Smolder (Firefighters of Montana Book 1) (20 page)

“Did you know I flew in a helicopter today?”

Bryce laughed as he draped his arm over her shoulder and led her down the stairs to the barn. “See that? You’re loosening up already.”

Laurel swallowed her laugh when she spied Sam standing at the bottom of the stairs. His hair was damp and his face was stoic. He had his hands shoved deep inside the pockets of his faded jeans. Laurel breathed a relieved sigh at the sight of him.

Bryce squeezed her shoulders. “I believe this is where I cut out.” He kissed Laurel on the cheek with a little more affection than was necessary. “If you have to tie Tyson to the bed to keep him there, do it.”

She rolled her eyes, less at his joke but more at his attempt to make Sam jealous.

He took the last two steps and extended his hand to Sam. “Captain, I can’t thank you enough for what you did today. You’re certainly worthy of the hero worship Tyson bestows on you.”

Laurel held her breath, but Sam didn’t hesitate to take Bryce’s hand. “I did what any other guy with my training would have done.”

“Yeah, but you did it better. And I’m grateful you were around.” Bryce glanced over his shoulder at Laurel. “Don’t let her scare you off. She deserves a guy like you.” He clapped Sam on the shoulder and wandered out of the barn.

The quiet settled around them as Sam’s amber gaze seemed to swallow her whole.

“Vin?” she asked anxiously.

Sam nodded. “He rolled his ankle and fell into a ravine. Miranda long lined him out. He’ll be good as new once his ankle heals.”

Laurel collapsed down on the steps with a relieved sigh. “I’m so glad.”

He leaned back against Tabitha’s stall. “Mm. So is Jacqui Edwards.”

“Wow.” A surprised laugh escaped her lips. “I sensed they were close, but I didn’t see that coming.” She met Sam’s eyes and suddenly her chest felt lighter. If Jacqui Edwards was willing to risk her heart with another smokejumper, why couldn’t Laurel?

Are you going to avoid any kind of romantic commitment because you’re afraid of the risk
? Bryce’s words bounced around in her head.
Take a chance
, her rash alter-ego shouted.

“Did you mean it when you said you loved me?” she whispered. She’d been on pins and needles all day wondering if he’d only said the words to placate her, when he wanted her to leave the fire.

“I did.” He swallowed roughly. “I know we’ve both had relationships that didn’t turn out the way we wanted. And there’s the whole fear factor involved with my job. But we can make this work. You and me. Together. You just have to trust your impetuous nature. Because that impulsive Laurel is the woman I fell in love with.”

Tears burned the back of her eyes and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. Up until this moment, she hadn’t realized how desperately she wanted Sam to say those words.

Sam spread his arms wide. “Come here.”

She leapt into his embrace and his mouth fused with hers in a deep, drugging kiss.

“I want this, Sam,” she said when they’d both come up for air. “Whatever this is, I want it with you. Forever.”

“That’s good. Because after today, I’m pretty sure I can’t live without you or Tyson.”

And then he was kissing her again and Laurel didn’t want him to stop. Ever. She threaded her hands into his hair and pulled him in closer. A moan escaped the back of her throat before Tabitha’s snort startled them apart.

“Did my horse just tell us to get a room?” he asked with a laugh.

Laurel linked her fingers with Sam’s and tugged him toward the stairs. “She’s very cheeky that horse of yours.”

Sam smiled at the mare. “I’d say she’s just happy with her new home.” He turned his panty-melting grin toward Laurel. “We both are.” He followed her upstairs and proceeded to show her exactly how happy he was.

Four months later

“L
adies and gentlemen,
welcome to the Ohio Expo Center. Home of the American Quarter Horse Congress,” a voice boomed over the loudspeaker.

The butterflies were having a field day in Laurel’s stomach. “You’d think I’d never done this before.”

Her mother laughed. She sat in her wheelchair just outside the temporary stall housing Tabitha at one end of the convention center. Horse people and fans streamed past her mother wishing her well.

Jo Keenan had been the biggest human interest story of the two week competition. No one expected her mother to return to the western reining world’s biggest stage, but she had. And in the preliminary rounds Laurel and Tabitha had proven themselves the pair to beat.

“You’re allowed to be keyed up. It’s been ten years since your last championship,” her mother said. “A lot has changed since then. Except for your capabilities. You’re a better rider today then you were then, even with a decade off. It’s truly amazing.”

A lot had changed
, Laurel thought to herself as she sprayed show sheen on Tabitha’s haunches. She glanced at the diamond ring on her left hand. Sam had slid it on her finger last night, joking that she needed a little more bling to go with the rhinestones in her competition shirt. And then he’d made love to her slowly and reverently, promising to worship her forever if she’d agree to marry him. Laurel blushed just thinking about how her body reacted to his, even after all these weeks.

She and Sam had survived the fire season. Sam had also helped her survive an even worse period—Tyson’s two week vacation with Bryce and Audrianna. As for Tyson, he’d survived matriculating from Ivy’s kindergarten class to first grade. He was quickly figuring out that having two sets of loving parents, while not the norm, definitely had its advantages and he happily accepted Audrianna and Sam into his life.

Laurel had passed the CPA exam on the first try, surprising even herself. Unfortunately, however, Rusty didn’t make her the chief accountant. Not that Laurel was actually disappointed because it turned out Rusty would rather be a patron for Laurel’s artwork than have her oversee his books. He set up a gallery for her next to the mint farm’s gift shop and Laurel was making a name for herself in the region.

She patted Tabitha’s neck affectionately. A lot had definitely changed. Suddenly, Laurel had a life that was better than any she’d dreamt of as an impetuous teenager.

“Mama!”

Laurel turned toward the door of the makeshift stall. Tyson stood in the aisleway, his face obscured by his cowboy hat and a billowing stick of pink cotton candy. “Look what Grandpa bought me!”

“Oh, Wayne, you’ll give the boy cavities,” her mother said as Tyson scrambled onto her lap.

With a sheepish look on his face, her father slipped into the stall and began to bridle Tabitha. “It’s a special occasion. Besides, Sam said it was okay.”

Laurel arched an eyebrow at her fiancé who was leaning a broad shoulder against the metal stall frame and looking sexy enough that she’d forgive him just about anything. She stretched up onto her toes and gave him a quick kiss, tasting cotton candy on his tongue.

“Mm, it seems both my boys have a sweet tooth.” She reached for her hat and gently positioned it over hair that resembled plastic after her mother had applied a half can of Aqua Net to her head.

Sam adjusted the brim. “Nah, we’re just both sweet on you.”

Tabitha stomped a foot, impatient to leave the stall now that she was saddled.

“I hear you girl,” her father said as he pulled the reins over the mare’s head and began to lead her out. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

“Come on, Mama,” Tyson called from his grandmother’s lap as she wheeled her chair toward the ring. “It’s almost your turn.”

Laurel went to step out of the stall, but Sam blocked her path with his arm. “Wait,” he said softly. He bent down to peer beneath her hat. “Thank you for doing this. This was important to Becky.” Sam paused to clear his throat. “I failed her in so many ways, but I didn’t want to fail her in this. I don’t expect you to understand, but I wanted you to know that I love you for helping me see this through.”

She reached up and brushed her fingers along his jaw, loving the feel of his skin beneath her fingertips. “You’re a silly man, Captain Cowboy. Without Tabitha, I wouldn’t have found you.”

He wrapped his hand around hers and brought her fingers to his lips. “You’ll always have me, Laurel.”

“I hope so,” she said around the lump that had formed in her throat. “Because I have some really big plans for you tonight after I win this thing.”

Sam pulled her in for a kiss that was a hungry promise for the future. Their future.

“I told you they’d be kissing again, Grandpa!” Tyson tugged at her belt. “Come on, Mama. We haven’t got all day.”

She exchanged smiles with Sam. “Actually, Tyson, we have a whole lifetime. But right now we have a world title to win.”

Laurel grabbed each of their hands and headed off to the ring to do just that.

The End

Book 1: Smolder
by Tracy Solheim

Book 2: Scorch
by Dani Collins

Buy Now!

Book 3: Ignite
by Nicole Helm

Buy Now!

Book 4: Heat
by Karen Foley

Buy Now!

Book 5: Flame
by Victoria Purman

Buy Now!

Scorch

Copyright © 2016 Dani Collins

J
acqui Edwards read
for most of the flight, but as her ears began to pop and her seatmate leaned into the window, she tried to see around the older woman’s curly hair to the view.

A dusting of snow covered the valley, cut here and there by the lines of roads. Any ice that had formed along the margins of Flathead Lake through winter was gone. April sunlight bounced in sparkles off the rippling water.

The plane banked and, a second later, there were the Rockies. They jutted like sooty fists of triumph, gray and white against an intense blue sky.

Home
.

The word, the
feeling
, washed over Jacqui with such force, tears bit her eyes and her heart began to pound.

She had expected emotion. Coming back to empty her dream home of its dreams was bound to be seven levels of hell. There would be tears, fresh ones on top of the countless ones she’d shed since she’d left. She had braced herself for the agony.

This wasn’t pain. It was relief.

She was
home
.

She sniffed and wiped at the tickle on her cheek.

The woman at the window turned with a concerned smile and offered a tissue.

Jacqui was so used to crying—in public, in front of strangers, whenever the tears arrived—she only murmured, “Thank you.” Grief was exhausting enough without fighting it out of embarrassment.

These were not tears of grief, though. Russ was always there as a heavy, solid absence crushing her heart, but in Florida her entire
life
had been empty. She had grieved and grieved and grieved the utter emptiness of her existence. No husband, no baby, no job, no home. Not even her freaking dog.

Her father and stepsister wanted to help her rebuild. They loved her and, behind her curtain of pain, she loved them back. Maybe she didn’t have any real hope that she could find a fulfilling life on the other side of the country, but she trusted them to walk her through the steps toward one.

In this minute, however, in this
breath
, she saw the foundation for that rebuild. It wasn’t in Florida. It was here.

Montana was where her childhood memories resided. Where her mother’s gravestone was planted to watch over the receding glaciers. Where her husband’s ashes were scattered among the forests he had tried to protect.

Montana was home.

She
was home.

*

As Vincent Kingston
watched travelers come off the plane and walk straight into the arms of loved ones, he felt the way he always did—like an observer. He had vague memories of his parents hugging him, but after they died, he’d mostly found physical affection with women, his latest being his soon-to-be-ex-wife. He wasn’t feeling very affectionate toward her these days and thus all women were being held at arm’s length.

Hugs were not welcome.

He scanned through the bodies beginning to crowd the luggage carousel.

Jac was short. It was no surprise he couldn’t see her. He thought he did for a sec, but that was a kid with short hair. He scanned for the two snakes of her braids—

She stepped in front of him and his heart took a bound the way it did when he shoved himself out of a plane.

“It
is
you.”

She was even skinnier than she had looked on the tablet all winter and was drowning in an oversized, mustard-colored sweater. Her cheeks were hollow, her chin sharp, her warm, brown eyes wet with emotion. She had her hair cut to something like Peter Pan’s, which made her look even more fragile, tugging at his tough knot of a heart.