Flames of Love

by Melissa Foster

  “Yeah. I saw it, too. Watch the road or you’ll be dead and it won’t matter,” Kate warned her.

  She turned up her windshield wipers to combat the heavier snowfall. “I thought we weren’t supposed to get snow.”

  “The mountains are always different.” Savannah set her hand on Siena’s shoulder from the backseat. “Keep your eyes on the road and stop worrying about Cash.”

  “Oh, right. The only man I ever loved might hate me as much as I hate myself, and I’m not supposed to worry about it?” She shook her head. “Not happening. Look, I see a light up ahead. That must be it.”

  “I don’t see a light,” Ellie said.

  Siena took her hand off the wheel and pointed just as she hit another pothole. The SUV jolted right, and then there was a loud pop! Siena yelled, “Hang on,” as she used all her strength to try and straighten the tires. It was no use. They’d hit a patch of ice, and the SUV slid off the road and into a ditch. All of them screamed as they jarred to a halt.

  “Holy shit. Mom? Are you okay?”

  “Yes. Fine. Ellie? Kate? Savannah?” her mother asked.

  “Yes,” Ellie said with a shaky voice.

  Kate clung to Savannah’s arm. “Uh-huh.”

  “Fine here, too,” Savannah said.

  Siena jumped out of the truck and promptly slipped and fell on her ass. Her feet were soaking wet.

  “Are you okay?” Her mother stuck her head out of the driver’s side door.

  “Fine.” She pushed herself up and began running up the road.

  “Siena!” Savannah called after her. “Wait. Take my coat.”

  Siena waved her off. Fuck the coat. Fuck the shoes. She had to get to Cash. Her body shook, and by the time she reached the illuminated driveway, her feet and fingers were numb. Her cell phone rang and she pulled it out, saw her mother’s name, and shoved it back in her pocket. She had to get to Cash. She pounded on the front door of the little cabin.

  “Cash?” She shivered as she crossed the porch and peered into the window.

  The front door opened and an old man came out on the porch. He looked her up and down. “Can I help you?”

  Through chattering teeth, she said, “C-cash. I’m looking for Cash Ryder.”

  “Ryder? You mean Gage’s place? Why, he’s a mile farther up the road.”

  Siena ran down the porch steps and through the freezing snow toward the road again.

  “Wait. You can’t get there without shoes and a coat. You’ll catch your death of cold.”

  She kept running. She might be frozen or dead when she reached him. She could barely feel her feet, and she was beginning to think the old man was right, which is why, when he pulled out of his driveway riding a snowmobile and told her to put on his coat and climb on, she did just that.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  BEING WITH JACK and the other men should have been just what Cash needed. They were boisterous, intelligent, and easy to be with, but what Cash needed was Siena.

  “So, you’re in love with my sister and she’s driving you crazy,” Jack said.

  “I’m in love with her, but she’s not driving me crazy.” I’m driving me crazy.

  “That’s a load of shit,” Rex said. “I saw the pictures of her in the paper. I didn’t want to say anything, but Jack said you knew. Man, if Jade pulled that shit, I’d—”

  Treat slapped Rex’s arm. They were sitting around the table drinking, having abandoned the poker game an hour before in lieu of discussions about fires and the wilderness, the resorts Treat owned, and now the women in their lives.

  “Don’t listen to Rex. Jade has him wrapped around her little finger, and if she said she wanted to go on a date with some guy for the press—”

  Cash leaned forward. “What did you say?”

  “Don’t listen to Rex?” Treat looked away.

  Cash’s heart slammed against his ribs. “No, you said for the press. How do you know that?”

  Treat crossed his arms and lowered his chin. “I’m pretty well connected.”

  Josh, another of Savannah’s older brothers, who lived in Manhattan said, “He heard it from me.”

  “And you heard it from?”

  “Savannah, I’m sure,” Jack said.

  “Shit. Do you know what that could do to Siena’s contract? To her press?” Cash’s stomach burned. “Does Siena know you all know?”

  “No way. But, Cash, what the hell, dude?” Rex asked. “No offense, Jack, but what about your pride, man?”

  “Hey, careful,” Gage said to Rex.

  “No, he’s right.” Cash heard a rumbling of engines in the distance. “That’s why I’m not making her choose. If I make her feel like she needs to choose, and she chooses me, she’ll forever hold it against me.”

  “So what’s the plan?” Jack asked.

  Cash looked down at the table. “Look, your sister has a chance at a multimillion-dollar contract. The only thing holding her back is me. The way I see it, I need to get out of the equation for her to be the best she can be.”

  “And she knows this?” Jack pinned him to his chair with a heated stare and his deep voice.

  “No. I’ll…Look, I love her, Jack. I don’t want to spend a minute without her, much less a lifetime. But I can’t hold her back.”

  Gage got up from the table and went to the window.

  “She loves you.” Jack leaned across the table. “She’s never loved a man before that I know of. That means something.”

  “No, Jack. That means everything, not something.” He shrugged. “Would you rather I make her choose, and then maybe she regrets it down the line?” He rose to his feet to see what the noise outside was. “I love her, Jack. I don’t want to do either. I don’t want to end it and I don’t want to make her choose between me and the goddamn Track Sports contract.” He didn’t mean to yell, but the truth of his words burned his tongue.

  “Holy fuck. Cash? Does Siena have long hair?” Gage turned to him and went to the door. “Because I think she’s here.”

  “No way. She’s with the girls at Hal’s.” Cash grabbed his parka and headed out front just in time to see a snowmobile come to a stop and Siena push herself off of the back and fall facefirst into the snow. The man on the snowmobile rose to help her, and Cash and Jack ran toward them. She got to her feet and stumbled forward, her arms flailing in a giant coat, her hair covered with snow, her face bright red. She ran to Cash and clung to his arms. Her body shook so hard her lips were blue. He looked down at her stocking feet.

  “You’re barefoot,” Cash and Jack said in unison. Cash shot him a look and Jack took a step backward.

  Fear ripped through Cash as he scooped her into his arms, assessing her blue lips, the look of her skin, her breathing. “What the hell are you doing out here? Where are your shoes? Whose coat are you wearing?” He carried her inside, followed by the man on the snowmobile, Savannah’s brothers, and Gage. He grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch he passed on his way to the hearth, where he sat down with her on his lap. “You’re so…”

  Her teeth clanked together. “Un—un—unprep—unprepared.”

  He took her face in his hands, the other men forgotten, and stared into her beautiful pool-blue eyes, then kissed her lips. “Unprepared.” He kissed her again, knowing there was no way in hell he was going to ever walk out of her life. He took her feet in his hands, pulled off her wet socks, and exchanged them for a pair of dry, thick woolen socks Gage handed to him.

  “What are you doing out here like this? You could have died of hypothermia. You could get frostbite. You could have—”

  She lowered her cold lips to his again and kissed him. He held her so tight in the bulky coat that he could feel her body trembling. He tightened his grip until her shaking slowed and her lips began to return to their normal pinkish color. “Gage, hot chocolate, please.”

  Siena’s lips lifted to a crooked smile.

  “Your face is numb, isn’t it?”

  She nodded.

 
“Damn it, Siena.” He cupped the back of her head and drew her cheek against his. God, he loved the feel of her, and the fear of seeing her wet and freezing with some stranger—Oh God. He lifted his eyes to the old man, who was watching them with concern in his hooded eyes. “Thank you, sir. I can’t thank you enough.”

  Siena leaned her forehead against his. “I told…Jewel to…kiss off. I don’t want…anything to…do with that contract.”

  “Shh.” Holy shit. Did I hear you right? He grabbed the warm mug from Gage and brought it to her lips. She closed her eyes as she took a sip.

  “Cash, I’m…ashamed of what I did.”

  “Shh. It’s okay.”

  She shook her head, and he carefully brushed wet strands of hair from her cheeks.

  “No. No, it’s not. I was ashamed before we started going out. That I accepted the date with Gunner in the first place.”

  Jack came and stood beside them. Siena looked up at him, then back at Cash.

  “I…I never wanted to do it. I was scared not to. But I don’t ever…” Her teeth chattered again, and Cash helped her take another sip of the warm drink. “I will never compromise my beliefs again. I won’t compromise us again.”

  “Babe, it’s okay.” He knew in his heart their love meant as much to her as it did to him. He’d known in his heart she’d do the right thing, and hearing it come from her lips brought goddamn tears to his eyes.

  She shook her head again. “No. It’s not okay.” She spun around. “Oh, shit. Jack. Savannah, Mom, Ellie, and Kate are in the SUV on Mount Grail Road. I drove off the road and ran to that man’s house.”

  “I’m on it.” Jack grabbed Rex and headed out the door.

  “Right behind you with my tow chain on the truck,” Gage said.

  Treat patted the old man’s shoulder. “Give me a ride down the mountain? You’ll be faster than them. Josh—”

  “On my way,” Josh followed Gage outside.

  “Cash, I love you. I’m never prepared. I suck. I know. I wasn’t prepared when Jewel told me what she wanted me to do, and I went into her office earlier this week ready to tell her I was done. I swear I did, but then the Track Sports thing threw me off. I started thinking about kids, and family, and…There’s no excuse. I suck at being prepared, but I don’t suck at loving you. I love you with all my heart and soul. I want you. I want us.”

  Cash could hardly believe what he was hearing. Every part of him wanted to hold her and tell her how much he loved her, but he didn’t want to gloss over the reality of the last few days.

  “Siena, they’re going to offer you a boatload of money. You might regret it. You might end up hating me because of it. Every time you see someone else’s face on a Track Sports ad, you might think, If only…”

  She shook her head. “No. I won’t. You know how I know?”

  “How?”

  “Because the only other time I’ve felt what I feel when I’m modeling is when I’m with you.” She touched his cheek with her chilly hand. “Remember the look in my eyes when I was leaving the restaurant with Gunner?”

  That was a look he’d never forget. It was the look he saw in her eyes every time they made love. He nodded.

  “What I told you was the truth.” Siena took his hand in hers. “The only way to get that look was to think of you, and I don’t ever want people to think it’s because of some other man. I want you, Cash. Only you. If you’ll forgive me.”

  Cash pulled her close and kissed her again. “Forgive you? You’re the most beautiful, frustrating, stubborn, and unprepared woman I’ve ever met. And you’re the only woman I’ll ever want. I love you, Siena.”

  “See? Everything in life does happen for a reason.”

  “What could you possibly mean? The others are stuck on that dangerous road.” Cash kissed her again before she could answer.

  “I can’t remember what I meant. Kiss me again.” She wiggled her toes. “I’m getting warmer. Try that again.” She lowered her lips to his and he deepened the kiss.

  When they parted, he felt her fingers, then her toes. “You’re okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine now that I know we’re okay. But I think the girls are going to hate me. I left them in the car and ran to find you.”

  “That’s my girl. Unprepared and willing to risk the lives of others.”

  “But I won’t risk your heart. Not ever again.”

  The sound of trucks out front brought a serious look to Siena’s eyes. She took his cheeks in her hands and said, “They’re going to kill me. Save me.”

  “Always and forever.”

  He rose to his feet with her in his arms as the others burst through the door.

  “Siena Remington!” Her mother crossed the floor, and Cash turned sideways with Siena clinging to his neck. “Oh, don’t think that I won’t give you my two cents just because your big handsome fireman is rescuing you yet again.”

  “Mom, I’m sorry. I had to find him.”

  “Did you, now?”

  Siena faced her mother and saw that she had a broad smile across her face.

  “What am I going to do with you? This poor man will spend his life rescuing you from snow, wind, ice cream on your clothes, and God knows what else.” Joanie leaned in close to Cash. “You’ve got your hands full with this one.” Then she looked at Siena and said, “It’s about damn time you came to your senses. Do you know how hard it was for me to bite my tongue when you first told me about that Gibson man?” She shook her head and pointed to Jack. “Your brother had to talk me off that ledge. And another thing, young lady, get on the phone with your father and tell him what you told me. No need to carry that stuff around in your belly.”

  Savannah came at her next. “You left us there. Just left us. We could have been hit by a car or died of hypothermia. And you left us to proclaim your love for Cash, and I didn’t even get to see it.” She shook her head.

  Cash set Siena down on her feet, and she clung to him wearing the old man’s coat and his brother’s socks.

  She opened her arms to Savannah and flapped the six inches of extra coat sleeves at her. “Come here.”

  Savannah hugged her.

  “I’m sorry I ruined your bridal shower. And thank you for pissing me off enough to make me see clearly.”

  “I’m telling you, that’s what sisters are for.”

  “Oh God. They’ve bonded,” Jack said as he draped an arm over Cash’s shoulder. “Welcome to the family. Crazy shit and all.” Then he leaned down and whispered, “I’m glad it worked out. I was starting to feel bad about having to kill you if you hurt my sister.”

  “I have a feeling that I’d have more than you to wrestle with if I hurt Siena.” He nodded toward the women, who were embracing her in a group hug. “Your sister holds my heart in the palm of her hand. I’ll never be the one doing the hurting.”

  “Dude, that’s what they do. They make you crazy; then they make you love them. Then they make you crazy again, but by then you’re in too deep to do anything but love them more.” Rex nodded at Cash.

  “That is true,” Jack said.

  Savannah broke free from the group hug and said to the other women, “Aren’t they cute? They think they have women all figured out.”

  The men held up their hands in surrender.

  “So,” Gage whispered to Cash. “Who’s gonna clue Gunner in on the end of his love affair?”

  In one swift move, Cash elbowed him in the gut.

  Siena wrapped her arms around Cash and kissed him. “Sliding off the pavement that night was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  Cash pulled her close and leaned his forehead against hers. “No, babe. The best is yet to come.”

  The End

  Please enjoy a preview of the next

  Love in Bloom novel

  Slope of

  LOVE

  The Remingtons, Book Four

  Love in Bloom Series

  Melissa Foster

  Chapter One

  THE MUSCLE ON t
he side of Rush Remington’s jaw bunched as he glanced out the window at the snow that had been falling since the plane touched down in Colorado. Rush didn’t need much to be happy—a snowy slope, a set of skis, a daily dose or two of protein powder, and a little time with his best friend. The ski team equipment had been shipped separately and had already arrived at the Colorado Ski Center, where he and a few other Olympic ski team members were teaching ski workshops this week. Rush pulled two duffel bags from beneath his seat. One was packed tight with protein powder, movies, and gummy bears—his best friend’s go-to snack—the other stuffed to the hilt with his clothes.

  He dug his vibrating cell phone from his pocket—another text from Jayla. He and Jayla Stone been best friends for more than fifteen years, and this was supposed to be their week to hang out. He eyed the reporters waiting by the entrance of the lodge before stealing a look toward the back of the van, where Jayla sat beside Marcus White, pretending to rummage through her purse for something. Rush knew that she was really avoiding making eye contact with him because of Marcus. The only thing in that damn purse was a man’s wallet—because women’s wallets are too bulky—her keys, personal products (wrapped in tissues and hidden in a zippered pouch because they’re embarrassing), and probably a few empty bags of gummy bears.

  He read the text from Jayla. Cute reporter. Blonde. Red coat.

  At six foot two, with a shock of dark brown hair, an ever-present tan, perfect teeth, and an insatiable appetite for exercise, the media—and women—loved Rush, but today he was in no mood to smile for the camera.

  He laughed under his breath and shook his head. A year ago he’d have scoped out the hot blonde, scored by midnight, then forgotten her name by the next morning when he and Jayla met for breakfast. She’d have teased him about adding a notch to his belt or some other random shit, and then they’d have hit the slopes. A year ago he was a totally different guy.