by Jeannie Watt
“You’re welcome,” Jason said, hoping to sidetrack his friend. It didn’t work.
“But you...you’re going through the motions. I’ve never seen you like this.”
Jason opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again when Pat gave him a dangerous look. “So now your lady will come here and things will work out and you’ll make a life.”
“That’s what I hope happens.”
“A happy suburban couple.”
Jason scowled at his friend. “What are you getting at?”
“I don’t know,” Pat said. “Things just seem...off.”
Jason muttered a curse and sank down onto the bleacher bench beside Pat’s chair. “It’ll work out. I belong with Allie.”
Pat shifted his chair a quarter turn to fully face him. “But do you belong here?”
Jason stared at him. What kind of question was that? “Yeah. I do.”
“Then act like it. If you expect her to adapt to your world, then you’d better be sure you love what you’re doing.”
“I do love it,” Jason said. He was in position to start working his way into the postfootball career he’d dreamed about, and, damn it, he was going to make it happen. Allie would come to love San Diego and they’d be happy.
Things were going to work out.
* * *
TWO NIGHTS BEFORE Allie was supposed to leave for San Diego, a series of thunderstorms started moving in over the mountains behind the Lightning Creek.
Rain. Finally.
Only it didn’t rain. The thunderstorms shook the house and lit the windows, but stubbornly refused to release any moisture. Eventually the thunder rumbled into the distance and Allie nodded off, only to wake up a little after midnight to the feeling that something wasn’t right.
Smoke. She could smell smoke, and the odor was too strong to be from a distant fire.
Allie jumped out of bed and raced downstairs to the front door, her heart pounding as she shoved her arms into her robe. Acrid smoke hit her lungs when she threw open the door and she could hear the cattle milling around restlessly in the darkness.
This fire was close. Too close.
She was about to head back into the house to grab her phone to call dispatch when she heard the siren and spotted the flashing lights in the distance. Okay, nix dispatch. Now she had to see how close the fire was, how much time she had.
She ran into the yard and started around the corner of the house, then stopped dead in her tracks. The fire wasn’t on the mountain as she had thought.
The fire was at her fence line, less than a half mile away.
* * *
JASON SETTLED IN his chair and clicked through the television channels trying to find something to catch and keep his attention since he couldn’t sleep. The phone vibrated on the table next to him and he answered it without looking at the screen.
“Jason...?” It was Allie and her voice had cracked as she said his name.
“What’s wrong?”
“The Lightning Creek is on fire.”
Jason nearly dropped the phone. “On fire?”
“Not all of it, but the house...we’re about to lose the house. We’re moving the livestock now. The fire crew is working on saving the barn and the arena.”
Jason didn’t care about the barn and the arena. “Where are you? Are you safe?”
“I’m just leaving with a trailer load of animals that I’m taking to another ranch.”
“Stay there. At the other ranch. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“I... Thank you.”
She didn’t argue, and that was major. “I’ll be in touch,” he said. “Promise me you’ll stay away from the fire.”
“I promise you I’ll stay safe. I have more livestock to move.”
“Allie—”
“Keep me posted,” she said. “I’ve got to focus on my driving.” She hung up and Jason stood holding his phone, feeling like he’d just been knocked sideways by a charging linebacker.
What first? Call Amanda, tell her he needed a few days’ emergency leave, then call Pat.
The call to Amanda went to voice mail, because of the hour, no doubt, so he called Pat. “I have an emergency. I have to leave town.”
“For how long?” Pat asked on a stunned note.
“A day or two. Allie’s ranch caught fire. I need to get there.”
Pat let out a low whistle, then said, “Is it possible for me to cover for you?”
Jason stilled momentarily, then said, “Yes. Totally possible.” He shot a look at the clock, thanked God for the internet, texting and video chat, then said, “I can talk you through everything. I just need to bring Amanda into the loop...”
Two hours later, he was on the way to the airport, glad that travel from San Diego to Bozeman wasn’t all that popular on a Tuesday morning. He’d get there by midday. Kate would pick him up at the airport.
He’d talked to Allie twice and not once did she say, “Don’t come. I don’t need you.”
Which meant she did need him...maybe even as much as he needed her.
She didn’t talk long either time. She was busy with her livestock and propping up her sisters and mother, who were also on their way to Montana. Story of her life—propping up a family who didn’t need propping up. But that was the way she was wired—protectiveness was second nature to her.
And to him. Which was going to make for an interesting future.
* * *
THE FIRE WAS out when Jason’s truck came roaring down the road leading to what was left of the Lightning Creek. Her mother and sisters were due later that evening—all of them, even though there was nothing any of them could do. Except mourn.
She’d once wondered what could be the worst that could happen while she was on the ranch and now she had her answer. The ranch could be destroyed, and wasn’t it ironic that it had happened after she’d made peace with it?
Jason pulled to a stop at the edge of the burn and got out. The two firefighters who were still there, tending the ashes, looked up to see who had arrived, then went back to their jobs. Allie started walking toward him, her steps becoming quicker as she neared him. He looked like hell with circles under his eyes and a day’s worth of scruffy growth on his chin, his hair sticking up. But he was here and even though she’d promised herself not to fall apart when she saw him, as soon as he was near enough, she wrapped herself around him, holding him close, breathing in his scent.
He held her against him, his lips pressing against the top of her hair, which probably reeked of smoke. He didn’t seem to care, because he nuzzled his cheek against her head, kissed her again.
“Thank you for coming,” she said.
“Not coming wasn’t an option.” He put her away from him and then put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side. “I’m so sorry, Allie.”
She simply nodded in response. At this point, she felt a surreal detachment from what had happened.
The smoke was still rolling off the ashes of the house she’d grown up in. The house she’d mourned in after losing her father. The house she’d brought her husband home to, and then left after the divorce to start a new life.
The house where she’d fallen in love with Jason.
She blinked back tears. Looked away.
Jason nodded at the fire guys, then steered her toward the barn and arena. The barn had singe marks on one side. The arena was remarkably unscathed.
“How on earth did it escape?” he asked.
“They drenched it when it became obvious they couldn’t save the house. The canvas held the moisture, I guess. So did the barn.”
He started walking again, stopping at the half-burned fence posts that edged the barn. “Did you get all of the animals out?”
“C
ows, goats, horses. All of them.”
“Thank heaven for small blessings.”
Allie gave a small shudder and Jason looked down at her. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I... Yes. Please.” The tone of her voice made her cringe a little. She was stronger than this. She didn’t need to go to pieces just because Jason was there to prop her up.
Why not?
She allowed everyone else she knew to go to pieces. Why not her?
Jason wrapped an arm around her even tighter and steered her toward the truck.
Another small shudder went through Allie as they walked past what had once been her garden. The plot was now a smashed mess of tire tracks from the trucks that had parked there trying to save the house.
“Jason?”
He stopped walking and turned her in his arms. “Yeah?”
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me, too, sweetheart.” He pulled her closer, enveloping her in warmth and comfort. She laid her cheek against his chest, suddenly, overwhelmingly glad that he was there when she needed him most. She, who didn’t allow herself to need.
Well, she needed him now, and he had traveled for almost twelve hours to get to her.
“I want to go to the Staley house.”
“You bet.” He leaned back to look down at her. “Why aren’t you there now?”
“I had to come back.” She stepped away from him. “Look at this, Jason. Look at my ranch.”
Her ranch.
She heard him inhale deeply. “Come on. I’ll take you ho...to the house.” He’d almost said home, but she no longer had a home, temporary or otherwise. He helped her into the truck and they drove in silence to her brother-in-law Gabe’s beautiful cedar, stone and glass house. The fire had missed it by one small mile.
Allie opened the unlocked door and Jason followed her inside.
“Some place.”
“If you like quartz and hardwood and stainless steel and a whole lot of stone and glass.” Her voice broke a little on the last word. “I kind of like beat-up flooring that’s raised a few generations of kids. And squeaking stairs and faucets that turn the wrong way because someone put them on backwards.”
“Allie...”
She stepped into him then, wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek against his chest. The tears came before she could stop them, spilling down her face and soaking Jason’s shirt. His arms closed around her, holding her to him until the tears slowed, then stopped.
“I don’t usually cry,” she muttered against his shirt.
“You don’t usually lose a ranch.”
“True.” Allie let out a long shuddering breath. She felt drained. More than drained. And she had to look like hell, all grimy and smoky, but she didn’t care, because Jason didn’t seem to care. He was there for her, and despite feeling disoriented and exhausted and all cried out, she realized that that was huge—not that he was there for her, but that she could accept him being there for her.
She stepped back away from him then, keeping her hands at his waist as she met his gaze and realized just how much she loved him.
“Do you want to eat?”
She almost laughed at the incongruity of their thought paths. “No, but I’m tired of smelling like smoke.” And her face was sticky from tears. “I need a shower in the worst way.”
“Okay. You shower. I’ll light that pretend fire over there.” He pointed at the propane fire place flanked by the leather sofas. “When you’re done, we’ll sit and watch the fire and not talk.”
“Not talk?”
He shook his head. “We’ll just hang out.”
“What if I want to talk?”
“Later.”
“Are you giving me orders?” she asked mildly.
One corner of his mouth twitched. “As if you’d let me get away with that.” He smiled and gave her a gentle nudge toward the hall leading out of the great room. “Give a yell if you need anything.”
True to his word, Jason had the fire lit when she came out of the bathroom wearing her sister’s robe and then they snuggled silently on the sofa. Not talking felt good. They’d talk later.
* * *
ALLIE WOKE UP in Jason’s arms. She raised her head to look at him and he smiled down at her. Satisfied that all was well, she nestled her cheek against his chest as he slowly stroked her hair. “How long was I out?”
“About an hour,” he said.
Her eyes were drifting shut again, but she didn’t want to sleep. “Is silent time over?” she asked.
He laughed softly. “Yeah.”
“How long can you stay?”
“A couple days...and then pretty much forever.” Her head jerked up, and when she met his eyes, she saw a hint of uncertainty there. “I...uh... I want to help you rebuild.”
“Are you quitting your job?”
“Yeah.”
“The job that’s going to help you build your career?”
“I’m changing careers.”
“Not because of me, you aren’t.”
“Because of us,” he said gently. “You. Me. Us.” He tilted her chin up and kissed her, ending the kiss before it got away from them. “I don’t belong there, Allie. Maybe I would have if I’d taken the job right after I walked off the field for the last time. Before I came home. Before I met you.”
“You’re saying you belong here?”
“I belong where you are. And yeah. I belong here. I like it here.”
The sincerity in his expression as he stated the simple words made Allie’s heart swell.
“Maybe you can get us a deal on materials.”
“Maybe.”
“It’d be nice to have a house big enough for everyone to have their own bedroom when we got together for Christmas.”
“Five bedroom?”
“Pipe dream?”
“Totally doable.”
She wrapped her arms around him more tightly. “I love you, you know.”
“Good thing because you’ve changed my life, my career, my everything.” He kissed her again, and as Allie splayed her fingers across his broad chest, felt his heart beating low and slow beneath her palm, she knew that she’d found where she belonged. With him, wherever that might be. And the best part was that it didn’t scare her to need him. Not anymore.
“Before we get carried away here,” she said huskily, “and trust me, I have every intention of getting carried away, I want you to know that I love having you in my future.”
Jason pulled her the rest of the way onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “In that case, babe, why don’t we settle in and make some plans?”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from LOVE ON HER TERMS by Jennifer Lohmann.
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Love on Her Terms
by Jennifer Lohmann
CHAPTER ONE
THE SOUND OF a heavy vehicle pulling into the driveway next door broke Levi Pardo’s concentration, forcing him to look up from the newspaper spread out on the kitchen table. A small, ridiculously young-looking woman was hopping out of the driver’s seat of a truck onto the narrow strip of grass between her driveway and his property. She’d parked too close to the lawn, which didn’t surprise him. He was amazed she could see over the dash and touch the pedals at the same time.
He looked back down at the horoscope he’d been reading, some bullshit about expressing what you’re feeling or else suffer the consequences. He didn’t believe in astrology and found the Missoulian’s particularly annoying, but he still read two signs, Taurus and Cancer, every day. Habit, after years of marriage. Even if Kimmie wasn’t around to care.
The woman moving in next door sure had a lot of energy, he thought, taking a sip of lukewarm, slightly oily coffee. He preferred to drink his coffee with flavored creamer, but he’d run out two days ago and hadn’t yet made it to the store. Through his kitchen windows he saw the woman bound to the back of the truck and, with more power than he expected from someone so small, throw the door up and open. When a car drove up and parked along the curb, the woman leaped across the lawn like a pronghorn to greet her new arrivals.
Levi needed another sip of caffeine just to keep up with her. Maybe the process of unloading everything from the back of the truck would slow her down.