Fake flame, p.2
Fake Flame, page 2
Eva flinched at that. She’d been reckless. Worse than reckless. And, as they drew level with Darren, she saw how she’d catastrophically miscalculated.
Because he looked at her and winked. Again. Her stomach gave a sick roll. Apparently, she was in for more of this bullshit.
* * *
Sean saw the wink. It was like an evil eel slithering through the slime that was this situation. The jackass had thought his “bitches are crazy, am I right?” act had worked. Okay.
He could work this situation, too. He straightened up to his full six foot three and said, “I’d advise you to leave the lady alone.” All four of his sisters would have crashed down on him for the macho posturing, but honestly? It kinda felt good.
The guy—Darren—blinked up at him, then sneered. “What’s it to you?”
“She tells me you’ve been hassling her. Says she doesn’t think it rises to the level of needing a restraining order, but I dunno. If she’s driven to do something this drastic...” He let the statement trail off, punctuated with an eyebrow raise.
Darren shot him a smug look. “Show’s what you know. Her doing something this drastic means she still has feelings for me.”
“Standing right here, and yes, I have feelings. Of loathing,” Eva said, then pointedly turned her back and stalked off into a building with “Wooton Hall” carved into the stone over the doorway.
Darren chuckled, condescension oozing from every pore. “She’s supposed to be an expert in pop culture and she can’t recognize a grand gesture when she sees one? And no, she won’t be getting a restraining order against me, regardless of what I do. I’m also a professor here.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t also be a total fucking creep,” Sean said, keeping his tone mild so that the insult would land even harder.
“Well, she’s a crazy bitch,” Darren shot back, obviously needled.
Rage spiked through Sean at the slur. This asshole seriously needed to leave the poor woman alone. “Right. But you want her back so badly you’re ready to pull this stunt? You’re the one who doesn’t seem very stable to me. Maybe you need to go in for an evaluation. Because it’s seriously creepy to make a scene like this.” Reaching out, Sean ripped the sign off the piano, crumpling it into a ball and throwing it to the grass at Darren’s feet. “I mean it. Stay away from her.”
* * *
When Eva got back to Wooton Hall, she realized her hands were trembling. Adrenaline maybe. Or maybe it was just straight-up nerves from that incredibly out-of-pocket thing she’d just done. Something so completely out of character that if she hadn’t still been holding Celia’s lighter, she might have wondered if she had hallucinated the whole ordeal, surprisingly well-read and kind extra-large firefighter included.
Reaching her office, she flopped into her desk chair and sighed, rubbing her temples with shaking fingers.
“Professor Campbell?” A small voice came from the doorway. Eva looked up and attempted a smile.
“Xiuying, hi. What can I do for you?” She waved at the pair of guest chairs in front of her desk.
The undergraduate sank into a chair, letting her flowered backpack slide to the floor. “I just wanted you to know that someone was trying to film that whole scene on the quad. I got up in front of them and mostly spoiled the shot, though. At least, I think I did.”
Eva suppressed a manic laugh. Perfect. She was probably going to be the character du jour on TikTok now. Unhinged lady threatens to turn a piano into a cinder. See it now! Seven zillion views.
She took in a long, careful breath. “Thank you,” she said. “That was very kind of you.”
Xiuying fingered a strand of her long, dark hair that lay across the front of her shoulder. “You were really upset. And nobody should invade your privacy like that—I mean, ever, but in this situation, it just seemed really bad. And it really didn’t seem like you. Then I thought about how you talked about that boom box scene when we discussed Say Anything in class—you know about how Lloyd Dobler is being manipulative, maybe, and not romantic?”
“And you saw a Lloyd Dobler situation on the quad?” Eva had never considered that her classroom discussions would yield such tangible and personal results. So much for having a useless degree, Dad. One point to me.
Xiuying nodded. “Was I right?”
“Two hundred percent. Unfortunately.”
The undergraduate sat up a little straighter, her narrow shoulders squaring. “Well, then I’m glad I spoiled that stupid guy’s attempt to film it. I just thought you should know it’s out there, maybe.”
“Thank you again. I do appreciate what you did for me,” she said as the young woman stood, shouldering her backpack again and shooting her a tiny smile.
Xiuying gave her a thumbs-up. “Solidarity, yanno?”
Eva smiled back, her heart warming at the unexpected support. “I do.”
* * *
When they pulled back into the fire station, Felix slapped Sean on the shoulder. “Kinda nice to get called out for nothing but a pretty woman getting pissed off at a serious waste of space.”
Sean shot him a sidelong glance. “I take it his ‘bitches are crazy’ explanation didn’t fly with you, either?”
Felix shook his head, nose wrinkling in disgust. “What did she say to you?”
“Bad breakup and he’s not riding off into the sunset like a good little asshole.”
“Well, he’s definitely an asshole, but she’s also gorgeous. Even I can see that.”
Sean put his helmet on the shelf and rubbed his hand through his sweaty, close-cropped hair. “Going to tell Kevin you found a woman attractive when you get home?”
Felix smirked. “We’re solid. He’d just laugh and kiss me.”
“Ah, young love.”
Felix punched Sean’s shoulder as they got out of their protective gear and hung it up. “Piss off.” But he was grinning.
Sean thought further about the scene on the quad. They’d managed to connect at least a little bit even in the midst of all her stress. Then that asshole Darren had made it clear that he wasn’t finished. His gut tightened. “You think maybe I should check up with her in a few days? See how she’s doing?”
Felix wagged a finger. “Ahhh, I knew there was something there. She went from threatening you with bug spray to laughing at something you said to her in approximately zero seconds. I clocked that whole cozy little scene from across the quad.”
Sean raised his hands as if surrendering. “No, seriously. No ulterior motives here.” Liar. He hadn’t wanted their weird little conversation to end, especially when she started taking him seriously in a way few people ever had. “I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
“Right. That’s why you practically squared off with that fine example of human garbage before we pulled out. You’re so invested already it’s seriously funny.”
“Felix is right,” Thea called over one shoulder as she hung up her coat. “You’re smitten.”
“Well, it felt like the least I could do. Some guys just never get the hint.”
“That guy needs more than a hint. He needs a clue-by-four to the skull,” Thea muttered as she stalked toward the kitchen.
“Seriously,” said Felix, agreeing. Then he turned, snapping his fingers and pointing at Sean. “But if you were dating her, then maybe that could be the same thing as a blow to the head.”
A stuttering, shocked laugh burst out of Sean. Yeah, he was drawn to her. But he’d only just met her. “You’re suggesting I ask the woman out to help her with her ex-boyfriend situation? How does that work?” It made him sound like a creeper—someone who would take advantage of her distress and vulnerability.
“Or you could offer to pretend to be her new romance. Follow me.” Sean trailed after Felix, who dug around in his messenger bag in the bunk room. “Here,” he said, pulling out a book and putting it into Sean’s hands. “There’s your instruction manual.”
Sean looked from the book back to Felix. “This is an instruction manual?” On the illustrated cover where two men gave each other coy glances on a backdrop of a deconstructed British flag, a legend clearly read: A Novel.
Felix nodded, brown eyes shimmering with glee. “Yup. It’s a book about a couple of guys in England who both—for their own purposes—need partners. So they agree to fake date. Like I said, an instruction manual for your situation. It’s also poignant and funny as hell.”
“So it’s a romance novel.” His next-oldest sister Caitlin consumed them by the pound. He’d tried a few when he was a teen and desperate for something new to read. He’d liked them in the past, but then his dad had shamed him for reading “girly” books and...well. The memory of that humiliation still made him want to drop the book and back away from it. Paradoxically, he also felt ashamed of being compelled by the recollection. Caitlin herself had been scathing about his dad’s sexist attitude and he had to admit she was right.
Felix shot him a lopsided grin. “Come on, be the enlightened man I know you can be. Just give it a try.”
Three
It took two days for the summons to arrive. A brief email from the dean’s assistant asking Eva to drop in at two that afternoon. Dean Treadwell was usually more solicitous, asking if a specific time worked for a faculty member, not demanding their presence like this.
She must be pissed.
With dread sitting sourly in her stomach at the idea of having to discuss her personal life with the dean, Eva presented herself at the dean’s suite at exactly two o’clock. “You can go right in,” Treadwell’s assistant said, waving his hand at the open doorway to the inner sanctum.
Right. With a brief little nod, Eva tried to settle her nerves and strode into the office, closing the door behind her. Dean Treadwell looked up over her reading glasses, then removed them, allowing them to dangle from the bejeweled chain around her neck as she pointed wordlessly at a guest chair. These chains were the older woman’s sole eccentricity. She had one in every color and for every occasion. Otherwise, she essentially looked like an academic version of Miranda Priestly with her sweep of iron-gray hair and classic, elegant wardrobe.
“Eva, what the hell happened on the quad on Wednesday?” Her tone was hard to parse. Eva’d been expecting full-out rage, but there was a thread of something else in the dean’s voice. If she was angry, it was a controlled sort of anger.
Taking a deep breath and sinking into the chair with a straight spine, Eva paused to collect her thoughts and said, “This is rather embarrassing. I broke off a long-term romantic relationship with Darren Perry in the music department a couple of months back. He has been pursuing a reconciliation, not taking no for an answer, and Wednesday was the showiest, most public expression of that. I was—well, I was pretty frantic about it all and I am sorry to say I overreacted.”
Dean Treadwell frowned, picked up a pen and made a note. “Okay.” She put her pen down and looked straight at Eva. “Are you all right? Because yes, you definitely overreacted and I am still astonished there isn’t some incredibly embarrassing video going viral on social media. I wasn’t here on Wednesday and only heard about it from Bill Ellers this morning.”
Wait. Was Eva...not in trouble, somehow? She took in a deep, somewhat shaky breath then let it out slowly. Bill Ellers, only the biggest gossip on the faculty. Great. “Um. I think I’m okay. Thanks for asking. And yes, I think we can attribute the lack of any damaging video to the fairly light population post-exams and the actions of one of my students. She apparently blocked someone trying to record the incident on their phone.”
“An enterprising young lady,” the dean commented.
“Um. Yes.” Eva tried not to cringe. This could have been so much worse. She couldn’t believe there weren’t multiple students who found the whole thing entertaining enough to record.
“And I suppose it’s also good to know that the response time from the fire department is so prompt.”
Remembering Sean Hannigan’s comment about how much worse it would have been if the cops had been called—Eva’s face flamed. That firefighter—Sean—he’d gone out of his way to be kind and decent to her when she’d been nothing less than unhinged. “Yes. I’m sorry that it happened and I can assure you that it will not happen again, Dean Treadwell.”
A small, wintry smile flickered over the dean’s face. “Oh, it most certainly will not. I will speak to Professor Perry. At the very least about having a large and expensive piece of university property transported outdoors where it might have been damaged by weather or...” She paused a moment to look at Eva, who wanted to shrink into herself at the memory of her flamethrower moment. “Have you taken legal action against him?”
Eva gathered her thoughts. If both Sean and the dean had the same idea... No. The vision of some judge telling her she was an overreacting hysteric because Darren had sent some letters and flowers and played a song was beyond humiliating. “You mean like a restraining order? I don’t think the things he’s done will appear threatening to a judge. I’m afraid it would just be a waste of time and money.”
“Very well. You’re free to go. But be careful.”
Grateful for the reprieve and bewildered by the dean’s unexpected show of support, Eva slid out the door and speed-walked back to her office.
* * *
The next week Eva was entering final grades into the university’s system when there was a light tap at her door. She looked up, expecting a student, and was surprised to see a tall man with a square jaw, light brown hair cut close to his scalp and serious eyes leaning in her doorway, massive arms crossed on his chest. Wow. A shot of pure lust shivered through her.
“Can I help you?” she asked, trying to pull herself together. He seemed familiar somehow, but this was definitely not one of her students. And thank God for that. She’d never want to react this way to a student.
The man scratched his nose, not entering and looking a little nervous. “Hi. I’m Sean Hannigan. I guess you don’t remember me—”
“Oh!” Shock blazed through her. “Yes, sorry. It just took me a minute, with no uniform or helmet.” Not to mention the baggy coat had obscured the contours of that truly spectacular chest, which was currently sporting a tight T-shirt. And now that she looked, she noticed that the logo over his left pectoral read MCFRS. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Squad.
Sean grinned at that, seeming pleased at her sudden recognition. “Yeah. I wanted to stop by and see how you were doing. Is it okay if I come in?”
She shook her head as if she could rattle some sense into it and waved at her guest chairs. “Sure. Sorry, where are my manners? Have a seat.”
“If you’re not too busy?” He stood by the chair apparently ready to leave if she was, in fact, too busy. There was something very endearing about all this careful politeness in that heavily muscled package.
“Not at all. Just finishing up some post-semester admin.”
He settled his tall frame into the chair and rubbed the back of his neck. “So you okay? After that fiasco on the quad, I mean.”
He was checking up on her? How incredibly sweet. “Yes, absolutely.”
“Good. You haven’t heard from your ex again, huh?”
She hadn’t, in fact, and had been mildly hopeful that Darren had finally decided that she wasn’t worth the effort anymore. “No, not yet at least.”
He sat up a little straighter, his gaze sharpening. “So you think he might show up in your life again?”
Grimacing, she said, “He’s shown no sign of letting up before now. So it’s certainly possible.” She hated waiting and wondering what Darren would do next almost as much as she hated his impossible persistence. It left her keyed up and off-kilter. Which it was probably intended to do. The bastard.
“I’d say probable,” the giant occupant of her guest chair rumbled. “Guys like that see women as possessions and they’ll keep trying to regain what they see as ‘theirs.’”
As summaries of the personalities of men like Darren went, this was depressingly accurate. She felt an overwhelming exhaustion at the idea of having to deal with him again. “Maybe he’s tired of expending the energy.”
Sean shook his head. “Nah, usually they only stop if one of two things happens.”
“What’s that?” she asked, almost amused at his analysis of her terrible ex-boyfriend.
He held up one long, thick index finger. “One, if he finds another woman he wants to possess.”
She shuddered. “As much as I want him to leave me alone, I do not wish that on anyone else. What’s two?”
His middle finger rose and Eva had a shivery feeling down her spine. Those hands. They gave her all-too-many ideas. “If the woman is ‘claimed’ by another man.”
* * *
Eva seemed unusually fixated on his hand. Was she alarmed by his size? Some women were. His sisters had spent quite a lot of time educating him about how he could have the best intentions in the world—or none at all—and scare the ever-loving bejeezus out of someone just by his presence. He lowered his hand, clasping it with the other in his lap, trying to look less imposing.
“So you’re telling me to get a new partner?” Eva groaned. “I wouldn’t even know how to go about doing that. It’s so hard to meet people in your forties and I can’t bear the idea of using apps.”
Sean’s eyebrows slid up. “You’re forty?” he blurted. He would not have expected that, sexy silver streak in her hair or no. But you also weren’t supposed to comment on a woman’s age. Did her mentioning it first make it better? He didn’t really think it mattered. Embarrassment crawled up the back of his throat like bile.
