Play With Fire: Into The Fire Series

by J. H. Croix

  Lucy flashed a quick grin. “Well, let’s go then. We’ll swing by the station together and then I’ll take you to your car,” she said, standing from the table.

  “Don’t you need to work?”

  Lucy shook her head. “Nope. I called Amelia and told her I wouldn’t be in today. You’ve got me all day.”

  It felt good to be home, if only because I had friends like this. No matter what, I wasn’t worried any friend here would end up in bed with any guy I was seeing.

  Chapter Four

  Donovan

  Later the following afternoon, I leaned against one of the trucks at the station and tossed a rag into a bucket on the floor.

  “Well, that should be it for today,” I commented, glancing at Jesse who was leaning against the wall in the garage, guzzling a bottle of water.

  A voice called over from the other side of the truck. “I don’t know, Donovan, did you check the bearings over here?”

  The voice in question belonged to Emily Lane. She was our station employee who basically did everything.

  “Sure did, took care of it before you got here,” I returned, and Jesse grinned.

  All of us around the station treated Emily like our little sister. Jesse was about to marry Emily’s aunt, who had adopted Emily after her mother passed away. I pushed away from the truck and rounded to the other side. Emily was leaning over, scrubbing furiously at one of the tire rims.

  Her short dark hair was dyed with purple all over the tips. She looked up and grinned. “I knew they were done.”

  Her latest focus was learning about all things related to vehicle maintenance. Between Jesse, myself, and a few of the other guys on the crew, we’d taught her how to change the oil and a ton of other basic maintenance. She wanted to be a hotshot firefighter. She certainly had the personality for it, but she was too young at fifteen. As it was, Jesse already had to hold her back from begging to go out on local runs with us now.

  I shook my head with a laugh as she straightened and rested a hand on her hip.

  “Even if the bearings weren’t done, I’m done for the day. We’ve been dealing with equipment all day long,” I stated.

  “Same here. Come on. Charlie’s making dinner, so let’s get home on time,” Jesse said, as he rounded the fire truck. Charlie was his fiancée and one of the town’s doctors. She had him wrapped around her finger, but he seemed to love it.

  In between fires in the summer, we did all kinds of maintenance around the station. At Emily’s laugh, I turned away, snagging a water bottle off the bumper where I’d left it earlier and heading into the showers, the low hum of whatever she was saying to Jesse fading as I moved down the hallway.

  I was grimy and greasy. With the steaming water pounding over me, my mind spun in the direction of Jasmine Phillips. The delectable Jasmine had been dancing through my thoughts far more than I would’ve preferred today.

  I wondered what had brought her home to Willow Brook because Levi sure as hell seemed surprised to see her last night. While Levi and I were friends, prying for information about his little sister who had kissed me last night didn’t seem like the wisest plan.

  I shook my thoughts away from Jasmine, turned off the water, and headed to the lockers to get dressed. As I walked down the hall on my way out, someone called my name. Glancing around, I poked my head in the closest door, which happened to be Beck Steele’s office. He was leaning back in a chair with Levi sitting across from him.

  “Hey man,” Beck called.

  “Hey,” I replied, then stopped short.

  Jasmine, the very woman I’d been trying to kick out of my thoughts was sitting in a chair beside Levi. Lucy, Levi’s badass wife, was sitting beside him, laughing at something he’d said, Levi’s arm loosely draped over her shoulders.

  Beck caught my eyes. “Jasmine was just asking us where you were.”

  “Oh?” I countered, keeping my expression calm as I looked over at her.

  Just like last night, the first time I’d ever laid eyes on her, my body tightened in response. Today, she wore a baggy T-shirt and sweatpants with tennis shoes. Her hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders. The moment I saw it, all I could think was how badly I wanted to wind my hand around it and kiss her.

  Needless to say, with her older brother and Beck, one of the superintendents on another crew, as an audience, those thoughts would not be appreciated. When my eyes met hers, it felt as if a live wire came to life between us.

  I wondered if she even remembered kissing me last night. I sure as hell hadn’t forgotten. My lips burned now, just thinking about it. I nodded in her direction. You found me.”

  “I just wanted to thank you for giving me a ride to Levi’s last night,” she said, a pink flush cresting on her cheeks.

  “No problem.”

  Lucy looked up, casting a slight smile in my direction. I’d gotten to know her through my friendship with Levi, but damn, if the woman didn’t intimidate me. She wasn’t the friendliest sort and didn’t hesitate to tell anyone what she thought about anything. Just now though, she seemed relaxed and friendly.

  “Yes,” she said firmly. “Thank you. For that and then some.”

  I wondered if she knew a bit about Jasmine’s fight with the guy who’d grabbed her ass.

  Levi cast a quizzical glance Lucy’s way, but she ignored him. Rather than waiting around, I decided it was better to keep on moving for now. The longer I stayed in close proximity to Jasmine, the more my body responded. I lifted my hand in a wave. “Well, I’m headed out. If you ever need a ride again, just ask.”

  At that, I left. I was almost to my truck when I heard the door to the back of the station open and close. Turning around, I saw Jasmine walking briskly in my direction.

  She didn’t have a lick of makeup on and hadn’t done a thing to her hair. Yet, she was so fucking beautiful, she stole my breath for a beat. I stopped where I was, turning and resting my hips on the back bumper of my truck.

  “Donovan,” she called, when she was about halfway across the parking lot.

  “Yes?”

  She stopped in front of me, glancing up. “I wanted to thank you. Not just for the ride but …” Her cheeks flushed again. “Well, thanks for helping me out after I, uh, hit that guy. Sometimes I have a temper.”

  “Oh, I think he deserved that punch.”

  She grinned at that, and my heart thudded hard in response.

  “He did, didn’t he?”

  I chuckled. “I thought so. So did the bartender.”

  Her smile widened and then faded quickly. Even though I told myself it wasn’t smart, my curiosity about her kept expanding. “You make a habit of getting in bar fights?” I asked, a grin tugging at the corners of my mouth.

  Her cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of pink, and she rolled her eyes, catching the corner of her bottom lip in her teeth. The sight of her white teeth digging into the plump surface sent a hot jolt of need through me.

  “Um, I can’t say I make a habit of it. That’s the first time I actually hit somebody. I’ve definitely told people off. I had a little too much to drink.”

  “Right,” I said, my mind flashing to the feel of her lips against mine and that fingertip of fire tracing my mouth.

  We stood there, just looking at each other. I sensed she wanted to say more, but she didn’t. After a beat, and after a damn hard nudge in my mind, ordering my body to behave, I pushed away from my truck. “Well, I gotta go. I’m sure I’ll see you around if you’re staying in Willow Brook.”

  Jasmine nodded, stepping back and smiling slightly. “Thank you again.”

  I drove away, thinking I needed to steer clear of Jasmine. I wasn’t so sure Levi would appreciate just what my body thought of his little sister.

  There was that, and the fact I didn’t do relationships. I tried it once, and it had blown up in my face, rather spectacularly.

  Once was enough. That rule had worked well for me. Yet with Jasmine, somehow, I was tempted to break my rule.


  Chapter Five

  Jasmine

  Later that night, I looked across the table at Levi and rolled my eyes. “Oh, for God’s sake, Levi. So I kind of made a scene. But the guy grabbed my ass, like full-on. It pissed me off. If you don’t believe me, ask Donovan or the bartender. They both saw the whole thing.”

  Levi was standing at the stove, cooking. In their household, he was the cook. According to Levi, it was questionable if Lucy could even heat up soup properly.

  At the moment, she was glancing between us, but letting it play out. I took a sip of my wine and glared at him. “Who cares if I hit him? He’s obviously fine. I called the bartender today to ask.”

  “If somebody grabs your ass, they’re fair game. I just want to know why the hell you showed up, without telling anybody, and got three sheets to the wind,” Levi replied.

  I’d been dancing around this one with my brother because it was embarrassing as hell. I’d just walked back into Levi and Lucy’s house a few minutes ago after spending the afternoon with our parents. I’d already had to tell them what happened, and now, here I was, having to repeat it for the third time today.

  In our family, I tended to feel like the flaky loser. Levi was rock solid. He’d known what he wanted to do since he was in high school, and he’d done it. After being a bit of a flirt for a while, he’d settled down so thoroughly with Lucy, I was still sometimes kind of surprised by the whole thing.

  As I sat there, contemplating if I wanted to tell him the whole sordid story, Ham came scurrying into the kitchen. He paused and looked around at the kitchen, first scampering over to Levi. Ham was officially the most spoiled hamster in the universe, according to Lucy. I’d given Ham to Levi a few years ago, telling him he needed the company. It turned out to be a good call for Ham. He ran loose in the house, and Levi loved him. Case in point, the moment Ham started sniffing Levi’s bare foot, Levi leaned over and offered him a carrot slice from a bowl of chopped veggies he kept on the counter for this express purpose. As Ham chowed down, Levi looked over at me, waiting.

  “Fine,” I huffed. Third time today, it is.

  As I summarized the events, Levi straightened, his eyes narrowing, while he waited for me to finish. “Then, of course, I had to go back to work. I got fired because I called Lisa out for screwing Glen, in front of some customers.”

  Lucy chimed in. “Totally the best move on your part. She deserved the public humiliation.”

  Levi returned to the stir-fry he was making on the stove. “That fucking asshole. I always thought he was jerk. I’m sorry that it happened, but better to have it happen now than later,” he said flatly.

  Looking over at Levi, I bit back my retort. He’d told me before he thought Glen was an idiot. Just now, my reflexive defensiveness rose sharply. But what was the point in defending Glen now? He certainly hadn’t been considering my feelings when he was dick-deep in Lisa.

  I’d always felt slightly out of place, both in my family and in Willow Brook. Not completely, but it was what it was. Art was my thing, and I’d wanted a chance to see the big, bad world. When I got accepted into the art program in San Francisco, it had been a dream come true. The thing Levi hadn’t liked about Glen was that he was pretentious. I’d never admitted to Levi that I agreed with him. Glen was pretentious. I’d overlooked that annoying character flaw, thinking he would grow past it.

  I took a gulp of my wine. “So you were right,” I finally replied. “I hope you feel good about it.”

  Levi stopped stirring. “I don’t feel good about it at all, Jazzy. It’s a good thing he doesn’t live here, or I’d kick his fucking ass. That’s bullshit. Fucking around on you is not okay. Not that I would’ve been happy if he had broken up with you, because you seemed to care about him, but that would’ve been a much better option than this.”

  My heart ached, and my throat felt tight. I was still so angry, I couldn’t think too clearly about Glen. Yet, I knew as much as it hurt, that I’d dodged a bullet.

  “I didn’t mean to snap at you,” I said with a sigh. “It was just so shitty, and I’m tired.”

  “What’s your plan?” Levi asked.

  He was now the fourth person who’d asked me this question today—Lucy, both of my parents, and now Levi. It wasn’t as if the question was a surprise. I just hated it because I didn’t have an answer. I needed to have a plan to answer it.

  Lucy must’ve picked up on something on my face because she looked over to Levi. “Hey, she’s got some downtime. She just caught her fiancé screwing her friend, and she lost her job. I sure as hell wouldn’t have a plan yet.”

  Levi’s gaze cut to her. I didn’t know what passed between them, but when he looked back at me, his gaze was softer. I adored my brother, but he could be overprotective and opinionated when it came to me.

  Ham had left the kitchen, but he conveniently returned, distracting Levi. Levi leaned over and gave him another carrot slice.

  “I forgot how funny it is to see you with him,” I commented with a laugh.

  Lucy chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I know, right? I was thinking we could get a dog, but Levi’s worried the dog won’t like Ham.”

  Levi glanced over, his expression serious. “Hey, I didn’t say we couldn’t get a dog, just that we need to make sure we find a dog who likes Ham.”

  That made me laugh so hard, I almost cried. Lucy was right there with me. Levi, being the good sport he was, merely shrugged and took it in stride.

  In a few minutes, he was serving us dinner, and conversation moved onto more lighthearted topics. I fell asleep later that night, thinking it was actually good to be home. I had friends in San Francisco, even good friends, but Willow Brook was where I felt most at home.

  I was a small-town girl and probably always would be. I just had to figure out how to have the life I wanted here. As I fell asleep, my mind flashed to Donovan. In the clear light of day, he’d been even more handsome than my tipsy memories had recalled.

  His piercing hazel eyes and that almost black hair, paired with his rock-hard body, were a potent combination. Lying in bed alone, a shiver raced through me. Even though it didn’t make a lick of sense, I wanted to know more about him.

  Chapter Six

  Donovan

  A few days had passed since I’d crossed paths with Jasmine. I’d seen her from a distance, stopping by a store on Main Street to get gas. Despite my passing connection to her, she’d burrowed into my damn brain.

  I kept recalling the feel of her mouth under mine, and her fingertip blazing like fire on my lips. Since I’d moved to Willow Brook, I’d come to like the little town. I’d grown up a southern boy in the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia. I’d loved the mountains; the heat, not so much. I’d moved to Alaska from Northern California after completing my hotshot training there and spending a few years on a crew in that area. Things went south for personal reasons, and I’d been hunting for a job on a hotshot crew elsewhere. When the job opened up here, I jumped at the chance.

  It was hard to beat the wilderness in Alaska, and I damn near loved it. Now that I’d been here a while, I’d come to a sort of peace. The truth was, I’d come here to get away. It might be a cliché, but sometimes you need a change of scenery, and I sure as hell had.

  That evening, as I left the station, the sun was setting, but there was still some light on the horizon. I swung by Wildlands because I often headed there after work. It was a go-to place for the guys on the crews from Willow Brook Fire & Rescue, and it was an easy place to kick back and forget.

  I snagged a beer and a table in the corner. My eyes caught the back of a man’s head as he turned, and for a flash, I thought it was my friend Bill. Wildlands was the kind of place Bill would’ve liked to frequent. But Bill wasn’t here, and we hadn’t spoken in over three years. He’d been my oldest friend and then he wasn’t anymore.

  Just that moment, nothing more than a flash of time, and there was a sharp burn on my heart. Loss was a strange thing. You got used to it. It was like s
omething broke and healed a little crooked. Perhaps you could use it just the same, but it always felt a little off, and you had to work around it. The shape of it morphed and changed—smaller and larger at different points in time, but always there.

  After the moment I thought of Bill and then managed to get past it, Jasmine came walking in the back. She wore jeans and those cowboy boots again, this time paired with a deep blue blouse. The dark amber fall of her hair contrasted against the blue.

  Looking at her across the room, I realized why she unsettled me so. I could own that I thought she was damn beautiful and sexy as all hell. I could acknowledge the wrinkle of a complication that she was the little sister of a friend. But what threw me was there was only one other woman who’d called to me like her. The pull I felt to Jasmine was raw and elemental, under the surface and beyond my control. The power of it cast a long shadow over the only woman who’d hurt me.

  That woman? Well, she not only stomped on my heart, but she tore my best friend and me apart. Bill and I had yet to mend the rupture in our friendship, although lately the pain of the betrayal had dulled enough I thought it might be possible.

  I liked to think that the man I was now would’ve seen her for who she was back then. Yet, the physical attraction to her had been so strong, I couldn’t see past it. In hindsight, I’d say it was mostly lust. But when you’re young and you’re a man, lust cracks the whip.

  I told myself not to watch Jasmine, but that was damn impossible. There was something burning in her, a reckless edge. It worried me slightly and tugged at every protective instinct I had. She strode to the bar and the eyes of every man in the room tracked her. At least, every man that wasn’t with another woman.