Blaze (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 8)

by Ophelia Sexton

  Still, Tony had always been way too interested in her love life. He'd made it clear that if he couldn't have her, nobody could.

  Up until this point, his weird possessiveness hadn't really been a problem. Damaris hadn't been lying to him when she told him that between work and being a single mom, she was too busy to date.

  But now…

  What happens if I actually get the job at the gaming company? Do I risk walking away from Tony?

  The possibility filled her with equal amounts of joyful excitement and cold dread. She knew it was unrealistic to dream of escaping from her life. Tony would never let her go. And if he even suspected that she was interested in another man, he'd find a way to make her pay.

  Dimitri broke into her thoughts. "I know I'm kind of putting you on the spot, but the Swansons are all really nice people, and they're eager to meet you."

  She met his gaze squarely and was startled by the heat and hunger she saw there.

  "I—I'm looking forward to it," she managed, unable to look away from the promises his eyes were making.

  She wanted to reach out and slide her hand into his. Hell, she wanted to rise from her seat and crawl into his lap. Right now.

  What's happening to me? I haven't felt this close to losing control around a man since I was seventeen.

  Sophie saved her from embarrassing herself by asking, "Are there any horses at your ranch?"

  Dimitri finally broke eye contact. "Quite a few. We use them for herding cattle up on the mountain slopes, where even ATVs have a difficult time. And when you meet Matt tomorrow, you can ask him to introduce you to his pony Oreo."

  Sophie wrinkled her nose and looked skeptical, as if she couldn't figure out whether Dimitri was joking. "He named a pony after a cookie?"

  Dimitri laughed. "No, his mom named the pony. Annabeth's a baker, so I guess she had cookies on her brain. Here, want to see a photo?"

  Damaris was surprised at the gut-punch of disappointment she felt. Dimitri had been acting like he was interested in her, and they seemed to have great chemistry, but…

  He never mentioned whether he was married or involved with someone. He just didn't seem like the type who would fool around on his significant other.

  He tapped and swiped rapidly at his phone, then handed it over to Sophie.

  Damaris leaned over to peer at the photo. Sure enough, the pony was mostly black, with a wide white stripe running around its middle and white blaze on its forehead. There was a grinning, dark-haired boy perched in the saddle and wearing a straw cowboy hat.

  "So, Matt's your little boy?" she asked, trying to keep her tone casual.

  Of course it's his son, said the ruthlessly practical voice inside her head. Why else would he have that photo on his phone?

  Dimitri seemed genuinely startled and confused by her question. "What? No, he's my brother-in-law's nephew. That makes him my…I'm actually not sure. It doesn't really matter. All of the Swanson kids call me Uncle Mitya."

  Oh, thank God.

  She tried to hide her relief. "Matt looks like he's about Sophie's age."

  Dimitri nodded. "He's eight and the oldest of the kids on the ranch." He began to count off on his fingers. "Let's see…tomorrow, you'll be meeting Matt's cousin Ellie, who's six; the twins Rob and Malia, they're four; Ellie's little brother Edward, who's three, and, oh yeah, my namesake and nephew, Dimitri Dane. He's five, and everyone calls him Mitya, like me. He's Little Mitya and I'm Big Mitya." He frowned down at his fingers. "Who am I forgetting? Oh, yeah, Matt's little sister Maggie. She's four."

  So many brothers and sisters and cousins! Damaris felt a twinge of old, old pain as she remembered how badly she'd wanted a family and siblings when she was a little girl.

  Someday, she wanted to give Sophie a little brother or sister. She just needed to meet a man who would stick around and be a father.

  Like Dimitri, her little voice piped up, unhelpfully.

  No, not like Dimitri, she thought, as sadness stabbed her in the chest.

  Dimitri was a dead man walking, even if this was turning out to be the hardest job she'd ever been forced to take.

  "And they all have ponies?" Sophie demanded, her eyes shining.

  "Well, Matt, Mitya, and Ellie do," Dimitri answered. "The others are still a little too young, but maybe in another year or two."

  The fair-haired young server from earlier approached their table.

  He was effortlessly carrying an enormous white oval platter heaped high with sliced meat, sausages, pieces of BBQ chicken, and a number of white crocks.

  "Hey, Mitya, how's it going?" the server greeted Dimitri as he placed the platter in the middle of the table.

  Damaris didn't miss the quick appraising glance that the young man gave her and Sophie.

  Then her eyes widened as she saw the mountain of meat surrounded by crocks containing extra barbeque sauce, macaroni and cheese, stacked squares of cornbread, and coleslaw.

  Holy crap, that looks like enough food to feed a family of ten! And Dimitri ate one of these by himself? And didn't explode afterwards?

  "Not bad," Dimitri answered. "How are you, Ethan? Any word from your insurance about replacing your vehicle?"

  Ethan shrugged. "I'll have to wait until the adjustor gets back to me, but my cousin Jennifer told me that I should get enough money to buy another used truck."

  Damaris glanced over at Damaris and Sophie. "That was Ethan's pickup you saw burning in front of the Jacobsen Ranch yesterday," he explained.

  "You saw that? It feels like everyone in town drove by my car-beque," Ethan said mournfully. "I'm driving Dad's old Oldsmobile for now, and that thing is a boat. Oh, well. It's better than having to take my bike everywhere."

  He shrugged, and his expression returned to cheerful.

  "Anyhow, you must be Damaris," he addressed her. "Welcome to Bearpaw Ridge, and enjoy your dinner. If you're lucky, Dimitri will let you have your fair share."

  Dimitri groaned and clapped a hand to his broad chest in a dramatic gesture.

  "See what happens in a small town?" he asked Damaris. "Eat a sampler platter by yourself just one time, and they never let you forget it!"

  Ethan laughed, and Damaris sensed that it was an old joke between them.

  "Don't forget to save room for dessert," Ethan told them as he stepped back from the table. "It comes with dinner, and it's your choice of Texas-style banana pudding, Snickers pie, or ice cream."

  Dimitri shook his head ruefully as Ethan walked away. "Hand me your plate, Sophie, and I'll dish up some of everything for you. You tell me if there's anything you don't like."

  "Do they ever serve barbequed moose or elk in this restaurant?" Sophie wanted to know as she gave him her plate.

  "I've seen elk and deer chili on the menu a couple of times," Dimitri answered, scooping a generous spoonful of what looked like homemade macaroni and cheese onto Sophie’s plate. "It was delicious."

  "Deer?" Sophie looked horrified. "You ate Bambi?"

  I'm a bad mother for laughing at her, thought Damaris. But she couldn’t help herself.

  Then she sobered, watching Dimitri bring her shy daughter out of her shell with easy charm and none of the usual condescension of a grown-up talking to a little kid.

  I really don't want to kill him. But I don’t have a choice.

  Chapter 8 – First Date

  I won't kiss him, Damaris promised herself ninety minutes later, as she sat between Sophie and Dimitri in the darkened cinema.

  It was already bad enough that she was fighting the temptation to lean just a little to the right and accidentally-on-purpose press her arm against his. Kissing him would be disastrous. She couldn't afford to get involved with him.

  For Sophie's sake, she had to keep focused on her assignment.

  Too bad that kissing him was the only thing she could think about right now.

  She tried to focus on the vintage cartoon currently playing on the screen. But it was impossible to ignore the tempting warmth radiat
ing from his body, just an inch or two away…

  Then, as the opening credits rolled for the feature presentation, she felt Dimitri's fingers stroke the back of her right hand.

  Just like before, the contact sent a jolt racing up her arm, leaving her breathless.

  Instinctively, she turned her hand over. He rewarded her by pressing his warm palm against hers and lacing his fingers through hers. The gesture felt so right, so natural, but at the same time, deeply exciting.

  Is this what I missed out on, all those years ago? This breathless anticipation racing through her as she sat in the darkened theater, holding hands with the sexiest man she'd ever met?

  Back then, she’d never had the time or the money to hang out with friends or go on dates. She had watched people go on dates in her TV programs, and those had seemed like glimpses into an alien world.

  Teenagers on TV never had to worry about where their next meals were coming from or how to keep the other kids in her group home from stealing the few things she actually owned. They had parents who took care of them and loved them.

  Dimitri distracted her from her memories by pulling his hand back a bit, leaving their fingers loosely entwined. Then he began to stroke slow circles against the sensitive center of her palm with his thumb.

  The sensation shot straight down to the pit of her stomach and kindled a slow throb of desire between her legs.

  Damaris inhaled shakily. How can he do that to me just by touching my hand?

  The gentle, teasing caress moved to the pulse point on the inside of her wrist. It felt deliciously intimate.

  As Dimitri brushed against the tender skin with a feather-light touch, the throbbing between her legs intensified into a hot, pounding ache.

  If he could make her feel like this just by touching her hand and wrist, what would it be like to actually kiss him? To have him touch her everywhere?

  She felt like panting.

  I shouldn't be doing this. I can't get involved with him. I can't.

  I'm going to move my hand away.

  Soon.

  Just another minute.

  But she found herself unable to muster up the willpower to pull away.

  The blissful torture continued through the rest of the movie. Afterwards, if anyone had asked her anything about the film, Damaris would have flunked the quiz.

  She kept expecting Dimitri to tire of holding hands and graduate to putting his hand on her knee before working his way up her thigh and under the hem of her sundress.

  That was how Tony had tried to grope her on the few occasions when she'd let her guard down and he'd managed to get close enough to move in on her.

  Damaris knew she would have welcomed Dimitri going for it if they'd been alone.

  But she was acutely aware of Sophie's presence on her left. A sideways glance showed that Sophie was happily munching on popcorn and apparently enthralled with the film. It would be awkward to fend off Dimitri without making a scene and possibly upsetting her daughter.

  But Dimitri wasn't like Tony. He just gently and sweetly continued to caress her hand. Once or twice he raised it to his mouth and brushed his lips across her knuckles, which made her shiver with need. But he didn't push it further than that.

  Which only made her crave more.

  Dimitri finally released her hand when the closing credits rolled to the sound of applause from the audience, and the theater lights came up.

  Damaris missed his touch immediately. She had spent the last half of the film more aroused than she'd ever been her life. Fierce need pounded along every nerve ending, and it had taken every ounce her self-control not to squirm in her seat.

  She could have shouted for joy when he reached for her hand again once they had left their seats and were heading for the exit.

  "I'll walk you back to your motel," Dimitri said when they were standing on the sidewalk outside the theater. "What did you two think of the film?"

  "It was really good," Damaris said, desperately hoping that Dimitri wouldn't ask her any specifics.

  She recalled that there had been a boat in frequent peril of sinking, and lots of scenery.

  Luckily, Sophie answered, too. "That was great! Was it really filmed in Africa?"

  "Yep, in Uganda and Tanzania, if I'm remembering correctly," Dimitri replied. "Apparently, movie cameras were huge in those days, and so it took a lot of effort to move them from location to location once the film crew arrived in Africa."

  They began walking down Main Street in the direction of the river. Sophie and Dimitri continued to discuss the film while Damaris made occasional sounds of agreement and enjoyed the feeling of Dimitri's hand against hers.

  When they reached the motel, Dimitri courteously escorted them to the door of their second-story suite, which overlooked the tree-lined Salmon River.

  He was still holding Damaris's hand. She reached into her purse, her fingers sliding past the cold metal of her gun, and pulled out her keycard. Then she hesitated.

  For the sake of her own sanity, she knew she should end the date right here, when Sophie was present to inhibit her mother from doing anything dumb.

  Like kissing the tall, dark, and doomed firefighter she was supposed to kill in the next few days.

  But you still haven't really found out enough about him, whispered the dark voice of Temptation. This is the perfect chance to ask him about his hobbies and figure out how to arrange the perfect accident.

  Every fiber of Damaris's being rebelled against the thought of what Tony was forcing her to do.

  At the same time, she eagerly seized on any excuse to avoid sending Dimitri away.

  "Can I invite you in for some coffee?" Damaris was a born-and-bred New Yorker, dammit. She didn't do "shy." So why was it so hard to meet Dimitri's gray eyes now?

  Was it the hunger she saw there? A hunger just as strong as the one she felt?

  "Yeah, don't go home yet! I want to hear more about that safari you went on!" Sophie said eagerly. "Mommy, can I have some hot chocolate?"

  Damaris shook her head. "It's way past your bedtime, Ms. Kiddo."

  "But I want to talk to Mitya some more," Sophie protested.

  "You've had your turn. Now it's my turn to talk to him," Damaris said firmly.

  She expected Sophie to pout and protest.

  To her astonishment, Sophie flashed Dimitri a devilish grin. "Okay."

  She marched inside as soon as Damaris opened the door, then turned and gave Damaris a hug. "Good night, Mommy." She shook Dimitri's hand. "Good night, Mitya. See you tomorrow!"

  Then she vanished into the suite's bedroom without further protest. Damaris stared after her. Sophie never went to bed without at least ten minutes of delaying tactics and negotiation.

  "Brush your teeth and no reading under the covers!" she called, belatedly.

  "Can I read for five minutes?" Sophie answered, her voice muffled by the closed door.

  Okay, back to normal. Whew. "Okay, five minutes and then it's lights out."

  "Do you think maybe your daughter is trying to do a bit of matchmaking?" Dimitri gave Damaris a slow smile that reignited the slow throb of desire between her legs. "I can't say I object. How about you?"

  "I—" Damaris's throat went dry.

  It all made perfect sense now. Oh, Ms. Kiddo. I didn’t think you'd get so attached to him so quickly.

  "I don't mind," she managed.

  Dammit, I'm normally smoother than this. Nothing so far this evening had gone as expected, and she felt dizzy and off-kilter.

  But Dimitri's smile only deepened.

  "Do you want leaded or unleaded?" she asked, crossing the room to the place where clean coffee mugs stood stacked neatly on the kitchen counter next to a turquoise-colored Keurig machine and a woven basket filled with an assortment of K-cup pods.

  "What?" Dimitri asked, sounding confused.

  Damaris realized that she'd used Dan's term. "Real coffee or decaf?" she clarified.

  "Real," Dimitri said and seated himself a
t the small dining table.

  The motel suite consisted of a living area, a bedroom, and a bathroom. Sophie and Damaris were sharing the bedroom with two queen sized beds. The living area was a large room divided into a kitchenette, a dining area with a table and four chairs, and a tiny living room with an armchair, a love seat, and a glass-and-metal coffee table. A long sideboard running under the window held a flat-panel TV and a selection of folded maps and brochures for attractions in the local area.

  Damaris used the excuse of brewing two cups of coffee to try to center herself.

  It's just my hormones doing something wacky, she told herself. I need to focus now. This is my best chance to come up with a plan.

  If only she didn't feel like she was dying inside every time she reminded herself of her real purpose here!

  After placing the steaming mugs on the table, along with a handful of sugar packets and creamer pods, she sat herself across from Dimitri. The table wasn't very large, but it provided enough distance from the temptation he offered.

  "So if you don't mind me asking, what on earth convinced you to leave New York and take a job out here?" Damaris asked.

  From the information in her dossier and their earlier conversation, she had a pretty good idea. But it never hurt to ask. You never knew what extra information your target might hand you.

  Dimitri lowered his mug from his mouth and blew out a breath. "Remember how I told you I have a great job out here?"

  She nodded and stirred a packet of sugar into her coffee.

  "Well, that turned out to be a piece of luck that I wasn't expecting." His expression was serious now, and somehow, he looked even sexier. "I initially came here because I was trying to help my sister Nika. She was Ash Swanson's fiancée. My parents were dead set against the match, and…" He paused and stared down into the depths of his cup.

  Damaris recognized his expression. She wouldn't have guessed in a million years that someone who'd grown up a rich kid like Dimitri would be haunted by bad memories.

  She waited, sipping at her own coffee. She had learned years ago that silence was a potent drug for making people talk. If you could wait patiently and quietly, sooner or later, the other person in the room would try to fill the silence.