And his shoulder really burned.
He turned, spotted Skye standing outside her booth, as if she might dive into the fray. Oh yeah, Tucker would have been thrilled about that. But she had guts—Riley had to give her that.
Seth and Romeo and the other guys picked up chairs, offered a few apologies.
Riley caught Larke’s gaze on him, an unreadable expression on her face. He offered a smile, and she raised an eyebrow, reaching for a napkin as he walked over.
“You have a little blood there, tough guy.” She pressed it against the side of his mouth, and his hand caught hers.
“It’s nothing.” Except he could use a little ice for his shoulder, maybe.
“You took a pretty hard shot there,” she said, reaching for his shoulder. “Want me to take a look at it?”
He shrugged, despite the fire churning through the muscle. “Naw. Just a war wound. It’ll be fine.” He winked.
A shadow fell through her eyes, a flicker that had him frowning. Then she gave a little giggle that sounded completely fake, and nodded.
Huh.
It stabbed inside him another spur of unease. Because the second he had met Larke ten days ago, he’d wanted to see nothing but her smile, the way she flirted with him before they deployed, the suggestion that she’d be at the ranch waiting—for what, he wasn’t sure, but yes, he had a few hopes.
In truth, Riley wanted Larke to be the kind of girl he might easily forget, someone to ease away the ache of today, the last week—honestly, this entire lousy year.
Problem was, he could hardly get her off his brain the entire deployment—the first sign of disaster—and now that he was back, with Larke looking up at him with a smile he just wanted to devour, wearing a black tank top that showed off all her curves, with her fingers looped into the beltloops of his jeans, yeah, he was on his way to making a serious, delicious memory.
Except…the shadow. The fact that he’d glimpsed something inside that suggested Larke had her own hollow spaces.
And shoot, if it didn’t ignite all the protective, run-into-danger instincts that only got him into trouble.
Riley could very easily get his heart broken if he didn’t keep this night easy, fun, and his heart at arm’s length.
To his great relief, Larke blinked away the shadow and grinned up at him, stepping closer. “Play us a song.”
No problem. She let him go, and he headed over to the jukebox. They had nothing in this century on the ancient music machine, but he found something he recognized and popped it on.
Redbone. “Come and Get Your Love.” Thank you, Guardians of the Galaxy.
He waggled his finger at her, and she sauntered over to the dance floor, put her arms around his neck. “I love this song.”
And probably she was telling the truth because the tiny Alaskan town of Copper Mountain had the sum of one decent bar and grill, and he had no doubt she’d spun on this dance floor a few times.
A girl with her long white-blonde hair and laughter certainly couldn’t have been hard up for attention with all the wildlife around here.
A couple of his cronies joined them on the dance floor, and he spotted a man—some tourist with blond hair cut behind his ears—saunter over to Skye’s table with intentions on his face. And okay, maybe Riley had a little Tucker in him because he tried not to but did size the guy up, watching as he talked to Skye.
Let his breath out just a smidgen when another guy dragged him away from her booth and out the door.
Romeo took his place, reaching for her chili fries, and Riley let it go. She was safe with the rookie.
“Dancing Queen” had come on, and he felt a little silly, so he took Larke’s hand and dragged her back to the bar. He noticed his guys leaving and glanced at her.
“We can take my bike home,” she said, winking.
He had to like a girl who drove a motorcycle.
“You sure you don’t want me to look at that shoulder? You’re favoring it.”
He was?
“I was a medic in the army. I can spot an injured soldier who’s trying to be tough.”
“I—” He made a face. “I fell on it a couple days ago, and I think I might have knocked it out of joint.”
“C’mon. Let’s go back to the ranch and we’ll get some ice on it.”
He stepped in closer. “Or, heat?”
She laughed, pressed a hand to his chest, right over his heart. “Heat is only going to inflame it. It might make it feel better, but it’ll only make it worse.”
Indeed.
He really didn’t want to care.
But, as she took his hand and led him from the bar to the parking lot, as she kicked her bike free, handed him an extra helmet, and climbed on the bike, he couldn’t escape the idea that she was right.
No matter how good it might make him feel, the heat would probably only make it worse.
He settled his hands on her hips, holding on as she motored him into the burning sunset.
* * *
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Light My Fire
Published by SDG Publishing
Copyright © 2018 by Susan May Warren
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.
Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations are also taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc®. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
For more information about Susan May Warren, please access the author’s website at the following address: www.susanmaywarren.com.
Published in the United States of America.
The Heat is On: Christian romantic suspense (Summer of the Burning Sky Book 2) Page 14
