Flame (Firefighters of Montana Book 5) (12 page)

Who was she kidding? She’d always had a thing about Dex.

He stopped in the doorway, rummaged a hand through his still spiky hair. A deep, low chuckle and then… “Looking for my jeans.”

Before she could stop herself, the words rushed out of her mouth. “You going?”

“Yeah, I should. Let you get some sleep.”

“Right. Sure. Okay.” Cady leaned across and switched on her bedside lamp. Her precarious pile of books had somehow gotten in the way and tumbled on the floor with multiple thuds. “Oh, damn.” She flicked back the covers and planted her feet on the floor. She hated when the spines were split, when covers became dog-eared or creased. Why hadn’t she moved her to be read pile? Why hadn’t she read more of the books that had been sitting there for, what, a year already? Why did she work so many hours and have to go to bed so early? No wonder she didn’t have a social life that included men. And now she’d had one, a living breathing, poster boy for sex and masculinity, and he was already looking to escape.

Dex was at her feet, reaching for the books. He picked up a couple, looked at the covers. “You sure do like this Nora Roberts.”

“She’s a genius.” Cady all but snatched the books from his hand and restacked them. “And by the way, your jeans are over there. By your boots.”

“Cady.”

Cady didn’t look up from the latest Nora Roberts cover. “What?”

“Look at me.”

“Why?”

“Will you just look at me?” There was a laugh in his voice, a chuckle, as if he was amused by her rather than annoyed.

She glared at his face. He was still naked, perched on the side of her mattress. “Yes?”

His eyes searched her face. There was a kindness and a concern in his look that made her feel less annoyed. “You work hard at Cady’s Cakes, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. It’s my business. It’s got my name on it. And people like my cakes.” She couldn’t help but smile. “Well, normal people like my cakes.”

He chuckled. “What time do you get up in the mornings?”

He wanted to know about
that
? “Four thirty.” And just saying the words had her yawning.

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“It would be four if I had a commute, which I clearly don’t.”

“What about Sundays? You don’t open Sundays, right?”

“Right. I sleep in on Sundays. Until six.”

“You count six o’clock as a sleep in?”

“It is for me. My body clock gets screwed up if I sleep any later than that.”

Dex was silent for a while. Cady couldn’t guess what he was thinking.

“There’s our problem,” he finally said. “I’m a night owl. I hit my stride about midnight.” He placed his hand on either side of her head, pushing the pillow down. She glanced at the clock. It was 11:58.

“I can sleep tomorrow,” she managed to murmur before they kissed again.

C
ady could see
her friends Laurel and Jacqui at a table in the corner of Cady’s Cakes, watching her every move. In between serving customers at the counter, she walked over with two plates and set them on the table.

“Here’s the deal,” she announced. “A red velvet for you, Laurel, and a banana with vanilla frosting for you, Jacqui, if you quit psychoanalysing me from across the room.”

“We were not psychoanalysing you. We were just noticing how different you seem lately.”

Laurel winked at Jacqui. “Yeah, like in the past week kind of lately.”

Cady pulled up a chair, hoping to get a few minutes with her friends. She checked the shop. There was no one at the counter and no one coming in.

“Dex and I, well, we…” Cady paused. She wasn’t used to gossiping about her sex life. Hell, until Dex, she hadn’t had one since the culinary institute.

“Honey, we know that.” Jacqui reached over and squeezed her hand. “We were just enjoying you walking around your shop in a kind of daydream. It’s so great to see you looking so happy.”

Cady slapped her hands to her cheeks. “Is it that damn obvious?”

Laurel covered her other hand. “Only to us. Only to your friends.”

“Things are good,” Cady replied. “What’s not to be happy about? I have you guys. My business is amazing.”

Laurel mumbled through a mouthful of cupcake. “Sure is.”

“And I’m seeing Dex for dinner.”

Jacqui dropped what she was eating and picked up her vibrating phone. She’d left it sitting on the table near a coffee cup. Cady knew she was on call at the station. All three women exchanged glances.

Jacqui silently read the text message. “I’ve got to go. We’re sending crews up.”

Lauren’s phone beeped and she read her message. “Sam’s just messaged me. He always texts me and says
I love you
before he flies out.”

Both women stood. “Thanks, Cady,” Jacqui said.

Cady saw the change in expression on her friend’s face. She’d lost her husband, Russ, in a smokejumping accident, and now her partner, Vin, faced the same risks. Lauren’s partner Sam, the crew captain, put his life at risk every time he went up.

Cady froze inside. It was different with Dex now. Deeper, closer. They shared an intimacy that hadn’t existed the last time he went up. Did she have a right to feel scared for him? How did these two women—and all the other partners of smokejumpers everywhere—cope with it?

Laurel leaned down to hug Cady. “They’re all incredibly well-trained and capable, Cady. And safety is the number one priority up there. He may be the rookie, but Dex knows what he’s doing.”

“In know.” Cady squeezed back. “This is the first time… since we…”

“I know. I’ll call you when I know anything.”

“Thanks, Laurel.”

Laurel skipped out after Jacqui and Cady swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and returned to her customers.

It wasn’t until later in the day, after she’d closed the front door and flipped the
Open
sign to
Closed
that she saw his message.

Really sorry about dinner tonight. About to jump. Call you when I can.

*

Up in the
mountains, the crew bunked down in the encroaching darkness. They’d been fighting the outbreaks, sparked by lightning from an encroaching autumn storm, all afternoon and now had to wait for first light to see the full extent of the damage.

Captain Sam Gaskill was sitting on the ground next to Dex.

“Hey, rookie, I was thinking about your old man the other day. How’s he doing in that new place?”

It was just like Sam to remember that. Dex had been honest with Sam about his family situation when he’d joined up. Dex didn’t exactly have a solid record when it came to sticking around at a job, and he’d explained why he’d come home, why he was changing. Between his dad and Lila, Mitch and Sarah had borne a huge burden and Dex figured it was time he was around home more. All the jobs he’d done had helped pay for Lila’s therapy and their father’s care, but they needed more than financial support these days. He knew that. That was why he’d come home for good. He didn’t have a family of his own, so he would do the best he could for his brother’s family.

“He’s good. Apparently he’s hooked up with someone.”

Sam looked at him and in the light of the fire they’d made for warmth, Dex could see the look of shock on his captain’s face. “No shit.”

Dex laughed. “Good for him, I say.”

“Hell, yeah,” Sam replied. “That’s what keeps you warm at the end of the day, right? The love of a good woman?”

Dex knew Sam was talking about Laurel, but his thoughts turned immediately to Cady. His head had been full of her since that night at her place. When he’d messaged her earlier that afternoon, when the crew had got the call there was a fire to fight, it had taken hours to get a reply. He figured she was busy in the shop. He was damn lucky he still had some reception up on the mountain.

Sorry—just saw this. Stay safe. Raincheck on that dinner. C xx

Damn straight there was going to be a raincheck on that dinner. And he’d make up for missing it with flowers and maybe some chocolates. Did she like chocolates? He didn’t know. Maybe not, if she was surrounded by sweet things all day. Or maybe she was surrounded by sweet things all day because she liked chocolate. He’d have to find out.

“What’s the latest forecast? Where are the winds coming from and how strong?” Dex asked Sam.

“It’s coming up. By early morning, we’ll see the worst of it before the storm hits. Things could get hairy out here. Get some sleep while you can. And keep your strength up. Keep up your fluids and eat something.”

Sam walked off to check on the other crew members and Dex dug in his rations pack. He pulled out some dried beef jerky and a sealed bag of Cady’s trail mix bars. If he couldn’t have her tonight, he’d take some of her food. But, as he sat back, watched the stars disappear behind the think, dark clouds, and waited for the sun to full set, he thought it was a poor substitute.

“Night, Cady,” he said almost silently, wishing she might hear it.

*

The crew was
up before dawn. The high winds had gusted in before the first fingers of light had brightened the night sky and everyone was equipped and ready. Some of the crew was already hiking up the mountain, armed with shovels and pulaskis, creating breaks so the fire wouldn’t spread. Dex and a group of his crew were armed with chainsaws and, as they ascended the mountain, their task was to trim the lower branches of the tall pines so fire wouldn’t spread from the ground and up into the trees. That was where the real danger of wildfire lay—once a tree caught alight, it fuelled itself and spread upwards and all around, catching other trees, the potential to spread for thousands of deadly miles.

As Dex did his job, watched out for his colleagues, listened out for new instructions from Sam, looked upwards to the grey, looming sky to see planes flying low to drop fire retardant, he tried not to think of Cady. Of what she was doing in the shop. Of what he was missing.

*

Dex and the
rest of the smokejumpers had been up in the mountains for two nights and three days. Laurel had invited Cady around to her place for a movie night, clearly to distract them, but Cady had said a polite no thanks. She’d been restless in the nights Dex had been away, which made her tired and exhausted by the time she closed the shop. A weight descended on the whole town when a team was away in the mountains, and it was no surprise, really. In a small community like this, everyone knew everyone knew someone who was up there. If they hadn’t gone to school with the men and women in the crew, they might see them in the supermarket or the post office or The Drop Zone.

And Dex was who she worried about the most. He was someone special to her now. Not simply a somebody she knew, had gone to school with, had kissed once, but he was someone she was seeing. Someone she’d slept with. Someone she liked a lot. Was it too early to be saying the “L” word? She locked the front door to Cady’s Cakes and wearily plodded up the stairs to her apartment. This was a definite bonus about living above the shop. When someone worked the hours she did, that two minute commute home made the long hours bearable.

She saw Dex everywhere now. At the bottom of the stairs where they’d kissed, hot and passionate. The living room, where he’d kissed her goodbye after he’d left early Sunday morning. And her bed. She hadn’t changed the sheets. She didn’t want to wash away the scent of him. It was comforting when he was gone.