Which means I will more than likely have to leave town to find work. I don’t have a place to live, these are the only clothes I have…” The tears started rolling down her cheeks and she quickly wiped them and turned away.

“Nina, I’m sorry, but this is protocol. We’re going to get you the help you need.”

Johnny walked over, joining them.

“I got in touch with Red Cross and the only bed available is a few towns over. But it’s a nice place, good people.”

“Great. I guess my dreams are destroyed as usual.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared at the building that looked bleak on the surface.

Johnny reached out and touched her arm. She jerked away and looked petrified by his touch.

“Hey, we’re not going to hurt you. We’re the good guys. We’re here to help,” he told her. She made a snorting sound with her nose and throat.

“Heard that before. Don’t worry, I’ll manage on my own.” She started to walk away.

“Wait. We’re not finished here.” Buddy stopped her with his firm tone.

“Like it hasn’t been enough that I was caught in a fire, I’ve lost everything, and now you want to harass me, ask me a bunch of questions about things I don’t know? I’m sorry, Detective, I don’t have anything more to say.”

Buddy wondered where her sudden attitude and resistance came from. All he could seem to think was that she was hiding something. Trent mentioned her seeing a possible suspect then retracting her comment. Nina could be the key to finding this arsonist.

“We said that we would help you, and we’re going to. That’s how things are done in Treasure Town,” Johnny told her firmly with his hands on his hips. Even his brother was losing his patience.

“You want to help me? Find me a place where I can bake those eight pies, and provide me with the ingredients I need to do it so I can deliver those pies to Sullivan’s tomorrow by eight. That would make me impressed with your Treasure Town.”



* * * *



It had been a couple of hours and now Nina walked around the apartment trying to see if she could at least salvage her pie pans and her money. It was early morning and she definitely wasn’t going to be able to meet the deadline for making those pies. The tears stung her eyes and she had her hand over her throat as she looked at the mess in the kitchen. Everything was black and covered with soot. The fire had spread through the living room and to the bedroom door. It was eerie how much this apartment, this mess, represented her life. It was black, stuffy with smoke, charred, and terrible tasting as it hit her lungs with every breath she took. It was kind of what she felt like inside right now. Hollow, dark, like life was suffocating her and slowly killing her.

“Anything?” Johnny asked her as he, Jake, Chief Martelli, Buddy, and Trent looked around.

“The pie pans are destroyed,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Listen, we know the Sullivans well. The firemen who helped put out the fire tonight are two of their sons. They’ll call them and explain,” Jake told her.

“There are no excuses for failure,” she whispered, the words echoing in her head. That was something Rico would say to her when she complained about messing up a pie she made.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You didn’t do this. Some asshole did,” Johnny told her, and she glanced at him. She absorbed the sight of those gorgeous blue eyes she could get lost in if she were normal. But she wasn’t normal. She was weak minded, on the run from danger, and a loser with no professional career and no family.

She walked toward the bedroom and saw that most everything was covered in black but the bed was not destroyed all the way through. She had a surge of hope that her money was safe and sound between the mattress as she fell to the floor and lifted up the mattress. She cried, seeing her money intact.

“You keep your money between the mattresses?” Jake asked her.

She looked at him as she pulled the money out and held it to her chest.

“Thank God I did. If I put it in a shoebox in the closet or a jar in the kitchen, it would be nothing but ash right now.

She moved toward the upper part of the bed and the dresser with a renewed inkling of hope that she could stay off the streets for a day or two. She reached under the bed and pulled out her duffle bag. She always had it packed and ready just in case. If she hadn’t had the pie order she would have grabbed this and run.

She turned toward them.

“I guess this is where we part ways,” she said. All of the men looked at her strangely.

“Part ways? Where do you think you’re going?” Buddy asked her.

“I have some money, I can stay off the streets for at least a couple of nights, I have some clothes. I’ll figure it out.” She started to walk off.

“A hundred-dollar bill is not going to get you far,” Johnny said and looked at Buddy, the chief, and Trent. Jake kept his hands on his hips.

“What do you suggest?” she asked.

“That you stay with us,” he replied, and she gasped. He quickly began to speak as Jake smirked and walked away. So did the chief. It left Trent, Buddy, and Johnny there.

“Listen, we have a house and a small apartment above the garage. The tenant just left a week ago. It has a kitchen and great oven and stove,” Johnny added.

“How much is the rent?”

“We can negotiate when the time comes. You need the help, and we have an empty apartment. What do you say?” Johnny asked. She wasn’t sure that this was a wise idea. She didn’t want to owe them anything and feel obligated to do whatever they asked of her. They were very attractive men and they seemed sincere, but she had been fooled before. She just didn’t know enough about men.

“I don’t want to owe you anything. I don’t know if and when I could pay you back. You don’t know me, and well, I won’t let you use this against me to get whatever it is you want.”

“What?” all three of them asked. Then Buddy stepped forward.

“You think we would push ourselves on you? That we would expect you to pay us back in some sexual way?” he asked her. The man did not seem to sugarcoat anything, and now that he threw the words out there between them, she felt awful.

She lowered her eyes and nibbled her bottom lip. She just wasn’t certain what to do. Was this accepting help from more men a bad decision or a cloud lined with a bit of silver in the shadow of all this darkness surrounding her? It was hard to decline as she stood in the center of a tiny, char-coated room with no place to sleep, no friends to count on, and a fear of what could happen if she let her guard down and slept on some bench in the park. She was tired of that. She never wanted to do that again.

“Sweetie, we’re good, honest men. We’re first responders in this area. Any of the men and women downstairs right now can vouch for us,” Trent added, looking her over, but keeping his distance with an expression that told her he didn’t quite trust her or this option his brother offered.

She felt her cheeks warm. The three men were gorgeous and very commanding. It didn’t scare her as much as it should have. Instead she felt this tingling sensation, an awareness she just wasn’t familiar with.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“I don’t trust easy. My past is my business. I won’t cause any problems while I stay in the apartment. If I can salvage the job with Sullivan’s and my pie business takes off, then I will pay whatever you guys usually get as rent.”

“That’s fair enough,” Johnny said and reached out his hand for her to take. She stared at it a moment. The skin-to-skin contact wasn’t a good idea. She feared being close to any man, never mind touching one.

She looked at Buddy and Trent, who seemed to be analyzing her. Why she had to be in this situation with two investigative minds and one compassionate paramedic she didn’t know. She slowly reached out to shake Johnny’s hand, and sure enough when their fingers and palms locked, she felt a sexual tingle filter through her body. Johnny smiled.

“You won’t regret this.”

She barely smiled.

God help me, I hope I don’t.





Chapter 4




“Are you serious? How terrible,” Florence said to her son Ace.

“Yeah. The poor thing was beside herself. Buddy and Trent think she’s completely alone with no family. She had a hundred dollars under her mattress that hadn’t burned in the fire, and a bag with clothes stuffed under the bed. Nothing else.”

“She spent the last bit of money on the ingredients and pie pans to make the pies for this morning. Oh God, she must be so upset. She doesn’t deserve this,” Cindy said as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Serefina took Cindy’s hand. “Where is she now?” Serefina asked.

“Johnny offered her the apartment above their garage. She didn’t seem too keen or trusting, but we all assured her that people were kind in Treasure Town,” Ace said.

“They offered her their apartment? Interesting,” Serefina said and smiled.

“You think they like her?” Florence asked.