Burns So Bad (Smoke Jumpers) (24 page)

Carefully, she nudged the door just
a little wider.

Payday
.
Gia slept on Rio’s chest, her fingers curled into his T-shirt. And her Rio had
his arms wrapped around her like she was someone precious. Like they belonged
together. Their feelings for each other could be platonic. God knew, she and
Ben had slept together on more than one occasion and there hadn’t been any sex
involved. Yet. And that was the key, wasn’t it?

She retreated down the hall to her
own room. She and Ben had a relationship. She still wasn’t certain exactly
what
that relationship was, but they
were friends—and something more. They cared about each other.

Maybe, just maybe, her Rio had
found his someone.

A week into her enforced vacation
and day seven was the same as days one through six. Gia had her ass parked on
the porch, her ankle elevated. She could practically feel the eyes boring into
her from the fire station. Rio was out, training with the jump team, but she
was under no illusions.

He’d simply handed off the
babysitting detail to someone else.

She was bored, she was alone and
she wanted to scream.

The car that pulled up in front was
unexpected. Gia hadn’t made too many friends in Strong outside of the jump
team, which was a not unexpected side effect of forty-eight hour shifts and
little down time. The beat-up import looked like someone had drag-raced the
poor car up and down the mountain roads and, once upon a time, might have been
fire engine red. Now the paint was more pink than
night-on-the-town and the purple flowers hanging from the rearview mirror were
both a disgrace and a distraction. Definitely not the kind of car you took on a
fire road or even on the freeway. The car couldn’t have seen fifty miles an hour
this decade.

Gia wouldn’t have been caught
driving it.

The driver was familiar however.
Lily Cortez was Jack Donovan’s fiancée and genuinely nice.

Jack was a damned lucky guy.

Even if Lily’s parking skills were
as suspect as her car’s paint job. The car protested as Lily carefully edged
the car into the open spot in front of Nonna’s bungalow. Lily had Faye riding
shotgun, so apparently it was meet-the-other- fiancées day. Except, of course,
that Gia wasn’t a fiancée. More of a baby momma, although even that was still
up in the air. She’d liked the two women when they’d met, but they were hardly
close.

The two women got out of the car,
juggling bags. Gia watched them come since it wasn’t like she could duck inside
and pretend no one was at home.

Damned ankle.

“Girl therapy.” Faye waggled her
eyebrows at Gia when she reached the porch.

“That sounds positively kinky.”
Lily didn’t sound deterred, however.

“She’s practically under house
arrest,” Faye pointed out. “So this is more like a jail visit.”

Lily ignored her and turned to Gia.
“We’ve brought chocolate.”

Chocolate was definitely an
incentive. Curiosity might have been enough however. Lily sported the most
outlandish pair of flip-flops Gia had ever seen. The enormous daisies with
diamond sparkles made it downright impossible to miss her.

“And chips.” Faye grinned. “I voted
for ice cream, but Lily pointed out that it’s pushing ninety-five today and
we’d arrive here with soup instead.”

“We’re going to pig out and watch
the show.”

“The show?” She wasn’t firing on all cylinders today,
but the lethargy crawling through her body had to be due to the heat. Nope.
There was no other possible explanation at all.

Lily waved a hand toward the fire
station. “The guys always wash the trucks on Tuesdays.”

“Unless there’s a fire,” Faye
announced, plopping down onto the porch by Gia’s feet. “Then we’re out of
luck.”

“Okay.” Gia eyed her two
companions. Nope. She still didn’t follow.

Across the street, the door on the
firehouse rolled up with a noisy clang. Engines revved as the firemen began
backing out the two trucks.

“Right on schedule.” Faye rummaged
happily in the bag and produced a plastic baggie. “Best. Brownies. Ever.”

When Gia cracked the Ziploc, the heavenly
aroma certainly gave credence to Faye’s claim. Better yet, the guys hopped off
the trucks, unrolled the hoses and got busy with the soap and water. That was
definitely worth watching. Plus, Faye and Lily turned out to be good company,
trading teasing comments that had them all in stitches.

“So,” Lily said, when the firehouse
hotties finally began to wind down the action. “You and Rio.”

That topic was off-limits. She
reached for her crutches, but Faye snagged them.

“Uh-uh. Answer the question.”

“That wasn’t a question.” Gia
narrowed her eyes. “And this is an ambush.”

“Pretty much.” Lily grinned. “But
you’re bored. You like us. And we have inside information about Rio Donovan.
Take your pick.”

Gia thought about that while the
firemen finished rolling up their hoses. “It wasn’t a question,” she said
finally.

“I’ll rephrase. What’s up between
you and Rio? And don’t give me this ‘We’re just friends’ crap. You might be
friends—”

“
First
,” Faye emphasized.

“But we saw the kiss he laid on you
when you reached base camp after your campout,” Lily finished.

“Evan has never kissed one of his
teammates like that.” Faye sounded damned certain. And like she was trying not
to laugh.

Lily nodded solemnly. “I’m fairly
certain I can say the same for Jack.”

“How do I know that whatever I tell
you doesn’t go straight back to Jack and Evan?”

“She’s going to spill,” Lily said,
her eyes sparkling.

“Scout’s honor.” Faye held up two
fingers. “Shit. Is that the right gesture?”

“I don’t know.” Lily leaned
forward. “But you can trust us. We’re all girls here.”

They were. That was true. Why
not
talk to them? Maybe they really did
have the inside scoop on Rio Donovan. And, even if they didn’t, she was tired
of sitting by herself and the silence bothered her. If she had to guess, they’d
want to know if she was getting any and, if so, if the sex was worth the hassle
of house-training Rio. Damned if she knew, but maybe they could shed some light
on her situation.

“We’re having sex,” she announced.

“Blunt. I knew I liked her for a
reason,” Faye said.

“Before or after the kiss?”

“Yes and yes.”

Lily choked on her chocolate. Of
course, that might have had something to do with the firefighter who had just
climbed on top of the truck. His wet T-shirt clung to washboard abs and,
despite the ball cap jammed down over his head, Gia was pretty certain that was
Jack. Jack and Lily must have mastered the silent communication thingie,
because he definitely had Lily’s attention.

“He knows about the Tuesdays,” Gia
guessed.

Lily shrugged, but she didn’t take
her gaze off her firefighter. “He objected and claimed we were objectifying the
guys. I told him to put out or shut up.”

“Not that there’s more than one way
to interpret that,” Faye teased. “But your secret plan to get him half-naked
and wet appears to be working.”

“He takes his job very seriously.”
Lily grinned. “I’m a lucky woman he decided to take one for the team.”

Her engagement ring flashed as she
raised her hand waved energetically. “But you and Rio…” She looked sideways at
Gia. “Wow.”

Rio was definitely all about the
wow.

“Explain,” Faye demanded. “This is
going to be good.”

“There’s not much to tell.”
Unfortunately.

“You had sex with Rio Donovan.”
Lily sounded impressed.

“You’re having sex with Jack,” she
pointed out.

“True, but Rio’s in a whole
different league. The man is a legend.”

Faye snorted. “That just means he’s
used.”

They all thought about that for a
minute and then they started laughing.

“But more than once?” Lily sucked
in a breath

Jesus.
“Yes. More than once.”

Lily nodded slowly. “That’s almost
a record for Rio. No offense.” She looked apologetically at Gia. “But he’s all
about the moving on. Mimi had him for three weeks and that was
definitely
a record.”

She winced.

“I probably shouldn’t mention
formers.”

“No. It’s okay.” She’d already
heard all about that relationship. And she liked Mimi. She really did. She was
the only one who’d played the V-card. So maybe Rio was a lot less picky than
she was.

Faye raised a brow. “And you’re
seeing him now?”

“Define
see
.” She saw Rio every day because they were both living in his
mother’s house. It was driving her crazy, if she was being honest.

“Are you dating?” Faye narrowed her
eyes. “Because if you’re having sex and he’s parked you in Mary Ellen’s house,
I’m going to vote
yes
.”

“It’s complicated.”

Lily sighed. “It’s been a while
since I dated, but how can that not have a
yes
or
no
answer?”

“We don’t go out.” She shrugged.

“You just have sex and share a
roof?” Faye’s eyes widened. “That’s a little modern for me.”

She hadn’t thought about it.
Probably because she was too busy taking advantage of Rio and wondering if she
just possibly might be pregnant. Her plate was full. Now that she did, however,
she could see that Faye had a point. Rio hadn’t taken her out on anything
remotely resembling a date. . Their overnight campout definitely didn’t count.

Lily nodded, reaching into her bag
and pulling out a stack of magazines. “You should definitely make him take you
out.”

Gia waved at her foot. “I’m
grounded.”

“And you have crutches. Rio’s
positively yummy. Hey,” she said when Lily elbowed her, “I have eyes in my head.
Getting engaged didn’t blind me. You known and I know that Rio’s gorgeous. And,
if he’s anything like his brothers, he’s really, really hot in bed. Of course
Gia took advantage of any opportunities that presented themselves.”

“I took advantage of him,” she
pointed out in the interest of being fair. “I put him in my truck and—I
believe the words you used were
told him
to put out or shut up.
”

“Good for you.” Lily sighed. “I
should try that.”

Faye just grinned.

“What is it with you and cars?”
Lily groaned. “No. Don’t tell me. Evan’s going to be my brother-in-law. I do
not
want to know.”

Gia didn’t particularly want to
hear about Evan’s sex life either, so she brought the conversation back around
to Rio. “Having sex was my idea. Maybe he wouldn’t have done anything if I
hadn’t pushed him.”

Lily snorted. “He’s a Donovan.
Making him do anything he doesn’t want to do is downright impossible. Trust
me.”

Maybe he didn’t want to date her. Disappointment
washed through her. She was a checkmark in the potential responsibility column
with a side of hot sex. That wasn’t attractive forever-and-ever materials.

“Unhappy thought?” Faye guessed.

“What if he isn’t interested in
dating me?”

“You’re living together,” Faye
pointed out. “So what if you skipped a step?”

“But—”

“This is going to be good,” Lily
observed.

“What I say doesn’t get repeated,
right?”

“Definitely good,” Faye said
happily. Then, more seriously, “Absolute discretion. The guys will never hear a
word of it from us.”

“The condom broke,” she said
miserably. “When we were out in the woods. So, between that and the possibility
that the drug growers come after me as a potential eye witness, Rio wanted me
here where he could keep an eye on me.”

Lily’s eyes widened. “You’re
pregnant?”

“You skipped
every
step.” Faye sounded impressed.

Gia thunked her head back against
the chair and closes her eyes. “We’re not dating because we don’t have a
relationship. We had sex and then he would have walked. Except the condom broke
and now he’s worried that I’m pregnant.”

“Are you?” Lily stared at her. At
least she wasn’t eying her stomach.

“No idea yet. Ask me in about a
week.”

“How do you feel about it?” Faye
sounded curious, but she didn’t sound horrified. That had to be a good sign.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly.
“I certainly hadn’t planned on having a baby
now
. I mean, maybe some day in the future, but I’m finishing my
degree and I love jumping. A baby complicates all that.”

Some of the funny went out of the
afternoon when she thought about the baby. Because that was something she
hadn’t really done yet. This wasn’t about a broken condom anymore. The little
pulse of warmth somewhere low in her belly made her smile. This was about a
baby. A small person who would, some day, become a bigger person. Her eyes
teared up. Damn it. She wasn’t a crier.

“Sometimes complications can be
good,” Lily said softly, bumping her shoulder against Gia’s good leg. “Maybe
this is one of those times?”

“Could be,” she agreed. To her
surprise, she didn’t choke on the words.

“Doing everything in order is
over-rated.” Faye handed her more chocolate. “Date. Sex. Ring. Wedding. Baby. I
mean, you’ve cut the line and gone straight for the good stuff.”

“Because we don’t really have a
relationship.” Rio had promised he’d be there for her and their baby and she
believed him. He was an honorable guy. No matter how many sensual games he’d
played in the past, he’d never walk away from his child. And he’d always treat
her with respect and look out for her as the mother of that child. She knew
that.

It was her problem if she wanted
more.

“You do.” Lily handed her a
magazine. “You absolutely do.”

“It’s just a little hard to label.”
Faye curled up in the chair next to hers. “And that’s okay. You and Rio will
figure it out, although, if he’s anything like his brothers, you’re going to
what to give him plenty of hints and provide some direction.”