Page 78 of Rescued Dreams

“Seventeen rescues, half a dozen with minor injuries. One fatality.”

Amelia winced. “Sorry. I should’ve called before the twins showed up. I had no idea what kind of atmosphere they’d be walking into.”

A rough call would produce a bunch of grouchy firefighters who needed to blow off some frustration. He’d done what he could, not even knowing his sisters would show up with Amelia and his cousin and cousin’s fiancée, and it needed to be enough.

“How do you deal with it, as lieutenant?”

Amelia shrugged. “Give people space to process. Everyone deals in their own way. Della is probably bench-pressing right now, and Izan will check on her.”

Ridge walked over to see their Hispanic firefighter walk out of the room toward the gym. When he turned back, Amelia had a cookie in her mouth. Her eyes widened.

He waited while she finished, pleased that she was clearly enjoying it. When she was done, he said, “We can find somewhere quiet to talk about your evening if you want.”

She studied him, her tea on the counter forgotten. “What do you want?”

“A cookie, some more coffee, and for the twins to go to bed at a reasonable hour since this is a school night.”

“I meant from me.”

Whoa, there was a loaded question. “Amelia?—”

“I’m serious. What do you want?”

She was serious. Ridge wanted to back up and wipe the counters down, but that would only delay the inevitable. And it would make it look like he didn’t know or hadn’t decided. When the reality was that he’d never been surer of anything, with the exception of having the twins come and live with him.

“I want you to become a lieutenant again so I can kiss you in the firehouse.”

Her eyes flared.

“I’m also serious.” Seriously in love with her. “And I’d like to be around to help you with whatever is happening. Anytime, anywhere.”

One eyebrow lifted. “You’re on shift.”

“Then hang out here. Kane and Maria can make sure the twins are safe at the town house.”

She bit her lip. “If anything happens to them…”

“I know.” He touched her shoulder. “That’s why it’s good that they’re here, because now we have the best of the best, elite-trained operators to protect Maddie and Ella.” He glanced over and saw the twins were both looking at them over the back of the couch.

Watching Ridge with Amelia.

He was counting on his cousin and Maria a whole lot to see that there was a satisfying outcome to this. One second to the next, anything could happen, and Ridge would lose everything. What if that happened? Tangling in this business with Amelia put the twins at risk.

Was he really willing to do that?

The answer was yes, provided Kane and Maria—and anyone they called—helped. He couldn’t do much when he was on shift, as Amelia had pointed out. But no one would object to her being here.

Amelia said, “Kane and Maria have been amazing. They’re running down the information I gave them on the bank account that’s supposed to be mine. Trying to figure out who opened it.” She took a breath. “Who is setting me up.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“They believed me.” She lifted her chin and looked at him. “No questions. No qualifiers. They just believed me that it’s a setup and said they’d do anything they could to help.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

She seemed unsure. “It’s never happened before. They just took my word for it.”

“Because you’re telling the truth.”