Abbi pulled the condom from her pocket. “I picked it up from the stash in the bathroom at Mackenzie’s.”
Tyler laughed and pulled an identical one from his pocket. “Great minds,” he said.
She’d certainly agree that something was great as she knelt in the grass and slowly, tantalizingly, pulled down his boxers and jeans.
The first boy she’d slept with after Cash, she’d met in a field at night. She’d sneaked out of her dorm to meet the guy—a senior, she remembered. She was sixteen. She’d just dyed her hair for the first time. He’d complimented her in the hallway. He’d noticed her, and not to whisper or point. He’d noticed her in that way only Cash had, that way she’d still believed only Cash would.
She’d lain down in the grass that night but it had been nothing like this. No boy—or man—she’d ever known had been like this. He stood before her, his erection thick and so fucking beautiful, she didn’t want the moment to end.
She kissed his shaft from the tip to the base, letting the length of him slide over her face, the smooth head satiny and soft against her cheek. She ran her tongue back up, stroking, teasing, swirling over the top.
And then more, moving up and down, making it nice and wet. She brought him back to her throat and felt the sweet, full stretch of him pushing in. She went as deep as she could, coming up for air with a string of saliva from her lips to his tip.
“Fuck,” he groaned, looking down at her.
“You like that?”
Even his laugh made her wet.
“Yes, Blue. I like that.” He gathered her hair as he brought his cock to her mouth again, pushing as close to too much as either of them could handle before he pulled back again.
She thought he was going to come like that, straight down her throat, and fuck if she wouldn’t take every last drop. But he unwrapped the condom and she knew he wasn’t going to finish without her. He slid it on, his hand wrapped around his cock. Her breath caught just watching.
Then he pressed his hands to her shoulders and tipped her back. Only he wasn’t done yet, because then he turned her over. Not so she was on her knees, but so she was lying in the grass on her stomach, feeling the pressure of his hand moving up her thighs.
And then he was on top of her, opening her, his cock sliding all the way in. His body pressed her into the ground, and all she could feel was sensation—the grass, his weight, the thrust of him hitting right where she wanted.
This wasn’t lying in bed, gazing adoringly into each other’s eyes. This was hard, rough, and so fucking dirty. She tightened her legs to feel the best kind of friction and he groaned in her ear, driving into her even harder.
He reached his hand around her so she could rub her clit against his fingers as her hips moved.
“You going to come like that, baby?”
She whimpered against the crook of his arm holding onto her. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded, and heard the low grate of his laugh in her ear.
“Not a chance,” he said.
“Fuck,” she exhaled as his fingers made tight little circles.
“There?” he asked.
“There.”
Sometimes an orgasm was less a wave that crashed over her than one she had to chase. She’d run after it, willing her body to catch the crest and tip over its edge. But Tyler filled her so completely there was no running, no sense the feeling might leave her behind. When she came it was with a cry, pulsing around his cock, grinding into his fingers, gasping and begging him not to stop.
He didn’t. Instead he grabbed her ass and, using her body for leverage, thrust even deeper within her. In just a few strokes she felt him tense and shudder. And then heat flooded her as he let everything go.
He lay on her, breathing hard, until at last he rolled off her body and collapsed by her side.
“I got you all dirty,” he said, using a tissue from his pocket to wrap up the condom.
Abbi propped herself up on her elbow. “We were both pretty dirty before we got here.”
He laughed, and from the way he looked at her, a mix of teasing and hungry, she was ready to find out just how much dirtier he could be.
She knew she shouldn’t get carried away. But satisfaction made her reckless. And anyway, Tyler had a time limit. Shouldn’t she take advantage of him while she could?
She snaked a hand up his naked thigh. “Any chance I can entice you into a shower to wash off those grass stains?” she asked, gesturing toward his knees.
Tyler caught her hand. Lifted it over her head. Pinned her back down in the grass. Pretended to think. “Do you have food?” he asked.
“Some.”
“Condoms?”
“Plenty.”
“An actual bed?”
“Provided you can wait long enough to get in it.”
“There’s always the floor,” he decided.
“The kitchen table?”
“It’s going to be a long night.”
“God yes,” Abbi said, straining against his hold on her. She hoped so.
They agreed he’d follow her to her house, and that although it was tempting, naked hiking back to the car and naked driving probably wasn’t the best idea. “I know the sheriff,” Abbi said. “It’d be awkward for everybody.”
Tyler laughed as he sat up, reaching for his pants. He had to remind Abbi there was round two waiting or else she never would have let him get away.
“This was a good welcome to Gold Mountain,” he said.
“Don’t get too used to it. Not everyone’s going to be as friendly as I am.” She flashed him a grin.
“I think I’d die of exhaustion. I’m supposed to be getting ready for this job.”
“The one you won’t tell me about?”
She had to admit, by now she was curious. They had all sorts of people come through for seasonal work, like lift attendants in the winter and trail maintenance teams in the spring and fall. Abbi’s office hired extra hands in the summer to help with outreach and projects like counting species or tagging. It could have been any number of things.
But when he asked if she knew about the firebreak the Forest Service wanted to build, Abbi’s heart stopped.
“Of course,” she said, everything inside her hoping he wasn’t about to say what she was afraid he was going to say.
He was one of the builders. He was part of the crew.
But it was so much worse.
“I used to work for the Forest Service outside L.A. Now I’m up here to oversee the project. Six weeks, in and out, we’ll get the new break built and keep you safe.” He smiled like that was a good thing.
Abbi swallowed. “And then what happens?”
“Then I use that to get another job somewhere else, probably in management or something.”
“You’re kidding.”
Tyler blanched. “What’s wrong with management?”
“Not the next job,” Abbi sputtered. “This one. You’re the one building the firebreak?”
“Overseeing the project.” He paused. “Did I say something wrong?”
Abbi was hastily getting dressed, as though the sooner she got out of there the sooner she could pretend this whole night never happened—even if that dark, sweet soreness between her thighs said otherwise. But Tyler was frozen, his pants half on, waiting for her response. Where should she begin?
“You don’t know who I am.” It wasn’t a question. Of course he didn’t know her. Because she hadn’t told him.
“I’m at the nature center. I’m the one whose job it is to make sure that stupid waste of time and money never gets built.”
She watched as realization dawned across his face. “You’re the head naturalist?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. But as soon as I stop the firebreak, I will be.”
There were a few things Tyler might have said to salvage the situation. A recognition that the firebreak was, in fact, a waste of time and money, designed to placate people in town who didn’t understand how wildfire worked, and th
at at best it would do nothing and at worst would actually be damaging. He could have acknowledged that the Forest Service’s aggressive protection policy might not be the best for this area. He could at least have suggested there was room for compromise.
But instead he laughed in her face.
“Oh come on, Blue,” he said, like this was all a joke to him. Like she was a joke to him. “You don’t actually believe that.”
It was exactly what her parents might have said. Dumb little Abbi, the great Haas disappointment. They’d sent her to the same prestigious boarding school in New Hampshire her family had attended for generations, and look what happened. She embarrassed them in the news and wound up with a job they were convinced didn’t matter.
Tyler’s words made a heat flare inside her. She was working her butt off to get this promotion—to be seen as competent, independent, and worth taking seriously. To be someone who wouldn’t be dismissed.
“You’ve been in Gold Mountain for five minutes,” she said. “And you’re going to tell me you know what we need?”
“I’m a wildfire expert, Abbi. I know what I’m talking about.” The implication being that she didn’t. “I’m not saying you don’t know anything,” he went on, and Abbi pressed her lips together. Any sentence that started that way wasn’t going to end well.
She thought about the meeting she had Monday with the Forest Service representatives—a meeting she could now guess Tyler would be at. None of them would think she knew what she was talking about. She had a whole new resolve to prove them wrong—and to show her boss, the hiring committee, and everyone at the nature center that she was the right hire for the head naturalist job.
She’d finished dressing while they were talking, but Tyler had been taking his sweet time, like he thought he had her in the bag. But just because he’d helped her out with Russ didn’t mean she owed him. Tonight, or ever.
She knew these woods like she knew her own body, its curves and dips. Its places to hide. “On second thought, I think I’ll shower alone. See you Monday. I’m sure it’s going to be…educational.”
He called for her to wait, told her again that she didn’t know what she was saying. But she’d already taken off across the field, looking for the break in the darkness that signaled where the path began.
Tyler took a few hobbled steps with his pants half on, but he was still carrying his shoes. And this was her land, her turf. He may have been bigger than she was and had the backing of the Forest Service, but Abbi knew the land, she knew the darkness, and she was faster. She was in her car while he was probably still making his way across the field, searching for the trail.
She didn’t feel bad about it, though. He thought he knew what Gold Mountain needed? Then screw him.
Her so-called boyfriend would do just fine on his own.
Chapter Four
When Tyler had his job interview with the Forest Service in California, Aidan had leaned back in his seat and fixed him with a hard stare. They’d gone through the usual preliminaries—his work history, physical fitness, a time he’d had to manage others. Tyler thought that about covered it. Then Aidan said: “Tell me about the last time you lied.”
Tyler remembered staring at the man, his mind racing. Was this some kind of trick? He was supposed to say he never lied, right? Or else confess that when he was ten he took money from his father’s dresser—but add on that he returned the cash and forever learned his lesson, proving what an upstanding citizen he’d become.
That itself would be a lie, of course. He’d kept the money, had in fact found ways to filch more. His father never noticed the twenties were gone. He’d remarried by then and the twins had just been born. Which meant that when it came to Tyler, he never noticed a thing.
Tyler, remembering his father, had taken a moment to study the line of Aidan’s brow, his fingers steepled over his mouth.
“Just now,” he admitted, feeling his face go hot under the older man’s gaze. “When you asked whether I felt ready to take on the challenges of working in a district as large as this. I told you yes, obviously. I said what I thought you wanted to hear.”
He’d looked away, thinking perhaps he shouldn’t have said that. But it was too late, and so he plowed on.
“The truth is that I have no idea. I feel like I’m running straight into this because I’m supposed to, I don’t know, prove myself. But am I ready? Sometimes I think I might never be ready. I feel like I’m lying, or at least pretending, when I say that I am.”
He couldn’t believe the outburst. He thought for sure he wouldn’t get the job. Aidan wanted men and women who were stronger, bolder, and unafraid. This had been a test, and Tyler had failed.
But Aidan extended his hand across the desk. “Welcome aboard, son,” he said. “Anyone who claims to have never told a lie is already lying. And anyone who isn’t serious about the risks of this job isn’t someone I want on my crew.”
The lie Scott had confessed to in his interview was telling a girl he was a law student when he’d been working in the Home Depot lumberyard instead. It hadn’t worked—the woman had been studying for the bar and took two seconds to figure out Scott was full of shit. Scott had told Aidan he wanted a job he could be proud of. Fear had never crossed his mind.
Tyler had trained hard. He knew what to do in a dozen different emergency situations. He gained the trust of the team and moved up in the ranks. But he never lost that feeling he’d described to Aidan when he was new to the job—the sense that he was sprinting ahead with his eyes closed, afraid of what was coming. Afraid of what might happen when he stopped.
Overseeing the firebreak was supposed to be a rest for him, something he knew he could handle. An easy stepping-stone that would allow him to transition into some kind of managerial role with no actual flames and no one getting hurt on his watch.
But when he returned to the Gold Mountain Nature Center on Monday morning, his stomach was a snake pit of nerves. He knew there’d be opposition to the firebreak. There always was. But how was he supposed to know the strongest opponent was going to be the same woman he’d wished hadn’t been kidding when she said be my boyfriend tonight?
Tyler was lucky he had a strong sense of direction, was trained in wilderness survival, and that it had been a short trip back to where he and Abbi had parked. Didn’t she get that nothing about this was personal? Constructing a firebreak meant building a gap in the vegetation, a barrier that could slow down or even stop a wildfire from spreading. How could any reasonable person complain about that?
Tyler had studied the topography. He knew there were natural firebreaks around Gold Mountain, like rivers, lakes, cliffs, and roads. But the weather had been dry even for this part of the Cascades, and the wildfire threat had everyone on edge. After seeing fires burn out of control across the west, the Forest Service was implementing additional protection in areas where human infrastructure was close to vulnerable lands. Tyler was here to help, not make things worse for anyone.
But nothing about this was going to be easy. And it was only about to get worse. Because pulling in right behind him was a large white truck that he recognized from the parking lot at Mackenzie’s. A large white truck with a logo that said Russell’s Construction Company on the side.
…
911, Abbi texted. She’d just pulled into the parking lot at the nature center and been greeted not only by Tyler’s truck, which she’d been expecting, but Russ’s. Stick her in the oven, because she was toast.
What’s up? Mack’s text came back right away.
At work and Russ is here.
Tell him your boyfriend will kick his ass.
My boyfriend is here, too.
That’s good! I heard his pickup line, lol, and saw you guys leave together. Can’t he help you out for another day?
Abbi was in the middle of typing out why that was not an option when Mack wrote back again. Wait. Why is your boyfriend at work?
You should have gotten his ID before you sent him to me. �
��Boyfriend” is with the Forest Service.
?!?!?!?!
As in, some so-called expert here to oversee the fucking firebreak. Abbi knew Mack would get what she was talking about. They’d been going over it for weeks, trying to figure out what Abbi should do.
Does Tyler know you’re supposed to be stopping him?
He does now.
Did you figure all this out before or after you banged his sexy fireman ass?
After. Obviously.
I’m sure you left things on a really good note, then. Like how you’re going to stop his work but still be his fake summer gf.
Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. After he told me I’m wrong, don’t know what I’m talking about, and overreacting.
Fuck, Abs. That sucks.
I have to go, I’m already late. Or maybe I’ll run into the woods to be eaten by bears.
Don’t, I’d miss you.
Can I suddenly come down with the flu?
In July?
You’re right, bears = better.
There’s no reason you and T would be lovey dovey in the office. Just don’t tell Russ it’s not actually a thing.
I can’t believe you got me into this mess.
I didn’t tell him to say he was your boyfriend! I just told him to bring you a drink!
Yeah, well. Now I REALLY can’t let the firebreak go through.
Russ must have been doing the construction. If Abbi walked into that meeting and couldn’t make a dent in the firebreak plans, then he and Tyler would both think she was incompetent. Not to mention her boss, her whole office, and the hiring committee. She could kiss that promotion good-bye.
It’s just one meeting, Mack wrote. I’m sure you’ll think of something.
Maybe WA imposed stricter regulations when I wasn’t looking.
Think harder.
Which didn’t make Abbi ever want to get out of her car.
But if she didn’t show up at this meeting, then there’d be no one present saying no to the firebreak. And no way she’d be able to show she had the chops to take on more at work.
She took a deep breath and got out of the car. Tyler was just going to have realize what he was up against now.
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