Forbidden: A Shade Darker – The Complete Collection. Leslie Kelly

who grabbed Erin’s hand and pulled.

      “Come join me,” Dana invited. “Let loose.”

      Erin let her friend drag her along, and before she knew it, strong arms were boosting them up on top of the bar. Dana was grinning like the wild woman that she was, dancing even before the music started.

      They were having a fun night out, and as she looked around the bar, Erin was self-conscious at first. She seriously thought about climbing back down, but everyone was watching and chanting dance, dance, dance.

      So she started to dance, and that’s when things got better. A lot better.

      Letting go, she raised her arms high and put more hip-swing into it, much to the crowd’s appreciation. Dana hooted in approval and danced with her. Erin had to admit, she enjoyed how the guys were slack-jawed as they watched. She smiled at them and winked as she turned and shimmied to a blaring version of “I’m Alright.” For that one moment, she was all right. Perfect, in fact.

      Erin felt sexy, which she hadn’t in a long time.

      Noting the heat in the eyes of a few men who watched, she also felt powerful. In control, for the first time in a while.

      Dana was right. This was exactly what Erin needed, so she planned to enjoy herself. This was her second chance. She wasn’t going to waste one single minute.

      She’d almost died, after all. A former firefighter, she’d been inside a building when an explosion had knocked her down and she’d been trapped by a loose beam. After several brain surgeries and a week in an induced coma, she’d come out of it all with no memory of her life. Most of her adult past had been obliterated, though she could remember her childhood. The doctors said it was uncertain when or how much of her memory would come back.

      Tastes and some emotions remained. She could like or dislike something—a place, food, etc. She could experience familiarity, without remembering something exactly. It was the same with people. For instance, the firemen she’d worked with for eight years had been her support system since she got out of the hospital. Still, they were strangers to her—mostly. When she was with them, or with Dana or her sister, she could feel the familiarity even when she couldn’t remember their history together.

      She couldn’t, however, recall anything about the accident or being a firefighter. Another member of her crew had died in the same incident, and there was an ongoing investigation since the fire had been arson.

      Erin couldn’t remember what happened. And she had tried. She had suffered and punished herself for not being able to remember, and she couldn’t do it anymore. All she knew was what people told her.

      She also couldn’t remember who she was, but she finally realized that meant she could be anyone she wanted. Smiling as someone handed her a beer, she and Dana danced right into the next song.

      Good thing she’d worn her new jeans and one of those tees that showed a teeny hint of belly. It was all courtesy of a recent shopping trip with Dana, who had helped Erin supplement her otherwise pitiful wardrobe. Apparently it was something Dana had wanted to do for quite some time.

      When she’d gotten home from the hospital, Erin thought there must be a guy living at her house. Most of her clothes were for work or bore the insignias of her department. Not a single pair of high heels in the lot—not like the ones she was wearing now.

      Even her pajamas were cotton pants and oversize fire department T-shirts.

      Those days were over.

      Sending a sexy smile to the cute bartender, she planned on making up for lost time. She tilted her head back and chugged her beer as the song ended, enjoying the chants that accompanied her finale.

      When she was done, her head spun. Her skin was warm. She laughed, wobbling a bit as she handed her glass back to the bartender.

      She and Dana finally made their way down off the bar to riotous applause. Several burly men—most of them firemen or cops—happily offered a helping hand.

      Dana was a dispatcher and engaged to a firefighter in the unit Erin had worked with. He met her back on the floor with a kiss.

      “I can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?” Scott scolded, but he was grinning. His eyes were warm as he took in his fiancée. Erin averted her eyes discreetly from the deepening kiss that the two were sharing in front of everyone.

      Erin cleared her throat. “Okay, well, then, I’ll just go back to the table and eat all of those wings.”

      Dana never broke the kiss while waving her away, making Erin laugh. She suspected the lovebirds were going to find some privacy, and she left them to it.

      As she walked back to their table, she figured she should have known better. She could hear the boisterous voices of the crew the minute she crossed the floor toward the tables at the back. They saw her, too. No doubt they’d seen her up on the bar, as well.

      “What’s up, Buttercup?” Hank shouted.

      “Tulip!” Leroy followed up.

      “Daisy!” Derek added with a snicker.

      The last one got a round of high fives as Erin took a breath and approached the group, smirking at them for teasing her about her work at the flower shop. Her sister owned the shop and had taken her on as soon as Erin was able.

      Still, it was a far cry from being a firefighter to working as a florist. Not so long ago, she’d been one of the guys, so she tried to act like it. As if nothing had changed.

      “You guys calling each other pet names again?” she asked as she joined them. Giving as good as she got was par for the course with this bunch. “Leroy must be Daisy, since he’s always fresh as one.”

      Another round of laughter rose and then settled down as Leroy eyed her from the other side of the long table.

      “Someday, when your memory comes back, you’ll pay for that one.” The threat was playful and made with a glint in his eye.

      “I hope that day comes,” she said, more serious than she meant to be.

      “We do, too,” Pete said as they all became quiet.

      Erin frowned. “Sorry, didn’t mean to be a downer. Hand me a beer?”

      “Gladly. Nice moves up there, by the way. We never knew you could dance like that.”

      “Yeah, me, either.”

      She accepted another beer and helped herself to some wings.

      “Carry on, then,” she said, waving them on like a queen to her subjects. That succeeded in lightening the mood again.

      “Hey, we thought of something that could help with your memory,” Leroy said.

      “Yeah. What?”

      “You said the doctors told you that things from your life before could help bring your memory back, right? We have a lot of stories we could tell.”

      “Those stories are probably things she’d rather leave forgotten,” Pete said with a grin.

      Erin smiled. It was good to be around friends who could joke with her about her memory loss. It balanced out the absolute terror and grief that had been frequent, though less so these days.

      “I’m game. Take your best shot.”

      “Well, there was this time when Riley came running out from that fire at the old folks’ home, carrying the older gentleman, buck naked and thrown over her shoulder,” Pete offered with a wry smile. “They got him on the gurney and he wouldn’t let the medics take him away until he asked her out on a date.”

      Erin’s jaw dropped. “That did not happen.”

      She liked how they called her by her last name. She felt more like a “Riley” than an “Erin” anyway, in spite of her sexy clothes.

      “Oh, it really did. And you said