by Hart, Taylor
“Yeah, whatever.” Looking totally put out, the guy trudged quickly out of the water.
She tried to follow, but slicing pain went through the bottom of her foot. “Ouch!” She yanked her foot out of the water and held it up, seeing a medium-sized piece of glass stuck in the arch of her foot. Blood oozed around the wound. “Dang it.”
Suddenly, he was there. Without asking, he picked her up, and if she had been in a romantic mood, she would have noticed it wasn’t hard for him to pick her up. In fact, it seemed like she weighed nothing in his arms. “Nice one.” He looked at the blood.
“My shoe got stuck, and I had to take it off to get loose.”
He didn’t say a word, just got to the beach where it was clear and put her down, taking her foot into his hands.
Again, he didn’t ask for her permission. She didn’t look, just flinched as he worked. Within what felt like only a few seconds, she felt a sharp pain as if something bit her hard. “Oh my gosh.”
Holding up a long piece of glass with blood on it, he quickly discarded it and then looked at the bottom of her foot. “When was the last time you had a tetanus booster?”
She frowned, thinking about the needle she’d stepped on the last time she’d searched for her sister under that darn druggie bridge in Denver. “Surprisingly, I had one last week.”
Grimacing, he held her foot into the air, surveying it like he was a doctor. She wondered if he was a doctor, given the take-charge way he had about him. Reluctantly, she acknowledged the fact that he would be the hottest doctor she’d ever met. Then she frowned as she thought about how she was going to walk back to her car.
Seeming to read her thoughts, he looked at her. “Where are you parked?”
She shrugged. “At the bottom of the trail.”
Making the decision before talking to her, he moved to her side. “I’m going to pick you up and carry you to your car, okay? But I’m going to go get my shoes on first.” He bolted away, and she watched him run at full speed up a path on the side of the mountain.
She wanted to tell off the beautiful, take-charge man, who she absolutely didn’t like on the grounds that he was bossy, but realistically she was in no shape to walk to her car. She settled for quietly saying, “Okay.”
He was back in just a few minutes and expertly scooped her up in his arms. “Put your arms around my neck.” He commanded.
Then they were off. He moved with ease, strong enough to easily carry her up through the rocks. It wasn’t too steep on this side, and it didn’t seem that difficult for him. She smelled a light scent of cologne on his neck. Or was that aftershave? She didn’t know, and it had been so long since she’d been this close to a man. She didn’t know if she was getting lightheaded because of her foot or because of him. “My clothes and backpack …”
He stopped at the top of the cliff and put her on a rock then ran over and collected her stuff.
When he got back, he efficiently put her socks and shoes on her. As he laced her boots, he said, “I think the protection is good for your foot right now to get you home, but when you get home, you need to go to a doctor or you need to clean it thoroughly and use bandages and an antibiotic ointment. Keep it clean and dry for at least a couple of days.”
It felt like he was a real doctor, and she was a little kid. Once again, the only thing she could do was say, “Okay.”
She didn’t like feeling this vulnerable, but she couldn’t decide if she hated it either. There was a goodness about the man. He seemed to be in his mid to late twenties, obviously strong. A million questions went through her mind. What was he doing here? Was he local? What was his job?
Picking her back up, he took off into a jog. Even with the addition of her backpack, his breathing didn’t really change. Luckily, it wasn’t that far to the bottom of the trail. Okay, it was a couple of miles, but she was pretty sure this guy could have carried her down and then back up and then down again and he still wouldn’t have been out of breath. Who was he?
Holding tightly to him, she thought about how she hadn’t felt this cared for or protected in a long time. Probably since before her father died. She remembered herself on her father’s shoulders as they stood in the living room, her mother snapping a picture. She’d been small, only eight or nine, but she vividly remembered her mother’s smiling face and her father's booming laugh. She had loved feeling so tall, almost powerful with them there literally supporting her.
Pain ripped through her chest, and she pushed away all thoughts of the car wreck, all thoughts of her littlest sister being dragged away from her in the middle of the night. That had been a long time ago, but it still haunted her dreams.
Focusing on holding tightly to his neck, she felt him grip her closer as he ran faster and faster.
Truly, she was in awe at his physical capacity to carry her. And since neither of them had a lot of clothes on, it felt … intimate.
Once they reached the bottom of the mountain, she pointed in the direction of her car.
When he got there, he asked, “Can you navigate this the rest of the way home?”
She nodded and tried to get out of his grasp.
He tightened his hold. “Seriously, I don’t mind following you and making sure you get home okay.”
Okay, she was done being babied. “I’m fine.” She grunted and pushed hard away from him.
His arms loosened, and he gently let her down onto her feet.
As soon as she put pressure on that foot, she stumbled. Unable to believe how much it really did hurt, she cursed.
“Are you okay?” He reached out to her. She got off balance trying to avoid him and landed flat on her bum.
Irritation surged through her.
He didn’t comment, just reached out a hand.
She stayed on her bum letting out a slight laugh.
He stood there with his hand out. “Why don’t you get up, and we’ll get you home.”
“Why are you talking to me like that?”
He looked confused.
“Like you know best and like … this is all so typical for you.”
Lifting his eyebrows, he let out a breath. “Why’d you jump off those cliffs?”
“’Cause I wanted to.”
“And do you always take such risks with your life?”
Getting her angst back, she tried to stand. “Do you?”
“What?” He looked floored.
“If you didn’t notice, you jumped too.”
“Oh.” He clearly dismissed the threat to his own life.
“See, you did it too.”
Then, before she knew what happened, the side of his lip tugged up, and it looked like he wanted to smile. Unfortunately, that one hint of humor vanished all too quickly.
She wondered why her heart beat so rapidly and couldn’t decide if it was because of this stupid situation or this stupid guy. Deciding it just might be the stupid guy, she smiled.
“What?” he asked and took a step closer to her. Their eyes met and butterflies pounded through her gut.
“Nothing, I just … You’re handsome.” She froze. Had those words really come out of her mouth?
The tone and look in his eyes got serious. Looking concerned, his big eyebrows dipped together. He flipped some keys out of his pocket. “C’mon. I’ll give you a ride home. You look pale.”
“No.” She put her pack down, extracted the keys, and unlocked her Hyundai Elantra. She slipped her pack in the back, but she did feel weak, which wasn’t normal for her. “My blood sugar is probably just low. I haven’t eaten since lunch.”
It was almost seven-thirty because she’d come straight after work, unable to do anything else except be out in nature. She tried to smile at him and put out of her mind the fact he was so handsome and he had literally come to her rescue. “I don’t like being the damsel in distress, but thank you.”
He just stood there, not moving.
She tried to get past him, limping on her foot.
He got in her way. “I
don’t care if you want help or not. You need it, so I’m helping you.”
Blame it on the blood loss, the adrenaline, or the fact that she felt more than a little bit like the princess in a fairy. For whatever reason, the fierce look in his eyes did something to her. Before she knew what she’d done, she slipped her hands onto his bare chest and leaned up, touching her lips gently to his.
Bam. Boom. It was like feeling fireworks. It was nothing like she’d ever felt before. His hands gripped her waist and pulled her to him.
The kiss deepened.
She’d never felt such physical strength in a man before, and never had any kiss been so intoxicating. So blatant about claiming her. So addicting that she wanted more already.
Abruptly, he pulled back and stared at her like he’d just woken up. Mesmerized.
She did the only thing she could think to do. She reared back and slapped him.
Pulling back his hands, he took two steps back, looking stung.
She wanted to die.
“Why did you do that?” he asked, holding his cheek.
But she daren’t answer, getting into the car and peeling out, letting the dust cover her sins in her taillight as she raced back to her cabin.
3
“Why am I going to this BBQ?” Damon walked next to his youngest brother Nick, the brother he’d always been closest to. The brother who had flown out to Boston and dragged him out of that pit of a room, packed a couple boxes of his stuff, and brought him back to Park City last week. The brother who had made it right with Captain Castro, who had made it right with the Fire Chief here. They had hired him immediately, grandfathering him in from the time Damon spent the summer as a volunteer firefighter the summer before he left for Harvard. Captain Castro knew about the investigation, knew the whole ugly story. He’d also known their father and mother, had been there through the accident with his mom, and had taken an interest in the Freestone boys. He’d been the one who’d offered Damon a job when he was eighteen.
The Chief was doing him a favor, and Captain Castro had put his reputation on the line to pull that favor. The only thing Damon knew was that he hated favors. It seemed like you always needed to pay them at the wrong time. He’d learned long ago on his old squad—you didn’t do many favors unless it was with the people you trusted most. Although he trusted Captain Castro, Damon knew secrets around a fire department always had a way of getting out.
“Does Luke even know I’m going to be here? You haven’t told him about everything, have you?”
Nick ignored him.
Cars were lined up the mountain driveway to the mansion house his brother Luke owned. Luke had taken over their father’s businesses—his law firm, the real estate, all of it. There’d been a portion of money set aside for each brother, but the business was Luke’s. Had really been Luke’s since Damon had walked away from Harvard.
A dry taste settled in his mouth as Damon thought about having to face Luke. Three years ago at his father’s funeral, it hadn’t ended well between them.
“So how were your first couple shifts at the FD?”
“Fine.”
Nick didn’t let him off the hook. “How are you?”
It pissed Damon off that he felt like he had to coddle him. “Fine.”
Nick let out a sigh. “Listen, I know you have problems, okay? I’m your brother. And I don’t care. We all got crap to handle. You don’t think I’ve seen my fair share of crap on the force and haven’t had to go to Father Hansen and confess my guts out to make me feel better?”
Damon didn’t want to admit he’d been so selfish as to not even think about it. So he mimicked Nick in a patronizing way. “You okay?”
Giving him an incredulous look, Nick said, “Get over yourself already.”
Damon smiled.
“It helps to go to Father Hansen once in a while. The stuff Mom taught us makes a difference for people in our profession.”
Damon didn’t respond.
“It does.” Nick insisted.
Damon sighed. “Dude, look, I don’t think I’ll be going to see Father Hansen. At the moment, I don’t even think I believe there’s a God.”
Nick hesitated. “How can you say that?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, you need to.” Nick looked all superior.
“What do you want me to say? God used to talk to me until I became captain, and then he … that day, the day I really needed him, He wasn’t there, and I don’t know where He’s been since then.”
Nick pointed at him. “So if He used to talk to you, then He exists, right?”
Damon scowled. “Just … shut up.” Damon entered the house, saw all the posh people, and turned to Nick. “You’re afraid of Luke. That’s why you brought me to a party where he can’t kill you. Us.”
Nick laughed, but looked nervous. Damon was proud of Nick. He was about the same height as Damon. All the Freestone brothers had been given the tall gene, his tiny mother had always said as much. Now Nick was a cop. Savvy too. Even though Damon hadn’t stayed close to either of his brothers, Nick had stayed close to him. Usually calling him on Sundays and talking sports, weather, and women in that order.
Damon wasn’t nervous to see Luke. That would be ridiculous. He ran into burning buildings for a living, for heaven’s sake. So he didn’t know why his palms were suddenly dry, and he felt his heart rate increase. Maybe he should go see Father Hansen. He did feel guilt about a lot of things.
Nick grabbed two drinks out of a very polished-looking table of appetizers and drinks and handed one to Damon.
There was light, classical music playing. Damon was reminded of parties his father used to throw when he was growing up. They’d had to make a short appearance and then stay in the basement.
They both sauntered out to the deck that overlooked the Olympic Oval that was built ten years before. Damon didn’t recognize any of the people there.
He turned to Nick. “So, am I right?”
Popping the top off his drink, Nick took a sip then let out a breath. “You’re never right about anything, but if you’re referring to Luke knowing you’re back, well, I haven’t told him. He’s been out of town all week negotiating some resort being built in Midway, and I know how you two are.”
Damon snorted, suddenly finding the humor in the whole situation. “So he doesn’t know I’m living in one of Dad’s cabins?”
Nick shrugged again. “Those are technically your cabins. Dad left them to you.”
Damon shook his head. “No, I signed them over to you guys after dad’s funeral.”
Nick’s jaw set. “The one thing I’ll say about Luke is that even though he’s a jerk ninety percent of the time, he never even considered selling your cabins.”
“What?” This was news to him.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been fixing them up. Man, they were crap. Dad let them fall into major disrepair.”
Damon hadn’t really thought about the twelve cabins hidden in the trees next to the one he was living in. He’d been in his own head with his own problems the last week. “Well, okay.”
Nick glared at him. “You could say thank you.”
Damon hesitated, not knowing what the gift put him on the hook for. “Thanks.”
Nick snorted. “You’re welcome. So now it’s time to kiss the ring, tell Luke you’re back, and talk.”
Damon was ticked because he knew what Nick wanted him to talk about. “No.”
“Yes.”
Damon went to leave.
Nick put a clamp-like vice grip on his forearm. “No.”
All Damon had to do was look at the hand on his forearm, and Nick pulled away. But he didn’t move.
Dang. He didn’t have a choice. There was no time for leaving. Luke had just walked through the back doors and out onto the porch.
Their eyes met.
Damon didn’t know what he was going to say. He hadn’t been back since the funeral when they’d gotten into a shoutin
g match that almost ended with Luke getting his teeth kicked in. Damon had refrained, but only out of respect for the other people at the funeral. Then he’d ignored all the stupid legal mumbo jumbo and basically left Luke to deal with Dad’s businesses and estate all on his own.
Searing, laser-like focus was put onto Damon by Luke, who was of equal height but not as muscular as him. Not as strong for sure, and Damon knew he could beat him in a fight. The one thing Luke had going for him, had always had going for him, was that he was kick-butt smart. The kind of brilliant smarts that strategists used. Billionaires who emerge from nothing. Damon had been proud of Luke in a resentful brother way for a while. Then, after Dad’s funeral, he felt guilty, but still proud.
Luke had been named one of Utah’s leaders in law. He’d also gotten himself on the list of Salt Lake City’s “Top Ten Most Eligible Bachelors.”
He wouldn’t have known that if some guy in his station back in Boston hadn’t brought it to his attention, asking if Luke was his brother. With a name like Freestone, you kind of stuck out.
Truth be told, even with how proud he was of Luke, Luke hated him. He had a right to. For all intents and purposes, Damon had abdicated the crown when he’d dropped out of Harvard and then made it worse when he hadn’t come back. At the funeral, Luke told Damon he’d abandoned all of them. He’d been crying too, and Damon hadn’t forgotten that image. It’d broken his heart.
Now he wasn’t crying. Now he looked fit to be tied, and both Nick and Damon put their drinks down and rose to full their height, unsure what Luke’s plan was for when he got to the other side of the patio.
Never the political disappointment, Luke pasted on a fake smile and stuck out his hand. “Well, the prodigal son returns.”
“It’s not prodigal if there’s no father.” Damon didn’t want to think of his father at the moment, but when he had interactions with Luke, it always turned to being about his father. Hesitating briefly and seeing the anger in Luke’s face, Damon put his hand out.
Luke’s grip was tough, but he didn’t shake for long, almost instantly pulling away and looking around at the other people a bit nervously.
