Love Burns

by Babette James

  He sagged into utter relaxation. “You okay?” he mumbled against her shoulder, crushing her to him and stroking his fingers through her hair.

  Amazed, exhausted, and pleasantly trapped under his sweaty, heavy body, she dizzily gasped for breath to answer. “Incredible. Wonderful. Thank you. How are you?”

  “Fine, when my head stops spinning. Mind if we skip that hike I promised you?” His voice was blurred and deeply contented.

  “I’m too melted to even think of hiking.”

  He flexed, still thick within her, and her body clenched his, sending new ripples of pleasure. “Oh, yeah, better than fine. Awesome.”

  He rolled them to his right side, with a devouring kiss, adding a few last strokes. The new position spurred one more startling rippling aftershock. “Dave!”

  Dave chuckled, and then, rather than pulling away or falling asleep as she expected, he snuggled her close, stroking her back.

  Olivia shut her eyes, savoring the intimate connection and her body’s throbbing and tingling. When at last he withdrew, losing him filling her felt unexpectedly strange after the awkward, difficult beginning.

  ****

  Dave woke from their nap feeling really good—and complicated. That good feeling raised the challenge of when and how they could do this again and better. As for the complicated mess in his head…no, dwelling on what that involved was too serious. Besides, the long shadows across the sand said it was time to head back. He leaned over and kissed Livie awake.

  They tidied and dressed, and Livie snapped a few photos as they packed up. Dave started the boat and swung around for the return to camp, glancing at Livie. She relaxed in the spotter’s seat, half-turned to him, her tired eyes distant, but a smile curved her lips. What was she thinking after this rollercoaster of a day?

  All too soon, he was guiding the boat into the shallows of Spider Camp.

  “Hey there, have a good day?” Nate grabbed the mooring line.

  “Excellent.”

  “Lovely.” Livie flushed, turning to him with a shy, conspiratorial smile, before slipping over the side to join Kay on the beach.

  Dave dropped their bags and cooler on the bow and hitched himself overboard, wincing. Oh, yeah, the leg and back were unhappy about the new moves today, but he grinned. Damn, he’d been in heaven for a while, more than worth the aches. Livie had taken him there and restored a piece of his life.

  He slung the bag over his shoulder. Now, how to handle this thing with Livie around the others? He’d broken his rules again. But…

  What if he’d brought Livie here, as the others had brought friends and lovers over the years? How would he handle that scenario?

  Yeah, he’d follow Nate’s example and stay in a separate camp. He always teased Nate about his old sailboat, but damn, Nate had the last laugh. A floating bedroom would come in real handy—Not that he’d ever mention that epiphany to Nate.

  Livie’s giggles drew his glance. Damn, seeing her smile gave him a warm twist of happiness. Rosy and windblown from the long sunny day on the water, she looked well kissed, well loved.

  He wanted her again. Now. He groaned.

  A tap on his shoulder dragged him into the present. “Huh?”

  “I said, how’d the fishing go?”

  “We had fun catching bluegills and tossing them back. Had a picnic, went swimming. Real nice day.” Pleasured Livie on a beach, pushed her to an orgasm that made her cry, swam naked with her, and lost himself in her lovely body so much he’d forgotten his handicap and worries. Nice day? Hell, yeah.

  Nate nodded, eyes narrowed. “Okay.”

  Dave realized his face was set fierce. He fixed his smile. “I could use a beer. How about you?”

  JoAnn, baby Daisy, and Patti sprawled napping on cots in the shade and, judging by the legs sticking out under a towel, Scott was out cold in his beach chair.

  As Nate and he headed to the coolers, Ryan and Sam swarmed around him waving their fishing poles, bouncing and tugging at his T-shirt and shorts. “Uncle Dave, Uncle Dave. You’re back! We’ve been playing with Uncle Nate. Come fish with us! We want you to help us catch big fish.”

  Dave caught Ryan’s pole before he put an eye out and extracted his descending shorts from Sam’s grip. He sighed and patted Sam on the head. “Okay, say we do this. I’ll get a beer and my chair and meet you by the rock. Hands off the hooks until I get there. Deal?”

  “Deal!” The boys ran laughing to the water’s edge, dropped their poles, and raced back.

  Nate solemnly patted Dave’s shoulder. “Man, you’re a glutton for punishment, and yes, I’ll gladly hand them off. But, warning, you’re going to need a minimum two beers.”

  Ryan and Sam folded and dragged Dave’s chair over. They tussled over who got to carry the worm container. Ryan won and raced to Dave’s chair, Sam hot on his heels, and set the worms on the seat. “Hurry, Uncle Dave!”

  Nate grinned. “Good luck. I’ll bring your beer.”

  Sam and Ryan grabbed his hands. “All ready. Hurry up!”

  “Thanks.” He let the tiny dynamos drag him to his chair.

  As Dave demonstrated hooking the worm, the wide-eyed twins bounced on their toes. “Oh, gross! Cool! Worm guts! Worm guts!”

  Ryan neatly double hooked his worm, while Sam squinted and bit his lip with a surgeon’s serious concentration as he aligned worm and hook.

  “You’re doing good, Sam. What’s the matter?”

  “I’m looking for his belly button.”

  After a quick lesson on worm anatomy, Sam’s worm was securely hooked. Dave positioned each boy a safe distance apart.

  “Ready? One, two, three, go.”

  Worms, weights, and bobbers soared and plunked into the water. The boys did their end zone boogies and bounced expectantly on their toes, peering into the shifting clear water. Their bobbers rocked in the gentle current.

  “Are they eating it? Did I get one? Hey, if worms don’t have belly buttons how do they get born? How long do I have to wait? Can I check now? How come you went fishing with Miss Olivia and not us? When can I go on your boat? Is Miss Olivia your girlfriend? What do worms eat?” The boys pelted a slew of other questions faster than Dave could answer.

  “Whoa, time out! Silent game. Both of you, butts on the ground, holding your poles, and the one who stays quiet until I count to one hundred gets to check his line first.”

  Sam locked on a perfect imitation of Patti’s you’re-so-in-trouble stare. “Mama said butt’s a bad word.”

  Keeping a straight face without choking on his laughter was tough. “Okay, sorry, your mama’s right. On your bottoms. Both of you on your bottoms.”

  The boys plopped to the sand, breaths held, cheeks popping like chipmunks.

  Dave chuckled. “Breathing’s allowed. Just no talking, starting now.”

  Silence descended. Dave took a long slug of beer, enjoying the boys’ competitive spirit.

  Over in the canopy’s shade, Livie, Nate, Kay, and Patti chatted with drinks in hand.

  What a day. He couldn’t wait to be with Livie again, and he’d made a huge mistake there, somewhere.

  He studied Kay, all cozy with Nate. Be nice if he could talk to Kay about the mess in his head. Might also help if he knew what he wanted to ask. If Nate had always been like a brother, Kay was the sister he’d never had. Friends long before she’d met Nate, Kay and he’d gotten tight over the years, but since she’d married Nate, he felt a door had closed on part of their friendship. A small door, but closed all the same.

  Ten years ago, when Lloyd and JoAnn had hooked up and he’d first met Kay, he’d seriously considered breaking his rules. Cute, sexy, and smart, Kay hit all his right buttons, but she’d never hinted she might encourage that rule breaking, and she’d become too good a friend to risk losing her. The heavy crap in both their pasts probably would have doomed a romantic relationship, but instead bonded them as deep friends.

  Then she met Nate, the two fell crazy in love overnight, and then took
forever to figure out the obvious. There’d been times Dave had been tempted to make an intervention and get Nate to see the light and stop the traveling, but he’d kept his mouth shut, aside from their pissing match last summer.

  Kay’s calm commonsense always made talking stuff out easy, and she kept private stuff private. She’d never breathed a word about him showing up uninvited on her doorstep in Tucson the morning after the blowout breakup with Tess, so drunk off his ass the plane flight and taxi delivering him there remained a blank, or what he’d blabbed during that alcohol-fueled fog. He’d learned in truth a friend listens to your troubles, but a really good friend listens while holding your head over the toilet and keeps your secrets. He’d never gotten near that wasted again.

  Kay caught him watching, blew him a kiss, and mouthed, “Thank you.”

  The bobbers swayed and drifted. Peace reigned.

  Dave figured he’d start counting soon.

  ****

  Olivia shook her head. Dave had those two bundles of energy sitting as good as gold and quiet. He lounged, beer in hand, chilled and content.

  “It’s real good to see Dave so relaxed.” Nate smiled. “You too.”

  Memories flooded Olivia, and she blushed. Her new be-bold motto shivered under a gust of second thoughts, and she took a stalling sip of her vodka and tonic. The happy, sensual memories and lovely, decadent fatigue of her body prevailed. How tender and caring Dave had been. How good he’d made her feel. She refused to regret a single moment of their time together. “We had a great day.”

  “I’m glad,” Kay said.

  “You’ve known Dave for a while,” she blurted.

  Kay nodded. “I’ve known him since JoAnn and Lloyd got together.”

  “Lloyd and I’ve been friends with Dave since sixth grade.” Nate grinned. “We met in detention.”

  “Detention?” Not what she’d expected.

  “Yep. First and only time for Lloyd and me. We got blamed for messing with our teacher’s desk, which we hadn’t, just two naive goofballs in the wrong place, wrong time. We walk in, shaking in our sneakers, and there’s this tough kid scowling at us. A regular in detention, Dave had made himself a rep since the first day of school. I said hi, not knowing what else to do. Dave shook his head, like what are you lame dorks doing here? We lucked out, the music teacher was covering detention, and he was as strict as a marshmallow. Dave filled us in on the detention rules, we got to talking, and it turned out Dave was funny and cool. He walked home, too, and lived two blocks away. Lloyd got Dave laughing and cracking jokes, and I invited him over for a snack. You should have seen his face when Lloyd and I took out our homework without Mom telling us. Mom then handed Dave a slab of apple pie and asked so sweetly if he’d like to do his homework while he ate, too? One bite and he was done for. Mom had his number.” Nate grinned.

  “We were fast friends from that day on and, since his parents…ah, worked a lot, he practically lived at our house.” Nate glanced at Kay, as if he’d almost said something else. “A couple weeks later, the principal caught the real pranksters, and our names were cleared. I later heard a rumor that maybe Dave helped things along.” He sipped at his beer. “The rest, as they say, is history.”

  Dave chatted with the twins, who sat soaking in every word as he pointed at three peculiar ducks paddling near the boats.

  Sam’s bobber jerked under water. He shrieked and yanked his pole. “Get it! Get it!”

  The ducks burst skyward in a flurry of alarmed squawks. Ryan joined the bouncing and shrieking, and Daisy added her startled wails.

  Dave lunged from the chair and grabbed Sam’s pole, working to keep little fingers on the reel handle. His beer can rolled foaming across the sand. He tried kneeling but folded to the wet sand.

  Nate grabbed his camera.

  Dave pushed to his feet and finally got Sam following directions, guiding him through reeling in his catch.

  Nate was snapping shots, intensely focused in his pro photographer persona. Scott and Patti hovered, adding encouragement and keeping Ryan in check. Olivia and Kay sat back and enjoyed the comedic chaos. JoAnn settled Daisy in her arms and rejoined them.

  Sam lifted the rod and raised a large scrappy bluegill clear of the water. He turned to Dave, wide eyed and beaming. “I got a fish! Daddy, Mama, I got a big fish!” He spun to his parents, and the glossy dripping fish flying at the end of his line just missed slapping Dave in the face.

  Olivia clapped her hands over her mouth, laughing.

  Kay’s laughter rang out. “Oh, this is great!”

  Dave caught the line, blocking the flailing fish’s second pass. He ruffled Sam’s sandy brown hair. “Looks like a keeper, but we have to measure him first.”

  “Right! Fish rule number four!” Sam high-fived him.

  Nate stepped up. “First, let’s get a picture.” He swiftly arranged Sam with the pole and the thrashing fish at Dave’s side. Sam hugged Dave close, face beaming, wide smile missing one tooth.

  Nate grinned. “Get ready to smile and say…We…love…worm guts!”

  Sam giggled as Nate snapped off several shots.

  After handing off the pole and fish to Scott, Sam threw his arms around Dave. “I love you, Uncle Dave.”

  As Dave hugged Sam back, Olivia’s heart melted and cracked all the more.

  Chapter Nine

  Dave patted Sam’s head. “Love you too, Sam the Man. Now, go with your dad, measure that fish, and see if you can keep him for your supper.”

  Sam scampered off.

  The bluegill was a keeper, but he’d let Sam learn for himself. Dave retrieved his empty beer can from the water and set to gathering the fishing gear.

  New yelps and squeals confirmed the fish’s keeper status. Nothing like a boy’s first fish.

  Footsteps crunched behind him.

  “That was great to watch.” Livie handed him a fresh beer.

  “Totally unexpected. A fish that size shouldn’t have been where those lines were, but that’s fishing for you.”

  He shifted, trying to ease his leg’s bitching.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Got kind of a wet ass, but…” He tugged her close, arm around her shoulder. “Now I am.”

  Fighting the accompanying rush of sensual memories and hungry grip of his body was a lost cause. He flushed, relieved the boys were off with their dad. Only so much biology he was up for explaining today.

  Livie relaxed into him with a laugh. “This has been a great day.”

  Worry slapped in—the day hadn’t been all rosy for her. “All of it?” He immediately kicked himself for his downer tone.

  She paused after a quick sip from her cup, eyes contemplative. He liked her thoughtful nature, among many things. Her smile bloomed. “Yes. All of it.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek.

  A long, weighty silence swelled between them, and he shifted uncomfortably against the urge to kiss her and lay her back in the sand.

  Livie broke the quiet. “So what made you want to be a firefighter?”

  “Doesn’t every boy want to be a firefighter?” He grinned, even as his pleasure cooled. Did he tell her one of the usual flippant answers or the truth?

  Delaying the decision, he patted her and lowered himself to the sand, stretching his feet out into the water.

  Livie joined him. “Hey, I dreamed of being a ballerina. It didn’t happen. Why did you make it happen?” Those luminous brown eyes of hers waited expectant, interested.

  He sighed and fixed his gaze on the boats gently bobbing on the sparkling water. For Livie, the truth. “When I was a kid, we lived in California, outside Malibu, on a big piece of property up in the hills. I remember an awesome place to play and run. Dad had his carpentry business there and his woodworking shop. Mom was a potter and stained glass artist. My folks were…different, sort of the bohemian-hippie type. They’d hand-built the house in the sixties. Really hand-built. Dad forged most of the hardware himself, even down to some of the nails.

  �
��Sounds wonderful.”

  “Yeah, it was. My parents loved that house.”

  In a way, the place was more their child than Dave. They’d collaborated on every detail, while he’d been an unplanned addition.

  “When I was eleven, the care Dad took to protect the place from the wildfires wasn’t enough. Too much fire, too few firefighters. I was safe at school, but almost lost my folks because they ignored the evacuation order and tried to save the house. Despite their efforts, it burned to the ground, nothing left but foundation, fireplace, metal, and ash. Dad got burned. At the end of the day, they had me, the clothes on our backs, Mom’s car, our dog Barney, one box of papers, and two boxes of photos. There was insurance and all, but my parents were never the same again.”

  None of them were. The house had died and taken his family with it. He swallowed a slug of beer.

  Do it. Keep going.

  “After Dad got out of the hospital, he took a job offer from a friend of a friend and we relocated to Oregon. Mom and Dad kind of folded into each other.”

  His throat tightened. And they’d folded hard into the pills and alcohol and become utter strangers. Superficially functional, not so bad that the law got involved, but self-absorbed addicts all the same. Only recently had he considered their backgrounds and the times and that their addictions might have had roots in place decades before the fire.

  “I ran wild and got good at getting into trouble. That’s also when I learned to cook. Mom wasn’t much of a—”

  A mother. He couldn’t tell Livie all. How life was then, learning to swipe money from their wallets, hit the store to feed himself, or go without far too often.

  He cleared his throat. “A cook. Then I met Nate and Lloyd. Nate’s mom stuffed me full of pie, sucked me into their family like I was a fourth son, and taught me how to study. Nate’s and Lloyd’s dads, instead of writing me off as a bad influence on their kids, got me under their thumb. Mr. Quinn hooked me on fishing and climbing. Mr. Sayer had been a volunteer firefighter and got me involved with the local department. Nate’s brothers taught me boxing and pounded the worst of the chip off my shoulder—not so gently at times. I stopped flunking and being a complete jerk.”