Crave the Heat

by Marnee Blake

  They trekked along a bit before stopping in another clearing. Both of them were experienced campers, so setting up the tent didn’t take long, though it was harder now in the dusk’s low light.

  The mindless labor gave her time to regret her choices. What was she doing there with the guy she just met? She shouldn’t have let him come with her, should have waited for the other inspector. Sure the base manager, Kirk, and his father vouched for him, but she didn’t know him, and they were there, in the dark…alone.

  A weak moment. They had wanted her to get going and she’d allowed them to sway her decisions.

  Why, after everything she’d been through, couldn’t she manage to be independent? Wasn’t that why she’d taken this job, to learn not to rely on anyone too much? Yet, the first chance she was given to prove it, she failed.

  It was his fault, really. Something about him made her feel at ease. When she caught herself being comfortable with him, it set her on edge until she forgot that she should be wary of him. Then the process repeated itself.

  Her mouth firmed as she stood from where she’d finished tethering the tent, and wiped her hands on her pant legs. “I’m going to look for firewood.” She could use a minute to herself.

  Dak scanned their campsite with his flashlight, nodding. “I’ll come with you.”

  “I can do it, you know.” Her irritation bled into the words and she growled under her breath, hating how she sounded like a petulant child.

  “I am sure you can. It’ll just be easier with two of us.” His face said that he didn’t understand why she was snapping at him. That made two of them.

  Not trusting herself to respond without sounding like a complete bitch, she clicked her flashlight on and headed into the woods.

  They dug around, each making a few trips to the clearing with firewood. When she returned the last time, and dumped an armload onto the pile, she watched as he hunched next to a makeshift fire pit and expertly started a flame.

  Of course he would be able to start a fire. He was a firefighter. Fire was his business. More than that, he made it look good. The fabric along his back pulled, doing nothing to hide the play of muscles there. She bit her lip. God, strong backs were the hottest.

  She plopped down next to the fledgling flame, rubbing her palms together. Now that the sun had gone down, the air had chilled significantly. When he had the fire burning in front of them, he came to sit next to her. They lapsed into awkward silence.

  This close, she was acutely aware of his big body. As she glanced to the side, she watched him stare into the fire, managing to look sexy and mischievous, a combination she found difficult to resist.

  “So,” he finally said without looking at her. “We aren’t going to talk? All night?”

  Jerking her face back to the fire, she pinched her fingers together. “Absolutely not. Talking is so social. Totally overrated.”

  He chuckled, and she sighed. He was right. It was rude to sit in silence. But, she’d never had an easy time making small talk. Still, she gave it a shot. “So, great fire.”

  He tilted his head, offering her a wry grin in the firelight. “Gee. Thanks.”

  Glaring back, she lifted her brows. “Hey, it shouldn’t be my job to start the conversation.”

  “Fine.” He laughed. “You’ve been camping before, haven’t you?”

  She shrugged. “Lots of times. With my family and then later.”

  “Later?”

  She didn’t want to talk about Jeff. Not with Dak. “Yeah. Later, after my family. It’d be kind of irresponsible to hire a Forest Services Special Agent without camping experience, wouldn’t it?”

  “Guess it would.”

  When he didn’t go on, she stared into the undulating flame and continued, “Most of the time we camped in Maryland and Virginia. I like to hike and mountain bike, too.”

  He nodded, acknowledging that he heard, and she was left wondering again why she’d offered more information. It wasn’t the first time his quiet had invited her to open up, tell more than she was comfortable sharing.

  “I like to be outdoors, too.”

  “Probably comes with the job.”

  “Yeah.” He chuckled again, and this time it was deeper, reaching into her belly and warming her.

  She’d like to have blamed it on the fire, but those were spots a campfire wouldn’t reach.

  “Most of us are kind of outdoorsy.”

  “Fish? Hunt?”

  “I have, but I’m not much on it. Did a fair amount of surfing in California, where I used to live. And I like to ski, too.”

  “Surfing, huh?” She tried to picture him on a surfboard and it wasn’t difficult. He moved with natural grace. Bet he was pretty good at both sports.

  “Yeah. Hoping to get back to Pasadena over the winter, after the season is over.”

  “What do you do in the off-season?” As most of the smokejumpers were seasonal, some of them did winter work.

  “My uncle runs a landscaping business back in California. I’ll go help him. Surf. Stay in shape.”

  Unwitting, thoughts of him working out, sweaty and hot, burst in her mind. She shook her head, but that only replaced those visions with pictures of him surfing.

  Shirtless.

  Wrapping her arms around her knees, she rocked, closing her eyes against the mental images.

  “Right. Of course, that makes sense. Because you need to be in good shape. When you come back here in the spring. Being in shape is your job.” God, she was rambling.

  He glanced at her and even in the low light she could see his confusion. Which made sense, because she was acting insane.

  “Yes. Yes it is.” His brow furrowed. “Like it’s part of your job.”

  She exhaled. “Yeah, well, you make it look better.” As soon as she said the words, she closed her eyes. Good Lord, had she really said that?

  When he barked a laugh, she wished again that she had learned how to keep her thoughts to herself. She blew her hair out of her face and tightened her grip on her knees.

  “You think I’m attractive?”

  Stupid fluttery stomach. “Please. You know you’re attractive.” This would be a lot easier if she hadn’t noticed how good looking he was.

  “Yeah…well, still nice to hear it.” He lifted his eyebrows, shifted closer, and offered her that halfway grin that did funny things to her belly. Reaching forward, he clasped her fingers gently. “Go out with me sometime.”

  Oh no.

  She looked away. She had to. Because she wanted to say yes. More than she ever expected. Shaking her head, she leaned back, away from him. “I can’t.”

  “Sure you can.” He nudged her with his shoulder. “You’re new here. You have family around? Friends?”

  Times like this, she wished she was a better liar. “No. I grew up in the Northeast.”

  “Yeah? Where?”

  Why did this guy want to know everything about her? It was genuine interest, and under any other circumstances she would find it disarming.

  But she couldn’t. After everything with Jeff, she didn’t have it in her to take a chance right now. Maybe a year from now. Who knew? The only thing she was certain of was that she hadn’t had enough time since she put the pieces of herself back together. She was still weak in the parts where she’d broken.

  Wasn’t that what taking this job had been about? Leaving DC behind, leaving the remnants of her relationship implosion, the day-to-day danger of work with the DEA, leaving all of it on the other coast. Relatively normal job, with low risk. At least as low risk as a Forest Services Investigator could be. Quiet and serene open spaces.

  A new start.

  That didn’t include upending her newly constructed peaceful life to get involved with someone like Dak. He was a smokejumper. The first called to remote, dangerous wildfires. Regularly hurtle
d himself out of planes to battle them. That wasn’t a safe job or conducive to her need for calm. She’d had enough danger to last a lifetime.

  She spun a half turn to face him, meeting his eyes directly in the firelight.

  “Listen, Dak…” It would be better to do this in the daylight, so he could really read her expression, see her genuine disappointment. But she wouldn’t wait. She wasn’t the sort to lead someone on. Best to get it over with as soon as possible. “I’m not really in a place in my life to be doing this with anyone. I’m sorry. Going out isn’t going to work.”

  He studied her, cradling her hands in his. The warmth from his fingers seeped into her, yet she shivered. Still, she didn’t pull her fingers away. Being held, even in this small way, it was too seductive. She’d always been incredibly physical and affectionate. She missed physical touch more than anything else.

  If she wasn’t so terrified that she would make another mistake…

  “Okay, Heidi.”

  “Okay?” That was all he was going to say?

  “Sure.” He dropped her fingers, shifting away to give her some space.

  It’s what she asked for, but now, missing his closeness, she couldn’t remember why she’d made the request.

  “We don’t have to go out. But, that’s not going to keep me from wanting to know you.”

  The words—the way he said ‘wanting’—sent awareness skittering up her spine.

  “We should—” She cleared her throat. “We should go to bed.”

  He nodded, his smile understanding. “Yeah. It’s late.” Standing, he held his hand out to help her up. As she folded her fingers back into his and allowed him to drag her to her feet, she wondered why she looked forward to him keeping that promise.

  They worked to contain the fire for sleeping, and then they climbed into the tent. He let her go first, but then she had to watch while his big body moved through the confined space.

  When they were both settled, though, she was acutely aware that she lay less than a foot from him. On her back, she stared at the top of the nylon tent, listening to him breathe.

  It was a long time before she fell asleep.

  Chapter 3

  By the time his doorbell rang after lunch the next day, Dak felt more normal. After he got home around nine, he ate everything he could find in his pantry, took an obscenely long shower, and sank into his mattress for a few hours of sleep. When he woke, he caught up on the news. A quick sandwich, a close shave, and he was himself again.

  He padded barefoot to answer. Lance Roberts stood on the doormat to his rental apartment. “Still alive. Good to know.”

  Dak pushed the door open, letting his friend inside. “What?”

  “Sledge told me you had a meeting with the new Forest Services special agent. Said you left with her.” Lance tucked his hands in his pockets. “Meddling grandparents are less gossipy than that guy.” He shrugged. “Figured you either got canned, packed up, and left Oregon or she drove you into the woods and killed you.” Dak stared at him. “Because you missed beers with me and Rock.”

  “Damn it.” Dak pressed his palm to his forehead. “Forgot about that.”

  “Or, you’re just a bad friend.” Lance shrugged. “Seems like that’s a winner.”

  He tossed a hand towel at him, chuckling. “Sorry, man. They wanted me to help her out. Show her the point of origin.”

  Lance threw the towel back. “Who? Mitch?”

  He shook his head. “Warm Springs Tribal Council.” Turning back to the sink, he dried the last dish he’d been doing. It gave him an excuse to avoid his friend’s curious gaze.

  Lance leaned his hip against the countertop in the kitchen. “Tribal Council.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  It said too much about him that Lance—one of his closest friends—had to ask that question. He opened the fridge, grabbing two beers. When he handed one to Lance, he shrugged. “Family lives there.”

  “At Warm Springs?”

  He popped the top on the can. “Yeah.”

  Dak took a long drink as he watched that information wind around in Lance’s head. Why hadn’t he ever told him that before? It wasn’t a secret. He wasn’t ashamed of it. Besides, there were a lot worse places to grow up.

  No, that wasn’t it. It was that talking about himself invited questions. And answers. Since he preferred not to dwell on the answers, he avoided the questions.

  “Huh.” Lance put his beer on the counter and clapped his hands. “Right. Well, guess we aren’t going to talk about that, then.”

  Dak barked a laugh. Leave it to Lance to make it into a joke. “Rather not.”

  “Okay. So, then, at least tell me what you found out.”

  He sipped his beer. “Definitely an arson.” The lighter fluid containers, the pattern of the burn, he agreed with Heidi.

  “Really?” Lance opened his own beer. “So now what?”

  “Heidi finished gathering the evidence at the scene this morning. She’s going to run a soil test to confirm, but from here, I’d imagine she’ll get the rest of the agencies involved.”

  His friend’s eyebrows shot up. “Heidi, huh?”

  Of course he would focus on that. Dak rolled his eyes. “She asked everyone to call her that.”

  Lance’s pause was significant. “Right.”

  Dak shook his head. Though he was a good enough actor to pretend to Lance, he couldn’t deny that he’d felt something for her. He could confide in his friend, too, but he wasn’t sure he even understood what happened yesterday. He was still second-guessing everything he’d said to her.

  He wasn’t that guy, the one who pursued someone who wasn’t interested. Not that he’d ever had any issues. Things with women had always come easy for him. He liked women, and they liked him back. He’d had a couple of long-term relationships, but even when they ended, there wasn’t bad blood. The relationship would fizzle out, and they would part ways. No hard feelings. He even attended one of his old girlfriends’ weddings last year.

  Between those relationships, there were some flings and some one-night stands, but it had never been hard. If there was interest, they pursued. If there wasn’t, he left it alone.

  So what was it about Heidi Sinclair that seemed to break that mold? She wasn’t into him. She’d said as much.

  Though that wasn’t entirely true. At least he didn’t think it was. When she didn’t believe he was looking, he’d catch her watching him, her eyes hot. When she was close, her breath would hitch. And she stepped away too fast, sometimes. There was something there, which made her wariness even more confusing.

  Still, he wasn’t one to push, so why did he have such a desire to find out more about her? Like, why she shied away from him when every indication said she didn’t want to?

  More important, why did he care?

  Sure, she was beautiful. But it wasn’t only that. She was smart, he could tell from her comebacks and the sharp glint in her eye. And then, there was that hint of vulnerability. Something had happened, something that had left pain behind.

  He found himself needing to know more.

  Why had she left Washington, DC? It was hard to get jobs with the DEA. He didn’t know what she’d done for them, but going from drug enforcement work to working for the Forest Services? She must have wanted a huge change. But why?

  Well, if her reactions yesterday were any indication, she wasn’t going to give him a chance to find out. People had accused him of being closed off, but Heidi? He’d seen roads with detours that were more easily navigated.

  Lance continued to stare at him. Dak shrugged. “She’s interesting.”

  “Is she now?”

  “Yeah.”

  Lance nodded and finished his beer. “Well, as always, this has been a great talk, full of insight into your personal life.”


  “Shut up, dick.”

  “We on to play pool tomorrow?” he asked, dropping his can in the recycling bin.

  Moments like this—when Lance accepted him without pushing or prying—those were the times when Dak thanked whatever twist of fate gave him this man as a friend.

  “Absolutely.”

  Without another word, Lance headed out, spinning the keys to his Jeep on his finger. The door opened, but instead of closing again, voices wafted from the entryway. Ducking around the kitchen wall, he found Lance and his father squared off in the doorway, his friend obviously preventing his dad from entering.

  “I’m his father.”

  “I don’t care if you’re Santa Claus. You don’t come in unless you’re invited.”

  Dak patted Lance on the shoulder. “It’s okay. I got it from here.”

  Lance’s gaze passed between him and his father before he finally clasped Dak back. “See you later, man.”

  “See ya.”

  When Lance was down the stairs, headed for the parking lot, his father broke the silence. “You look more alive.”

  Dak retreated inside, leaving the door open, but he didn’t officially invite his father in. It was a small lapse of courtesy, but it would irk his father. “You mean more alive than when you caught me after working a fire for days with hardly any sleep?”

  His father grunted. “What did you find out?”

  “About what?” Dak knew exactly why his father was there, but he wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

  Lyle Parrish had perfected the glare years ago, though, and Dak relented. He chose his words carefully. His dad might want a spy, but he didn’t have to give him all the details. “There was lighter fluid. It seemed like someone had dumped it through the clearing, intentionally sending the fire into the brush and the forest.”

  His father cursed under his breath. Dak narrowed his eyes at him, folding his arms. “What is it you’re not telling me?”

  “It’s not your concern.” His dad pulled out his phone and tapped on the face, obviously relaying this information to another party. That he would be so blatant irritated Dak.