Sweet Burn (21 page)

Roy gently tugged the towel away from them, tied the ends together, and handed the bundle to her. “This symbolizes the union of your two lives. Keep it safe and do not let it touch the ground until you have come together.”

Applause broke out around them, almost drowning out the crackle of the fire chief’s radio. She pressed the towel against her face. The fabric smelled like bleach and laundry detergent. Sterile and clean, and with nothing of Mack or her. When he kissed her, though, all that changed. He devoured her, holding nothing back. It wasn’t a long kiss, because they were running out of time, but he kissed her deep and sweet, his tongue running over hers. Tasting her, making her melt for him. As kisses went, she’d remember this one for a long, long time.

Or for as long as they had.

The kiss made her forget about the fire bearing down on them for a few moments, but Mack couldn
’
t kiss her for the next twenty or thirty minutes.

Although it would be fun to try. When he let her go, she tugged him aside and the other guests watched them go, smiling. Everyone thought they were finding a dark corner to do some more kissing in.

“I need to see it coming,” she said.

She didn
’
t have to explain what
it
was.

“Jesus.” He pulled her towards an emptier spot of the casino floor. She
’
d vowed years ago that she wouldn
’
t sit around and wait for things to happen. She
’
d keep on the move and she would be the one in charge of her life. Nothing had prepared her for a wildland fire—
or for Mack.

He was practically a force of nature himself. The gaze he turned on her was determined. She
’
d made a career out of doing reckless shit, but now here they were.
Married
. Marriage was something she
’
d sworn she
’
d never do again and yet Mack had made her rethink that promise. She got the feeling that he wanted to make a few of her riskier activities off-limits as well.

“I have to see.” She could
not
sit on the casino floor, huddled together with the other guests like sheep.

He looked at her and he must have read the certainty on her face. “If I tell you to do something, you do it. There
’
s a point at which it
’
s not going to be safe to be near the windows. That
’
s the point at which we
’
re leaving.”

“Orders. Kinky.”

He wasn
’
t playing. His gaze pinned hers, demanding she agree. “Give me your word. When I say go, we go.”

“Okay.”

He sighed and took her hand. “This is crazy.”

She didn
’
t say anything, just followed him towards the fancy staircase leading to the second floor. Getting trapped in an elevator now would be a bad idea. This part of the casino was mostly lounge and bar, romantic tables for two tucked against an enormous bank of windows that looked out towards the mountains. The firefighters had pulled the thick curtains closed where they could, but there were plenty of gaps. They found one and looked out.

Outside dark smoke choked out the weak morning light. The thickest clouds lay to the north, but the sky remained all clear when she looked south. Hell on one side and a beautiful day on the other. The wind was picking up, though, clearly determined to change that. It was like standing on the edge of a windstorm, the trees bending and whipping as the wind
’
s fury hit them. Flames leaped down the hillside and ignited the scrub brush around the further edges of the parking lot.

Mack pulled her back against his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist. She set her hands over his and hung on.

“The boys wet everything down and there
’
s actually not that much ignition material out there.” He pointed toward the smooth expanse of parking lot and the cars pushed away from the buildings.

“Gas tanks?” Her imagination supplied all sorts of horrific images.

“Should be far enough away from the building to not matter if it comes to that.”

Well. That was something. She wasn
’
t sure what, but the world had a surreal cast. It was like she was watching a movie as a wall of flames swept closer, following on the heels of the feeler flames. One hundred feet of hungry fire hopped effortlessly over the highway, the asphalt no barrier.

“They built the casino out of noncombustible materials,” he said. “We
’
re going to be okay.”

“Promise?” she asked, even though she knew Mack was no Superman. There were some things even he couldn
’
t deliver.

“With everything I have,” he said gruffly. His arms tightened.

The fire sounded like rain. That was her first thought. Even through the casino
’
s hermetically sealed windows, she could hear the fire crackling as it ate through the scrub brush and came for them. Small embers and ash pelted down, sizzling off the windows and then igniting the planters scattered through the parking lot. The trees were blackened skeletons now, bending and dancing in the fire
’
s path. Orange and black billowed as the fire found some new source of fuel.

“I
’
m feeling some doubts,” she whispered, resting her head against his shoulder.

“Trust me. Nothing
’
s touching you,” he said and she believed him. If bad things happened, if that fire made it inside, he
’
d do the best he could for her. Outside, the fire whirled, picking up cars on the northern edge of the parking lot and tossing them like they were toys. The fire howled, blowing towards them with a roar like that of jet engines. Heat radiated through the glass.

“We have to go back,” Mack said, tugging her gently away from the window.

She had a whole new sympathy for Lot
’
s wife, she thought, unable to skip a backwards glance at the hell that had been the parking lot. She shouldn
’
t look, but there was no way
not
to. She let him take her hand and pull her towards the shadowy depths of the casino and away from the fiery spectacle.

The fire chief
’
s sternly worded reminder that they shouldn’t all hit the road at once fell on deaf ears. Most of the casino guests weren
’
t willing to wait for hypothetical hotspots to die down, not after the hour they
’
d just spent huddled on the casino floor. Nope. From the look on the faces of the casino’s other guests, most people were hitting the road no matter what. Looking death in the face would do that to you.
She wasn
’
t dead.
That thought was a drumbeat in her head. For fifteen long minutes she
’
d huddled on the casino floor, leaning into Mack or he into her, and she hadn
’
t known. She
’
d never take living for granted again. It had seemed so simple before—get up, go about her business and live a little. Now she planned on living a lot.

While other people checked out their cars and wondered out loud whether they
’
d start and how much damage the fire department might have done with their shove-and-park job, Mimi and Mack had done some surveying of their own. Miraculously, their bikes might actually be okay. The outside of dumpster enclosure was scorched and blackened where flames had blasted the northern side, but the southern side was pristine and untouched. She was kind of like that too, she thought, twisting her new rings on her finger. Familiar, unfamiliar, good or bad. Those were just words, when being near Mack made her feel.

Not sure what to say, she shifted the tied up towel underneath her arm and reached out to take his hand. She should have left the thing inside. It was bulky and in the way. It was also just a towel and not some kind of magical talisman, no matter what their medicine man had said. Leaving it behind while she inspected the damage outside was the practical thing to do, but she somehow couldn’t bring herself to let go of it. Mack hadn
’
t said anything, thank God.

“We did good,” he said quietly, surveying the fire damage. Most cars seemed untouched, although a few showed visible scorch marks. There was one engine fire, a boatload of dinged-up paint jobs and plenty of broken taillights. Nothing in the parking lot looked precisely pristine. The scrub brush around the casino had also vanished into the fire
’
s maw, leaving just patches of black char, heaps of glowing embers and the occasional hotspot.

Mack, on the other hand, looked like the best kind of bandit. He’d tugged a damp bandana up over her nose and mouth to combat the worst effects of the thick, smoky air and then done the same for himself. The blue and white print was strangely sexy. She made a shoot-em gesture with her hands, not sure what to do or say. She was at sixes and sevens, and only partly because of the fire.

She
’
d married Mack.

When one of the firefighters called, he dropped her hand and crunched over to the edge of the parking lot, where the fire engine was hard at work. She’d always gone balls-out in any situation, jumping in feet first. Bold and brash and balls-out—that was how she lived her life. Show no fear and no one had to know that inside she might still be that scared teenager who’d discovered that love didn’t last forever and that words weren’t enough. She’d gotten through that, though. Instead of lying down for the count, she’d gotten in her car and driven across the country until she hit the ocean, although she had made a pit stop at the Grand Canyon to scream
fuck you
into the echoing depths. She’d do that again. She could make a tour of every canyon in the country.

She inhaled sharply.

The bandana couldn
’
t keep out all the smoke and her lungs seemed to close up defensively, working harder to get oxygen where it needed to go. The fire chief had warned them that anyone with asthma or breathing difficulties needed to stay inside until the air had cleared some. Unfortunately, the tightness in her chest had very little to do with the fire. She looked at Mack again. He deserved so much better than her.

He was already roundtripping, his long legs eating up the parking lot as he made his way back to her side.

Her two-minute reprieve hadn
’
t made things feel any more normal. “They don’t need you?”

Because she did.

She didn’t want to admit it, but she, who never needed anyone, needed this man. And wasn
’
t that a hell of a situation to find herself in?

He shook his head. “Now that the firestorm’s passed over us, I’m more of an insurance liability than not. I could help with the clean up, but...”

He shrugged and stood there before her.

He was waiting for something.

Everything was going to be okay, she reminded herself. The fire was gone. No one was dead. All in all, it had been a good day, right? It wasn
’
t quite ten in the morning but she was ready for bed.

“You think they’re still renting rooms?” she asked.

A ghost of a smile passed over his face. “I could check on that. We
were
up all night.”

Mack had a smile in his eyes, the corners crinkling up as he watched her. He
’
d acquired a new smudge of ash on his face, but she figured it was an occupational hazard. He simply stood there, legs braced. Sure. Confident. She was the one who didn’t know what to do, because Mack seemed to have everything covered. She wanted to peel his clothes off him, uncover what he hid beneath his clothes and that male confidence. She wanted to make him tremble and groan.

His hand came up, his thumb tracing the curve of her mouth.

“You’re thinking something.”

“You’d be right.”

“Uh-huh.” He didn’t sound like he was in any hurry to get going. Around them, more people emerged from the casino, looking for their rides out of there.

“Come back to bed with me?” she asked.

Please
, she thought silently, shifting the towel in her arms. She’d said
yes
once and now she had a temporary husband.
Husband.
It was just a word, just one way to describe Mack and what he was to her. That one word shouldn
’
t have made her feel so warm and melty. Or so scared. She could admit that to herself. Happily ever after was an illusion. People and relationships didn’t last forever and a handful of words spoken out loud in front of witnesses couldn’t make it so. She knew that.

And yet, when she looked at Mack, she wished the fantasy could come true.

“You married me,” she pointed out, taking his hand.

“I did.” He turned and started back inside the casino, towing her gently along with him.

“So those were the terms of your deal. No sex unless we got married. You said that was your rule.”

“Jesus.” His response sounded more like a prayer than a curse. “You’re missing the point.”

She trailed along behind him. She would have preferred to step up, to lead, but he wasn’t wrong. She didn’t get this. She was out of her league.

“So explain it to me.”

He redirected them towards the empty front desk. Then again, it wasn
’
t like hordes of people were going to be checking in today.

“This isn’t about rules,” he explained.

“Okay.” So, great. She knew what this
wasn
’
t
. That didn
’
t help much.

“You’ve always had me,” he said. “I just wanted to have some piece of you.”

She had no idea what he was talking about.

Clearly, he recognized that lack of understanding because he exhaled roughly, then let go of her hand, vaulted over the counter and did a little ransacking. When he straightened up, he was holding a key card. She looked around, but no one was paying them any attention.

He waved the plastic card toward her. “We’re checked in.”

An answer smile tugged at her lips. “I’m pretty sure you just committed a felony.”

He didn
’
t look concerned as he vaulted back over the counter. “I thought you liked breaking rules.”

True
.

“So you’re a bad influence.”

She shrugged. That was undoubtedly true too.

“Come on.” He laid in a course away from the casino
’
s front doors.

“Where are we going?” Anywhere worked for her.

“I’m taking my wife to bed,” he growled.

***

It turned out that Mack had not just “checked them in.” He
’
d boosted the master key card that opened every single door, which gave them their pick of the place. Still, despite the heady freedom of unlimited hotel room access, she’d had to call a halt to the stair climbing on the sixth floor. Damn it. She needed to work out more. Mack wasn
’
t even winded, but she was sucking air like a hundred-year-old man with one lung and a five-pack-a-day cigarette habit.

“Wuss.” Mack stopped in front of her when she tugged on the back of his T-shirt.

She smacked his ass, the sound echoing in the stairwell. “Don
’
t make fun of your bride.”

“There’s going to be a penalty for that,” he mock-growled.

“Oh, yeah?” Yep. Her words still sounded breathy. She definitely had to start working more.
At all
, a little voice whispered.

“You bet.”

She shook her head. “Don’t you get tired of those jokes?”

He pretended to think for a moment. “We bet. You lost. I
’
m planning to bring it up on a regular basis for the next forty years or so.”

“You lost a really expensive piece of jewelry,” she pointed out. “There are plenty of people who’d say I came out ahead.”

He advanced on her. The predatory gleam in his eye was hot, which was why (or so she told herself) she didn
’
t protest fast enough when he scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder, going caveman firefighter-style. “They’d be wrong, because I won
you
.”

He pushed through the stairwell door and picked the first room they came to. A quick swipe of their bootleg key and they were inside and she was sailing gently through the air to land on the bed. A moment later and he came down over her, his knees on either side of her hips.

“Hey,” he whispered. “Wife.”

He gave her a sweet, quick kiss, his lips moving across hers.

“You want a shower first?” he asked, his mouth mere inches from hers.
Too far away.

She shook her head. “I want you naked. Now.”

This close, she couldn
’
t miss the hunger in his eyes. She loved seeing him this way, knowing he wanted her. Seeing the heat when he looked at her, feeling all the passion in the big hands smoothing her hair away from her face.

He grinned. “I can work with that.”

He sat up and yanked his jacket off. The heavy leather hit the floor with a thud and then he swung off her and bent to remove his boots. The man made enough for a small herd of elephants.

“Shhh. Someone’s going to hear us.” She swatted his arm. If they got evicted now… well, her girl parts were going to be excruciatingly unhappy.

He gave her another long, slow look. “
Boo
, you’re going to be making way more noise than that. Plus, the door has a deadbolt and a chain, and I’ve used them both.”

“A man who plans ahead.” A smile played over her mouth.

“Uh-huh.” His T-shirt followed his jacket, leaving him bare-chested. That was
definitely
a start in the right direction because his chest was all sexy muscles and chiseled grooves. He also came with a sprinkling of scars, some from his military service, while others were more obviously from the fires he
’
d fought. “I’m not pretty like you.”

“You look just fine,” she breathed, meaning every word.

“Let’s compare.” He gave her a wicked grin as he made short work of her own jacket and T-shirt. She’d chosen a padded lavender bra, simple and comfortable, but it scooped her girls up into soft mounds. He ran a clearly appreciative finger over a curve and she thanked God for lingerie. “Mmmm. See? You’re definitely winning.”

“Is there a prize?” She arched up into his touch as he laid back down beside her.

“Greedy. I like that.” He trailed his fingers over the ink on her ribs, tracing a leaf. “Didn’t these hurt?”

“Hurt doesn’t have to be bad.”

***

He’d waited and waited for Mimi to make her choice. Now, independent, runs-like-hell Mimi had invited him into her bed
and
her heart. She’d given him two words today.
I do
. Now he’d give her
we do
. Thinking about the two of them as a couple heated him up almost as much as the sight of her bare beneath him did. The smile stretching his face had probably assumed cartoonish proportions, but she didn
’
t seem to mind.

His wife. Her husband.
The world had better watch out now that they were paired up. He
’
d been looking forward to taking her back to the bayou, maybe an extended honeymoon at his cabin just as soon as fire season was over. She
’
d love Louisiana and his family would adore her.