Blaze (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 8)

by Ophelia Sexton

  Ash and Steffi both grinned.

  "Thank Dimitri," Ash advised. "It was his idea, and he wouldn't take no for an answer."

  "Damaris, are you crying?" Steffi asked.

  Damaris wiped fiercely at her eyes, hoping that her waterproof mascara was tear-proof. "This is—I wasn't expecting—" She couldn't seem to find the right words. "Wow. Just, wow."

  Then Dimitri was at her side, his arm around her shoulders, offering her a Kleenex. " I took a chance with the model, since you said you liked your rental car a lot."

  "I love it! Thank you. Oh, thank you so much!" Words felt inadequate for what she felt right now.

  With this unbelievably generous gesture, her new family had plucked her from the pit of despair.

  Dimitri kept his arm around her as he guided her to the car and gave her a tour of its features. It was fully loaded with every bell and whistle she could imagine, not to mention a few that exceeded her imagination.

  Finally, Steffi stepped in to intervene. "Enough with the tech talk, boys," she chided, laughing. "I'm sure that Damaris is dying to take her new baby for a spin. Aren't you, Damaris?"

  And Damaris realized that she had the perfect excuse to slip away for a while and call Tony.

  "You read my mind," she told them, then shook her head in wonder. "I still can't believe it. My very first car…and it's so pretty!"

  "Catch!" said Ash and tossed her something small and rectangular.

  It landed in her cupped hands, and she saw that it was a black-and-silver key fob.

  "Dimitri wanted to buy you a cute little sports car, but I reminded him that you needed something that could handle winter driving around here," Ash commented.

  Dimitri squeezed her shoulders, and the solid warmth of his body pressed against her helped calm her.

  "Hey, are you okay?" he murmured. "Your heart is racing like you just ran up a hill."

  "I'm fine," she said immediately.

  Dammit, having a shifter around was almost as bad as having a mind-reader.

  "Overwhelmed, but in a good way," she added. "It's not every day that you get a surprise new car."

  She raised her face to his, hoping he'd get the hint. He obligingly gathered her into his arms and kissed her until her heart was pounding even harder, but this time it had nothing to do with Tony.

  When they finally parted, she said, "I just remembered that I wanted to run an errand in town during my lunch break. Now I won't have to borrow your truck."

  "I'm looking forward to having you drive me," Dimitri said.

  Her heart sank a little. Normally, she'd jump at the chance for some time alone with Dimitri, but not today.

  Is he going to insist on coming along? I can't talk to Tony if Mr. Super-hearing is around!

  Then she heard a harsh alert sound on Dimitri's phone, followed an instant later by the same alert on Ash's phone.

  Both men grabbed for their phones. "It's our first responder app," Dimitri explained, as he scanned the screen.

  "Crash involving an RV and a passenger vehicle on Highway 93 near Einarsson Creek Road," Ash reported. "We’re the closest, so we've got to go."

  He and Dimitri headed for their respective garages, where they kept their firefighters' turnout gear in their pickup trucks.

  "If you're headed to town, would you mind getting me up a sandwich from Annabeth's?" Steffi asked Damaris. "I'd love to go with you, but I can’t, because I'm already late on that press release for our website, and my boss is a hard-ass."

  "You say that like a hard ass is a bad thing. That's not what Nika tells me!" Ash responded, already halfway to his garage.

  "Too much information!" Steffi retorted, jokingly clapping her hands over her ears.

  Ash threw a smug smile over his shoulder, and Steffi shook her head wryly. "Can you believe that Ash used to be the shy one of the family? I swear, Dr. Nika is turning him into an egomaniac!"

  "Have fun with your new car!" Dimitri called from the opposite direction.

  Damaris forced herself to smile and wave goodbye to him. "I can't wait to get in and start the engine!"

  Chapter 16 – Lifeline

  Her stomach churning with anxiety, and feeling like a fraud, Damaris drove from the ranch into town. Her first new car, and she couldn't even enjoy it very much because she was as worried as hell about talking to Tony.

  Ash, Dimitri, Steffi…the rest of the Swanson family…they thought she was a good and decent person, just like they were.

  But she knew she wasn't, and the last ten days of living in this wonderful pretend world were probably about to come to an end, one way or another.

  Hoping for a reliable cell signal, she parked in the lot facing Bearpaw Ridge's riverside park.

  It was a beautiful summer day. She saw kids playing in the playground on the lawn separating the parking lot from the river. Beyond the lawn, a paved hiking/biking trail ran along the riverbank. A dark shape swooped across her field of vision, and she recognized one of the park's resident osprey pair patrolling the river on a fishing expedition.

  She remembered the day that Dimitri had come to move Sophie and her out of the nearby motel. Once his pickup truck had been loaded with their suitcases, they had stopped to watch one of the dark brown-and-white birds of prey carry a large silver fish up to the large nest built on a man-made platform atop a telephone pole next to the river.

  Sophie had been fascinated by the sight, peering eagerly through her binoculars. "I see baby eagles!"

  Damaris hadn't a clue what kind of bird it was, but Dimitri had cheerfully explained about the osprey and how they weren't eagles or hawks but belonged to their own unique raptor family.

  "This particular pair have been coming back to this nest for years. They're sort of the town's mascots at this point," he finished.

  On the way back from dropping off Damaris's rental car, he had stopped in at a sporting goods store and purchased a colorfully illustrated bird-watching guide for Sophie. The kindness of that gesture made Damaris's heart melt.

  Every time she began to wonder about the wisdom of her whirlwind romance with this wonderful, unique man, Dimitri did or said something that shattered her defenses and made her realize all over again that he was The One.

  And the next few minutes would determine whether she would get to keep him.

  Enough dithering, she told herself sternly. Time to put on your big-girl panties and break up with Tony.

  She pulled her phone out of the big purse sitting on the passenger seat and stared at it for a few more moments, gathering her courage. She felt sick to her stomach and more than a little shaky.

  Then she brought up his contact info and tapped the phone icon.

  Maybe he won't answer and I can just leave him voicemail.

  But he picked up on the second ring.

  "D," he greeted her, sounding cheerful. "What's up, babe? Got any news for me?"

  "Hey Tony." Her throat was dry, so she reached for the bottle of water in her cup holder and took a swig. "Uh, look. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to complete your special assignment. It's, uh, impossible."

  Tony's voice turned sharp. "Whaddya mean, impossible?"

  "I mean, there's no way to make it look like an accident, and I'm not going to do something stupid." Damaris took a deep breath and continued. "And this guy is a frickin' firefighter, Tony. He's a good guy, nothing like his parents. I won't…I can't do this," she finished hurriedly.

  Despite rehearsing a speech a dozen times on the drive from the ranch, Damaris knew she'd made a mess of things. But she'd said what she needed to say.

  She braced herself for an explosion.

  But Tony remained silent.

  Unnerved by his lack of response, she blurted, "I've had a lot of time to think, Tony, and I've decided to close up shop to pursue other opportunities."

  And finally, a reaction. "What the fuck are you talking about, D? You can't quit. You and me, we got a special relationship going, in case you forgot," he said sar
castically.

  "I—I can't do this anymore," she said and felt cold sweat prickle over her body.

  There. I finally said it.

  "What happened?" he demanded.

  "Nothing," she tried. "It's just…this whole thing has been bugging me for a while. It's not who I am."

  "Bullshit. You're a frickin' genius at this, D. Something happened. Tell me!" he growled.

  And it wasn't a sexy growl like Dimitri's. It was just harsh and scary.

  Oh, God, Dimitri. I can't let Tony know about Dimitri and me.

  Damaris held her phone in a death grip now, and her fingers were beginning to ache. "It's just that being out here in the middle of nowhere has given me plenty of time to think," she ventured.

  It didn't sound convincing, even to herself. Grimly, she forged on.

  "I want to take my career in a different direction, away from the adult entertainment industry. For Sophie's sake, you know. I think it would be better if I focused on, ah, something more respectable."

  Tony scoffed loudly. "And you really think you're gonna find a job anywhere else in this town? By the time I'm done with you, D, you won't even be qualified to flip burgers. No one in this city is ever gonna hire someone's who's done the stuff you've done. No one."

  Damaris took a deep breath, fighting the urge to pant. Her chest felt tight, and her hands were shaking so badly that her phone was jittering against her ear. But she knew she couldn't afford to let Tony suspect how terrified she was right now.

  She tried to pretend that she was just resolving a dispute between two strippers.

  "Let's take a step back from Defcon 2, Tony." Luckily, her voice sounded okay, even calm. "I know you're disappointed that I'm shutting down my consulting company, but I promise you that I won't ever breach confidentially about our business dealings, or any of my other clients' business affairs, right? I signed those nondisclosure agreements, and I intend to hold to them fair and square." Another deep breath. "Total confidentiality."

  "Are you threatening me, bitch?" Finally, she heard the rage she'd been expecting all along.

  "No! Of course not!" she protested. "Just letting you know I want a clean break, with no, ah, complications."

  Like ratting me out to the cops. And could he really do that without implicating himself? Though knowing Tony, he'd find a way.

  Time for a little flattery. "Look, I'm really grateful that you gave my business a hand up when I was starting out. But it's time to move on. I just want to keep this professional."

  It didn't work.

  "Fuck professional," he snarled. "No one walks away from me, and especially not you, babe. You get your ass home ASAP. And if you're thinking of gettin' smart with me, just remember that little girl you're so worried about."

  "Don't you dare threaten Sophie," she snarled back.

  She regretted the words the instant they left her mouth. Too late.

  Tony hung up on her.

  Shit. Oh shit. This is bad. This is really bad.

  * * *

  "Hey, Damaris, is everything okay?" Hannah Swanson asked twenty minutes later.

  She was one of the Swanson cousins, a tall, dark-haired, hazel-eyed young woman working behind the counter of the Cinnamon + Sugar Bakery and Café.

  Damaris realized that her upset must be really apparent if a casual acquaintance like Hannah could tell that something was wrong.

  She forced herself to smile at Hannah. "Nah. It's nothing—one of my clients was just being a jerk on the phone. Happens all the time," she lied.

  Hannah paused in making the sandwiches that Damaris had ordered to go. She frowned at Damaris. "You sure? You seem awfully stressed out."

  Oh, great. I forgot that all of the Swansons in this town have super-senses like Dimitri!

  Dimitri had told her shortly after she moved in that Elle and her sons—including her new boss Ash—were also bear shifters, along with Dimitri's sister, Nika.

  "Yeah, I'm fine, but thanks for asking," she told Hannah.

  She knew she needed to calm down and get herself together before she returned to the ranch, or Dimitri was going to know that something was up. And she was pretty sure he wouldn't stop until he'd gotten the whole story from her.

  She shuddered at the thought. "You know, I think I'm going to eat my sandwich here, so just wrap up Steffi's to go, please. And add an iced tea to my order."

  There was a line at the café's register, but after she'd paid for the sandwiches and her drink, Damaris spotted a free marble-topped table in the corner near the wide plate-glass window.

  She sat down with her lunch but felt too shaken and nervous to actually want to eat any of it. Instead, she sipped at her iced tea and stared out the window at Main Street, trying to come up with a plan for dealing with Tony.

  But her thoughts insisted on marching around his parting words to her: …if you're thinking of gettin' smart with me, just remember that little girl you're so worried about.

  And she felt sick to her stomach with terror.

  And the worst part was, she couldn’t ask Dimitri for help. Not with this.

  Not with Tony involved.

  Not with her biggest secret so close to being dangerously exposed.

  Oh, God, Dimitri.

  This past week, living in his house on the ranch, had been like all of her dreams come true. And it wasn't just the dazzling sex.

  It was sleeping in his arms all night, feeling safe and protected. It was love expressed in the breakfasts he cooked for her and Sophie every morning. It was walking hand-in-hand with Dimitri over to Ash's house to work.

  And most of all, it was Sophie's radiant smiles when she ventured out to meet Matt and the other Swanson kids for an adventure-filled day on the ranch.

  I'm so head-over-heels with my bear-shifting firefighter, it's ridiculous. And being with him feels so right.

  Sure, she'd spent her teenage years dreaming about meeting the perfect man and being accepted by the perfect family, but once she reached adulthood, she'd stopped believing that anything like this could happen to her.

  And now I could lose it all…Dimitri, my daughter, my freedom. How do I fix this? How do I convince Tony not to hang me out to dry? And to leave Sophie alone?

  Do I really have to go back to New York and beg him in person?

  And would it even do any good?

  "Mind if I join you?"

  Damaris, jolted out of her thoughts, found herself staring up at Mark Swanson's bearded face.

  "Uh, sure." The response was automatic, before she thought better of it.

  Mark was a bear shifter. Which meant that she would have to tread very carefully right now.

  He carefully put down his plate, piled with two thick roast beef sandwiches, and his tall iced coffee, and then sat across from her.

  "Are you all right?" His expression was sympathetic, and his eyes, hazel like all of the other Swansons she'd met so far, were concerned.

  Under the warmth of his regard, she felt like crying.

  No. No crying. Not now, she told herself sternly. Maybe later.

  "I'm fine."

  "No, you're not." Mark's voice was calm.

  Damned bear-shifters and their super-senses!

  "Is there anything I can do to help you?" he asked.

  Damaris fought back the impulse to tell him everything and shook her head. "It's just stupid personal stuff…I just had an upsetting conversation with one of my clients back in New York. I told him I was planning to shut down my consulting business, and he didn't take it well."

  There. She'd found a way to tell the truth while still editing out the truly damning details.

  Mark raised his brows. "You know, if you're in trouble, Damaris, I might be able to help."

  She shook her head again.

  If she told Ash's brother anything more than she already had, she knew that the whole town would know about it by tomorrow. She'd only been here a little over a week, but she already knew how things worked in Bearpaw Ridge.
r />   "It's okay," she insisted. "I really don't want to talk about it."

  He gave her a long, intense look, as if he could see inside her head. Maybe he could. Maybe bear shifters could read minds.

  If that's true, then I'm well and truly screwed.

  Then he said, "Anything that has you this upset isn't okay. Look, Damaris, if you need to talk to someone and you're concerned about privacy, why don't you hire me as your lawyer? Pay me a dollar, and anything you tell me will be under the auspices of attorney-client privilege."

  She stared at him in wonder. He's throwing me a lifeline!

  Maybe he wouldn't be able to help her, but if she paid him, she could ask for his advice without Dimitri—or anyone else— finding out what kind of a mess she was in.

  Because if Dimitri knew the truth, he'd either walk away in disgust at being involved with a murderer or, worse, he'd try to fix it. And that might just get him killed.

  Maybe, just maybe, bear shifters were Tony-proof, but she didn't want to take the chance that they weren't. Especially with the kind of hardware that Mob enforcers tended to carry these days.

  "Attorney-client privilege? That means you won't tell Dimitri or Ash or anyone else that we talked?"

  Mark nodded. "I take my professional obligation and ethics very seriously."

  In the past week, Damaris had gotten to know Mark as the most formal of the Swanson brothers. But she'd also seen what a loving dad he was to his adorable kids Ellie and Edward.

  You can trust this guy, her gut told her.

  Damaris dug in her purse and fished out a twenty-dollar bill. She didn't have anything smaller. She'd gotten cash from an ATM before leaving New York but had mostly been using her card up until now.

  "Okay," she said and felt her stress levels recede slightly, a sure sign that she was making the right decision. "I could really use some advice."

  She thrust the bill at him.

  Mark accepted it and nodded. "Why don't we go to my office to finish our lunch? It's just a couple of doors down from here, and we'll have privacy."

  Chapter 17 – The First Step Away

  Mark's office, located halfway down Main Street, was exactly what Damaris had imagined an attorney's office would look like—lots of bookshelves crammed with law books, a wide antique wooden desk with a matching wood-and-leather desk chair, and a worn Persian carpet on the floor.