Fire and Love

by Erin Wright

  “Maybe your parents did raise you to be a china doll – to sit in the corner and look pretty – but Tenny? You can do so much more than that. You can be more than that. You can be whatever you want to be. Just look at me. I should be holding down a stool over at the bar, throwing back beers all day and telling anyone who’ll listen about how horrible my life is, and how no one cares about me. That is, if I was gonna be just like my daddy.

  “But instead, I make pretty good money as a welder and I have a real nice job with good benefits and I own my own house. Well, it’ll be mine once I pay the bank off, anyway. And my truck is my truck. I paid it off and no one can take it from me. Rocky Garrett may be a bastard to Moose, but he’s changed my life. Believing that I could be anything I wanted to be, he made my life possible. You’re smart and you’re beautiful. You can be whatever you want to be. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

  She nodded tremulously, surprised by his faith in her. She wasn’t entirely sure that she believed everything he’d just said, but the fact that he’d been willing to say any of that to her, a beauty queen who really was supposed to be nothing more than a china doll to sit up on a shelf and then ignore…

  It was fooling her into thinking that maybe he was right.

  That maybe she could be more than just the future mom to a passel of children; the hostess of grand parties; the player of pianos.

  But what? She tried to think of something that got her blood pumping – something that would get her up in the morning with a smile on her face. She could…

  She could…

  Huh.

  It was kinda scary that she couldn’t come up with a single thing that she was just dying to do. Even in the now very dim lighting of the campfire, Levi must’ve been able to read her expression because he whispered, “You don’t have to figure it all out tonight. It’s late and it’s getting cold.” He pushed himself to his feet. “Plus, the grunts, groans, and screams of ecstasy have faded away, so we’re probably okay to go into the tent now.”

  She let out a snort of laughter at that, and Levi looked up from the campfire, where he’d been carefully pouring water over the flames. “Did Tennessee Rowland just snort?!” he asked in a dramatic whisper, clearly finding this development hilarious. “What would your mother say…”

  “Let’s not find out,” Tennessee whispered back, feeling delightfully naughty.

  After the fire was well and truly out, they made their way over to the tent where Moose and Georgia were snoring away, and got changed into their PJs under the cover of darkness. It felt weird to strip out of her clothes and put on her PJs with Levi right there, even if it was so dark, he’d need night vision goggles to see anything.

  Plus, her PJs were not anything to get excited about, unless he had an owl fetish. This particular pair of fleece PJs were covered in adorable fluorescent pink and lime green owls, and they buttoned all the way up to her neck. She’d always struggled with sleeping – she got cold way too easily and could never sleep while she was an ice block – so her PJ repertoire was more suited to a 10-year-old girl than a 26-year-old woman.

  This had never been a problem before, considering she’d never slept with a guy in the same room as her, but as she crawled into her sleeping bag, trying to warm up inside of its cottony embrace, she realized that for once, she wanted different PJs.

  And she wanted to model those PJs for Levi.

  And they needed to have significantly less owls and significantly more lace.

  And preferably not button up to the bottom side of her chin.

  She fell asleep and somewhere in the middle of the night, their hands clasped together and she slept better than she had in a really long time.

  Maybe her whole life.

  Chapter 13

  Levi

  Levi let out a huge yawn while scratching his balls, staring blearily into the fridge. He really needed to make something to eat for dinner, but that seemed complicated as hell so in the end, he settled for a loaf of bread in a can – aka, a beer.

  He sat down on the couch with another huge yawn, grabbing the remote from the coffee table and blindly turning on a documentary about…something. The Titanic? Baseball? He wasn’t quite sure. After getting home from their camping trip late last night, it’d been back to reality that morning when his alarm had unforgivingly gone off at 6:45 in the morning.

  He’d been out of it all day, even screwing up a weld when the memory of Tenny stretching flashed across his mind, her every curve perfectly shown off by her thin t-shirt…

  Yeah, that weld had been total shit.

  He settled down further onto his lumpy couch. He should really take a shower or something, but he’d go do that in just a minute…just a minute and then he’d go clean…

  Knock knock

  The unexpected sound jerked him into an upright position on the couch.

  What just happened? His mind scrambled to remember.

  There was a loud noise.

  Oh, someone had knocked on the door. He remembered that now.

  He squinted across the room at the clock ticking on the wall. 7:22 pm. He really was turning into an old man if he was falling asleep at seven in the evening.

  He pushed himself off the couch and stumbled over to the door. Dollars to donuts, it was Moose wanting to hang out and play video games for a little while before going home. Levi could definitely get behind spending some quality time with his best—

  “Tennessee?” he said, staring down at her in shock. He ran his hands through his hair and then rubbed at his eyes, trying to push away his sleepiness. He opened them up again. Yup, she was still here. “What are you doing here?” His eyes ran up and down her body, taking in her holey jeans and grungy shirt, and the handkerchief over her hair, which she had in two braids down her back.

  His eyes went back up to hers. What the hell?

  “You said I could be anything I wanted to be and could do anything I wanted to do,” she reminded him. “So, I decided I want to learn how to weld, and I’m here to learn.”

  “Oh.”

  If she’d just announced that she wanted to take up pole dancing, he wouldn’t have been more surprised. When he’d said that she could be a welder, he’d meant it of course – she was physically capable of it – but he also didn’t expect it to actually happen.

  “Right. Of course.” He stepped back from the doorway, belatedly welcoming her into his house. “You, uhh, you wanna start right now?”

  “I’d love to,” she said with a grin. “I’ve only got so long before my parents come looking for me.”

  “Your parents don’t know you’re here?” he asked, panic welling up inside of him again. They didn’t know she’d slept in the same tent as him; they didn’t know she was at his house…this seemed like a real good way to get his ass fired from his job. One word from her dad to his boss and his ass was grass.

  “I told them I was volunteering down at the food clinic, which if they knew anything at all, they’d know was only open on Wednesday evenings, not on Tuesday evenings. But, since my parents have all of the altruistic impulses of a modern-day Scrooge, they’ll never realize the truth.” She shrugged. “So, are you ready to teach me?”

  “Yeah, of course.” He looked down at his filthy clothes and ran his hands through his hair again. Even in her trashed clothes and braided hair, Tenny looked ready to grace the cover of a magazine, maybe a DIY one, while he looked…well, he probably looked exactly like what he was: A kid born on the wrong side of the tracks. “Ummm…let’s start on the easy stuff. I’ve got a MIG welder in the back – an old piece of shit but it does the job when I need to do a small project.” He winced when he realized that he’d cursed in front of her again but she was just smiling at him, waiting patiently for him to lead the way, seemingly unaware – or at least uncaring – about his cursing.

  It wasn’t that she’d ever protested about hearing swear words from him or anyone else, it was just those huge blue-green eyes, paired with the longest e
yelashes he’d ever seen…it made her look like an angel.

  And you just shouldn’t swear around angels.

  They stepped out onto his back patio which, with her in tow, he suddenly realized needed to be cleaned. He’d left some beer cans behind the last time he’d sat out there with Moose, and dead leaves were piled up in the corners, needing to be swept out…

  She put her hand on his arm. “I’m here to learn how to weld, not to critique your housekeeping skills,” she said quietly, “but for the record, you actually have a pretty clean house for a guy.”

  “‘For a guy’?” he repeated, laughing. “Is there a compliment in there somewhere?”

  “Absolutely.” She winked at him.

  Teasing.

  Tennessee was teasing him.

  Tennessee wasn’t a stranger to him, obviously. Over the years, they’d gone on a hell of a lot of double dates together, but back then, she’d been matched up with Moose and Levi had been matched up with Georgia.

  But in all that time, he’d never seen her teasing someone else. She’d always been beautiful, and nice, and everyone had wanted to be around her, but she’d never been funny.

  Was she coming out of her shell?

  Or was he just seeing what he wanted to see?

  He shook it off and made himself focus.

  “Safety first, right?” he started. “The good news is, I tend to hoard helmets and gloves just in case I lose a pair or break something, so although I’m not gonna promise they’re the best lookin’ things on the face of the planet, I at least have a set for each of us.” He rummaged through the pile of crap that he kept meaning to organize “someday” and plucked out two pairs of gloves and a welding helmet for each of them.

  He gave her the nicer ones of the sets, and was gratified that she didn’t turn her nose up at them, despite their…less-than-stellar appearance.

  He put his helmet on his head, keeping the shield flipped up, and, turning so his back was facing her, he showed her how to adjust the knob on the back of the helmet until it was snug up against his skull, but not painful. “Okay, your turn,” he said, supervising her tightening of her helmet as she turned her back to him. Her blonde hair was shining, even under the cover of the back porch, making it hard for him to really concentrate. He wanted to touch the shimmering strands but dammit all, that’d be creepy as hell. He scrounged together a modicum of self-restraint and forced his hands to stay by his sides.

  Once they got all of their gear in place, he found an old rusty piece of angle iron that he’d kept meaning to throw out. It’d be perfect to learn on. He set up two sawhorses and then laid a piece of plywood on top of them to create a flat work surface, with the angle iron resting on top of that.

  He usually didn’t weld much at his house, but he didn’t want to make a special trip out to the shop with her in tow, so just for tonight, he’d ignore the fact that welding on top of plywood would probably guarantee that the plywood would be on fire at some point.

  Well, what was a little learning without a few flames, right?

  He started out by showing her how to draw a bead down the metal, how to angle the head, how to hold the welder, and then let her go at it.

  The first round was…well, chicken scratch, to put it mildly; the industry phrase for “total shit.” There was no worse insult than to refer to someone’s welding as being “chicken scratches” and Tenny’s first round was pretty much the textbook definition of it.

  Huh.

  “How did I do?” she asked eagerly, pushing her visor up on her head. He hesitated for a moment; he didn’t want to burst her bubble. It was a good first try, after all. Just not somethin’ anybody but your momma would appreciate.

  “It’s…a good start,” he told her truthfully. “Next time, you need to move a little slower. See how there’s metal spatterings all over the place? You were moving too quick – impatient to get on with it.”

  She nodded, biting her lower lip in concentration as she looked down at the rusty piece of metal. He felt his groin tighten at the sight. He’d never seen a more gorgeous, enticing sight in all his life than Tennessee, wearing a welding helmet and biting her lower lip.

  He had visions of her in bed, wearing nothing at all. He groaned.

  “Are you okay?” she asked worriedly. “Did I screw up that bad?”

  “Oh no, you’re good,” he assured her. This was not the time to be sporting a boner. Too bad his dick didn’t agree. “Eyes,” he said, and she obediently pulled her helmet down along with him, and then began drawing another line of bead along the metal. He watched her progress intently, realizing that this was just about the most fun he’d ever had welding. Not that they were messing around – messing around and welding were two things that just didn’t mix – but simply being there with her…it was a damn sight more fun than working with Farmer John staring over his shoulder.

  The torch turned off and she pushed her helmet back up on her head. “Does this look any better?” she asked. He quickly pushed his helmet up too, forcing himself to concentrate on something other than what Tenny looked like while biting her lower lip.

  He looked down at the rusty metal and let out a surprised whistle. “Well, I’ll be dipped in pig’s shit,” he said wonderingly.

  “What? What’s wrong?” she asked. “Did I screw it up?”

  “This is why women make better welders than men,” he told her bluntly. She looked at him, disbelieving. “Seriously. It took me a whole spool of wire to get that good. It took you five minutes.”

  “Are you pulling my leg?” she asked him, a little defensively.

  “Tenny, I make jokes about a lot of things, but welding ain’t one of them. You’re a natural. Now, let’s try a couple of other techniques…”

  Chapter 14

  Tennessee

  Neerrrvvooouuussss…

  She drew in a deep breath, rubbing the palms of her hands on her jeans. She was on Levi’s front porch yet again, but this time, he knew she was on the other side of the door. Well, he knew she was going to be on the other side of the door. Unless he’d been peeking out the front window when she pulled up, he probably didn’t know she was there at that very moment.

  Focus, Tennessee!

  She’d spent the day watching YouTube videos on welding while hiding in her room, other than her two hours of required piano practice, of course. Someday, her parents were going to give up on her being a world-famous pianist, and if she was lucky, that day would be soon. But in the meanwhile, she could continue to play by their rules.

  Ha. Play. She’d made a punny and hadn’t even meant to.

  She raised a trembling hand and knocked on the door, schooling her features into their normal bland expression. If she didn’t show her nerves, then he wouldn’t know they existed and as long as she had everyone else fooled, that was all that mattered. Right?

  Right.

  He opened up the front door, and today…

  Her mouth went dry.

  She’d surprised him yesterday, which she’d totally done on purpose, and he’d been filthy then from his long day at work. Strangely enough, though, he’d been filthy in a really sexy way. Not in a I-want-to-kiss-my-way-up-his-legs way – he’d had too much grease and dirt splattered on him for that – but in a I-am-a-man-and-can-take-care-of-you way.

  Tennessee was an Idahoan through and through, even if she didn’t always act like it, and a prissy man who wore business suits every day and had his fingernails buffed and manicured…no, thank you. She liked men who had dirt under their fingernails and knew how to swing a hammer.

  Levi had been the very embodiment of that yesterday.

  Today, he still had that vibe, but a cleaned-up version of it. The five o’clock shadow was gone, along with all of the grease and dirt, and his clothes didn’t look like they’d been rescued out of the trashcan after a hobo ditched them there.

  Not that they were fancy clothes – just jeans and a wife beater that read, “I flexed and the sleeves fell off” �
�� but they were certainly cleaner than the ones he’d been wearing yesterday.

  Overall, he was, quite literally, breathtaking.

  She’d never really understood people being nervous around her because she was beautiful; she was just Tennessee and there wasn’t a good reason to be nervous around her. But now that she was drooling over Levi, she suddenly had pity for people in that situation. To be around someone who looked like he’d just stepped off the pages of a magazine…

  It was hard to keep from drooling.

  “You were flexing, eh?” she said in lieu of a greeting, unable to tear her eyes away from his chest. His kissable, delectable chest. He made that shirt look way better than it had any right to.

  He looked down at his shirt like he couldn’t remember what it said, and then laughed. “This was a gag gift from Moose one year for Christmas. He dared me to wear it to school; I lost that dare. If I remember right, I ended up having to pay him back for losing by bringing over a case of beer, which we promptly drank together.”

  “So in other words, a terrible consequence?” she asked, laughing.

  “Yeah, just awful,” he said dryly. “Stores aren’t supposed to sell alcohol to kids who are underage, of course, but everyone in town knows who my dad is, and they all knew that if I didn’t bring back the beer, he’d beat my ass, so they’d sell me Pabst on the side. I just might’ve taken advantage of that a time or two in high school.”

  She threw back her head and laughed even harder. “Man, I must’ve missed all the fun parties,” she said ruefully. “What the hell was I doing when y’all were getting drunk?”

  “Practicing the piano?” he suggested.

  “Yeah, probably.”

  They stared at each other for a moment, the laughter dying down between them.

  “Oh, you should probably come in!“ he said, stepping back from the door. “I didn’t mean to keep you standing out here the whole time. You ready to get to work on welding right away?”

  “Sure,” she said. Unless my other option is making out with you.