Smoked

by Slade, Heather

  “We’re not on the highest peak in the range, but it’s close.”

  I smiled at the pride I heard in Smoke’s voice. “What is that?” I asked, motioning with my head at a large structure that sat near the bank of a pond.

  “My house.”

  I was stunned. It looked more like a large mountain lodge.

  “Let’s get you inside and settled.”

  “For feck’s sake, Smoke, you can put me down. I can walk.”

  “We’ve been traveling for going on eighteen hours. You’re more tired than you think.”

  “It’s also time for your pain medicine,” the nurse, whose name I couldn’t recall but who was walking beside us, said.

  “I don’t want it,” I whispered in Smoke’s ear. “I don’t need it.”

  “We’ll talk about it once you’re in bed.”

  He carried me up to the front door and waited for the man who’d met us at the airfield, to open it.

  “I’ll fetch Ms. Wynona, and then the boys and I will start bringing stuff in,” Smoke said once we were inside and he set me in a chair.

  “Who is that?” I asked.

  “She takes care of the place when I’m not here.”

  “It’s about time you showed your face.” A very short woman with hair that looked more blue than gray approached. “Welcome to the Blazing T,” she said.

  “Ms. Wynona, this is the woman I told you about, Siobhan Gallagher.”

  The woman raised both eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. “You best get Ms. Siobhan into bed, Mr. Smoke. She looks near-dead tired.”

  “We’ll set up in the master,” said Smoke, turning to the nurse. “This way.”

  I shrugged my shoulder when Ms. Wynona winked. “You and I will have plenty of time to get to know each other later,” she said as Smoke plucked me out of the chair.

  He opened a door and walked into a room that was larger than any place I’d ever lived. “Is this your bedroom?”

  “Yes.”

  “It looks like an apartment.”

  “Do you want to change your clothes?” he asked, setting me on the bed.

  “Into what?” I wore the same hospital gown I’d had on since yesterday and a pair of joggers that were at least two sizes too big.

  “We’ll see what we can find.”

  Two other men, who looked just like Jack, brought in medical equipment like what had been on the plane. “Where did all of this come from?” I asked, standing up to stretch my legs.

  “I had it delivered.” Smoked walked over to me. “Siren, sit back down before you fall.”

  “Settle yourself, you narky hole. I’m fine.”

  “What did you call me?” He was trying so hard not to smile. I laughed.

  “You heard me.”

  “A narky hole?”

  “That’s right.”

  He swept me up in his arms like he had so many times in the last few hours and deposited me back on the bed.

  “What is your name?” I asked the nurse, who was busy reconnecting my IV.

  “Maureen.”

  “Nurse Maureen—”

  “Just Maureen is fine.”

  “Okay, well, I do not need any pain medicine at this time. I feel perfectly fine.”

  “You’re lying,” she muttered, looking over at Smoke. “And that one threatened me within an inch of my life if I didn’t take right good care of you.”

  “Is it even legal for you to administer that to me?”

  She nodded and inserted the liquid from the syringe into the IV port. “Jaysus fecking Christ,” I mumbled when the warm feeling coursed through my arm. “I don’t want this.”

  “Excuse us,” Smoke said to the nurse, walking up to the bedside with something in his hand. “This should work to sleep in until we can get you some other clothes.” He waited until after she left the room before helping me out of the hospital gown and then into the shirt that had to belong to him, based on its size.

  “Sweatpants on or off?”

  “Off.”

  He moved the shirt out of his way and tugged the joggers off the lower half of my body.

  “You’ll need underwear,” he said, his gaze focused on my bareness.

  “You mean knickers? I never wear them.” I looked into his eyes. Two things about that statement surprised me. First, that I remembered I didn’t, and second, that Smoke didn’t.

  He pulled the shirt down and then covered me with the bedclothes. “I’ll be right back.”

  I looked down at the artwork on the shirt Smoke had put on me. It was the letter T, and it looked like it was on fire. Blazing T, that was what Ms. Wynona had said. Smoke. Siren. My eyes drifted closed as I muttered other words to do with fire. Heat. Sex.

  Where was that man? I wondered, again trying to force my eyes to remain open.

  7

  Smoke

  When I walked into the bedroom, carrying the tray of food Ms. Wynona had prepared for Siren, I saw she was out cold. I set it on the table by the window and pulled one of the chairs over to the bedside.

  Then I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, and studied the woman sleeping in my bed. Her memory was coming back slowly, at least in bits and pieces.

  Should I tell her now that what she remembered about us had been a one-time thing? She’d asked me how long we’d been in love. Love? Where had that come from? Siren and I detested one another.

  But did we really?

  Sure, she infuriated the hell out of me. Many times, I thought about wringing her damn neck. But that night, when our inhibitions were lowered, it had only taken a single touch before our mouths were fused together in a frenzied passion. It was a kiss so good, so hot, so everything, that it could only lead to sex.

  I could try to convince myself I didn’t remember much about it, but I did.

  Unable to resist the temptation now, I peeked under the blanket and sheet at Siren’s body. As I hoped, my t-shirt had ridden up, exposing her bare pussy.

  I closed my eyes, remembering how she’d tasted that night when I spread her legs and devoured her with my mouth.

  She’d said she remembered that sex between us was fantastic, and she was right. I leaned farther forward and kissed the bare skin of her hip and felt her fingers weave into my hair.

  “Smoke, touch me,” she pleaded, pushing the bedclothes away and spreading her legs just slightly.

  I sat on the edge of the bed and looked into her eyes.

  “Please,” she mewled.

  “Open more for me.” I placed both of my hands on the inside of her thighs and used my thumbs to part her folds. I leaned down and ran the tip of my tongue from just above her opening, up to her clit. I pressed hard against it at the same time I eased two fingers into her wet heat.

  She writhed as I continued my gentle assault and pulled back when I felt her tighten around my fingers.

  “No,” she moaned. “Don’t stop.”

  I licked through her folds again, reminding myself to take it slow. Give her pleasure. Nothing more. When her body clenched my fingers again, I didn’t stop.

  “Come on, let go,” I murmured, watching her face as she did as I told her. Her eyes opened and bored into mine.

  “Smoke…I…I…”

  I moved up her body and kissed her, thrusting my tongue into her mouth. Whatever she was about to say, I couldn’t let her.

  Tonight, I gave her pleasure, and in the morning, I’d tell her the truth. I had to. Nothing good could come of me continuing to let her believe there was something more between us than there really was.

  “Will you stay with me?” Siren asked when I stood and covered her body with the sheet and blanket.

  “I think you’ll sleep better if I stay in the other room.”

  “For a little while, then?”

  “Sure.” I walked around to the other side of the bed and lay on top of the blanket.

  When the nurse knocked on the door a little while later, I got up, let her in, and then went to the bed
room across the hallway.

  * * *

  I opened my eyes, surprised it was daylight, and got up to check on Siren. After rapping on the door, I eased it open. The bed was empty, the monitors were turned off, and I didn’t see her IV pole.

  I walked down the hallway in search of her. Seeing me, Ms. Wynona rushed out of the kitchen. “Shh,” she said, putting a finger in front of her lips. “Ms. Gallagher is sleeping.”

  “Where?”

  She pointed over to the sunroom just off the main living area of the house. I could see her IV pole and the nurse sitting in a chair close to the daybed.

  When I walked over, she looked up, stood, and led me in the opposite direction.

  “Siobhan had a rough night. I’ve just gotten her back to sleep.”

  “What happened?”

  “I gave her this so she could call me if needed.” The woman held up a small device.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s a caregiver’s pager, sir.”

  “You said she had a rough night.”

  “Yes. I came in, and she was complaining of a terrible headache. I gave her something for the pain and then stayed until after she fell asleep. It wasn’t long before she woke again, this time saying she’d had a nightmare. It wasn’t until the sun rose that she was able to settle herself enough to sleep.”

  “Did she say anything about the nightmare?”

  “Not specifically, but I do believe she was dreaming about the accident.”

  “Let me see that thing.” I held my hand out, and she placed it in my palm.

  “It’s just a simple pager, sir.”

  I gave it back to her without apology. Years of working in the intelligence business had made me suspicious of what sometimes turned out to be the simplest things.

  “I’d like to suggest you arrange for Ms. Gallagher to speak to someone, sir.”

  “Someone as in a psychiatrist?”

  The woman nodded.

  I walked back into the main part of the house and sent a text to Hammer. Call when you get this.

  The phone immediately rang. “Whadaya need?” he asked.

  I told him about Siren’s night and what the nurse had suggested.

  “Let me make some calls, and I’ll see what I can get set up.”

  “I can do that myself, Hammer.”

  “Sure you can,” were the last words I heard before he ended the call.

  I went into my bedroom closet and grabbed a pair of jeans to put on in place of the sweatpants I was wearing. I finished getting dressed and went out to the barn, hoping to find Zeke Jennings, the man who managed the ranch, whether I was home or away.

  “Hey, Smoke,” he said when I walked into his office. “I heard you were back. I would’ve come up to the house, but it was late when I got in last night.”

  “Anything I need to know?”

  He leaned back in his chair. “Same shit, different day.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “Best guess is we’re down sixteen calves.”

  While most people assumed cattle rustling was something read about in history books or seen in John Wayne movies, modern-day cattle thieves cost ranchers like me thousands, even millions of dollars.

  Given the Blazing T’s location, I’d never thought much about the need for an elaborate security system. The ranch was on top of a mountain, for Christ’s sake. “I’ll make a call. There’s a guy I work with who might be able to help us.”

  “Ashford?”

  “Yeah. You know him?”

  “Heard of him.”

  Asking Zeke how or where he’d heard of Decker Ashford, one of the founding partners of the Invincibles, would likely raise more questions than get me answers, so I let it drop.

  “Anyway, I’ll contact him and see if I can get something set up.”

  “Sorry, boss.”

  “Don’t be. With cattle prices skyrocketing and the rest of the economy goin’ to shit, it stands to reason that the challenges of our terrain wouldn’t thwart thieves forever.”

  “I hear you brought a woman home with you.”

  “That’s the other thing I came to talk to you about.” I told Zeke about Siren being shot, her surgery, and the strokes the doctor said she’d suffered. “I’ll be taking her to Asheville this week to meet with a specialist.”

  “Anything else I need to know?” he asked, repeating almost verbatim what I’d said to him a few minutes earlier.

  “She has amnesia.”

  Zeke’s eyes opened wide.

  “Siren believes that she and I were in a relationship.”

  “Were you?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, we weren’t. In fact, we couldn’t stand the sight of each other.”

  “Interestin’,” he said, rubbing his chin.

  I got up and walked out of the office. The situation with Siren was bad enough as it was; I didn’t need shit from Zeke or anyone else about it.

  * * *

  I was walking along the bank of the creek when I got another call from Hammer.

  “Whadaya want?” I answered his call like he had mine.

  “You’re such a bastard. Do you appreciate anything I do for you?”

  I laughed. “I thought you were doin’ this for Siren.”

  “You make a good point. Anyway, I’ve got a guy comin’ to the ranch.”

  “For?”

  “Siren.”

  I held the phone away from my ear and looked at it. Had I never noticed Hammer and Siren worked my last nerve equally?

  “Just jokin’ with ya. I’ve got a buddy who lives outside of Asheville. He specializes in PTSD.”

  “Thanks, Ham. When should I expect him?”

  “This afternoon. As a favor to me.”

  Before ending the call, Hammer gave me the man’s name and contact information.

  * * *

  Siren was still asleep when the doctor arrived midafternoon. He introduced himself as Dr. Paul Mansfield and explained that he was a psychiatrist who specialized in post-traumatic stress disorder.

  I started to fill him in on Siren’s condition, but he held up his hand. “Hammer was able to get her medical records forwarded to me.”

  How in the hell had he done that? I was the woman’s medical power of attorney. “Okay, well, the nurse can fill you in on her nightmares.”

  After showing him inside, I came back out and sat on the porch, wondering if I should’ve told the man that Siren believed we were in a relationship that didn’t exist.

  I’d been sitting in the same place, taking in the views of my ranch for at least thirty minutes when I heard the front door open.

  “He’d like to talk to you now,” said the nurse.

  I walked inside and saw Siren sitting up on the same daybed she’d been sleeping on. The doctor was sitting in the chair the nurse had used earlier.

  “How’s our patient?” I asked.

  Siren looked up at me. “Better,” she answered.

  “I understand Siobhan will be visiting Asheville to meet with a stroke specialist.”

  “That’s right,” I muttered, not knowing whether an appointment had been scheduled yet.

  “To make things easier, I’d like to arrange for her and I to meet either before or after the appointment. Whichever is most convenient.”

  “Whatever you want to do,” I said to Siren.

  “After,” she answered.

  The doctor pulled out his phone and tapped the screen. “Let’s say Tuesday at three, then.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” I said when he stood and said goodbye to Siren. “Do you have a couple of minutes?” I asked, closing the front door behind us.

  “Sure.”

  “Listen, uh, Siren…err…Siobhan—” I stammered.

  “You can call her Siren.”

  “Okay. Well, anyway, with her amnesia, she…uh…thinks that she and I are in a relationship.”

  “She mentioned you were.”

  “That’s th
e thing. We weren’t.”

  “I see.”

  “Maybe I should’ve told her before now, but—”

  He held up his hand. “You were right not to tell her.”

  “I planned to today.”

  He shook his head. “Please do not. Right now, you are Siren’s rock, if you will. I’m aware she has no family. If you were to tell her that what she believes is her only sense of security is a lie, well, I’m afraid her already tenuous mental and emotional condition may worsen.”

  “What do I do if her memory comes back? She’ll know I’ve been lying to her.”

  “It’ll be gradual, at best. I’m glad you made me aware of the true nature of your relationship. I’ll be there to help her navigate through it when the time comes.”

  “You said, ‘at best.’ What does that mean?”

  “After reviewing her chart, I’d say there is a chance Siren may never recover her memory entirely.”

  “Look, Doc—okay if I call you that?”

  He nodded.

  “When I say that Siren and I weren’t in a relationship, what that means is we barely tolerated each other.”

  “Hammer did share that with me. He also indicated you were willing to care for her until her condition improves.”

  “That’s true, but…”

  “But when I said she may never regain her memory, it occurred to you the timeline for her recovery is indeterminate.”

  “Right.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Smoke. Is it okay if I call you that?”

  I laughed. “Of course.”

  “We’ll keep the lines of communication open. I’d like to suggest you also schedule time to meet with me. Perhaps while Siren is at some of her other appointments. My assumption is that she’ll eventually start physical therapy.”

  “I don’t know if it’s necessary for us to meet.”

  He nodded. “Think it over and know that I can make myself available if you find you’d like to talk.”

  I watched the doctor drive away. Instead of going inside, I walked over to the barn.

  “I’m goin’ for a ride,” I told Zeke.

  “I’ll go with you if you don’t mind the company.”

  I motioned with my head for him to follow.