Blaze (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 8)

by Ophelia Sexton

  It was clear that he loved that old truck, dents, faded orange paint, and all.

  And now it was just a blackened metal shell riding on the back of Mike Robinson's flatbed tow truck.

  Poor kid. Maybe I can talk Ash into hiring him as a summer intern. What teenager wouldn't like a job as a beta tester for the company's new game, Werewolf Hunter?

  With the fire out, Dimitri was now driving his pickup back to the ranch with all the windows rolled down in an effort to minimize the stink of the harsh, chemical-laced smoke emanating from his protective gear.

  He hoped he'd have enough time for a quick shower before joining the scheduled weekly teleconference with Ash, Steffi, and the other members of the Grizzly Creek Games executive staff at three p.m.

  Dimitri was just rounding the last major curve of the highway before the turnoff to the ranch when he spotted a brand-new bronze-colored Subaru SUV stopped on the dirt and gravel verge on the other side of the road. The Subie's windows were rolled down, the hood was up, and the emergency flashers were on.

  One of the first things that Dimitri had learned after moving to Bearpaw Ridge from New York was that you waved hello when a car passed you.

  The second was that if you saw someone having car trouble, you stopped and asked if you could help. This wasn’t the city, with solid cell coverage and tow trucks on call twenty-four hours a day.

  Dimitri hit the brakes and pulled a quick U-turn, parking behind the Subie in a cloud of dust. He looked at it and frowned.

  Didn't I just see this car a short time ago, when we were working to extinguish Ethan's truck?

  As he left his truck and walked up to the Subie, the driver's side door swung open. A beautiful woman wearing strappy wedge-heeled sandals that showed off her high-arched feet and a flawless pedicure emerged from the car to meet him.

  She smiled at him, and Dimitri stopped in his tracks, feeling like he'd just been hit by an anvil.

  He could feel the vibrations from the invisible impact shuddering through his entire body, right down the marrow in his bones.

  The cool breeze ruffling the grass in the pasture next to the highway carried her scent to him, clean and healthy under the soft perfume of her shampoo and laundry products. And, surprisingly, the faint scent of metal and oil that he associated with guns.

  His bear roused from its sleep.

  She's the one. Our mate, it rumbled inside Dimitri's head.

  Chapter 4 – Date with Danger

  Oh hell yes, Dimitri agreed without thinking.

  The young woman standing next to the Subaru was a fucking goddess, her lush curves highlighted by a pretty, denim-colored wrap maxi-dress low-cut enough to showcase her impressive cleavage. She had shoulder-length chestnut-colored hair highlighted with dark gold streaks, and it looked so soft and glossy that he wanted to bury his face in it.

  Her face was oval, with clear brown eyes accented by skillfully applied eyeliner and eyeshadow, and her lips, shining with tinted lip gloss, looked irresistibly kissable.

  Her skin was a warm olive shade, and he found himself wanting to slide his hand against it. He was sure that her curves would feel warm and satin-soft.

  And she was smiling at him like he was the most wonderful, most important person in the world.

  "Hi there, cowboy," she said, in a low, slightly husky voice that sent a shiver of pleasure straight down his spine to his cock. "Boy, am I glad to see someone! Gotta say, not much traffic on this stretch of road."

  She stopped, looking uncertain.

  Dimitri realized he was making her nervous by just standing there and staring at her like an idiot.

  Zadrota! He could swear he heard his mother's impatient tone in his head right now.

  "Uh, hi," he managed choke out. "Are you okay? Did your car hit something?"

  She shook her head and held up her phone with an apologetic gesture. "I got lost looking for my motel. When the gas light came on, I thought for sure I could make it to the next gas station. And now I can't get any bars out here to call Triple A."

  Dimitri blinked as the sun struck a shower of rainbow sparks from the rhinestones decorating her phone's protective case. Her nails were manicured with gleaming polish that matched her lip gloss.

  "Do you need—I mean, can I offer you a lift into town? I've got a gas can in the back of my truck. It's empty, but we could fill it at the station and drive back here. That, uh, should be enough to get your car to town for fill-up."

  Smooth, Mitya. Real smooth. You're acting like you've never actually talked to a girl before.

  Her smile vanished at this words.

  "Could you maybe just call a tow truck or something?" she asked.

  Right. Because she was obviously a tourist, probably from a big city, given her clothes and those sandals. She didn't know him and wasn't about to get into a car with a stranger.

  He groped for something reassuring to say but was interrupted by a voice from the Subaru's back seat.

  "Mommy, is that the fireman who waved to us?"

  Dimitri turned his head and saw the pretty little girl who had greeted him earlier. She looked like she was maybe eight or nine years old, with long brown hair, glasses, and a brilliant smile.

  "Hi there," he said, smiling at her. "My name's Dimitri, but my friends and family call me Mitya. I remember you from earlier. What's your name?"

  "Sophie," she said and looked away shyly.

  "And I'm Damaris," said her gorgeous mother. "We're here to visit Bearpaw Springs National Park." She rolled her eyes and added in a self-deprecating tone, "Assuming I don't run out of gas again."

  Dammit, she's a tourist…and an Ordinary, thought Dimitri in sudden despair. Why couldn't I find a bear shifter woman like her?

  He groped for inspiration, hoping to find some kind of help that she would accept from him.

  "Look, I've got a signal on my phone. Why don't I call our tow truck guy Mike to bring you a couple of gallons of gas?" he offered.

  "That would be great!" Damaris exclaimed.

  Dimitri felt compelled to add, "He's towing the pickup that burned over to his junkyard right now, but he could make it out here in about an hour."

  Damaris's delightfully plump lips made an "O" of dismay.

  Her tone heavy with disbelief, she asked, "An hour? Really?"

  He nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that. But Mountain Mike's Towing is the only company in town." Then inspiration struck him. "I could wait here with you until he arrives.”

  Damaris looked anxiously at the sky. So close to Midsummer's Eve, it wouldn't be dark for hours, but he wondered if she knew that.

  "But Mommy, I'm hungry," Sophie complained.

  He could have hugged the little girl.

  Dimitri smiled at Damaris and did his best to appear trustworthy. "Does your daughter like milkshakes? There's a burger place just ten minutes down the road from here that makes the best milkshakes you've ever had. We could have a late lunch while we're waiting for Mike to arrive."

  Dimitri saw Damaris examine him from head to toe.

  Her assessing gaze lingered on his grimy steel-toed boots, sweaty dark blue BPRFD T-shirt, and the plain dark cotton Dockers that he'd been wearing under his bunker pants.

  Then he heard her stomach growl. Her serious expression vanished, and she smiled at him. "Okay, I'm willing to take a chance that you're not an axe murderer. I would kill for a burger and a milkshake right now."

  "Me, too!" Sophie agreed eagerly.

  Damaris smiled at him again.

  And Dimitri felt as if the day's golden sunlight was sinking through his skin and filling him with light.

  * * *

  Dancing Cow Burgers was located by the side of the highway on the outskirts of Bearpaw Ridge.

  It hadn't looked like much when Damaris had passed it a short while ago, but she had noticed that the unpaved parking lot was crowded with cars, SUVs, and trucks.

  So far so good, Damaris thought as Medved pulled off the highway and gravel crunc
hed under the tires of his huge pickup.

  Based on all the homework she'd done on this place, she'd guessed that after finishing up his firefighting duties, he would be heading back to the ranch where he lived.

  She knew she'd been taking a chance by faking car trouble and hoping that Medved would stop to check out the situation, but it had paid off in spades.

  Now she was going to find out what kind of guy he really was.

  He'd been a perfect gentleman by the side of the road, but some guys only managed to keep up the nice guy act until you got into their vehicle.

  But even with the gun concealed in her purse, her gut was telling her that she hadn't really put herself and her daughter in danger by accepting a ride from him. Dimitri Medved wasn't anything like what she'd been expecting.

  Sure enough, he kept his hands to himself and spent most of the short drive to the burger place telling Sophie about the time he'd given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a pet squirrel.

  As he deftly maneuvered the big truck into an open parking space between a battered Chevy pickup with Idaho plates and a newish Toyota Highlander with Colorado plates, Damaris found herself praying a strange little prayer.

  Please be a jerk, Medved. Please do something to show me that you're a creep just like Tony or the other guys I know.

  As they walked towards the restaurant's entrance, Medved stopped suddenly and pointed at the big pasture stretching between the parking lot and some nearby hills.

  "Hey, Sophie, look over there. Do you see them?" he asked in a low voice. "Just to the right of where the sheep are grazing."

  Her daughter gasped as she spotted several pronghorn, elegant in tan and white, grazing peacefully in the pasture alongside a flock of sheep and lambs.

  There were pronghorn fawns as well, chasing each other through a mass of yellow and white wildflowers.

  Even stranger, there were leggy brown birds that looked taller than Sophie picking their way slowly through the grass on the fringes of the flock of sheep.

  "Are they tame?" Sophie whispered, as if she were afraid of scaring away creatures that seemed perfectly comfortable hanging out next to a parking lot and a patio crowded with people, not to mention loudspeakers playing country music.

  "Nope, the sandhill cranes and the pronghorn are wild. They've just figured out that no one here will bother them," Medved replied.

  Torn by conflicting feelings, Damaris studied the pretty antelope-like creatures in an effort not to stare at the utterly gorgeous man escorting her and her daughter to the restaurant.

  Tony's photos hadn't managed to capture the sheer charisma radiating from Medved.

  Her first impression of him as a big guy with shoulders a mile wide was only confirmed by the tight T-shirt he was wearing. He had the face of a fallen angel and the body of a sculpted Greek god, all hard lines and taut muscle. His hair was black and a little curly, and he had striking, clear gray eyes set in the tanned skin of his face. His dark stubble only highlighted his firm mouth.

  She realized that she really wanted to kiss him, and she clenched her hands.

  What the hell is happening to me? Why the sudden hormone overload?

  This was business. And he was her target. Nothing else.

  It sure as hell wasn’t a date.

  I need to be flirty with him, to soften him up, she told herself.

  Should she be worried that Sophie, who was normally shy and withdrawn around strangers, had taken an instant liking to the tall firefighter?

  She couldn't let her daughter get too attached, not if Medved was going to have a tragic and fatal accident sometime in the near future.

  He might be Mr. Hunky, but Tony's not giving me any choice, Damaris reminded herself. I have to find out what the hell Dimitri Medved thinks he's doing playing firefighter in the middle of nowhere. And if I can use that as part of my plan.

  Remembering that she was supposed to be a tourist, Damaris whipped out her phone and took a photo of the pronghorn fawns and then another of the cranes. Then for good measure, she took a photo of Medved in his jeans and cowboy hat.

  "I'm gonna send these photos to your Uncle Dan and Uncle Jim," she told Sophie. "They are not going to believe that there are wild animals hanging around fast food places out here!"

  Daniel Bianchi and James O'Donnell had been her final—and best—foster parents. Without them, and their willingness to babysit Sophie while Damaris attended college classes, Damaris would never have been able to finish her degree and start her own business.

  Both were retired NYPD cops. Damaris, ashamed at the turn her life had taken, had let herself drift away from them once she found herself trapped in the role of a Mob hitwoman. She missed them and thought about them a lot but only allowed herself the occasional contact by text.

  Medved led the way to the restaurant's entrance.

  On the inside, Dancing Cow Burgers looked like any other upscale fast food place, with a long counter for placing orders and paying, and long, rustic wooden tables and benches. With the beautiful weather, the inside of the place was deserted because everyone was sitting out on the large covered patio.

  "Hey, Sue," Medved greeted the teenaged girl working the register. "How did that math test go?"

  Damaris noticed how the plain girl blossomed under the warmth of his smile and remembered what she herself had been like at seventeen, starved for a kind word and some attention.

  And look at the trouble that got me into.

  She gave Sophie a rueful look that her daughter didn't notice, absorbed as she was in studying the menu choices written on a huge blackboard hanging behind the register.

  "I got a B," Sue informed Medved, her cheeks turning pink. She had pale blue eyes and mousy brown hair held back with a wide bandana printed with a pattern of tiny cartoon cows.

  "That's great!" Dimitri said. "See, I knew you could do it!"

  If Dimitri Medved is anything like his parents, he's doing a damned good job of hiding it.

  "Thanks, Mitya," Sue said. She smiled at Damaris and Sophie. "You must be visiting from out of town."

  "We are," Damaris confirmed. "This seemed like a nice place for a summer vacation."

  "Have you been to the hot springs yet?" Sue demanded.

  Damaris shook her head. "Not yet. We just arrived today."

  "Well, you should get Mitya to show you the ones that aren't overrun with people. The ones at the Bearpaw Springs Resort are usually pretty popular with the tourists, but there are a bunch in the area that hardly anyone from out of town ever visits."

  "Thanks for the tip," Damaris said and smiled.

  Alone with Medved at an isolated hot spring sounded like the perfect setting for a tragic accident.

  What a waste of a gorgeous guy who seems like a real mensch, her conscience whispered.

  "If you bring up maps on your phone while we eat, I can recommend a few places in the park that are an easy hike to get to," Medved offered.

  "That'd be great," Damaris said, with a twinge of guilt.

  She glanced up at the menu board to distract herself and saw a number of interesting entries, all noted with the names of the ranches where the meat came from. Grizzly Creek Ranch was listed as supplying both organic heirloom beef and buffalo.

  "Are the buffalo burgers any good?" she asked.

  "I really like them," Medved answered.

  "You have ostrich burgers?" Sophie was staring up at the board, her mouth half-open. "Do they taste like turkey?"

  "No, they're red meat," Sue told her. "In fact, I'll bet you won't be able to tell the difference between ostrich and our beef patties."

  "Except for the price," Damaris commented dryly.

  "Oh, I meant to tell you—this is my treat," Medved said. "And be sure to order one of the milkshakes. The huckleberry ones are a specialty here, and they're really tasty."

  "Thank you but you don't have to—" Damaris began to protest.

  "I insist." Medved delivered this in a firm tone. "Coming here was my
idea, and I want to treat you two lovely ladies."

  "That's really kind of you." Damaris knew when she was on the losing end of an argument.

  It felt wrong, though, to let her target to buy her lunch.

  "The huckleberry ones are great. But my favorite is the Belgian Cookie shake," Sue confided. "Mitya, are you having your usual?"

  He grinned at her. "I'm a creature of habit."

  Most people were. And that was exactly what helped Damaris be so successful in her special assignments. If your target had a routine, that made it really easy to arrange an accident. You just needed a little patience and a bit of discretion.

  He turned to Sophie. "Would you like to try the ostrich burger?"

  Her daughter nodded.

  "With fries?"

  Another nod.

  "And a huckleberry shake?"

  "Yes, please!" Sophie's nod this time was much more enthusiastic.

  "I'd like the buffalo burgers and seasoned fries, please," Damaris said. "Oh, and a Belgian Cookie shake. Do you have them in small?"

  Sue shook her head. "We only have one size. But there's enough to share, and we'd be happy to give you two glasses."

  "In that case, make mine huckleberry, and I'll split it with my daughter," Damaris replied. She had seen the gigantic shakes on the patio tables, and Sue was right. There was definitely more than enough to share.

  Once they had picked up their orders of burgers, fries, and shakes, Medved led the way to one of the few remaining empty tables outside, and they seated themselves.

  He pulled out his phone and typed a quick text.

  When he finished, he said with a crooked smile, "Sorry, I just had to let my boss know that I wasn't going to make it back to the ranch in time for a meeting."

  "We shouldn't be keeping you from something important," Damaris said politely. "Don't feel obligated to wait here with us."

  She tried to hide her disappointment, but it was difficult. Especially since she didn't know if she'd get another opportunity to speak with Medved and find out if he had any hobbies that might lend themselves to fatal accidents.

  To her relief, he shook his head. "It's something totally routine, and I'm glad for any excuse that gets me outdoors on a beautiful day like this."