Wild Heat

by Bella Blake

  “I can imagine worse mates to be shacked up with,” he says, and my face warms up so much I almost wonder if the wind’s gotten into the tower, full of the heat of the wildfire.

  My brain goes into overdrive, imagining Chase stretched out beneath the stars, naked as the day he was born, all those burly muscles on display as he kicks back on his sleeping bag.

  I doubt he actually sleeps bare-ass naked in the woods, but my imagination doesn’t give two fucks about reality right now.

  And then, oh look, there’s Hugh, beside the campfire, stripping his shirt off all slow and sexy, his toned body coming into view of my very hungry eyes.

  Mmm. If that scenario were actually happening, I would offer myself up as a midnight snack so fast my words would make the leaves flutter.

  Instead, I blink, trying to focus back on the conversation at hand, but I can’t remember who said what last. I realize they’re both staring at me as though it’s my turn to say something.

  “At least we won’t get soaked when the storms get here,” I finally manage to croak out. I don’t think I’m imagining the silent tension growing between us.

  “You said you wanted to read a book,” Hugh says, and I almost let out a huge sigh of relief, grateful for something to keep my mind off all the saucy thoughts in my head. Until he continues with, “What’d you bring?”

  Here I go with the blushing again. “Just a romance novel,” I mumble.

  “Oh man, like that Fifty Shades book?” Chase perks up, showing way too much interest in a subject I rarely talk to anyone about, even Vanessa. “Or are we talking like the mail-order bride westerns? Our mom loves those.”

  In for a penny, I guess. “Highlander romance, actually.”

  “Ah,” Hugh says like he just had a great epiphany… about me. I’m not sure if I’m worried about the look in his eye or if I’m thrilled. “You like the manly over-the-top heroes, don’t you?”

  “I think everyone can appreciate a hero,” I say, trying to sidestep his question.

  Hugh gives me a knowing look. “But you—I bet you like the ones that’ll go around half dressed and wielding broadswords. The ones that’ll throw a maiden over his shoulder before disappearing into the night to ravish them.”

  Damn. Did he study my reading history or something?

  “So, I have a type,” I say, and jut out my chin. “I’m not ashamed.”

  Hugh holds up his hands, palms out, keeping himself reclining in an impressive show of core strength. “No shame here,” he assures me. “Chase and I, we might have imagined ourselves as those heroes a time or two.”

  I look at him skeptically. “Okay, sure.”

  “Seriously, we used to read our mom’s novels when she was at work.” The confession rolls off Chase’s tongue easily, as though he’d just admitted to wrestling mountain lions in his spare time.

  “What?” I gasp out, both thrilled and flabbergasted, looking between the two. “Why?”

  Chase shrugs. “Why not? They were about cowboys on homesteads being awesome and always saving the day, and he got a pretty, sweet wife in the end.”

  Hugh picks up when Chase stops talking. “You could always tell which ones were going to be really racy by the type of cover. The more chest the guy had showing, the sexier the book.”

  I blink as I realize these two totally have an understanding of my favorite genre. It kind of turns me on and I have to wonder… did they learn anything from the steamy scenes? Because the heroes in my books always take care of the lady’s needs. Which has not been the case in my real-world experience.

  Far from being launched into a glorious orbit of carnal bliss, it’s been more like… a mediocre spin on a bumpy carnival ride.

  “Good dating advice, those books,” Chase says as if he’s read my mind.

  “Oh, yeah?” I tip my head in his direction and can’t help but ask, “What glimmers of wisdom did you glean from them?”

  A smirk curls on his lips. “Well, inevitably, at some point, you’re going to be an accidental asshole and do the wrong thing, right? Ruin her favorite dress with a big muddy handprint, forget to take her out for a romantic picnic because you’re too busy trying to wrangle the cattle, and so on. Never fails. So, suck it up and apologize, make it right with your woman, and get to the sweet, sweet dirty makeup sex before you almost die in a brush fire.”

  I snort, laughter bubbling out of me. I gesture at the window. “Or, how about a wildfire?”

  Chase’s eyebrows go up, and his voice is deeper, with a playful edge to it when he answers. “I didn’t realize I’d been an asshole. But I can definitely offer an apology, if you want.”

  There was so much suggestive promise in his voice, like he’d rather skip right to the makeup sex part. I draw in a breath, my heart beating hard in my chest, as I try to figure out how to respond.

  If it was just one-on-one, I’d be pushing him to the floor right about now. But I keep my ass planted where it is. I have no idea how to even begin to make a move on either of them with the other one sitting right there.

  “You are, inevitably, always an asshole,” Hugh grumbles. “Right now, for example.”

  Damn, does he think Chase’s offer upset me?

  “It’s fine,” I finally say, an idea forming in my mind.

  I’ll call their bluff, and force one of them to make the first move, if either of them are going to. I’m out of my depth here, facing off with two men straight out of my fantasies. But they’ve been brothers forever, and I can’t imagine this is the first time they’ve both had eyes on the same woman, so I’ll let them sort out how this works.

  “Yeah?” Chase asks, an eyebrow lifted curiously as though he can see devious thoughts forming in my head.

  “I’m just saying, there’s nothing to apologize for, so... we could just skip that part,” I tell them with a suggestive tone.

  They both look at me questioningly, clearly waiting to see if I’ll make the first move by spelling it out for them. But I just shrug, purposefully leaving my words open to the interpretations of their imaginations.

  Hugh’s eyes widen, just a bit, enough that I know his mind went straight to the dirty hot sex part. I can tell he’s trying to decide if that’s what I actually meant or if he’s reading too much into it. Chase looks equally puzzled—and intrigued.

  Well, I have their attention for sure now. Time to up the stakes.

  “Hey, let’s play a game,” I suggest, sitting up straighter and crossing my legs in front of me. “How about two truths and a lie?”

  9

  CHASE

  “You realize we’ll have an unfair advantage in that game? We can play it, but I’m gonna know every lie he tells,” Hugh says, jerking his thumb toward me, “and vice versa.”

  Megan rolls her eyes. “Dammit. I didn’t think about that.” After a moment, she shrugs. “Okay, then you come up with an idea on how we entertain ourselves in the middle of a wildfire with no technology.”

  Hugh looks to me as if for assistance, and I don’t save him. He got himself into this by bringing up how we used to read romance books. Now he can get himself out of it.

  I feel a smirk on my lips as I goad him. “Yeah, Hugh. Entertain us.”

  He rolls his eyes with a very familiar look of irritation. Annoying my twin is one of my favorite things to do.

  I drag my eyes slowly over Megan, who’s looking gorgeous in her hiking gear, her face flushed from the trek to the watch tower, half of her hair coming out of that ponytail of hers. I want to slide the hair tie off and run my fingers through those long brown strands until it’s as wild as she looks.

  Yeah... something tells me that if I got Megan under me, annoying my brother won’t even make the honorable mentions of my favorite things to do.

  She sits up and twists around to dig in her bag, her shirt gaping open enough that I know Hugh is seeing the same thing I saw on the first day⁠—a tempting tease of skin and a thin scrap of white fabric covering the swell of her cleavage. She
pulls out the damn book she brought with her and holds it up. I can just make out a ridiculously buff man in tartan and a woman swooning in his arms.

  “I’ve got my entertainment,” she declares and settles back against her pack, her legs stretching out in front of her. “You two can go... do whatever manly stuff you can do around here.”

  I catch Hugh looking at Megan, the book in front of her nose the only thing stopping her from seeing the heat in his eyes. Hell, I think if he’s any more obvious, the damn book will burst into flames. He looks my way and catches me staring at him. Hugh’s face morphs into a challenge, daring me to say something or demand he back down.

  Turning my gaze back to Megan, I study her for a moment, waiting for the usual feelings to settle in my chest. The ones that inevitably come every time Hugh and I are interested in the same woman—frustration tinged with jealousy.

  He’s always the first to grab attention in any room we walk into. Hell, even the married ladies serving up potluck fundraisers at the community hall flock to him like squirrels to a birdfeeder, every single time. I get it—he dives out of planes to fight dangerous forest fires, so of course ladies tend to throw their panties at him faster than he can introduce himself.

  But more than once, a woman in a bar has turned her gaze from me to him, and that shit gets old. Suddenly, the survival expert with the charming smile is playing second fiddle to the firefighter with heroic stories.

  This time, though, the familiar feelings don’t come.

  I try to force them by imagining Hugh kissing Megan, and still, there’s no envy inside me. Which is just fucking weird, since I can’t remember wanting a woman as much as I want her. If anything, I should be absolutely incensed and ready to throw down over the thought that he might steal her away.

  Damn, maybe I’m hitting a new level of maturity. Achievement unlocked. Or… something else is going on.

  I meet my twin’s gaze, glad that we’re experienced in conducting silent conversations. Growing up, we used to spook our friends out. It is kind of eerie how well we can communicate with a few quiet glances. And the looks we’re sharing with each other right now, in this moment, speak a thousand words.

  We both find her wildly attractive, that much is clear. I met her first, but it’s never stopped Hugh before. Then again, Megan’s not the type of woman either of us would let go of easily.

  She’s not a one-night stand waiting to happen.

  Even if she didn’t strike me as different than most of the tourists we meet around here, this wouldn’t be a quick hookup. We’re in the middle of the wild, most of it on fire at the moment, and the way it’s looking, we’re likely to be stuck out here together for days.

  There’s no easy way to disentangle ourselves. Whatever happens, we all have to be okay with it.

  As Megan’s attention remains focused on her book, a wordless conversation flows back and forth between Hugh and me. So, what’s it going to be, twin? Who’s going to step to the side? What if we approach this another way? Maybe neither of us steps to the side this time?

  That makes my eyebrows go up at the same time Hugh purses his lips in thought, both of us weighing the idea.

  It’s not like the opportunity never came up before, with both of us being single—more than once we’ve had ladies hint that they’d be willing. One came right out and suggested it, said she had a thing for twins. But we just laughed it off. It was easier to dismiss the idea than to sort out the messy details and complicate a situation, especially for a passing thing.

  But with Megan… it might be worth finding out.

  Can we cross that boundary into uncharted territory?

  All our lives, we’ve challenged and pushed each other at every turn… but this is a whole other thing we’re talking about here. Do we really have it in us to share a woman that we both want so badly we’re aching in our bones at the very thought of her?

  Several long moments tick by before I feel Hugh’s eyes on me. I know his answer before I even glance over at him, and mine is the same. With one final look, an agreement and plan fall into place. I love being a twin sometimes.

  I shift closer until I’m touching Megan, just as Hugh moves to lies on her other side, bracketing her between us, our legs pressing against hers. She startles and looks between us, but I’m too busy drinking her in to give her an explanation for my sudden proximity.

  She smells of the wild—balsam and pine from the trees, a hint of smoke from the clouded air, and a tease of lavender and honey from her shampoo. Mmm, I bet she tastes like the wild, too. My eyes trace along the lines of her neck, wondering if I brushed my lips against her warm skin, would she taste rich, earthy, salty and sweet all at once?

  “Can I help you?” she asks, darting her tongue out to wet her lips.

  She can’t know what that little action does to me. Or maybe, as she looks over at my brother, she does.

  “Well,” I tap the open book in her hands, letting my hand lay against hers, “you seem to have the only entertainment, so we might as well share.”

  Megan blinks slowly. “You want to read—” she stops to swallow and wets her lips one more time as she processes the double entendre of my words. My eyes are glued to her lower lip as she sucks it between her teeth to worry at it before she speaks again. “I get the impression you two don’t share well.”

  Her words pull me from the spell of her lips, and I look into her eyes, my cock stiffening at the challenge there. We both look at Hugh, who is smirking.

  “We can, sometimes—when it’s something we both want,” he says, his gaze locked on her.

  She stays silent, as though she’s mulling over this idea, but there’s a curious interest in her eyes and a hint of a sultry smile on those sexy lips. She shifts a little between us, her legs brushing against ours.

  Is it because she’s thinking of us sharing her?

  I’m certain that, had the wildfire not forced us from our original plans, Megan and I would have spent tonight at the hunting cabin on Spruce Creek, getting to know one another in a much more intimate way.

  Despite the wildfire completely wrecking my plans, I still want to explore the spark between us. The same spark that seems to be between her and Hugh as well.

  “Take this book, for example,” I say, tugging the paperback from her hands. “Since it would be silly of us to try to read the book at the same time, we can take turns reading it.”

  Suddenly she’s bashful, her legs crossing at the knees, her eyes darting from me to the page she was reading, like I’ve caught her doing something naughty. There’s just enough light left to make out the printed text without squinting. I quickly scan the scene she’d opened to and, dammit, I can’t stop my grin—it’s too perfect for my plan.

  Her eyebrows go up as my suggestion registers. “You mean… reading it aloud?”

  “Sure. Unless...” I look into her pretty green eyes, then drop my gaze to her lips, lingering there for a moment before meeting her once again. Her eyes are wide, her nostrils flaring, her cheeks turning pink with a beautiful blush. “Unless you don’t think you’d enjoy that.”

  She glances at Hugh and I want to tell him to cool it on the lust-fueled looks, but then again, the scene in the book she’d been reading was not chaste in any sense, so maybe she likes the look he’s giving her.

  “Think he’ll do the book justice?” she asks him. “Or should we take our chances with the wildfire?”

  Hugh’s gaze flickers to me before going right back to Megan. “So long as he doesn’t have to do a Scottish accent, I think we’ll be good.”

  That makes her laugh, a quiet breathless sound, and I let my eyes go to the page. I clear my throat dramatically and begin.

  “‘You drive me wild, Meredith,’ Cormac growled as he pulled the lass against his chest. He wasn’t sure if he was more furious at her for running off, or thankful that she was safe after having rescued him from certain ambush. ‘You sneak past enemy lines, steal a horse, and then thrash one of my scouts upsi
de the head.’”

  I pause to add commentary. “Mmm… she sounds feisty.”

  Megan’s eyes sparkle, and I’m fairly certain Hugh isn’t even listening to me as he lays his hand on her hip. She glances down at his touch before looking back at me with a suggestive smile.

  “Keep reading,” she says, “and you’ll see just how feisty Meredith can be.”

  I pause for a moment to watch how Hugh’s fingers swirl in a gentle caress as he moves from her hip toward her waist, her shirt hem rising ever so slowly to reveal a tantalizing sliver of bare skin.

  Turning my attention back to the page, I keep going. “Meredith’s hand cups the man’s cheek, utterly trusting in his arms—she never found his strength terrifying. She loved it. ‘I didn’t exactly sneak past enemy lines,’ she admitted. His fingers dug into her hips as he pulled her even closer, crushing her bosom to his chest in the most delightful manner. ‘Did they touch you? I’ll cut off their hands.’”

  “Damn, he’s brutal,” I comment with a tone of approval. “I like this guy.”

  Megan laughs while Hugh nods solemnly and says, “Yep. Don’t be messing with a man’s lady. It’s a good way to lose a few appendages.”

  “Keep going,” Megan urges, lifting her chin toward the book. “You’re just getting to the good part.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I give her a sly grin then return my eyes to the page. “Meredith turned her gaze up, searching Cormac’s face, the moon reflecting in her eyes. It gave her the appearance of an ethereal fae, and she had enchanted him as if she had powers. ‘No, Cormac,’ she denied as she wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘The only one I want to touch me is you.’”

  “Let me guess,” Hugh interrupts. “He crushes his lips to hers before lavishing his masculine attention on every inch of her trembling body, their bodies locked together in rapture under the moonlight?”

  My twin’s voice is low and thrumming with desire as he speaks, and between me reading aloud and his husky tone, I can see we’re having quite the effect on Megan. Hugh’s leaning into her, hovering just inches from the bare skin along the hollow of her throat, breathing her in.