Destiny: AN MFM Romance

by Brent, Taylor

  “Right,” Roger said as the truck lurched into the base camp.

  Throwing himself out of the truck before it had come to a complete stop, Luke strode to the middle of the crowd of firefighters, Roger on his heels.

  “Listen up!” Luke yelled into the bedlam.

  Silence descended on the group as Roger climbed onto the top of the truck so the crowd could hear him better. “We just got word that there’s a camper in the middle of the fire. Johnson and Jacobs, find out if there are any others. If there are, obtain their last coordinates. This just became a search and rescue mission, boys.”

  Johnson and Jacobs walked off from the crowd, already pulling out their phones to call the park rangers.

  “We need five volunteers to come with Roger and me to rescue the trapped camper,” Luke shouted over the crowd. “The rest of you, put this blaze out.”

  “Who is it?” someone called out.

  “Why the fuck should that matter?” Luke yelled back.

  “It’s Jill, Rose’s girl,” Roger answered, throwing Luke a warning look.

  Roger jumped down and pulled Luke aside as five men broke off from the dispersing crowd and strode toward them.

  “Calm down,” he hissed at Luke. “They were asking so they knew who to look for, you know that. You have to keep your head.”

  “We don’t even know if she’s still alive,” Luke said, his eyes wild and desperate.

  “She’s alive,” Roger said calmly. “Jill’s a survivor.”

  Luke nodded as his phone dinged with the text containing the coordinates of Jill’s last known location. He shared them with Roger, who put them in his GPS before gearing up and leading the others out to rescue Jill. Luke followed, his heart in his throat.

  This is all our fault, he thought. She wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for this stupid competition. As soon as we get her safe, I’m ending this.

  Jill woke to the smell of smoke. She sat up, looking around wildly. Finding the fire next to her still smothered, she turned around and saw columns of black smoke rising in the sky to her left.

  Shit!

  It was a wildfire, and it was coming right at her. She turned in a circle, seeing smoke in every direction.

  Shit, shit, shit! she thought.

  Taking a deep choking breath, Jill thought quickly. She knew she couldn’t outrun the blaze. There had been a stream a couple miles downhill from her. That was her best bet.

  She snatched her blanket off the ground and grabbed the rest of her water bottles. She dumped the water on the blanket, soaking it through until the cold water dripped off it in steady streams, and then threw the blanket over her shoulders. Covering her mouth with the corner of the blanket, she ran toward the stream.

  She skidded blindly down the hill, falling more than running. The second time she fell, she felt her ankle snap under her. Swallowing her pained scream, she struggled to her knees.

  The smoke closed in on her in thick, billowing clouds. Eyes streaming, Jill looked around her, spying the stream not far down the hill and glimpsing movement on the other side. Wild animals, maybe? If they were headed that way, she would follow.

  Crawling down the steep incline on her hands and knees, Jill wheezed through the blanket. She made it halfway there before she collapsed, coughing, black smoke surrounding her. The heat of the blaze grew more intense, and she knew it was close by.

  She had almost given up hope when two strong arms reached down for her. Jill looked up. Familiar green eyes shone out at her from behind his mask and shield.

  “Luke?” she choked, coughs wracking her body.

  He nodded, pulling her up against him and helping her toward the river. Jill cried out at the pressure on her ankle, stumbling, and Luke stopped to swing her up in his arms before taking off at a sprint. His mask allowed him to breathe, so other than her weight, he ran unencumbered. Two minutes later, he splashed into the water, running toward a small cluster of firefighters. One of them broke off from the group and rushed toward them, placing a mask over Jill’s face and motioning for Luke to follow him. The last thing Jill remembered before blackness claimed her was a pair of green eyes and a pair of blue staring down at her.

  When Jill woke up several hours later, she was in a small white tent. Roger sat on one side of her cot, Luke on the other, and both men jumped up when they saw her eyes open. Her throat felt raw, and she drank deeply from the cup of water Luke offered her, eyeing him over the rim.

  “Thank you for saving me,” she rasped. “You, too, Roger.”

  Roger squeezed her hand while Luke kissed the top of her head.

  “I thought I had lost you,” Luke murmured.

  She grimaced and settled back on the cot which Roger had lifted into a sitting position.

  “What happened?” she asked, her voice still hoarse.

  “Rose called Luke,” Roger explained when Luke looked too overwhelmed to answer. “She told him you had gone camping and sent him the coordinates of your location. That’s how we knew you were out there and how we found you. When I put the coordinates into my GPS, I realized there was a small river downhill from you, and I figured you had enough wildfire knowledge to head for that river if you were still… well… you know.” He shifted uncomfortably.

  “Alive?”

  Roger nodded, and Luke made a strangled sound.

  “I was right,” Roger continued. “When we got to the river, Luke saw you up the hill and took off after you. The rest of us stayed behind in case he went down. He carried you over the river, and we gave you some oxygen and carried you out. We brought you to base camp, and the paramedics checked you out. Thankfully, there was no soot in your throat or lungs, so it was just a matter of replenishing your oxygen levels.”

  Jill nodded, her stomach clenching at how close a call it had been.

  “I have some things I need to take care of,” Roger said. “I’ll be back in a little while to check on you. Luke?” he asked, touching Luke’s shoulder.

  “I’ll be right there,” Luke said, his voice tight.

  Roger nodded and left the tent.

  Luke leaned back in his chair, sighing. “You need to choose Roger.”

  “What?” Jill choked, a coughing fit seizing her.

  Luke plied her with more water, which she sipped gratefully.

  “This whole mess happened because we were fighting over you like an object. I should never have gotten involved. It was selfish of me. I just want you to be happy, Jill. Roger can learn to give you everything you need and want, I’m sure, and I can’t stand the thought of hurting you. Choose Roger.”

  He stood and walked out before Jill could answer, leaving her staring, open-mouthed, after him.

  “You okay?” Roger asked as Luke strode out of Jill’s tent. He had never seen his friend like this before.

  “I’m fine,” Luke snapped. “I have to get back out there. She’s all yours, Roger.”

  “What? She chose me?”

  Luke nodded. “Treat her right, Roger,” he said as he pulled his gear back on.

  Roger narrowed his eyes. “No way she would have chosen me, Luke. It was always going to be you, ever since that night at Rose’s bar. I knew then. I just couldn’t accept it.” He paused, studying Luke’s face. “You let her go,” he said quietly.

  Luke shrugged. “What does it matter? Just take care of her.” He stalked off before Roger could answer.

  Roger stared after him, a pensive look on his face. Holy shit, he thought. Luke is in love.

  Roger strode into the white tent, alarmed to see Jill dressing quickly.

  “Jill, what the hell are you doing?”

  She looked at him, guilt flashing across her features.

  He gave her a small smile. “You’ve chosen him.” There was no question. He knew.

  “Yes,” Jill rasped.

  “Yeah, it’s probably for the best,” Roger said, running a hand through his hair. He blew out a harsh breath, trying to conceal his hurt from her. “I could never have le
arned to satisfy you that way. It’s just not in my nature.”

  Jill looked away, her eyes misting. “Where is he?”

  “He had to go back out,” Roger answered absently. “He just had to lead a new batch of firemen and volunteers safely to the blaze, so he’ll be back soon. You can wait for him here.”

  With that, Roger turned and walked out of the tent.

  Jill narrowed her eyes, pausing only a moment before striding out of the tent herself. She had no intention of waiting. It didn’t take her long to find out where Luke had gone, nor to find a group heading out to provide Luke’s group with supplies.

  Luke had many things to answer for, the first of which was being an insufferable bastard who never consulted her before making decisions.

  Decisions

  Luke led the small group of relief firefighters through the canyon on the path the rest of his crew had marked as safe. His gear made the heat almost unbearable, but he welcomed the distraction from his thoughts. He knew he had done the right thing, but it still hurt. Getting swallowed up by the flames probably wouldn’t even compare to the hole he had ripped in his chest by letting Jill go. The group arrived at their destination, a small campsite, without incident. Half the crew had hooked the firetruck’s hoses up to the campsite’s water supply while the other half funneled campers back down the path to safety. The new workers took over where needed, relieving the men who had been battling the flames back for the last several hours.

  Luke turned around when he heard a shout. Another group was running up the pathway, each person carrying fire extinguishers and oxygen masks for the people being funneled out of the fire and smoke. Luke squinted through the haze and swore colorfully when he saw Jill limping toward him, her ankle wrapped in a bandage and a murderous look in her eyes. He had no clue how she’d made it all the way up here through three miles of rough terrain on a broken ankle, and, for the moment, he didn’t care.

  Grabbing her roughly by the arm, he jerked her off to the side. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “What the hell is wrong with you? she shot back.

  “Do you have a fucking death wish?” he growled. “How many times do I have to save your life before you decide to care enough about it to not put it in danger? I know you aren’t stupid, so why don’t you tell me why you felt it necessary to walk three miles on a broken ankle into a fiery blaze I only just rescued you from?”

  She jerked out of his grasp, pinning him with a dark glare. “I came to knock some sense into you,” she hissed. “When are you going to learn to stop making decisions for me? I’m perfectly capable of deciding who I want to be, and I don’t need your help to do so!”

  He crossed his arms. “You came all the way up here just to tell me that? I think you lost more oxygen than we thought.”

  “No, you arrogant asshole!” Jill screeched, whapping him on his hard bicep. She shook her stinging fingers and glared at him. “I came up here to tell you I love you and I choose you. You insufferable, arrogant, know-it-all bast…”

  His kiss cut off her tirade of words, and all conscious thought fled her mind as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She pressed herself against him and greedily kissed him back, the heat between them even greater than the one at their backs.

  After Luke sent Jill home, it was twelve long hours before they had the blaze under control and Sam forced Luke to go home long enough to get a little rest. But Luke didn’t go home. He went straight to Jill, barrelling up the stairs and into her room covered in soot. She threw herself at him, kissing him like she was starving for him. After several long moments, he broke the kiss.

  “Shower?” he croaked.

  Jill began stripping his clothes from him without another word, and he reached out to do the same for her. He walked her backward until they stumbled into the bathroom in a tangle of limbs, laughing. She leaned around him and turned the water on in the large shower so they could step inside. It had rainfall nozzles that washed the soot from him within seconds, leaving him free to focus his attention on the wet, naked woman in his arms.

  Luke pinned Jill against the shower wall, grasping her leg with her broken ankle and gently hooking it over his hip. He impaled her with one smoothe thrust, lifting her other leg so she could wrap them both around his waist. He set a hard, fast rhythm and nipped at her neck. She sobbed his name as he brought her closer to that cresting pleasure only he could give her, but just as she reached the edge, he stopped. She groaned.

  Luke stepped from the shower and carried her to her bed. He climbed onto the bed with her legs still wrapped around his hips. She tightened her thighs around him, pulling him further into her, and he growled against her mouth, resuming his earlier rhythm. Wordless gasps and moans fell from Jill’s lips. The need between them was so primal that no words have been able to do it justice, anyway.

  Slipping out of her, Luke turned her over onto her stomach. Covering her body with his own, he brushed her hair aside and trailed kisses behind her ear and down the back of her neck. He continued over her shoulders and down her back, swirling his tongue and nipping at her skin intermittently. When he got to the little divot above her ass, he licked it slowly, causing her to purr in pleasure, wiggling her hips under him.

  He gripped her hips and lifted them up, nipping at her ass while he did so. The position he forced her body into gave him complete access to her dripping folds. He dragged his tongue down her pussy in one slow swipe. When he reached her clit, he took the tip of his tongue and moved it in small circles over the little bud, making her cry out and grasp the sheets in her fists. He stroked his tongue up and down before thrusting it into her opening. Alternating long, slow licks and short, quick thrusts of his tongue, he pushed her back up to that peak. Jill moaned and squirmed, pushing her face into the mattress to muffle the cries of pleasure Luke pulled from her with every thrust of his tongue.

  Without warning, he rolled her onto her back again and buried himself completely inside her. Stars burst behind Jill’s eyes as he hit a spot within her that nobody had ever hit before. Luke leaned down and claimed her mouth in a bruising, demanding kiss as her muscles clenched around him and she moaned her pleasure into his mouth. He thrust two more times, hitting that same spot, causing her to clamp down on him so hard he gasped into her mouth. All the breath left his body with the first spasm of white-hot pleasure, and he finally broke their kiss to let out a low groan.

  Luke collapsed on top of Jill and lay still, trying to catch his breath. After a few minutes, he shifted to the side, slipping out of her, and pulled her close. She snuggled into his chest as he held her tight, thinking about her earlier words.

  “I love you, too,” he whispered.

  Epilogue

  Six weeks passed by in a blur of passion and sex. Jill had never been happier. Luke was still his infuriating, teasing self, but she was sure of his feelings for her, and it gave her a confidence she had never felt before.

  The seventh week after the fire, Jill woke up every morning sick and tired. Finally, Rose took her aside and, with a knowing look, pressed a pregnancy test into Jill’s hand. “You have all the symptoms.”

  Five minutes later, the two women sat at the kitchen table, the positive test between them. Jill held her head in her hands.

  “I hate to ask this, but are you sure it’s Luke’s?” Rose asked.

  Jill looked up at her. “It… it has to be,” she whispered.

  Rose raised an eyebrow. “Did either he or Roger wear a condom the night you were with them both?”

  Jill groaned.

  “Probably not the best idea,” Rose said blandly.

  “Oh, you don’t say?” Jill snapped. “It all happened so fast. None of us were thinking.”

  Rose snorted. “Obviously.”

  Jill glared at her.

  “You’ll have to get a paternity test. You can’t be more than about seven weeks along, but you can get one in just a few weeks.”

  Jill just groaned again.

  It h
adn’t been an easy conversation with Luke. He quickly went from ecstatic to quiet as she explained to him she was pregnant and then told him how far along she thought she was. He took it hard at first but agreed to have the paternity test done. They decided they would test Luke’s paternity first and would only tell Roger if the test came out negative.

  Three weeks later, Jill held the sealed results in her hand, waiting for Luke to arrive at Rose’s bar. She twisted back and forth in her chair, making it squeak.

  Rose gave her a look, and Jill stopped twisting with a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”

  Rose said nothing. She just walked away as Luke came up behind Jill and wrapped his arms around her.

  Jill sighed and unsealed the envelope.

  Luke grabbed her hands. “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I don’t care.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t care if the baby is mine or Roger’s,” he elaborated. “The baby will be mine just like you’re mine.” He reached into his pocket and slid a small box toward her. “I love you, Jill,” he whispered. “And I’ll love that baby regardless of whose blood it has.”

  Tears pricked her eyes as she opened the box, revealing a modest but sparkling engagement ring. “Luke, are you sure?” she asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  He reached out and wiped them away with his thumbs, nodding. “I’ve never been more sure in my life.”

  Jill smiled and kissed him. Luke slid the ring onto her finger, and they walked out of the bar hand in hand. Jill threw the paper in the trash on their way out.

  Rose waited for them to disappear upstairs before walking over to the trash and picking up the envelope. Opening it, she smiled as she read the results. A noise on the stairs drew her attention, and she looked up, meeting Jill’s gaze.

  Rose smiled knowingly. “Came back for this?” she asked, holding it up.

  Jill blushed. “I told Luke I left my purse down here,” she said, gesturing to the small bag on the bar. “But yes. I want to know.”

  Rose held the paper out to her with a grin. “You have nothing to worry about, child.”