Into the Flames (Jupiter Point Book 3)

by Jennifer Bernard

  "Wrong? What do you mean?"

  "After I aced shop, all the boys figured I was one of them. I completely lost my air of mystery." She twinkled at him. "Such as it was."

  "See?" He caught her wrist. "That. Why do you do that? You downplay yourself." He tugged on her arm until they were nearly chest to chest. He took her chin in his hands and tilted her face so he could watch the starlight illuminate her skin. "You make yourself out to be some kind of run-of-the-mill person. Nothing special. I don't like it."

  She ran her tongue across her lips. It was probably a nervous gesture, not a seductive one, but it had a striking effect on his cock. "I know what I am. Who I am."

  "Yeah? Who are you, then?"

  She shrugged. "I'm…nobody. Nobody spectacular. I'm a hard worker with a green thumb. My whole life has been completely normal. Nothing special at any point along the way. Want to know the most special thing about me?"

  "Sure. Shoot."

  "I was best friends with the most beautiful girl in town."

  He shook his head, not putting it together.

  "Evie," she said impatiently. "Evie McGraw. About to marry Sean Marcus, remember her?"

  "Of course I know Evie. Jesus. Yes, she's very attractive." Evie, with her long brown hair and sage-green, silver eyes, her quiet smile and slim poise, was definitely a looker.

  "Did you know there's graffiti written about her on the wall of the police station? An epic poem about how beautiful she is. Her pearly teeth and other stuff. No one would ever write graffiti about me."

  He tried not to laugh. "But—she's no Brianna. Around you, I wouldn't notice her."

  To his surprise, her eyes filled with tears. "Don't do that," she whispered.

  "Do what? Did I offend you?"

  "Don't pretend I'm something I'm not. Don't try to make me feel better. I am who I am and I'm fine with that. Mostly."

  It was that last word that did him in. He cradled her head between his palms and made sure her eyes met his. "I won't have it, Bri. I won't. If you're so ordinary, why couldn't I take my eyes off you all night? Why is the first thought I have in the morning whether you'll be coming by to work on my damn pond? Why do I want to throttle Finn when I see him chatting you up?"

  Her eyes were wide as her apple pies. "You do?"

  "Hell yes, I do. Finn's my friend, but he doesn't deserve you, Brianna Gallagher. He doesn't appreciate you. I know I promised to help you catch his eye, but I'm not doing that anymore. Screw Finn."

  Her throat muscles rippled as she swallowed hard a few times. "The thing is…I think I'm over that silly crush."

  "You are? What makes you think that?"

  "Well…it seems that…you're the one I keep thinking about. Not Finn. But I know I shouldn't because you—" She broke off, biting her lip as if holding something back.

  "Because you think I have a thing for Merry?" Rollo brushed his thumbs across her cheekbones. "I never really did, you know. Maybe during the fire season, but it was long over by that night at the Seaview."

  "It was? Then why did you want me to set you up with her?"

  "I didn't. That was your idea. Remember? I was kind of humoring you." He grinned at her. It felt so good just to be with her alone like this in the moonlight.

  She gave him a playful swat on the chest, then took his hand to lead him across the yard to the shadowy outbuildings. "Humoring me? You're going to pay for that."

  He paced next to her. Her hand in his gave him such a feeling of rightness. "I already paid. I had to watch you flirting with Finn."

  "And I had to watch you mooning over Merry!"

  "Mooning? I never mooned."

  "You mooned." She reached around him and slapped him on the rear. "Holy crap, Rollo. You're all muscle. You're like iron."

  Hot, sweet lust shot through him. Suddenly none of the reasons to stay away from Brianna made any sense. He wanted her. Plain and simple. "You touched my butt. You know what that means."

  "No idea."

  Keeping her hand in his, he swung her so they were face to face. Then he drew her closer, so their fronts brushed against each other. Her eyes met his, filled with light and fire. "Trouble. Big, big trouble."

  Fire seemed to ripple between them, the kind of flame it was impossible to resist. He sure couldn't. He didn't stand a chance. Into the flames he went, into the heat and light and joy.

  She met him there, and all of a sudden they were all over each other, running their hands up and down each other's bodies. Inhaling, nuzzling, nibbling. He drew up her mini-dress, found the waistband of her tights. Felt her skin jump in response to his touch. He wanted to reach inside and touch her right there in her family's backyard.

  Luckily, she drew back before he totally lost his cool. "Come on," she whispered. "I'll show you the barn."

  The barn. Sounded good to him. Any enclosed space would do. He followed her across the yard toward a vaulted structure that looked too tidy to be a barn.

  "My mother uses it as a studio," she whispered as they slipped inside. Without a light on, he couldn't see much, just empty space with a few easels set up in the corners. "Honestly, she's terrible at painting, but she has fun and I actually find that quite inspiring. She doesn't care what other people think about her painting, all that matters is that she enjoys it. Don't you think that's pretty cool, really?"

  "Are you babbling?"

  "Of course I'm babbling. I'm nervous. I don't know what's going on here."

  "I don't know either," he admitted. "I just know I want you like crazy. I can't seem to stop."

  She stared at him in the dimness. Then she surprised him by leaping into his arms, which he managed to fling open just in time to catch her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tilted her face up for a kiss. He consumed her mouth with a hunger that shocked him. Her body writhed against his. Her strength outpaced her size, so she no longer seemed tiny to him. She seemed fierce and determined and just as lusty as he was.

  "I was wondering if you'd ever kiss me again," she whispered between rapid pants. "I thought you decided it was a mistake. I thought we were never going to talk about it again."

  "I don't know, it might be a mistake," he muttered. "I can't lose you. You're too important to me."

  "Why would you lose me because of a kiss?"

  "If I have my way, this will go way past kissing," he growled. To prove his point, he cupped her breasts through her dress, brushing his thumbs across the hard points already pressing against the fabric. "Oh man. You're driving me crazy here."

  She arched her back, hanging on to him with her legs, sheer pleasure lighting up her face as he teased her nipples. "That feels so good," she said in a crooning voice. "Your whole body feels incredible. I want to see you naked."

  His cock jumped. She reacted with a full-body tremor. "You're playing with fire, Bri." He ground his erection against the sweet, hot space between her thighs and watched another shudder travel through her. He couldn't wait to see her come, to see her skin turn pink, her body shake with ecstasy. He wanted her in his bed, naked, all night, all week, all month, all—

  Voices sounded from outside. "I'm so flattered, my dear. You know I'm not a real artist. It's only a hobby and I never pretend otherwise. But I do love my dabble time, as I call it. There's nothing quite so relaxing."

  Brianna jumped out of his arms and landed like a cat several feet away. She straightened her dress, then leaned against the wall and folded her arms, the picture of innocence.

  Rollo reacted more slowly; lust still rampaged through him. He shoved his hands in his pockets to hide his raging erection and sent up a little prayer that it would work.

  The light flashed on. He blinked in the sudden brightness.

  "My goodness, I didn't know anyone was in here!" Mrs. Gallagher swept in, followed by Evie and Suzanne. The two younger women caught on immediately.

  Suzanne bit her lip, her blue eyes brimming with mischief. "Enjoying a little dabble time, Bri? Wouldn't it be easier with the lights on?" />
  Evie took in Rollo's painful situation with one quick glance and stepped between him and Mrs. Gallagher, blocking her line of sight. "Oh, but it's such a peaceful space. Even better in starlight, I imagine."

  He cleared his throat. "We…uh…couldn't find the light switch."

  "Totally understandable," Suzanne teased. "Since it's on the wall, not on Bri's—"

  "Oh my gosh, look at that landscape!" Evie interrupted. She crossed to the big easel in the corner. "I should mount it in my gallery."

  "Really?" Mrs. Gallagher frowned at the very rudimentary painting of the promontory called Jupiter Point. "I just started that one yesterday."

  "Is that right? You'd never guess," Evie said. "Suzanne, come look at this use of color." She reached back for Suzanne's wrist and yanked her along with them.

  "You mean green?" Suzanne rolled her eyes.

  As soon as everyone's backs were turned, Brianna and Rollo rushed to fix themselves up. Rollo turned toward the wall and visualized buckets of ice cubes falling on his head. Brianna adjusted her dress, patted her hair, fixed the angle of her beanie.

  "This isn't over," he mouthed to her when he was presentable.

  "What?" she mouthed back. God, her mouth…all pink and plump from his kiss. He dragged his gaze away so he didn't get hard all over again.

  "You don't have to whisper." They spun around to see Mrs. Gallagher shaking her head at them. "We busted you fair and square."

  Brianna turned red. Back at the easel, Suzanne quaked with silent laughter, until Evie flicked her on the arm to make her stop.

  Mrs. Gallagher gave the two of them a conspiratorial wink. "Your secret's safe with us. Right, girls?"

  "Well…" Suzanne began.

  "Completely safe," the older woman repeated firmly.

  Reason number two hundred and five why Brianna was so cool. Her mother.

  17

  Brianna stayed to help with the cleanup. By the time it was done, she was too exhausted to drive back to her little cabin in the valley. Curled up in the window seat of her childhood bedroom, she watched the moon rise over the Gallagher farm. Like many native Jupiter Pointers, she knew her way around the night sky. She recognized Castor and Pollux, the two bright stars holding up one end of the Gemini constellation. Sirius sparkled with particular intensity just above the tree line. She'd always loved watching the stars because of their purity and stillness. Change came slowly to the night sky, unlike the world of plants.

  And unlike her personal life.

  What the heck was going on with Rollo? First they were friends, then they were mutual matchmakers, then he was completely off-limits…and now they were making out in her mother's studio? Her head was spinning.

  Kissing Rollo was beyond anything she'd experienced. It was fireworks and starlight. It was like a dream. But now she was awake. Wide awake, staring up at the open patch of moonlit yard and remembering everything Sidney had told her.

  Rollo had a duty to his family. He wasn’t destined for someone like her. He had a different life to live and it couldn't possibly include a tomboy gardener who liked to cross-pollinate tomato varieties. He’d mentioned his family situation before, but she hadn’t really paid attention. She hadn’t understood what it really meant until Sidney had explained it.

  Now that she knew, there was no question in her mind. No matter how much she wanted Rollo, she had to stay away.

  So when he called her the next day, she told him she had a meeting with a new client. The next day, she informed him that she was spending the day in her sadly neglected greenhouse.

  The day after that, Rollo texted her that he was going hunting for a few days with Sean Marcus and that Sidney was tagging along for the experience. Brianna breathed a big sigh of relief and used the opportunity to finish digging the koi pond.

  If Rollo was around, she'd want to make out with him some more. This way, she could just think about him every few minutes.

  After the hole was completed, she ordered some specialized plumbing parts and the rubber liner. Since they were going to take a few days to arrive, she fired off a text to Rollo updating him on the status of the pond. She included links for some koi vendors so he could start picking his favorite varieties. Quite possibly he didn’t care and would just roll his eyes. But she was a professional and she always gave her clients a chance to state their preferences.

  She went to work on other projects, congratulating herself on her quick recovery from her attraction to someone off-limits.

  Then Rollo texted that he was back from his hunting trip. Come over for venison stew and we'll talk koi. And other stuff.

  Just seeing his name on her phone screen gave her a rush of excitement.

  Face it, she was nowhere near recovered from this attraction. But she could still be professional. Koi. Koi. Just focus on the koi.

  She spent a ridiculous amount of time sorting through outfits before reminding herself that this was Rollo and he knew exactly how pathetic her wardrobe was. So she stuck with a clean pair of jeans and a turtleneck sweater in nubby oatmeal cotton. In the catalogue it had looked cute, but on her body it looked a little like upholstery.

  It's just Rollo, she reminded herself. She had no business getting nervous about seeing Rollo. Just be cool, like everything's normal. Like you're the great friends that you always have been. Focus on the koi.

  She brought a bottle of red wine and some late Brussels sprouts she'd harvested from her parents' farm. When he opened the door and she got a full dose of the man, butterflies flew right into her throat and she could barely say “hi.” He wore a hand-knit sweater in a deep forest green that set off the clear blue-gray of his eyes. His skin had the kind of color that meant he'd been spending time outside. Her hands itched to feel the soft bushiness of his beard. He smelled like he’d been tromping through the woods. Like autumn leaves and open air and…

  "You smell like mulch," she blurted. Then turned red. Oh no. Was the awkwardness with Finn now transferring to Rollo? "I mean, in a good way. Rotted leaves make great mulch. Pine needles are too acidic, so they aren't great mulch, but you smell like them too."

  He regarded her kindly, with no hint of laughter. "I'm really happy to see you too, Bri," he said gravely. "I missed you."

  "I missed you too." She longed to hurl herself at him and feel his big broad chest against hers. Get a grip, girl. Focus on the koi. "Of course, I've been really busy with the koi pond so I haven't had a lot of time to think about you or what happened at Thanksgiving. You know, how we almost…"

  Cringing, she raised the grocery bag so it blocked her face.

  "Do you think you could erase the last few minutes?" she begged from behind the bag. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I brought Brussels sprouts. And wine. Do you think maybe we could—"

  "Say no more." Rollo plucked the bag from her grasp and pulled out the bottle. "I'll open this up. You take charge of the Brussels sprouts because I have absolutely no clue how to cook little green balls. I'll pour you a glass of wine."

  She nearly collapsed with relief as he disappeared into the kitchen. It was nerves, that was all. Because she hadn't seen him since their make-out session. He brought her a glass of wine and they sat next to each other on his couch. Brianna with one knee bent under her, Rollo with his long legs askew. "Where's Sidney?"

  "At the movies with Finn. She says hi."

  "Oh." And just like that, all the tension came back. She was alone in Rollo's house with him. On his couch. And he smelled so good. And there was wine. She took a long swallow.

  "Focus on the koi," she muttered to herself.

  "Excuse me?"

  "Koi. We should talk about the koi."

  "Yes, we'll get to that. But there's something else I wanted to talk about."

  Oh no. He probably wanted to rehash what had happened at Thanksgiving. If they started talking about kissing, she'd want to do it all over again. Already the flame of desire was sparking in her lower belly. Just his nearness did that to her.
<
br />   "I should get the Brussels sprouts into a pan," she said quickly. "Be right back." She jumped up and fled to the kitchen. "I don't know why these little guys have such a bad rep," she called to him. "They're best on a grill, but even sautéed in butter they're amazing. Just wait, you'll take back your 'little green ball' dig."

  "Oh really?"

  She jumped. He was right behind her. How could such a big guy move so quietly? "Geez, Rollo. Surprise a girl, why don't you?"

  "Sorry. Just checking the stew." He lifted the lid on the big cast iron pot on the back burner. Rich, fragrant steam wafted into the air. "And wondering what just happened."

  "What do you mean? I came to check on the little green balls." She gave the sizzling Brussels sprouts another poke.

  He ground pepper into the stew, then added a splash of his wine. "I don't believe you. You were running away."

  "That's silly. Why would I run away after coming over for dinner?"

  "That's what I'm trying to figure out." His curious blue-gray gaze was too much for her. He looked so attentive and focused, as if he was seeing her for the first time and she deserved careful study.

  She poured herself another glass of wine and hurried back to the couch.

  He followed her more slowly. The cushions sank from the weight of his big body. His big, powerful, well-muscled, gorgeous… Oh my God. What was she supposed to focus on? Whatever it was, she'd forgotten it completely.

  "Do you like this wine?" she asked desperately. "I googled what kind of wine goes best with venison stew. That's why I got this Cabernet. I'm not really a wine expert because I'm such a lightweight. I never have a chance to enjoy the taste because I get buzzed so quickly."

  He leaned closer and lifted her wine glass from her hand and set it on a box of books he still hadn't unpacked. "Okay, that's it. What's going on? You have something on your mind."

  "Of course I do." She scooted a little farther away from him on the couch. "I have lots of things on my mind. For instance, I'm anxious to hear about your hunting trip. What'd you bag? Three point? Six point? Where'd you guys go? Who got the first deer? Is it hard to kill a deer? I don't think I could do it, their eyes are too soulful. I'd be haunted for the rest of my life."