by Mari Carr
Ivy relaxed, deciding she could lower her guard a little. She was hungry and out with a hot guy. She’d worry about the heavier stuff later. “I find it hard to believe my father hasn’t told you everything there is to know about me.”
“I’ll be honest, I thought he had too. Until I realized I didn’t know your real name was Ivy. Where does Scout come from?”
“Oh, if my dad had had his way, Scout would have been my name on the birth certificate. To Kill a Mockingbird is his favorite book of all time, and he thought that would be the world’s greatest name. My mom disagreed.” Besides, her mother had already relented to that request once, naming Ivy’s brother Jem.
James winced a little. “That was required reading in high school. Don’t tell Roscoe I watched the movie instead of reading the book. Managed to get enough from it to score a C on the final exam.”
“Sounds like you were a strong student.”
He laughed at her sarcasm, something else to add to her growing attraction. There was nothing sexier than a man who didn’t take himself too seriously, who could laugh at himself.
He used the opportunity to flex his arm muscle at her. “Depends on what you consider strong.”
“You can put the guns away. I didn’t buy tickets to the show for a reason.”
They laughed together. Sally returned with their drinks, then took their lunch order.
“Sounds like you come from a big family,” she said, interested in learning more about him.
He nodded. “Too big.”
Ivy struggled to decide if he was sincere in his assessment or not. He’d made a similar comment yesterday, about trying to escape his home, but she hadn’t felt comfortable questioning him about it. “Brothers and sisters?”
“Both. Big sis. Little bro. Love both of them to pieces, but there are times I wish I was an only child like you.”
Ivy froze, uncertain how to respond.
Only child?
Either his comment was heartless or, more likely, Dad had never mentioned Jem.
She hadn’t realized until just recently that Dad’s way of dealing with Jem’s death was by erasing all reminders of him. That fact became apparent when they were decorating the Christmas tree this past December. For years, they’d eschewed the idea of a tree altogether, both claiming it was too much work, when the truth was, the holiday felt very empty with their numbers cut in half.
This year, Ivy had intended to turn a corner, to bring Christmas back into their lives. She’d dragged out the box of homemade ornaments from a big closet in her dad’s office, only to discover none of the ones Jem had made in school over the years were there. When she’d asked her dad, he said he’d taken those ornaments and put them with the rest of her brother’s stuff. After further questioning, she learned Dad had boxed up and moved every single thing Jem had ever worn, made or even touched to a storage unit he was renting across town. He’d claimed to have done it due to a lack of space, but she knew better.
Ivy didn’t reply to James’s only child comment. Mercifully, she didn’t have to when James continued talking about his sister, Sienna, who was pregnant with baby number three, and his kid brother, Doug, who worked as a cameraman for a storm chaser show on TV.
“Sienna has two boys and says she doesn’t care what this one is, but I get the feeling her husband, Daniel, is dying for a little girl to spoil. Not going to lie, Uncle James is too.”
She smiled, pushing the darker thoughts about Jem and her dad aside. She didn’t bother to correct him about her being an only child. The truth was…that’s exactly what she was now. What she would always be.
She was just as fucked-up as Dad when it came to dealing with Jem’s death. Her pilgrimage to the woods—to that fucking tree—proved that.
“I bet you’re a rotten influence on those nephews.”
“The worst,” he said with a laugh. “And I’m going to tell my sister you said that. Sienna got me a shirt for Christmas that said ‘They call me uncle because partner in crime makes me sound like a bad influence’.”
“No way. That’s hilarious.”
“It’s actually not too bad yet. They’re only seven and five. When they hit drinking age, it’s game on.”
“Hope you warned your sister about that.”
They continued to talk throughout the meal. There was never a lapse or moment of silence. The words flowed fast and freely until Ivy had to go back to work.
Her receptionist’s brows rose when she walked back into the clinic with James.
“Your one o’clock appointment called. Running late,” Gwen said.
“Thanks.” Ivy walked toward the back, half hoping, half dreading that James would follow her.
When she opened the door to her office, she wasn’t surprised to feel his hand on her back again. He stepped through behind her, shutting the door.
She turned around, mouth open, ready to tell him she wasn’t going to let him kiss her.
That thought lasted about half a second, before James had his hands on her waist, tugging her toward him. His head lowered and his lips were on hers in an instant. And because she was a fool, her hands were around his neck, kissing him back.
James was the first to pull away, but she could see it wasn’t without some regret. “I have to get back to base.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Go out with me tomorrow.”
James had a bad habit of demanding rather than asking. Unfortunately, she found his goddamn alpha tactics as sexy as every other freaking thing about him, so she didn’t call him on it.
“I’m not going out with you again, James.”
“Just friends.”
“That kiss was anything but friendly.”
“Just lunch then.”
“I’m being serious,” she said, but even as she spoke the words, she knew her absent willpower was going to ensure her hair looked nice and she was wearing makeup on the off chance he rejected her refusal and showed up here again. She wanted to be sure to look hot as fuck when she gave him the brush-off again. If she actually managed to give him the brush-off.
“So am I. You and I are going to be very good friends, Doc.” Then the scamp gave her another quick peck on the lips that was just as potent as his slow, lingering kiss, before turning and walking away.
Ivy followed him to the doorway of her office, taking a moment to enjoy the view as he left the clinic. When she turned to look at Gwen, she realized her receptionist was taking the same scenic tour.
“That man is…”
“Yeah,” Ivy said, in complete agreement.
“Are you two dating?”
Ivy shook her head.
Gwen’s forehead creased. “Why the hell not?”
Ivy shrugged and walked back into the office, shutting the door and leaning against it as Gwen’s question ricocheted in her brain.
Why the hell not?
Because he’s a smokejumper.
And she wasn’t about to lose anyone else she cared about to fire.
Jem was enough.
Chapter Three
“What’s up, bro?” Doug asked, the first to answer James’s video chat call.
Before James could answer, Austin and Bryant appeared on the screen. The video chats had become the norm as each of them reached adulthood and struck out on their own.
James had spent the last month fighting like the devil to break down Ivy’s walls. He’d heard of women playing hard to get, but he had never suffered the experience. He had managed to get into town a couple days a week at lunchtime, and each time, she joined him for a meal at the diner—as friends. The more they talked and laughed, the more his attraction grew. And not just physically. He had started counting the hours to noon simply because he wanted to be with her.
“It’s a woman.”
Austin groaned and said, “Man, isn’t that always the way?”
At the same time, Bryant chuckled and teased, “Finally met your match, cuz?”
James shrugged, not
willing to admit Bryant had hit the nail on the head. It all came back to his overabundance of pride and cockiness. The other Compass Boys always gave him shit about his Midas touch with the ladies, while James accused them of being jealous. Right now, he sort of hated to admit he was striking out.
He had always figured it wasn’t his fault if women found him attractive, that he only had to give them a smile and a wink and they’d make their way over to him. He’d never really had to try too hard for anything with a woman, something that drove his brother and Austin nuts. Bryant didn’t seem to mind as much because he wasn’t interested in females in the first place.
Nothing was working with Ivy. The more he turned on the charm, the more she dug in her heels.
“Her name is Ivy. She’s Roscoe’s daughter.”
Doug gave him a long, low whistle. “Damn, man. Taking a chance there, aren’t you? Can’t imagine it’s smart to try to hook up with the boss’s baby girl. Thought you liked your job.”
James sighed. “I love my job. But Roscoe’s not the problem. It’s Ivy. She keeps turning me down, and I can’t figure out why. She’s funny and sweet and pretty, and it’s damn obvious to both of us we’d be good together, so I don’t get why she keeps saying no when I ask her out.”
Bryant didn’t even bother to hold back his laughter.
“Thanks, Bry. Real helpful.”
Bryant’s shit-eating grin remained firmly in place. “It’s about time.”
“Time for what? Someone to turn me down?” James was glad his cousin wasn’t within fighting distance or he probably would have followed that question up with a punch.
“No. I mean, I’m not going to pretend I’m not enjoying the idea that this woman is making you work for it. I just mean it’s about time you finally fell for someone.”
James hadn’t expected that response. For one thing, he wouldn’t exactly say he’d fallen for Ivy. And for another, it wasn’t like he never dated. “I’ve had girlfriends before.”
It was as if the three men on the screen had rehearsed. Their eye rolls came in perfect unison.
“Name one,” Austin said. “And don’t say Sophie McMillan. Six months in ninth grade doesn’t count. Neither one of you could drive and you didn’t get past second base.”
“Third base,” James corrected.
“Dry humping in the barn isn’t third base,” Austin retorted.
This wasn’t a new debate, but that didn’t stop James from asserting his opinion. “Her hand was inside my jeans. Third base.”
“Fucking hell.” Bryant shook his head. “I’m not listening to this argument again. Fact remains, Sophie doesn’t count. And neither does that friends-with-benefits dispatcher.”
James wasn’t sure how to respond. It wasn’t like he didn’t see women more than once. Truth was, most of his hookups lasted a few months at a time. The difference was, his emotions were never really engaged. He had genuinely liked all the women he’d slept with, but when he considered it, he hadn’t counted down the minutes until he saw them again the way he did with Ivy.
James swallowed his pride. “It’s been four solid weeks of rejection. Which is rough enough, but I just found out that last night, she went on a date with Bill Ricketts, a cop here in West Yellowstone.”
“So she likes Bill?” Doug asked.
James shook his head. “I don’t have a clue what she thinks of him. I would hope she’d have better sense. The guy is a boring prick, but that’s not the point.”
“What is the point?” his brother asked.
“The point is, she keeps telling me she doesn’t date smokejumpers. If she’s skittish about guys with risky jobs, then why date the cop? He carries a gun. That’s a hell of a lot more dangerous than me toting around a shovel and some water.”
“You’re forgetting the jumping-out-of-planes-into-flames part,” Bryant muttered, but before James could address it, Austin spoke up.
“That’s her reason for not dating you?”
James nodded.
When Austin spoke again, he said the exact words James didn’t want to hear, but had been thinking himself. “Sounds like a pretty lame excuse, if you ask me. You might have to accept the fact that, for whatever reason, this woman isn’t into you.”
He tried to force that idea to soak in, but he couldn’t make it mesh with their lunch dates. There were too many tells that had him convinced the attraction was mutual. The way she blushed whenever he “accidentally” brushed up against her, the flirty way she flipped her hair back over her shoulder, the way she licked her lips whenever his gaze drifted to her mouth.
Her body spoke an entirely different language from her continual rejections.
“Way I see it,” Doug said, “you got two choices. Move on or fight the good fight. Remember Jake telling us how Dad kidnapped Mom when she came home from college engaged to that other guy?”
“I wouldn’t recommend that course of action,” Bryant said quickly, as if James would actually commit a felony to win a woman’s affections.
“There was a long history between Mom and Dad when he pulled that, and Mom’s engagement wasn’t real. It was a ploy to catch Dad’s attention, which it did. I’ve known Ivy all of a month. I think I’ll hold off on the capture scenario for now.”
Doug’s heavy sigh suggested he didn’t agree with that decision. “Just tuck it in your back pocket. Don’t rule it out for good.”
Austin huffed. “Something’s seriously wrong with you, Doug.”
“James is good with rope. Seems like he should be able to use all his talents if he wants to win the woman’s heart.”
They all laughed, and even though he hadn’t really gotten the answer he was seeking, James realized that wasn’t what he’d been looking for when he placed the call. All he’d needed from them was the support and the sounding boards and even the teasing. It felt good to laugh, considering he’d been tempted to ram his fist into a wall when he’d found out about Ivy’s date with the arrogant cop.
“Thanks,” James said.
Bryant shot him an incredulous look. “For what? Not sure we helped you with a damn thing.”
“For listening. Doug’s right. I can either give in with good grace or—”
Bryant cut him off. “You’re not giving up. This woman is different.”
His cousin was right. She was different. And he was determined.
“Yeah. She is.”
“Guess the only thing left to say is good luck,” Austin said.
The four of them said their goodbyes and James sucked in a deep breath.
Luck.
He’d need a ton of it.
Chapter Four
Ivy meandered around her dad’s office while she waited for him to get off the phone. She’d been surprised when Dad called her early this morning to ask if she would stop by before work. He’d never summoned her here before.
She stopped when she reached the wall opposite his desk. His office was quite large, so this side of the room was a fair distance from where he sat. There was even a long conference table set up between his desk and the far wall, for base meetings. There were seven pictures hanging on that wall. For years, Ivy had avoided this side of the office, averting her eyes rather than looking at the faces in the photos.
In the photographs were the West Yellowstone smokejumpers who’d perished in the line of duty over the past seven decades. Ivy wasn’t sure why she was looking at them this time. She assumed it was curiosity mingled with concern. Because she knew she was going to find exactly what she did.
“Thanks, Roger. I’ll check back with you later in the week.” Her father disconnected the call.
Ivy turned to face him. “Where’s Jem’s picture?”
Her dad didn’t reply. He looked like a deer caught in headlights. When he did respond, his answer was beyond lame. “I haven’t had time to hang it up.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “In ten years?”
He slid open the bottom drawer in his desk. “Here,” he said, rea
ching down. “It’s here. Hang it up if you want.”
Dad put the framed photo on the flat surface, moving his hand away quickly, as if he’d just held a snake.
Ivy didn’t move toward the desk. In fact, she was grateful the frame was facedown. She closed her eyes, regretting that she’d started this.
Every time Jem’s name came up in conversation, it ended like this—quickly, with one of them so angry that the other shut down. The only variation was which person was pissed. Today, it was Dad’s turn.
One minute, then two ticked by in silence, both of them looking anywhere but at each other. Or the photo.
Ivy wanted to escape. Needed to. “I have to get to work. What did you want?”
“Heard you went out with Bill a couple of nights ago.”
“So?”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you attempted that in high school and it failed. Other night turn out any better?”
Ivy shook her head. “No. He’s still a humorless asshole.”
“You knew that before the date, didn’t you?”
She did, but too many emotions were running too close to the surface right now. Bill had always harbored a crush on her, something she couldn’t understand or snuff out, no matter how obvious it seemed that they were a complete mismatch. She’d only accepted his invitation this time because she’d known James would hear about the date. Her ability to resist the sexy, charming man was wearing paper thin. She hoped that by going out with someone else maybe James would give up on her, so she wouldn’t have to keep fighting her attraction to him so hard.
And it must have worked. She hadn’t seen James since the date, which meant he’d caught wind of it.
“Going out with him again?”
She shrugged. Truth was, she’d fucking marry Bill at this point if it would help her overcome her agonizingly intense attraction to James. So far, she’d managed to ward off his requests for dates, and somehow she had successfully dodged his attempts to steal kisses or hold her hand. And yet, none of that mattered.
Because of lunch.