Chapter Text
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Her eyes blinked open, her mind hazy and her vision foggy with sleep. No, she realised, her vision was foggy because of the curtain of smoke in her bedroom.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
The sound of the smoke alarm was deafening, and – judging by the smoke in her room, also a little too late.
She kicked the sheets off her and grabbed her phone by her bed on touch alone. She could hear the sirens in the distance. There was no way of knowing where the smoke was coming from. Would it be safe to go to the hallway? Or would it be best to jump from the window? Panic seized her.
Would she even survive a jump from the fifth floor?
She was just walking slowly to her window when she heard a loud banging behind her. Someone was at her door.
With an enormous ruckus, her bedroom door burst open. A man in full firefighting gear barged in.
“Ma’am, I need you to evacuate the building,” he said firmly and quickly.
She resisted rolling her eyes; she wasn’t stupid.
“I know,” she said, intending to tell the man off, but she coughed up smoke before she could get a word out.
The firefighter grabbed her tank top she had worn the day before from her designated chair with clothes that were not yet ready for the wash, but too dirty to be put back in the closet and shoved it in her face.
“Breathe through this,” he ordered, and she had just started to, when he bent down and swooped her in his arms.
Within seconds, she was carried through the smoke to the hidden staircase on the side of the building. Penelope had no choice but to hang onto the sturdy man who practically ran down the five flights of stairs.
Once outside, he didn’t let go of her until they reached the line of ambulances, where Penelope spotted her elderly neighbour Mrs Varley being tended to by a nurse.
“Mrs Varley,” Penelope croaked. The firefighter jostled her a little, and Penelope took this as a sign she should keep her mouth shut, which was probably for the best, since her throat hurt immediately.
Mrs Varley looked up and gave her a small smile. “Ah, Penelope. They got you out. Good.”
She never was a woman of a lot of words.
The firefighter gently sat her down in an empty ambulance. He removed his gloves and lifted his helmet from his head. His hairline was lined with sweat and his chest was heaving from having carried her out of her burning building.
Penelope stared at him. The man was absolutely gorgeous.
He had dark hair and deep blue eyes, a chistled jaw with a slight stuble and the most captivating smile. Her stomach immediately jumped when be looked at her.
This man had carried her out of a burning building for crying out loud.
“Penelope, is it?” he said. She nodded dumbly.
“My name's Colin. I'll get someone from social services to help you further, but I need to ask you a few questions first,” he said, kneeling in front of her so he was able to look her in the eye.
“Alright,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and her throat raw.
“I'll stick to yes-or-no questions, so you can spare your voice,” he said with a small smile.
“Is there anyone else in your apartment, human or animal, that we need to go look for?”
She shook her head.
“Okay, good. Are you and Mrs... Varley, is it? The only ones currently living on your floor?”
She nodded. The other apartment had been vacant for some time.
“Alright. We've gotten everyone out, I'll need to report back to my superior. Do you have a place to stay tonight?”
She hesitated.
“We can arrange a hotel for tonight, if necessary,” Colin said. “But we'd rather have you someplace you feel at ease, with someone who can take care of you tonight. Think about it, while I go report back to my boss.”
Before she had a chance to respond, he was already up and almost out of her reach.
“Colin,” she rasped, grabbing his hand before he was able to get away from her.
“Yes?”
“Thank you, for getting me out,” she said.
He nodded. “Just doing my job,” he said, almost bashfull. “But you're welcome. You're the first woman I had to carry out of a burning building that didn't immediately try to set me up with one of her granddaughters. It's a nice change.”
Penelope chuckled. “Just be glad my mother isn't around. I bet she's worse than anyone you’ve ever rescued.”
His eyes flitted over her. “Oh, she can't be that bad,” he smirked at her, “if she's anything like her daughter.”
Penelope felt her face heat up. It was then that she noticed the chill across her legs. Her bare legs. Her nipples hardened – from the cold or his intense gaze, she couldn't say – and his eyes shifted lower for a fraction of a second.
She was in her goddamn underwear.
The smoke must have really messed with her head for her not to have realised she had been practically naked in his arms, and now in front of him as well.
Colin grabbed a shiny aluminium blanket from a shelf above her and wrapped it around her. “Think about a place to stay for tonight, and otherwise let us know, alright?”
“Alright.”
Penelope pulled the blanket tighter around her as she watched him run away to a group of firefighters gathered by one of the trucks.
“I bet you didn't think the next man to see you in your underwear would be running away from you,” Mrs Varley piped up, having come to stand by the ambulance, her pet dog in her arms.
“They always do, eventually,” Penelope muttered, her eyes unable to look away from the man who had saved her from a burning building.
Her colleague Edwina was the sweetest. She took her in with open arms, her couch already turned into a make-shift bed when Penelope arrived at her doorstep.
The building was still off limits for the inhabitants and would be for some time. Penelope was just glad she had left her laptop at the office which so work was something she didn’t have to worry about. Her boss had it brought to Eddie’s place by courier, since she had no work attire whatsoever.
She hoped at least some of her clothes managed to survive the fire and the smoke damage.
Buying a whole new wardrobe since she didn’t have access to her flat made a serious dent in her savings account. She wasn’t going to spend more time than necessary in just her underwear.
For now, some of Eddie's sweats would have to do. They were all rather snug, but Penelope wasn't going to complain.
She slept with difficulty each night. Her mind kept conjuring up images of smoke and the sound of the alarms and sirens rung in her ears.
Too often she would wake up gasping for breath, feeling the fantom smoke in her lungs. The image of deep blue eyes haunted her.
The mornings she drank cups of coffee before she was even able to get any work done. She had just installed her laptop with a cup of tea on the side on Edwina's dinner table, when her phone rang.
“So, I just got off the phone with my brother-in-law,” Edwina started, without preamble.
“Okay?” Penelope replied, absentmindedly clicking on Outlook and groaning when she saw the number of unread e-mails.
“He might have a place for you to stay for the next couple of weeks,” Eddie continued. “He's somewhat of a real-estate mogul. I think his family owns half the city. He definitely has a studio apartment available not too far from the office. I know you'd rather have a one-bedroom, so I asked him to look for something roomier.”
Penelope was speechless. “What?”
“I mean, you'd rather have a separate bedroom, wouldn't you?”
Penelope blinked. “I'm sorry,” she said incredulously. “Your BIL has a place for me to stay, furnished and all? In this real estate market?”
“Well, yeah,” Edwina said, “like I said, he owns tons of property. I just thought you'd rather have something bigger than a studio.”
“Oh my God, Eddie,” Penelope said, feeling a load fall off her shoulders. “I'm happy you even managed to find somewhere I could stay! Could you get me in touch with him?”
“Of course! Anything for you,” Edwina said, and Penelope could hear the smile in her voice. “I'll text his number. I need to head to the weekly meeting with Danbury now, though.”
“Alright, good luck!” Penelope said, knowing how tough Danbury could be. “And thank you again. This is more than I could have hoped for. Truly.”
Around lunch time, Penelope received a text with the contact information. The contact was named 'Ant B(IL)’. She quickly renamed the contact to ‘Anthony B.’, not even knowing the last name of this good Samaritan.
Deciding to waste no time, she rang the number.
“Bridgerton speaking,” a gruff, no-nonsense voice answered.
“Uhm, hi. This is Penelope. Featherington?”
Silence.
“I uh— Edwina Sharma gave me your number. She's my colleague and I've been crashing on her couch due to a fire in my apartment building. She mentioned you might have a place for me to stay?”
“Ah, yes. Sorry, she didn’t give a name when she told be about you. I actually asked my assistent to see if we have another unit available, Eddie mentioned you needed a bigger space?”
“No! No, that won’t be necessary. I’m happy with anything, really. I waiting for the all-clear on my apartment, but it’s going to be weeks rather than days I’m afraid.”
“Hm. Was this the fire in Camden last Saturday?”
“Yes,” Penelope said, not wanting to elaborate. Thinking back on the fire was harder than she had expected.
“I’m sorry that you had to go through that. It must have been rough,” Mr Bridgerton almost sounded sympathetic.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“The studio is available for the upcoming months at least. I should hope you’ll have received news on your flat by then. I’ll text you the address. Are you able to come by tomorrow?”
Her new clothes would arrive that afternoon, so she was all set.
“I am. Thank you so much. Will we draw up a lease then as well?”
“Yes, but not to worry. I promised my wife – Eddie’s sister – to charge you a symbolic fee only. It’s hard enough having to evacuate your home.”
She swallowed against the lump in her throat. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much.”
“I’ll let Kate know.”
Anthony Bridgerton was a serious man. Eddie had told her he had lost his father in his teens and had taken care of his siblings since then. Penelope assumed experiencing that would make anyone grow up quick.
He was also rather good looking. And somewhat familiair. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
He showed her the studio, which wasn’t much, but it had everything someone would need. A small kitchenette, a dining table which could double as a desk, a couch, a television, a small bathroom and a wardrobe.
There was an empty spot where a bed should be.
“Don’t worry, we’re not letting you sleep on the couch,” Mr Bridgerton said. “Otherwise you could have continued to stay at Edwina’s.”
Penelope chuckled. “You had me worried there for a second.”
“The uhm... previous tennant thought it would be a good idea to test the sturdiness of the bed frame by doing God knows what, so we needed it replaced.”
Penelope had an inkling what this previous tennant could have been doing.
“Right.”
“I’ve sent him to IKEA for a replacement and a new mattrass, he should be here any minute."
“Do you need me to make a deposit for the furniture?” Penelope asked, wide-eyed. She didn’t have a driver’s license. She wouldn’t be able to replace any of the things in the already furtinished apartment without enlisting someone’s help.
“What? No, that won’t be necessary. Accidents can happen, after all. No, the previous tennant was my younger brother,” Mr Bridgerton smirked. “Should serve him right for not replacing the bed when he broke it.”
Penelope bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Alright,” she chuckled. “I would like to sleep in a bed. Edwina’s couch isn’t that comfortable to be honest. Won’t your brother need any help getting the frame here?”
Mr Bridgerton pulled his phone from his pants’ pocket. “He is very fit, but he’ll probably need some help getting everything up the stairs. Will you be okay here?”
Penelope nodded.
She was inspecting the contents of the kitchen cabinets – the brother who had lived here sure seemed to like to cook – when she heard the brothers enter the studio.
They seemed to be carrying multiple boxes at once, and Anthony was kicking the rolled up mattress with his feet. They lowered the boxes to the floor and exhaled loudly in unison.
“You could’ve taken two trips, you know,” Penelope said.
The unknown brother turned around in surprise at the sound of her voice. Penelope froze like a deer in headlights.
He wasn’t unknown at all.
“Well, well, well. Glad to see you bothered to put on some clothes before meeting my brother.”
He was grinning at her, his eyes shining with mirth.
Her firefighter.
To be continued.