by Tawna Fenske
“Two bars,” Tony said. “First time since we got here.”
Bobby collapsed onto his sleeping bag and pulled out his own phone. “That’ll do.”
Everyone zoned out for a minute, checking emails, catching up on news, texting the obligatory “I’m okay” messages to family. Grady slipped his iPhone out of his jump suit pocket and checked the screen.
Nothing.
Well, a text from his mother. He fired off a quick note to her, letting her know he was okay and that the fire had been handled. While he was at it, he texted an update to the base commander, even though they’d already relayed the details via radio. It never hurt to be thorough.
He was about to shove the phone in his pocket when a text message popped up on-screen.
Willa: Saw a headline about injured Hotshots in WA. Hope you’re okay.
Grady stared at the message a long time, lingering over every word like he sometimes savored the best bites of steak at the end of a meal. She’d been thinking about him. The idea of that made him giddier than it ought to. Would he seem too eager if he replied right away?
Don’t be a dumb-ass. She’s worried about you.
His thumbs left black smudges on the screen as he typed out a quick response.
Grady: All good here. On a small fire in ID. Got it out quickly. Heading out to MT tomorrow.
That always seemed nuts to anyone outside this kind of work. That you could wake up in one state, fly off and jump out of a plane into another, hike to a third state, get picked up and driven to the air base there, and then do it all over again with a jump in a completely different state. He had no idea where he’d be sleeping tomorrow or if he’d be sleeping at all.
“Here you go.”
Grady looked up to see Ethan handing him a plate of Spam and…okay, he wasn’t totally sure what that was. But it was hot and looked mostly edible, so he said thanks and took the fork and started shoveling food into his face.
“This is awesome,” he said around a mouthful. “Nice work.”
“Gonna have to make you camp cook every night,” Tony called.
“Shit, don’t say that,” Bobby muttered from the other side of camp. “He’ll start spitting in it or something.”
As the other guys kept bantering about dinner, Grady’s phone buzzed on the ground beside him. He picked it up as a flush of heat washed through him when he saw her name on-screen.
Willa: Glad you’re okay. Looking forward to date 2.
Grady smiled, then stopped himself. Date two would be nice. The day after that would be less nice. That would mean the end of his time with Willa, something he wasn’t looking forward to at all. He thought about that as he chewed, then tapped out a reply.
Grady: Does hiking count as a date?
He shoveled up the last of his dinner and stood to gather plates, but Tony snatched his and started toward the creek. “You did ’em last night,” he said. “You’re on for breakfast, though.”
“Deal.” Grady sat back down and peeled off his boots. The sun was almost gone, so he might as well crawl into his bag. Night came fast out here in the woods, and he was exhausted enough to fall right to sleep the second his head hit the pillow. The ground. Whatever.
The instant his phone buzzed, he was wide awake again.
Willa: Murder’s not a big turn-on.
Huh? Grady looked at the screen, then scrolled back up to his last message.
Grady: Does killing count as a date?
Shit. Damn autocorrect. Or maybe he should blame his sooty fingerprints, which sometimes caused the mistyped words. Probably ought to clear that up quick.
Grady: Sorry, phone is an asshole. Does HIKING count as a date?
He wriggled into his sleeping bag as Tony ambled back into camp and started packing away the cooking gear. The others had already crawled into their bags as stars pricked holes in the black velvet sky one poke at a time. A perfect crescent moon hung by a thread in the corner of his field of vision, and Grady rolled onto his back to admire it.
His phone vibrated again and he held it up to check the incoming message.
Willa: Hiking? Because you haven’t gotten enough exercise lugging a million-pound pack around the woods?
He smiled and typed out his response, wondering if she was in bed, too. Did she sleep naked? She had with him, but maybe that wasn’t her normal state. Maybe it had just been a convenience thing, since they’d woken up several times in the night to touch and stroke and—
Grady: Hiking fire lines w/a heavy pack = not relaxing. Hiking river trail w/a beautiful woman = very relaxing.
The response bubbles popped up immediately, filling Grady’s chest with a surge of anticipation.
Willa: Will be on lookout for beautiful women ;)
Willa: Also, no. Hiking is not a date.
Then a pause like she was trying to figure out why. Grady kinda wondered himself.
Willa: Exercise is NOT romantic.
Hey, that worked for him. A little weird, but okay. Grady smiled as he read through her messages. This banter, it was nice. Not the same as talking with her in person, snuggled on her sofa with Willa’s warmth tucked against his body. Still, he could get used to this.
Grady: How’s your week?
Willa: Workload heavy. Drama with Dad. The usual.
That was interesting. She rarely brought up her father, and he thought hard about his response, not wanting to scare her away.
Grady: Is your dad okay?
Willa: Fine. Work’s crazy with RFPs. Trying to land Tranquility Villa and TechTel. Two companies I really, REALLY want.
Two reallys? It sounded personal. Grady made a note of it, wondering if he should push. He’d love to know more, to understand what drove her so hard.
Grady: Crossing all fingers and toes you succeed.
Willa: Thanks. Same.
Grady looked at the words again, wondering what he could add. If there was any way to help relieve her stress.
Grady: Massage. That’s good for relaxation. Hey, spa date! Real date or no?
Truth be told, he’d never had a professional massage. An old girlfriend used to hound him all the time about signing up for some couples’ massage class. It sounded hokey at the time, but somehow it sounded more appealing when he pictured Willa stretched out on that table, her bare back tapering down to slim hips and her breasts peeking out around the edges of her ribs, just waiting for his hands to—
Willa: Depends. Are you doing the massaging or are we talking day spa?
Grady: Whichever IS NOT a real date.
He pictured her laughing, and it felt good knowing he was responsible for that imaginary laughter. Rolling onto his side, he waited for an answer, wondering if his teammates could see him over here tapping like a middle school kid with a crush.
Willa: We’ll talk when you’re back if I still need to relax.
Huh. Evasive. Or maybe not. Willa wasn’t the type to play games, so maybe that’s all there was to it. Either she’d feel like getting a massage or she wouldn’t. She’d give him another date or she wouldn’t.
This was not how dating usually went for Grady. How many times had the tables been turned, had the women in his life been the ones hounding him for more time, more attention, more dates? How had he become the pursuer of a woman who seemed like she could take him or leave him?
Grady: I know something else that’s good for relaxation.
The instant he hit send, he second-guessed himself. Did that sound dirty? That wasn’t how he’d meant it, so he hurried to text again.
Grady: Meditation. My sister says it’s been a game changer for her.
There, that was good. Just a friendly suggestion, something that might help her feel better. And that’s what this was about, really. He wanted Willa relaxed and happy and—
Willa: Uh…
Grady fr
owned at his phone, trying to make sense of her response. He scrolled back up and nearly pissed himself.
Grady: Masturbation. My sister says it’s been a game changer for her.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Damn autocorrect. Or dirty thumbs, whatever. He hurried to reply.
Grady: Autocorrect, sorry. Meditation. It’s supposed to be really relaxing.
A long pause, then a response.
Willa: I can assure you it’s not.
What? He scrolled back up, horrified to see what his phone had done this time.
Grady: Autocorrect, sorry. Menstruation. It’s supposed to be really relaxing.
Fuuuuuuuck. His thumbs flew over the screen, correcting his latest faux pas.
Grady: God donkey! M-e-d-i-t-a-t-i-o-n. My sister swears by it.
He read his message three times and corrected the donkey thing to “goddammit” before hitting Send this time.
Willa responded with a series of smiley faces.
Willa: I kinda liked your first suggestion best.
Whoa. He scrolled through the messages to make sure he was remembering correctly. Yep, his accidental suggestion of self-gratification was first on the list, all right. He glanced around the camp at his teammates. No one was moving, but no way in hell was he going to be the creeper lying here in his sleeping bag stroking the salami while he sexted a beautiful woman.
He wished like hell he could call her, but phone sex on the fringes of a forest fire seemed wrong on multiple levels.
Little typing bubbles appeared on-screen, and Grady wondered if he’d taken too long to respond. If he’d made her self-conscious with his delay.
Her response popped up and he squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of it. There were no words. Just…emojis?
An avocado.
And an eggplant.
What the—?
Oh.
All right, he was no expert on erotic imagery, but the two veggies side by side like that were definitely meant to be sexy. The eggplant looked phallic while the avocado was…well, whatever the female equivalent was. That’s what she meant, right?
Grady fumbled with his screen, scrolling for just the right images. A whale, a tiger, an alligator…there.
Locating the camel, he keyed it in, then hit the send button.
It took a few seconds, but her response popped up with a smile emoji.
Willa: Only one hump?
Ha! She’d gotten it, even though he’d known it was a stretch.
He scrolled back through the damn emojis, locating the two-humped camel right below it. He sent that one, watching as the message went through.
Hell, he sent another. And another.
Willa: That’s an awful lot of hump. You sure you’re up for that?
“You have no idea,” he murmured to himself. Before he could respond, she texted an emoji of a shower.
Willa: I need to cool off now.
He laughed, hoping the guys weren’t still awake and watching. He’d never live this down. Sliding his thumb across the screen to search for images, he located one that showed a pair of hands extended palms-out. Probably a high-ten, but that could pass as a boob grab, right?
A few more seconds. Willa replied with a peach emoji. Butt cheeks? Had to be. Grady stifled a laugh. God, it had been a long time since he’d smiled this much with a woman. A woman hundreds of miles away, at that. It seemed crazy she could get him this riled up from a distance, and with cartoon emojis at that.
But there it was. He was fucking nuts about her, and this flirty chat was driving him even crazier.
He was still hunting for another flirtatious emoji when she texted again.
Willa: I should sleep now. This was fun.
Yeah. It was. Way more fun than Grady was used to. He rolled onto his back, wishing he could keep this going all night. Wishing she were here with him right now, breathing in the smoke-tinged night air and counting the stars overhead. He’d pull her against his chest, inhaling the scent of her hair and asking her questions about her life. He’d tell her about fires he’d worked and she’d tell him about her father and they’d fall asleep in each other’s arms under the night sky.
Grady: I miss you.
He stared at the words for a long time, then deleted them. No reason to scare her off.
Grady: I’m nuts about you.
He threw a peanut emoji in there to make it wittier, but even that seemed too forward, so he deleted the words unsent and tried again.
Grady: Can’t wait to see you again for
He finished that off with a couple of wineglasses and a plate of food, figuring that was a tame enough visual for a date. And he did want a date with her, that was true. But he wanted more than one. More than two or three or—
Willa: G’night, Grady.
Grady: Night.
—more than she wanted from him, that seemed clear.
He put his phone down and settled in for the night, determined not to let it get to him.
Chapter Eight
Willa tugged the blue dress over her head, snagging the merchandise tags on her ponytail as she yanked it off. “Ow.”
“Here, let me.” Aislin gently freed the azure silk from Willa’s tangled tresses and hooked it on the dressing room door. “Red’s more your color anyway.”
Kayla stepped up with a flirty little crimson number draped over one arm. She eyed Willa standing there in her white cotton undies and made a tsk-tsk noise. “Tell me you have sexier underwear to go with this.”
“I have sexier underwear to go with this,” Willa parroted obediently, reaching for the red dress. “You guys, this is lunch with a five-year-old. Why are you making such a fuss?”
“It’s lunch with Grady and a five-year-old,” Kayla insisted, yanking the dress back so fast that Willa almost toppled over. “And you were told to look like a princess, so you’re going to be the sexiest goddamn princess who ever walked the earth.”
Willa sighed. “I’m thinking we should tone down the sexiness and swearing. I’ve never even met this five-year-old.”
Aislin quirked an eyebrow as she perused the selection they’d assembled for her in the dressing room. “Cursing and dressing like a hooch would be okay if you were acquainted with the kid?”
Kayla responded before Willa could open her mouth. “She’s not dressing like a hooch. She’s going to look like a beautiful, magical princess.”
Aislin grinned. “A beautiful, magical princess who’s going to rock Grady’s world.”
“You guys are overthinking this.” Willa plucked a pink dress off the hook and inspected the neckline. Way too sexy. She put it back and kept looking. “We’re taking the kid to a princess tea party, not attending a royal wedding.”
And it’s not a date, she reminded herself, inspecting a flowy yellow dress.
It couldn’t be a date with a kid as a chaperone. One of Grady’s teammates had been injured in the field and refused the MRI his doctor ordered because it conflicted with a princess party held annually at a local teahouse. The single dad had hyped it all summer for his daughter and couldn’t bear to let her down.
“That was nice of Grady to offer to take the kid to the tea thing,” Aislin said. “Very chivalrous.”
Kayla nodded and handed Willa the red dress. “Her name is Annabelle—how cute is that? Tony says Grady’s family looks after her all the time. I guess they’re pretty close.”
“The upside of a big family,” Willa put in, hunting for the zipper. “It’s easy to absorb an extra kid when you’ve got a zillion brothers and sisters and grandkids.”
“Still, it’s a nice gesture.” Aislin plucked the dress from Willa’s hand and tugged down the zipper, then handed it back. “Though kind of a weird date, considering you haven’t seen each other for two weeks.”
“It’s not a date.” Wil
la tugged the dress over her head, grateful the fabric hid her face as she conjured another tiny fib. “And I like having Grady gone a lot. It keeps me focused on work.”
She emerged through the neck hole in time to see her friends exchange a look. “It keeps you from getting too serious,” Kayla said. “From admitting you’re into the guy.”
“I think it’s awesome,” Aislin said. “You’re not ready for things to end so quickly with this one. That’s progress.”
Willa wasn’t so sure about that, but there was no sense arguing. Better to change the subject. “How’s it going with Tony?” she asked Kayla.
“Great.” Kayla beamed, making it clear it was more than great.
Aislin reached out to help Willa with her zipper. “Are you guys getting serious?”
Kayla shrugged and helped Willa lift her hair away from the zipper. “Too soon to tell. He sure thinks Grady’s great, though. Smart and responsible and skilled and—”
“Are you sure Tony’s not in love with Grady?” Aislin smoothed a crease on the side of Willa’s dress.
Kayla’s smile morphed into a Cheshire-like smirk. “Positive,” she said, the one word conveying everything Willa needed to know about how her friend and Grady’s had been spending their time together.
“They’re brothers-in-arms,” Kayla continued, straightening Willa’s hem. “The guys have mad respect for each other as smokejumpers, but it’s more than that. They trust each other with their lives.”
“Huh.” Aislin looked thoughtful. “Which you’re taking as a good sign we can trust him with Willa’s heart?”
Willa rolled her eyes and turned to face the mirror. “Hello? I do have some say in this, too, you know.”
“We’re your fairy godmothers.” Aislin grinned at her in the mirror. “Aside from making sure you look cute for your date—”
“Not a date!” Kayla insisted.
“Right, you’ll look cute for your non-date.” Aislin picked a blue dress off the hook by the door, considering it a moment before putting it back. “But we’re here to tell you when you’ve met a guy who might be deserving of more than the usual treatment.”
Willa gave up and surveyed herself in the mirror. Okay, fine. Her friends were right about the red. It was definitely her color, and the bodice hugged her curves like a dream. She fished under her arm for the price tag and blanched.