Page 56 of Rescued Dreams

“Someone brushed past me.” She folded her arms, the bulky turnout coat making her bigger. “I wasn’t the only person in there.”

“I can show you the footage.”

“Show me where I got on comms talking to you and you never responded.”

Izan looked at the headphones next to him on the desk. “Uh…oops?”

She stared at him.

Bryce said, “Okay, okay. Maybe there was a rescue dummy we missed hanging somewhere. Or you snagged an obstruction. You need to run it again, Amelia.”

She pressed her lips together. He was her superior right now, not a firefighter who was the same rank as her. But unlike Ridge, this wasn’t about feelings. Bryce was a professional, and so was she—which was how it had always been and how it would stay.

If he wanted to, he could make things hard for her.

He could even block her ability to take the lieutenant’s test. Which meant that, right now, her success would depend on her ability to keep her mouth shut and not mouth off because she was annoyed.

“The test is in a few days, and you need to complete the course like you’ve been training for months, not like you only found out about it three days before.”

Amelia wanted to let out a grunt of frustration, which was why she didn’t.

She turned around and stomped back to her starting position, using all the frustration and anger she felt about this entire situation to fuel her movements with the strength and energy she needed. But it wasn’t about proving to the department that they were right to have faith in her as a lieutenant.

That should’ve been what it was about.

But no.

It was about gaining the same rank as Ridge. Which was the same reason he’d become a lieutenant—to put them on equal footing.

So they could date.

Did she want a relationship with Ridge? If the past few days were anything to go by, the answer to that was yes.

Was she terrified of the idea? Also yes.

Though she figured that was normal.

“…even listening?”

She glanced at Bryce, who had rain running down his face. Wet hair, wet clothes. She nearly said no but caught herself. “Just tell me when to go and I’ll do this.”

Amelia eased into a slight crouch. Soft knees. Ready to move as fast as she could.

“Are you good?”

“Of course.” He just needed to hit the stopwatch and say the word.

Soon enough, the others were going to show up. She didn’t want to do this with an audience. Who wanted to fail in front of people when they could fail in private?

He turned his head to the side. “Izan, got the headphones on?”

“Yep!” he called out over the space. Then in her comms earbud, she heard, “Copy me, Lieut—uh, Patterson?”

“Yeah.” She wanted to sigh. “I read you loud and clear, Collins.”

Bryce called out, “Ready?”

She yelled back, “Ready!”