Overtime: Emergency Love Series, #3

By Lexy Timms and Autumn Gaze

Never let the same flame burn your twice…

 

The mob boss we were after set a trap.

No sooner had we arrived at the fire than an explosion punched through the early evening, showering the streets with burning shrapnel. My boyfriend Travis, one of Denver's best firefighters, went in alone, leaving me outside to watch and hope.

 

The higher the flames grew, the more concerned I became. What if he didn't make it out? What if the criminal responsible added Travis's death to his growing list of homicides? I fought with my baser instincts; a raging inferno was no place for a cop. My job was afterward, sifting through the ash, looking for clues.

 

Just when I thought all was lost, Travis reappeared, but he wasn't alone. A beautiful firefighter was with him, carrying a child they had rescued. If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn they were a family: a mother and father braving death itself to rescue their offspring. I knew it was petty, but I couldn't extinguish the spark of jealousy their appearance ignited.

 

When all this was over, would Travis choose me? Or was our love fated to die in the flames that consumed the city?

 

Emergency Love Series

• Flatline
• Backdraft
• Overtime

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dark Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Apr 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223753568

Lexy Timms

"Love should be something that lasts forever, not is lost forever."  Visit USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR, LEXY TIMMS https://www.facebook.com/SavingForever *Please feel free to connect with me and share your comments. I love connecting with my readers.* Sign up for news and updates and freebies - I like spoiling my readers! http://eepurl.com/9i0vD website: www.lexytimms.com Dealing in Antique Jewelry and hanging out with her awesome hubby and three kids, Lexy Timms loves writing in her free time.  MANAGING THE BOSSES is a bestselling 10-part series dipping into the lives of Alex Reid and Jamie Connors. Can a secretary really fall for her billionaire boss?

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Emergency Love Series

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Flatline

Backdraft

Overtime

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Overtime Blurb

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Never let the same flame burn your twice...

The mob boss we were after set a trap.

No sooner had we arrived at the fire than an explosion punched through the early evening, showering the streets with burning shrapnel. My boyfriend Travis, one of Denver’s best firefighters, went in alone, leaving me outside to watch and hope.

The higher the flames grew, the more concerned I became. What if he didn’t make it out? What if the criminal responsible added Travis’s death to his growing list of homicides? I fought with my baser instincts; a raging inferno was no place for a cop. My job was afterward, sifting through the ash, looking for clues.

Just when I thought all was lost, Travis reappeared, but he wasn’t alone. A beautiful firefighter was with him, carrying a child they had rescued. If I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn they were a family: a mother and father braving death itself to rescue their offspring. I knew it was petty, but I couldn’t extinguish the spark of jealousy their appearance ignited.

When all this was over, would Travis choose me? Or was our love fated to die in the flames that consumed the city?

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Contents

Emergency Love Series

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Overtime Blurb

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Epilogue

Emergency Love Series

Department of Defense

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Chapter 1

Travis

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I sat in the parking lot, the roses on the seat beside me. Staring off into the distance, I tried to imagine what I was going to say. How did you open a conversation with someone who had been dead for years?

I finally decided that I wasn’t going to get any braver, or possibly the task wasn’t going to get any easier. I needed answers, both for her sake and for mine. It had been torture trying to move on with my life, and I needed to know that I wasn’t crazy.

Setting my jaw, I got out of the car. The hospital parking lot was enormous. It took me almost ten minutes to cross it. Maybe I’d parked all the way in the back to give myself time. It was convenient that there weren’t a lot of spaces up front, but I could have found one if I was being honest with myself.

The walk gave me more time to think, though whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, I wasn’t sure. Inside, I joined the bustle of other people on their way to death beds and maternity wards. Some were staring stoney-eyed into the distance, grappling with traumatic life changes. Some were chatting excitedly, ready for the next phase in life.

I walked up to the reception desk.

I’m looking for Stacia Campbell, I said.

After a long moment, the efficient-looking young man shook his head. No one by that name.

She came in last night. She was caught in the apartment fire. She’s a firefighter. I gave him every detail I knew, hoping to spark some recognition.

The only firefighter that was admitted last night was Tricia Murphy, he said.

May I have her room number? I asked.

The man sized me up with my flowers and my obvious unfamiliarity with the woman’s name. He was probably concerned that I was a stalker or maybe a reporter who was fishing for information. But since I was there during regular visiting hours and there was apparently no hold on her visitors, he allowed me to go up.

I shook my head to clear it. Tricia Murphy. Of course she’d changed her name. That’s what you did when you were faking your own death. But that assessment of the situation seemed a little harsh. Although she’d told me last night that she was hiding from someone and that’s why she had to leave me, something didn’t sit right.

I felt like a stranger or a stalker. If she wanted me to find her, she would have called me. Yet there I was, showing up on her doorstep with flowers, asking to be let back into her life. I told myself that this was a fact-finding expedition. What happened in the past couldn’t be undone. I had a new girlfriend now, and I was head over heels in love. I wasn’t trying to win Stacia back; I just wanted closure. The flowers were a friendly gesture, nothing more.

They had moved her from the recovery area to a private room with a door. I knocked to make sure I wasn’t catching anyone by surprise and walked in when I didn’t hear a response. She lay on the bed, eyes closed, hair surrounding her face just like I remembered from countless mornings waking up before she did.

I searched my heart for romantic feelings but found none. Good. I didn’t want Stacia’s reappearance to screw things up with Alaina. Wherever Stacia had been and whatever she had been doing, she had purposefully shut the door on our relationship. Nothing good could come of residual emotions, and I was pleased to report that I had none.

Her eyes fluttered open as if she sensed that I was there. Her first reaction was one of fear, and that made me flinch. I had never been anything but gentle to her. That she would be so terrified of finding someone in her hospital room didn’t sit well.

Hi, I said.

Oh, hi, she responded, relaxing a bit. Whoever she was worried about, I knew it couldn’t be me. The worst I might do was ask her some tough questions.

I brought you flowers, I said, placing the bouquet on the bedside table.

Thanks. She brightened.

There was an awkward pause before either of us spoke. I was trying to think of how to ask her where the hell she’d been all this time, and also trying to come up with a way to ease into it naturally. Was small talk appropriate in this situation, or should I just cut to the chase?

I’m sorry. She interrupted my train of thought.

I let her finish, not offering any assurance that everything was all right.

I wanted to tell you, she continued, clearly struggling to find the right words.

We both knew that if she really wanted to tell me she was alive and well, she could have. The only thing stopping her was her own poor choices.

The silence lengthened, so finally I opened my mouth. Why didn’t you?

I was in the witness protection program, she admitted.

That was news. That made a whole lot more sense than dropping off the face of the planet. I sat down on her bed, not bothering to ask. Why?

I can’t really talk about it, she hedged. It’s an open case.

What can you tell me?

It was someone that I was very close to. Someone that I knew for a long time, she said with a sigh, pushing herself back up against the headboard. He became more and more abusive as time went on.

I waited for her to finish on her own time. Clearly, the rehashing of old wounds was traumatic. I didn’t want to push her too far too fast, but I had to know.

He liked to start fires. That’s why I got into firefighting in the first place. I thought, stupidly, that if he saw that I was on the right side of the blaze, he would back off. It didn’t quite work out that way.

An ex-boyfriend? I guessed.

A family member, she responded.

I knew I couldn’t push her any farther than that. The pieces were falling together like Tetris tiles, linking up to form a greater whole. That was why she had changed her name and why she didn’t reach out. She was running away from someone in her inner circle, and she didn’t know who to trust. It also made sense why she had never introduced me to her family. In the few years we were dating, I never once met an uncle or a brother, no matter how many times I brought up the subject.

I was about to ask her another important question. She had faked her own death using another body, one that had been dressed up in her clothes. I wanted to know where she’d gotten the body. Who was it? And to what lengths had she gone to secure it? I wasn’t sure if I believed that she was capable of murder, but there were plenty of things I didn’t know about the woman I had once loved.

Just then, a nurse arrived with a set of pills in a paper cup. I stood up to allow her access to the bedside. She smiled politely at me, turning to the patient.

Glad to see you wide awake, the nurse said.

This is my— Stacia began. This is the man who rescued me.

I nodded to the nurse when her eyes lit up. But that was all the reaction I got. After taking the pills, Stacia turned over onto her side, indicating that she was done talking. The nurse took her cue, shooing me out with practiced grace.

You can come back tomorrow, she said dismissively.

I lingered in the doorway for a moment, wanting to know the answer. But Stacia had apparently decided that’s all she wanted to share. I struggled with anger and disappointment. It wasn’t fair. She could have told me if she was afraid of one of her relatives. I would have protected her. But she decided to take matters into her own hands, possibly illegally, and I was just going to have to live with that.

I walked back to the car like a fired employee who was given very little information about why he was turned away. Sparking the engine, I drove home to walk the dogs. Their playfulness snapped me out of my mood, like always. I couldn’t imagine why I hadn’t gotten a dog sooner. All that time spent playing with homeless dogs at the shelter in my free time couldn’t compare to having one waiting for me at home. They had electric, positive energy that was the cure for any bad mood.

Duke and Duchess, the two police dogs who shared living space with me and Alaina, were both friendly and outgoing. They ran to greet me every time I came home and made me feel like everything was all right with the world. Half walking, half jogging around the block a few times helped to clear my head. I was more than ready to see the final member of our little family when she pulled up outside my building.

Officer Alaina Dawson had been with the Denver PD for almost ten years. We met at a crime scene and after a rocky start had been inseparable. She taught me so many things about what a normal, functional relationship was like. We helped each other out on the job and at home, both cooking, both cleaning and both chasing after the same serial arsonist.

She was petite and gorgeous in her tight blue uniform. She barely got her hat off before I swept her up in my arms and kissed her. She laughed at my enthusiasm, which was a good sound, before turning her attention to our fur babies.

Duke was Alaina’s partner, finally back on the job after sustaining a bullet wound in the line of duty. Duchess was new but just as dedicated to law and order. I was the only firefighter among them and proud of it.

What’cha doing? Alaina asked Duke. What’cha doing?

He’s keeping me company, I answered, since I was the only one who spoke English.

You look happy to see me, she observed.

You have no idea, I replied, shaking my head.

She fit her fingers through mine, giving my hand a squeeze. Why don’t you tell me about it?

You first, I said. Did you find anything?

She pressed her lips together, her shoulders hitching up a bit. I’d rather hear about your day.

I wasn’t sure I was ready to talk, so I casually introduced a different topic, but one that was a favorite around our house: the dogs.

Chapter 2

Alaina

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I hear Duke’s going back to work tomorrow, Travis said.

Yeah, I replied, unable to keep the sunshine from my voice.

I loved my little four-legged partner, and I was thrilled that we would be able to work together again. It was tough being the only K-9 officer without a dog. Though they could have matched me up with a different animal, I kept waiting and hoping that Duke would be cleared.

He was touch and go there for a little while, but he passed the latest physical and was all set to begin again in the morning. It seemed like we had been working this arson case forever. Duke was my eyes and ears, and my nose to the ground as well. I just wasn’t as effective without him.

I wondered if we could have narrowed down our suspect pool faster if he hadn’t been sidelined. There was no use worrying about it, but I was glad to put the past behind me. Travis opened the door to his apartment and let us all in.

The dogs went off leash and straight for their water dishes. I laughed, my mood lightened just by being around them.

You tired them out, I said.

They tired me out, he answered, taking me in his arms.

We kissed softly, slowly, as if we had all the time in the world. My heart leaned toward him as if he were magnetic. I couldn’t believe that we’d only been together a few short months. It seemed like an eternity in a good way.

I opened my eyes when the kiss concluded. I could sense that he was as tired as I was, and that there was a lot going unsaid at the moment. I didn’t want to burden him with the difficulties I’d had at work.

Our primary suspect was in the wind, and I had no luck tracking him down. That disappointment was partially mitigated by the presence of my friend Rebecca, who had been working undercover until recently. It was nice to have her back in the office and to know that she was okay. But on the other hand, at least when she was embedded with the enemy, we had someone we could trust on their side. Now we had no one and no leads. It was a frustrating few hours of chasing our tails.

I didn’t want to tarnish what Travis and I had by talking about failures. Every second we spent together was precious. I was keenly aware of that after recent events. The fires our perpetrator set were designed to hurt people. Good people. Innocent people.

I couldn’t stand him, and not being able to haul him in burned like the devil.

We’ll get him, Chief Clark said, watching me pace behind my desk.

I looked up, unaware that I was being so obvious. Everyone in the room was staring at me. I was the only one on shift who didn’t have a partner, and I was acting like a caged animal. I clocked out a little bit early and went home to see my boyfriend.

What’s for dinner? I asked, unbuttoning my shirt.

Dessert? he asked in a heavy voice.

No, I teased him. I’m just taking my uniform off. Don’t get any ideas.

How can I not get ideas when you’re undressing in front of me? he asked.

I’ll go change in the bedroom, I replied, slipping off my shoes and dropping my keys on the counter.

I can think of better things to do in the bedroom, he called after me.

I smiled to myself, thinking how lucky I was to have found someone like Travis. He wasn’t just sweet, he was hot. So hot, in fact, that he rated front page on the fire station’s charity calendar. Women all over the city were marking the passage of days beneath my boyfriend’s photo, and I was the one who got to sleep with him.

I pulled on one of his T-shirts and a pair of his sweatpants. We had been going out long enough for me to bring some