Chapter 84 - Playing Dress-Up

After several minutes Mike guided the truck through another gate. Jon saw that they were pulling into another clearing of sorts, but this time there were buildings. Lots of them.

It looked like a movie set; a long, narrow strip of blacktop dividing two neat rows of houses. But several of the houses were little more than blackened frames, and several others appeared to be under construction. Jon grinned, remembering Mike’s remark about “burn ‘em down, rebuild ‘em, and burn ‘em down again.”

Mike parked the truck at the end of the paved strip, and the group climbed out. Jon looked down the street dividing the houses and saw a larger building in the distance. It was a small fire station, a shiny red engine sitting in the bay behind the open roll-up door. Drawing his eyes back to the structures along the street, Jon noticed the space between them and the multiple fire hydrants positioned along the blacktop, with only two or three houses separating them.

“Alright, let’s get you two geared up,” Mike announced, clapping his hands together and rubbing them palm to palm as he grinned. “Cate, you know the drill. Wanna get Jon set up with some turnout gear while Collie and I pull the hoses?”

“Um, sure,” Cate answered. She felt her pulse accelerate. Oh, Shit, I didn’t think about that…

Cate had come out to “play” on the arson range many times during her tenure on the Center. She knew the routine to prepare for the fire exercises almost as well as she knew how to prep to shoot on one of the ranges. So why had she forgotten about one very, very important detail when it came to Jon’s training? He was going to have to wear firefighter’s gear. And God knows, a fireman in uniform is drop dead, panty-combusting, drive-a-girl-to-sin SEXY.

How on Earth was she to survive seeing Jon dressed up as a firefighter? Especially now, when she was trying SO hard to keep her emotions under control? Lord, help me… Cate prayed silently, gulping in a deep breath before turning her gaze to Jon. He was grinning at her, as if reading her mind. Damnit! Stop fuckin’ smiling! Cate thought helplessly. Oh, this is NOT gonna be easy…

“Come with me,” Cate said hoarsely to Jon, avoiding eye contact. She started to walk toward a small building at the end of the row of houses. Jon fell into step beside her. He didn’t say anything, but Cate heard him let out a throaty chuckle. It was obvious he could feel her torment.

They reached the building in silence. Cate pulled open the door and stepped inside, Jon following her. Jon saw that the building was actually nothing more than a huge, free-standing walk-in closet. To the right of the door were floor-to-ceiling cubbies holding an assortment of firefighter’s helmets. Two large plastic bins on the floor in front of the cubbies were filled with protective gloves. A smaller plastic box held tinted safety glasses.

At the back of the room were shelves lined with pairs of steel-toed rubber boots. To the left of the door was a row of heavy metal shelving units bearing stacks of protective pants and coats, their reflective stripes glowing in the dim light from the tiny window beside the door.

Cate turned to look at Jon, and found herself confronted with a little smirk. “Do you need to measure me for this stuff?” he asked teasingly, his voice soft and sultry.

Cate felt a flush of heat race through her body at the memory of their first encounter in a supply room. “No. It doesn’t have to fit you that well,” she retorted, looking down. She took a deep breath, then raised her eyes to his. “Please don’t make this hard,” she implored.

Jon smirked again. The obvious response was just too easy for him to pass up. “Can’t say the same to you, Baby,” he chuckled. “In fact, please do make it hard…” He couldn’t resist teasing Cate just a little, since she was so obviously aroused by the thought of him playing fireman.

“Jesus, Jon!” Cate mumbled, turning a deeper shade of crimson and looking again at her feet. Oh, God… She stared at the floor for a long minute, feeling Jon’s gaze on her. She felt a little stab of annoyance that he was trying to push her buttons. But she didn’t want to be angry with him; not now. He would probably be pissed at her soon enough, when she admitted her transgression with his Blackberry. And they had a long day still ahead of them.

Cate sighed, then looked back up at Jon, her lips pressed together in a firm line. “Can we please just do this?” she asked flatly. “Mike and Colin are waiting.”

Jon nodded, his smirk softening to a smile. “Yeah. What do I need?” He was betting he would have plenty of opportunity wind Cate up even more, once he donned his gear for the training. He just had to be careful that he didn’t push her too far. Given her strange mood today, he wasn’t quite sure what would happen if he really pissed her off. But he couldn’t pass up this opportunity to remind her of the physical chemistry between them. Talk about combustible…. Jon chuckled to himself at his little pun.

“Well, let’s start with boots….” Cate breathed a sigh of relief that Jon was going to let this opportunity to tease her go, at least for now. The two of them stepped to the back of the closet and pulled several pairs of boots from the shelves. Jon toed off his cross-trainers and stepped into a set, to find they were too large. He tried several pairs before he found some that fit him properly. Since Cate already knew her size, she just grabbed a pair from the shelf and set them by the door.

Next Cate helped Jon select a pair of protective pants, searching with him through the piles until she found a pair of the correct size. She watched as he stepped out of the boots, then slipped the pants on over top of his jeans. Her stomach flipped as he drew the wide red elastic suspenders up over his shoulders, over top of his black t-shirt. A hungry little smile crept to her lips.

Jon noticed Cate’s eyes traveling over his chest, following the line of the suspenders down to his waist and lingering at his fly. He gave her a little grin, but didn’t say anything. That’s it, Baby… he thought. Remember how good it felt, how great we were together….

Cate mentally shook herself, then pulled her gaze away from Jon. She turned back to the shelves, then helped him find a turnout coat. Jon had to try on several before he found one that wasn’t too large. Cate couldn’t help but giggle at him as he flopped around the sleeves of an enormous protective overcoat, giving her a little wave and a big, goofy grin.

Finally they found a garment that fit him properly. Already sweating from the stuffiness of the unventilated little room, Jon slipped off the coat and tossed it onto his boots next to the door.

Cate grabbed herself a set of turnout garments, dropping them by her boots, then turned her attention to the bins near the door. She pulled two pairs of gloves out of one of the plastic bins, handing one pair to Jon. He slipped them on his hands and nodded that they fit, then pulled them off and stuffed them into the pocket of his turnout pants. Cate handed him a pair of protective glasses, which Jon tucked by the temple into the neck of his t-shirt. Then Cate turned back to the cubbies and pulled a fire helmet from one of the little cubes.

She looked at the item in her hands for a long moment, then drew in a deep breath and turned to Jon. Her eyes met his as she reached up and gently dropped the helmet onto Jon’s head. She felt her stomach somersault again as she gazed at his gorgeous face, glowing with a light sheen of perspiration from the warmth of the room. His blue eyes sparkled and his honey and caramel locks stuck out in wild disarray from under the helmet. The corners of his mouth curled upward in a sexy little smile, dimpling his smooth cheeks. Cate felt a little dizzy at the sight.

Jon held Cate’s gaze for a long moment, his pulse accelerating at the desire swirling in the blue-gray pools of her eyes. She could try to rationalize her decision to push him away all she wanted, but her eyes betrayed the yearning of her body, of her heart. He felt a hopeful little squeeze in his heart as he smiled back at her.

Finally she broke the spell. “Okay… you’re set.” Her voice was soft, husky. “Go ahead. I’ll be right there.”

Jon nodded and turned away. He picked up his coat, then stepped into his boots and tugged the legs of his turnout pants down over them. Then he moved through the door and walked several paces away from the building. Closing his eyes, he drew in a deep breath and blew it out. Jon smiled, encouraged by what had just happened between Cate and himself.