Californian Wildfire Fighters: The Complete Series

by North, Leslie

  Sookie shrugged. She took a sip of her beer. "You went up today," she reminded him. "Why do you think? It's amazing up there."

  "But that's not it." He surprised her with his certainty, and Sookie lowered her beer. "Why do you do it, exactly?"

  "Is that supposed to clarify your question for me somehow?"

  "You're stalling," he said.

  Sookie exhaled through her nose in frustration. She jogged her leg, then glanced out toward the landscape. They were facing south, away from the fire. The view under the fading light was perfectly serene, perfectly as it should be, silhouettes of trees rising against the sky. There wasn't a tree out of place. If a person never turned around, they might not realize their life was in peril until the blaze was actually upon them and it was too late.

  "If I tell you, then you have to tell me something personal about you," she said. "About why you chose to be a firefighter.”

  "Sure." Chase suddenly didn't sound so eager.

  "I mean it, Hotshot. Otherwise you stand no chance of getting laid tonight. Take it or leave it."

  "There's plenty I'd like to take," he said gravely. "But I'll start here."

  A little shiver raced up her back before she could suppress it. She liked to give Chase shit almost relentlessly, but God, when he got a filthy innuendo in edgewise . . . it did things to her. "All right. After Hank left town, I sort of . . . ran away." She blushed and looked down. This wasn't how she had intended to start things off. "I mean, by then I was legally an adult, of course. But I sure as hell made some childish decisions. I was homeless for a bit. Surfed friends' couches. Hunkered down in my car. Slept on the street when I had to."

  She expected Chase to voice his disbelief at this. Chase said nothing. He watched her, his eyes two gleaming, anchoring points in the darkness.

  Sookie raised her beer to take another fortifying drink and continued, "So yeah, I started life out there in the big, wide world a little bit mixed up. I certainly don't regret the experience, but I wasn't doing anything to find myself. I was running. I ran all over the country before I eventually landed in the National Guard. I needed a place to stay, mainly. I was worn out. Totally directionless. Then I fell in love."

  "With someone in the Guard?" Chase asked.

  Sookie shook her head. "No. With flying. Almost from the moment I learned I could pilot one of those Black Hawks, it's like my path was suddenly set. I locked onto my fate, and I knew what I'd been put on Earth to do. Four years of ROTC and I got my degree. I'm not running anymore, but that doesn't mean I have to give up escaping. Flying above it all . . . well, you know what it's like, now. You're not just above it all physically. It's like your mind is suddenly free."

  "What was holding it prisoner before?" Chase asked.

  Sookie shifted and rolled the beer bottle between her anxious palms. "My . . . Hank's and my . . . family life wasn't super great." She didn't know what else to say. She had no idea how much Hank might have told Chase already . . . although, knowing Hank, it was probably less than nothing. She could still withhold the rest of the story. She could still keep the truth safely locked within her.

  Because she still didn't know if she trusted Chase Kingston.

  "No matter where you might go on the ground, someone might find you," she said. "Show up on your doorstep, ready to beat you over the head with your past. Up there, though, you're out of reach."

  "Sounds lonely."

  "It is. But it's better than the alternative."

  "What's the alternative?" This time when Chase swiveled toward her, his knee brushed against hers. Sookie hadn't realized they were sitting that close, but she didn't shy from the contact. "Another person?" He was pressing her, taking her down a path she didn't want to go. His thigh was pressing against her thigh, letting her know its marble hardness, making it hard to focus on the treacherous conversational terrain she was being forced to navigate.

  In the end, Sookie didn't know how to respond to him. She settled for jabbing her finger into his bicep. Really, she just wanted an excuse to test the solid-looking muscle’s strength for herself, and she wasn't disappointed. "Hey, I already told you more than I tell most people. Now it's your turn to spill."

  "I'm flattered." Chase shifted, turning away slightly, and Sookie realized at once that he was closing himself off.

  She reacted by grabbing his beer. He rounded on her, and she dangled it playfully out of reach. "C'mon, Chase. It's partly why I brought you out here."

  "Can't wait to get to the other part of your plans for me," Chase muttered, but his heart clearly wasn't in it.

  "Be real with me," she insisted.

  Chase chuckled. "All right. Fair enough. But my reasons aren't as romantic, or as noble, as yours are. I joined the department because of the rush I get saving people. You said you were addicted to flying? I'm addicted to adrenaline. It gets you back to the basics of what it means to be a human. It burns everything else away."

  "What else needs to be burned away?" Sookie asked.

  "My father, Court, mostly." Chase scowled. "And . . . anyone else who didn't think I was good enough."

  "Was there someone else?"

  Chase said nothing, and she had her answer. Someone left you, she thought as she looked at him, sitting slumped on the log beside her. A woman.

  "You loved her," she guessed.

  "Doesn't matter." He took his beer back while her guard was down and finished it off. He rose to crack another. "It was a while ago."

  "The past can be very present," Sookie said. "Especially if you don't deal with your demons."

  "You should know, right?" Chase dropped back down beside her. There was an edge to his voice, but Sookie didn't take offense. He was right. She never practiced what she preached. A part of her had wondered if coming home to Cedar Springs would help her resolve all the pain she carried with her. If she could just unload it all like a supply drop, she might stand a chance of lifting off again.

  "I've been in relationships before. Well, only one serious one," she admitted.

  "Yeah?" Chase challenged, engaged again. "Why'd that fall apart?"

  Sookie shrugged. "I guess a part of me just doesn't know how to be around men. Maybe it's the guys I meet, or . . . maybe it really is my fault. I don't know. But I always feel silenced, and walked all over—before long, it feels like I just exist to be a spectator to someone else's life and interests. It's like having my wings clipped."

  "And what kind of guardian angel would you be to me and my squad without your wings?" Chase surprised her by stroking his fingers along her back, tracing the definition of her shoulder blades.

  "I'm no angel." The hand on her back deepened its touch, and she arched. She was surprised when she didn't emit a purr of approval. It felt that good.

  Chase sighed. She could practically hear the sexual frustration released on his breath. "We should go in," he muttered. "Early day tomorrow."

  "Did I ruin the mood?" Sookie frowned. She liked Chase's hand on her back and resented it when he took it away.

  "What mood?" he asked innocently. "We're colleagues, remember? Just colleagues sharing a beer."

  "In the middle of the California woods, at night," she said.

  "Beneath the stars."

  "With work in the morning," she reminded him in a sudden turnabout. Because as much as Sookie hated to admit it, Chase was right. They had their roles to fulfill by the light of day—both in and out of uniform. Would she wake up tomorrow and find that things were still the same between them? Maybe night was only good for softening adversarial edges, rather than abolishing them completely.

  Sookie got to her feet with a heavy sigh of her own. She locked the cooler up and stowed it back within the weeds. Who knew when she would need to escape next? The government’s Hawk wasn't fueled for personal excursions into the sky. A cooler full of beer by the creek would just have to do for now.

  And she would have to satisfy herself with parting ways with Chase, taking with her only the lingering memory of h
is touch. It had taken tonight for her to realize she really did want more.

  So how the hell was she supposed to go about getting it? The man was as wounded as she was. Their attraction was undeniable, its conclusion maybe even unavoidable—but what if they just wound up hurting one another more in the process?

  They walked back into town together. Chase's hands were buried in his pockets, and Sookie wondered if he didn't trust them to behave.

  God, how she wanted them to misbehave around her.

  Chapter 7

  Chase

  After saying good night to Sookie, Chase continued down Main Street into the deepening night. He wasn't used to going home alone, and he wasn't sure he liked it . . . but it was hard to feel too disappointed with the glow of the evening he’d just spent nestled like an ember in his belly.

  Other things were glowing that night, too. There was the wildfire raging in the distance, and there was a lone light burning in the living room window of the house he shared with the squad. Chase walked up the drive and mounted the front porch, his steps more measured now. He wished he could silence them altogether, then shook the thought from his mind. He wasn't some kid out past his curfew.

  He unlocked the front door and shoved it open.

  Hank sat in the living room chair. Chase glanced at the microwave clock in the kitchen, then pushed the numbers out of his head. Again: no curfew. He wasn't guilty of anything.

  Yet.

  "Hey, Chief. You're up late."

  "Where the hell have you been?" Hank didn't bother matching Chase’s casual tone. If Chase had any doubts what this confrontation was about, they were snuffed in that moment.

  The chief's tone made him hot, but he was determined to play things cool. "Just out having a drink." He dropped his keys in the foyer bowl.

  "No, you weren't." Hank's challenge sounded confident. He sat back in the armchair and crossed his burly arms. "There's only one place to drink in this town, and I was there all night. You weren't there . . . and neither was my sister." Chase tried to stay as still as possible as Hank studied him. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

  He could lie. He had intended to lie when Hank caught on to this thing with his sister, but now that he was in the moment, Chase felt the tug of loyalty . . . and of guilt. He couldn't lie to his chief. "I do know," he admitted. "I was out having a drink with Sookie. We decided on something a little more private than the Well." With good reason, he thought. By the way Hank gripped the arms of his chair now, Chase could tell his chief had been contemplating wringing his neck all evening.

  "What does that mean? Private?" Hank's voice was a deadly whisper. Unlike lesser whispers, its power wasn't reduced just because he spoke more softly.

  The whisper—and the question—put Chase on the defensive. The last place he wanted to be. "Nothing happened, Chief. Nothing's going to happen. We just figured we'd celebrate our first flight together."

  "In private?"

  Chase's temper flared. "If you don't believe me, then why don't you go and ask your sister?" When he was met with only stony silence, he soldiered on into unknown territory. "Fuck if I know what the history is between the two of you, but it's got nothing to do with me. I don't want any part of it. But if you're really so concerned that it keeps you up at night, maybe you should start by talking to her instead of me. Sounds like you’ve got a lot to make up for."

  The whole speech was a mistake, but his closing line was the ill-advised cherry on top of an unasked-for-advice sundae. Hank was out of his chair and halfway to the foyer before Chase could blink, much less contemplate a hasty retreat. He was glad he didn't have the time to think about backing down. Hank was there, suddenly, a looming tower of muscle about to topple and wreak havoc. Chase stood strong.

  The two of them stared each other down. Chase's fists itched, and his palms were sweating. Was he seriously going to have it out with Hank, here and now, when nothing had happened tonight? He didn't think he could take his chief, not really . . . but maybe it was the alcohol pumping through his veins that made him determined to go down swinging.

  Or maybe it was something else in his bloodstream. An image of Sookie flashed in his mind, all dark hair and lips and brushfire-bright eyes. God damn, she was beautiful. If there was one face in the world worth getting his own smashed for, it was hers.

  He waited for Hank's swing. It never came. At a glance, his chief's fists were curled at his sides, same as Chase's, and shaking with what must have been raw fury, but it was contained. Hank fought fires for a living, but he also controlled them better than most.

  Chase relaxed his posture first. He wanted to say something, anything, to mitigate the damage done, but he couldn't find the words. Funny, how words came to you when you shouldn't use them—and abandoned you when you needed them most.

  "Get to bed. You're on the grid again tomorrow." Hank brushed by him, knocking shoulders, and Chase gave ground. He stepped back, watching as his chief climbed the stairs and vanished up into the second story.

  He tried to force himself to think more on the words traded, and what it might mean for him in the coming days . . . but try as he might, news of tomorrow's assignment overshadowed everything. He would be on the grid. Again.

  That meant he'd see Sookie again. It seemed no matter where he turned in this town, he couldn't escape running into a Logan.

  And in this case, he didn't want to.

  * * *

  "Creeping!" Chase shouted.

  Sookie turned to him from the cockpit of the Hawk and twitched her shades down her nose. "Are you?" she asked with mock interest.

  He rose, grabbing her by the helmet and forcefully turning her head back around. "Not me, Queenie. The fire. Look."

  Sookie leaned her head out, and so did Chase, while Raj held the chopper steady. He knew he wasn't wrong, but it wasn't the kind of news he liked to deliver. The wildfire raged below them, pouring black smoke in thick, choking plumes as it devoured acres of forest whole. They had made enough passes by now to get a clear visual: The flames had definitely started to creep south.

  "Prep the foam," Sookie said.

  "Already on it."

  Chase headed for the tanks, then clipped himself into the safety harness and got into position with the remote ready. Sookie brought them down lower over the blaze. Chase pulled his face mask up over his mouth. "How's our position looking from up there?" he shouted through the fabric.

  "Almost there!" Sookie called back. "I'll cue you for the release!"

  Chase waited, breath caught, eyes stinging, remote in hand. He split his attention between the woman in the cockpit and the fire below. He was ready when her hand shot up and cleaved the air. "Now!"

  Chase hit the switch. The retardant foam spilled behind them like a red cloud. It streaked the sky and fell to the scorching earth below as Sookie flew on. He leaned out the door to watch its progress. The foam blanketed the landscape, dousing the fire beneath it and clinging to the branches of dead trees.

  "Reminds me of a party I went to once!" he called up to the cockpit.

  "A foam party?" Sookie said. He was only slightly disappointed that her worldly knowledge appeared a match for his own.

  "House party with other members of the department. Your brother was there, too!"

  "Ugh. Please spare me any more visuals!" Sookie called.

  Chase erupted in laughter, then grabbed for the lip of the door as the Hawk hung a sharp left. He still wasn't used to flying, but damn if he wasn't growing to like it. The sexy little pilot who took him up on assignments might have something to do with it.

  An hour later and they were back on the ground again, but Chase's mood soared. Not only had he finally found a chance to actively participate in quashing the blaze, but an afternoon spent flirting with Sookie (which most often meant trading jabs) had left him wanting more.

  He caught her arm as they disembarked. Seemed to him that Sookie had a business-first attitude the moment she touched down, and he
didn't want to lose his chance to speak to her without the interference of a prop blade . . . or her older brother.

  "Hey. Ice Queen."

  "Yes?" One of her eyebrows cocked behind her aviators, but that was all Chase saw of her eyes. He slipped them off her nose without thinking, and grinned at her look of dismay. She was definitely less icy without them . . . hell, he could read actual emotion on her face. He passed the shades back to her.

  "Sorry about last night," he said. "It got way too D&M. I didn't mean to let that happen."

  "You weren't the only one calling the shots," Sookie reminded. She poked him in the chest. "I didn't even know you were capable of deep and meaningful. It was . . . illuminating."

  Chase wasn't sure he liked that. He wasn't sure what she meant by it, anyway. He captured the intrusive finger in his fist, and Sookie didn't pull it free. "I like to be the one calling the shots," he murmured.

  "I can tell." Her tone wasn't disproving. Her finger was still his.

  "How about you let me organize something for us this time?" he suggested. "Something fun. Definitely not serious," he added. He wasn't sure what Sookie Logan wanted. Hell, he wasn't sure what he wanted, except to not scare her away.

  "This time?" she repeated. "Do we intend to make this a habit?"

  He wondered if he only imagined her looking as if she held her breath. He tugged the finger, drawing her in closer, until he could feel her heat radiating against his chest. "One thing you should know about me, Sookie Logan, is that I'm a man of habits," he whispered. "And none of them are good."

  "Good habits are boring," she said. "I'd hate to be a good habit."

  Her lips tantalized him. Even without sampling them for himself, Chase knew how they would taste: as habit-forming as nicotine, as blistering as that first burn of whiskey after a long day of sweat and toil and danger on the job, and as sweet as a sip of water stolen in the middle of a blaze.

  The Ice Queen's lips would be hot as hell.