Mitchell turned to Lorenda. “As fast as you can, go that way toward the stream we fished in today.” Mitchell pointed. “I’ll go last to make sure we don’t lose anyone in the dark.”
When they got to the stream, Mitchell had everyone hold up. Smoke thickened the air, and the heat from the fire had turned the cool night as hot as a desert. He swiped the sweat from his brow with the front of his shirt. Lorenda’s chest heaved from the fast pace. Mitchell took off his underwater watch.
“Give me your arm, Lorenda.”
Still panting, she held out her wrist. He strapped the watch on and pushed a button on one side. “Here’s the light. And there’s the compass.” He pointed to the red arrow on the face. “Go west until you hit the highway. You’ll have to double back along the road to find the truck where we parked it at the base of the mountain, or flag down the first vehicle that passes—”
“Mitchell, no.” She grabbed his arm. “We’re not leaving you here.”
“Sparky, listen to me.” This time he took both of her arms in his hands. “I wanted to make sure you and the kids got out safe. If you do what I say, you will. There are two dozen Wilderness Scouts camping on the other side of the lake. The fire is spreading fast, and I can’t just leave them.”
“Mitchell.” Lorenda’s voice was desperate. “You can’t leave us! What if you don’t—” She stifled a sob with her hand.
He framed her face between his hands. At that moment, all he wanted in his sorry excuse for a life was to be there for his family. To become the husband and father Lorenda and the boys needed. In his selfish need to goad his father, he’d talked himself into believing it was okay to take responsibility for Cameron’s mistakes. That had been the first domino, and they were still falling all these years later, ruining the lives of people he cared about. Most of all ruining Lorenda’s life. That was hard enough to live with, but if he didn’t help the scouts, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself at all.
“Sweetheart, you know I have to.”
Moonlight shimmered against the wetness in her eyes. She nodded, inhaling on another sob. “I’ve lost one husband. I—”
He smothered her fearful words with a kiss. Then he pulled back and brushed her nose with his. “I’m coming back. I promise. Just get yourself and the boys out of here and get word to my dad. He’ll know what to do.”
He pulled her into another urgent kiss, then set her away from him.
“Boys, stick with your mother and make sure she’s safe, okay?”
“Yes sir,” they echoed.
As soon as they turned to walk down the hill, Mitchell took off toward the lake in a dead run. When he broke through the woods into the clearing around the lake, the fire had gotten much closer. It was almost to the scouts’ campsite, so he quickly ticked off his options. He could go around, which would take longer, or he could go across.
He broke into a run toward the pier.
They don’t call ’em frogmen for nothin’.
He didn’t slow when he got to the end, but dove headfirst into the water and swam toward the other side. He splashed onto the bank, ready to bark orders to the scout leaders and piggyback as many kids out of there as he could carry. Fiery heat licked over him as he turned full circle looking for any sign of life.
Every tent was gone, and the campsite was empty.
Mitchell walked around the site. Called out in case anyone was left behind.
It took time to get that much equipment torn down and packed up. They’d been gone for a while. Strange, since they’d just gotten there that day.
He walked past the fire pit and the blaze glinted off something metal. He bent, picked it from the ashes, and wiped it off.
That feeling, the one that told him something was terribly off, dialed up so high that blood pounded through his veins.
How did his dog tags get across the lake and into the Wilderness Scouts camp?
By the time Mitchell made his way to the highway, the Forest Service had arrived, along with the Red River Fire Department and what must’ve been every volunteer firefighter in the county. Everyone except the two people he needed to find the most—Lorenda and his dad.
He ran through the crowd of scrambling first responders and their vehicles looking for Cam’s old truck and the sheriff’s car.
“Whoa, buddy.” Langston came out of nowhere and blocked Mitchell with an arm. He yelled to one of the firefighters that Mitchell was accounted for and told them to call it in to the chief. “A search team is looking for you up there.” He pointed up the mountain, which burned bright and lit up the night sky that had been so peaceful just a few hours ago.
“I need to find Lorenda and the kids.” Mitchell tried to push out of Langston’s hold, but his buddy wouldn’t let go.
“She’s home safe and sound.”
Mitchell’s eyes slid shut for a beat, and the knot in his chest loosened.
“She drove straight to the fire department and then wanted to come back here after dropping the kids and that ugly dog of hers off at my parents.” Langston led him to an ambulance. “I told her it wasn’t safe.” He was clearly annoyed. “But do you think she listened?”
Hell no, and Mitchell wanted to give her a lecture about putting herself in danger since she had two kids to think about. Had him to think about too, because he didn’t want to lose her. Not after it had taken him so long to find her.
The thought knocked the wind from his lungs.
After he finished lecturing her, he wanted to kiss the daylights out of her. The only other people who had cared enough about him to try to save him were his SEAL Team. And Cameron, who’d followed Mitchell into the military, even if he couldn’t own up to the fire.
Langston kept complaining about his sister. “The guys manning the roadblock called me on the radio and said she was trying to slip through. She was blubbering about how she had to get back here to find your sorry ass.” He shoved Mitchell down, and he landed on the bumper with a thunk. Langston didn’t seem to notice and slapped an oxygen mask over Mitchell’s face.
“Nice bedside manner.” Mitchell moved the mask aside. “Bet your patients love you.”
Langston shoved the mask back into place. “They do, actually. I only treat assholes like this.” He strapped a blood-pressure cuff on Mitchell’s arm.
Mitchell moved the mask again. “I already told you, that’s Mr. Asshole to you. And why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be working on a helo helping to rescue people or some such bullshit?”
“My next shift doesn’t start for a few days, and the Red River Fire Department still calls me in when they need extra help.” Langston folded Mitchell’s arm across his chest and pressed a button on the cuff. It started to expand. “Obviously, they needed me to save someone named Mr. Asshole.”
Mitchell used his free hand to squeeze Langston’s shoulder. His buddy, who used to play football with him in high school, and now happened to be his brother-in-law, stilled and dropped the pissy look for a second. “Thanks, Lang. I owe you, buddy.”
Langston pounded him on the back, then went back to his sibling rant. “Damn straight you owe me. That wife of yours was causing such a ruckus at the roadblock, I had to call your dad.”
Oh wow. Mitchell would’ve paid money to see that fireworks display.
“And would she listen to him?” Langston’s voice turned to disgust.
Mitchell smiled and felt it spread through his entire body.
Langston read the numbers on the cuff and stripped it away. “Hell no, she gave him shit too. He had to threaten to arrest her before she finally left. And then he still had to follow her home and take her keys away to keep her from coming back and barreling through the roadblock.”
No one in this town could get away with talking to his old man like that except his mom and Lorenda. If anyone else had tried to stand up to him, he’d likely have them brought up on charges of treason and shipped them off to Gitmo.
Or the military.
Lang
ston shined a light in Mitchell’s eyes. “Okay, you’re fine. But I still have to offer you a ride to the hospital.”
Mitchell flipped the mask off and tossed it inside the ambulance. “Hospitals are for pussies.”
“Right.” Langston rolled his eyes, put the equipment away, and pulled a phone from his pocket. “Here.” He shoved it into Mitchell’s chest. “I figured you’d be asking to use it. Lorenda said you made everyone leave their phones at home, so go call your wife.”
Mitchell walked away for some privacy and dialed Lorenda’s number. She answered on the first ring, and he let out the breath he was holding. The sound of her voice sent a wave of relief flooding through him.
“Sparky.”
“Mitchell!” Her voice shook. “Are you okay? Did all the scouts get out okay?”
“I’m fine, but the scouts were already gone. You and the kids are good?”
“We’re great thanks to you. Just terrified.” She hesitated. “Until now.”
Mitchell wanted to reach through the phone and kiss her. “Thanks to Malarkey. He saved us. I might not have woken up in time if not for him.”
“Mitchell.” Her voice was almost a whisper. “Come home. The kids and Malarkey are with my parents.”
There was a promise in those words. One that he hoped would start with a hot shower for two, include several shouts of his name, a shout or two of hers, and end with enough empty metallic squares to build a fort.
“I’ll be there soon. I just need to talk to Dad first.” He looked around the bustling crowd. “If I can find him.”
“I told him it couldn’t have been you.”
Mitchell’s stomach tightened. Cameron was already dead because of the lie they’d kept from his parents. If it came out now and made his father’s heart condition worse, it would be the last straw of guilt on top of an already staggering load of regret that would break Mitchell in every way possible.
“Sparky, you didn’t—”
“I only talked to him about tonight. I told him there wasn’t a minute where either me or the kids weren’t with you.” She let a beat go by. “You should know that he was relieved. I mean, he was really, really relieved, Mitchell.” She hesitated.
Something shifted in Mitchell’s chest.
Because, hell. Didn’t that just top off the adrenaline rush and emotional overload from the night. He’d figured his dad would want it to be Mitchell’s fault, because dear old dad seemed to like blaming Mitchell for every problem on the planet, especially if fire was involved. Mitchell was surprised his dad hadn’t blamed him for global warming and the price of oil too.
Admittedly, Mitchell brought some of that on himself, but the old man did seem to enjoy jumping to the conclusion that Mitchell was guilty. Every damn chance he got.
And speak of the devil, here came his dad’s car with the lights whirling. Just the person Mitchell needed to see. He wanted answers. And he wanted them now, because someone had just tried to fuck with his family. He smiled for the first time in hours. No one tried to foxtrot with his family and got away with it.
But at the moment, there was a beautiful woman on the phone, inviting him over for a slumber party. The kind where not a lot of slumbering actually went on.
“Come home, Mitchell.”
He raked a hand across his jaw. “Sparky.” He couldn’t believe what he was about to say. Too many close calls with RPGs must’ve scrambled his brains. “Are you sure about this?”
“No. I’m not,” she said.
His entire body deflated. Not just because of the physical letdown of missing out on the very thing that had occupied his fantasies for the past few weeks, and not because she still had doubts about him. But because she had every reason to have doubts about him. He hadn’t exactly been a go-to guy the last several years, at least until the past few weeks. Why she’d married him to save his worthless hide still boggled his mind.
Maybe after tonight he could change that.
“But it’s what I want, Mitchell. And for once in my life, I’m going to let it be about me.”
His eyes slid shut. “I’ll be there soon.”
He tossed the phone at Langston as he walked past, heading straight for his father. “You here to arrest me?”
Deep lines framed his dad’s mouth. “No, son. We can talk tomorrow.” He pointed to a highway patrol car. “There’s your ride. Go home and get some sleep. You need it after the night you’ve had.”
Huh.
Not what Mitchell expected, but he’d take it.
His dad pulled car keys from his pocket and handed them to Mitchell. “These are Lorenda’s.”
Mitchell took them, running a thumb over them for a moment. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” He was going home to his wife. And once he got to her, he’d make sure it was totally and completely about her. She deserved it, and so much more.
Chapter Eighteen
Lorenda waited at the window until car lights pulled into the drive and wound around to stop in front of the house. She peeked through the wood slats in the den as Mitchell climbed out of the car.
Relief washed through her, and tears stung the back of her eyes.
Mitchell was home. He may not know it yet, but Lorenda was sure that he belonged here. In Red River with her and the boys. Her only hope was that he would figure that out somehow, and it would overpower his desire to hit the road again and put this whole experience behind him.
And didn’t that shave a few more points off her IQ, because she’d spent years keeping the home fires burning and hoping for the same response from a different Lawson twin, only to be left lonely and then completely alone.
Logic and reason told her not to take the step she was about to take with Mitchell. Getting into bed with him would only make her all the more vulnerable. But somehow in the depths of her soul, she knew that her decision to sleep with Mitchell was right. Mitchell wasn’t Cameron. Not even close, and it wasn’t fair to keep comparing them.
With one hand on the top of the car and the other arm slung over the open door, he dipped his head to speak to the driver, then slammed the door and patted the top of the car, signaling it to go. Red taillights glowed as it did a U-turn and rolled down the drive.
She threw the door open and ran to him. No inhibitions. No shyness. No doubts.
Okay, maybe a few doubts. But she’d almost lost him, and she’d rather have doubts than regrets. She launched herself into his arms and got lost in the deep, demanding kiss the moment their lips connected and his strong arms closed around her.
She molded herself against his hard and hot body, melting into the most incredible thigh-clenching kiss. A sigh escaped from deep inside, her hands sliding up his chest and into his hair.
She broke the kiss and tilted her head back to look at him. “You’re safe.”
“You’re beautiful.” His eyes burned as hot as the fire had.
That was all it took for Lorenda to wrap herself around him again and smother him with another needy kiss.
Talking was overrated.
One of his hands dropped to her ass and flexed. He tugged her hips tight against his, and a rock-hard bulge made her moan against his mouth. He moaned in response and slid the other hand to the back of her head, angling her so he could deepen the kiss.
When she made a sensual noise that communicated how much she thoroughly enjoyed his touch, both of his big hands slid to her ass, and he rocked his hips into hers. Need crashed through her, and she trailed her swollen lips across his jaw, over to his ear, and breathed a hot sigh against it.
She squeaked when he swept her into his arms and carried her inside, kicking the door shut with a boot. He took the stairs two at a time, his eyes never leaving hers, and headed straight into her . . . bathroom?
“Let’s finish what we started in my apartment the other day.” He set her on her feet.
Oh. Well. In that case. “I could use a shower.” Her eyes stayed locked onto his, and her fingers worked the top button of her shirt.
“Don’t move.” His eyes fell to her fingers as another button fell open. “Except for that. You can definitely keep doing that.”
One side of her mouth curved up, and her fingers released the last button. He turned on the water and was back in front of her faster than she could say what the hell am I doing?
He reached behind his head and pulled his long-sleeved thermal off with one hand. His muscled chest drew her hands, and she traced over the contours, shadows dipping into the swell at the center. So hard yet so smooth at the same time.
Lorenda’s fingertips found the edges of her open shirt, and she pulled it off. Sheer desire showed in his expression. He closed the small space between them and ran both hands up her arms to slowly peel off one strap of her bra and then the other.
“You’re so sexy, Sparky.” He slipped those powerful hands that were being so gentle at the moment around her back. With the twitch of his fingers, her bra unhooked. He gently eased the silk fabric away, leaving her bared.
She actually blushed. His heated gaze licked over her and burned a trail across her skin.
Steam filled the bathroom and swirled around them as thick as the cloud of lust that smoldered in his eyes.
Slow and gentle, like he was savoring every moment, he unbuttoned her jeans, inserted his hands between her skin and her pants so that his palms molded against her flesh, and slid them down. Her breaths quickened as the fabric descended and grazed across her skin right along with his gaze. He left her panties in place, like he was unwrapping a package, slowly, gently, savoring each little bit he revealed before peeling back another layer. His movements were controlled like he was in complete command of his self-restraint. Only the lightning-fast pulse at the base of his corded neck gave away the war that was going on inside of him.
He stepped into her, blanketing her with his strength and engulfing her in his heat. And she was happy to let him. She’d waited so long to feel like this. Waited so long to be wanted.
He buried one hand in her hair and slid the other under her panties to cup and knead. He took her mouth with his, delivering a punishing kiss that told her his self-restraint was an act. He was as desperate for her as she was for him, so she found the inviting bulge at his crotch and did a little cupping and kneading too. Nipped at his bottom lip, then blazed a trail of hot kisses across his jaw. She worked her way down the ropey muscles of his neck, suckling and nibbling.
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