Page 8 of Tasting Fire
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When Captain Stylesfinished the announcement, Emmy stepped forward, and the first person her gaze landed on was Cash Kingston.
Still. After all these years, Cash Kingston wasstillthe most mouthwatering man she’d ever laid eyes on. And that was saying something when a girl had grown up in the same town with the four infamous Steele brothers.
Then again, Cash was their cousin, which meant the genetic code in that extended family was first rate.
He was also the opposite of happy to see her. Emmy might even go so far as to describe the expression on his face as anti-ecstatic, bordering on you’ve-gotta-be-fucking-kidding-me.
Probably no one else would spot it. They’d just see a grimy firefighter who was slightly bored with what was going on here. But not Emmy. She knew the sudden lack of symmetry of his lips meant he was biting them from inside his mouth.
That he was biting back something explosive.
Which meant no one had warned him she was moving back to Steele Ridge. When Emmy had reached out to the St. Elizabeth’s ER director, the other doctor had expressed interest in bringing her on board at the hospital. And less than thirty minutes later, her phone rang and she found herself on a conference call with Jonah Steele and Maggie. They’d given her the impression that Steele Ridge desperately needed someone to lead the TMT.
Could they have overlooked one of their own?
Regardless, she couldn’t do damage control in front of a room full of people, so for now, she just slapped on a smile that contracted her cheeks so tightly that they ached.
Cash backed out of the room and disappeared, which left a hollow feeling inside Emmy’s chest.
“Thank you, Captain Styles and Sheriff Kingston, for putting your trust in me. I’m looking forward to working with all of you assigned to the TMT. Expect an updated training schedule within twenty-four hours.” She addressed the captain. “Do you mind if Sheriff Kingston and I step out for a moment to discuss a few things?”
“Take all the time you need.”
With all the training Emmy did to keep in shape, she was as buff as Maggie, albeit in a slightly shorter package. So it wasn’t too hard to yank the sheriff into a nearby hallway. “Maggie, something just happened back there. And you’re going to tell me exactly what it was.”
The sheriff glanced over her shoulder, and when she turned back, the guilty expression in her eyes clinched what Emmy had suspected.
“Cash had no idea you’d hired me, did he?”
Dropping her forehead, Maggie squeezed her temples between her thumb and middle finger. “I tried to talk with him earlier this morning, but they caught a fire. This announcement was already scheduled, so it couldn’t be put off. Not even for him.”
She’d known he was a member of the team, known it might be a little awkward at first. But he’d not only been surprised when he spotted her. He’d been downright pissed. “It wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to see him again for the first time, but it was more than that, wasn’t it?”
This time, Maggie’s head went back and she blew out a breath toward the ceiling. “He wanted the TMT lead.”
Suspicion confirmed. Well, lovely. Just effing fabulous. “The role you and Jonah recruited me for.”
Cash’s imminent-explosion expression made perfect sense. Cash was a smiler. So much that she used to tease him that he was a natural as a tooth model.
But the groove in his left cheek hadn’t been apparent today.
“I didn’t make the final decision and neither did Jonah. Captain Styles wanted someone with experience,” Maggie said, her tone sharp and in command. “You were the right person to lead this team. You have more education, more training, more experience. More everything. So did I put your name forward? Hell, yes. Do I like the fact that you’re the same woman who broke my brother’s heart? Hell, no.”
She hadn’t meant to break Cash’s heart, but Maggie’s comment aboutmore educationmade Emmy wince.That was a massive reason she and Cash had broken up the spring of their high school senior year. Because she’d wanted something—academic and career success—that he hadn’t taken seriously. At least not for himself.
Damn. Him.
But Cash’s lack of educational ambition had never dissuaded her hormones. One glance at him a few minutes ago, and her body had reacted like a tween at a Justin Bieber concert. Light head, rapid pulse, and the overwhelming compulsion to throw herself at him.
And that was the dead last thing she should be thinking about when Cash would be one of her new team members, but something told her that would be way easier said than done. “I need to talk to him.”
“Emmy, you probably shouldn’t approach—”
“If you, Jonah, and Captain Styles want this tactical medical team to work and work well, then I have to deal with this. Now.” When she hurried back into the lieutenant’s office, she asked, “Did anyone see where Cash Kingston went?”
“He’s off shift.” The bite in the stocky man’s—Johnson? No, Jackson—tone made it clear he wasn’t happy with Captain Styles’s selection.
