It's a Wonderful Fireman: A Bachelor Firemen Novella (The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel) by Jennifer Bernard Page B

wild girl who’d come against his mouth. “Okay then.”
    And then someone finally rattled the doorknob, and she flattened herself against the wall, gesturing for him to open the door. She made funny faces at him the whole time he tried to explain to Rachel that he’d needed a little nap.
    The adoration he felt for her scared him senseless.
    “T HAT WAS A great night,” he told Dream Lizzie. “I couldn’t keep my hands off you for weeks after that night.”
    “I remember.”
    “We did a good job keeping it secret.”
    “We sure tried hard.” Dream Lizzie rested her chin on her hand, looking a little sad.
    In the fraught silence, he thought about all their take-out meals and bedroom romps, their entire relationship conducted behind closed doors. “I didn’t want everyone talking about us. Firehouses love gossip.”
    “Right.”
    He bristled. “You wanted to keep a low profile too. I figured you didn’t want your family knowing you were seeing a ruffian like me.”
    She looked up, her pretty mouth pressed into a firm line. “Didn’t you just finish saying I was tough? Don’t you think I could have handled my family?”
    “Yes,” he said, a sense of recognition dawning. “You could have. You can handle the Breen brothers, pilot training, EMT training, and broke-down Dean Mulligan. You can probably handle anything.”
    “Even . . . cancer.”
    She whispered the word, which drifted through the air like smoke. It took him a moment to understand.
    “Cancer,” he repeated stupidly. Shock shivered through him as the knowledge clicked into place. “That’s why you volunteer at the Children’s Wing. That’s why you’re so devoted to becoming a flight paramedic. That’s why all your brothers are so protective. And why your mother looks at you like you’re a miracle. That’s why you have so many doctor appointments. You have cancer?”
    “Had. When I was a kid.”
    “You never told me.”
    She held his gaze, her absurdly perky elf costume at odds with her serious manner. “I was afraid to. You wanted things to be casual, remember? Cancer isn’t exactly casual.”
    There was nothing casual about his feelings for Lizzie. Nothing. “I never said that.”
    “You said you couldn’t build a future with me. That hurt, Mulligan. That really hurt.” She snapped her fingers.
    “No, Lizzie, don’t go!”
    Too late. She was gone.
    Ah, hell . He let out a pained snort of laughter, which stirred a puff of smoke through the heavy air. How stupid he’d been, thinking that Lizzie was too sheltered to handle his rough past. He’d underestimated her. He’d been trying to protect her when he’d told her they had no future.
    He hadn’t meant that he was going to die trapped under a Christmas tree. But right now, it looked like he’d been right. No future for him and Lizzie. Not even in his hallucinations.

Chapter Seven
    T HE FORMER S AN Gabriel firefighters got pressed into service shortly after their conversation about Mulligan’s first day. The crew on the Yogurtland fire needed help keeping the area clear, so the off-duty guys volunteered for civilian-wrangling duty. Brody went to consult with the IC, who had radioed him with a question. Finally only Lizzie was left, watching forlornly as all the others busied themselves with some essential task.
    With no one talking to her, at least for the moment, Lizzie couldn’t hide from the thoughts crowding into her mind. Maybe it was her optimistic side, but when she pictured Mulligan inside the collapsed building, she didn’t see him crushed and destroyed. She saw him roaring back at the debris trying to bury him, or tearing apart rubble with his bare hands. Mulligan was a force of nature, practically. She saw him as a wounded lion, someone with a mighty heart who’d suffered some deep damage. So many things could have killed him—had even tried to kill him—but he always survived.
    He’d survive this too, right?
    Unable to stand still, she paced as close to