“Not this time,” she said.
His eyes landed on hers as one of his hands slid to the nape of her neck. “Think of me.” Lowering his head he gave her one quick, hard kiss. “Later,” he said against her mouth, and then he was gone.
“Good sweet baby Jesus,” Jonathan said from the hall behind her.
She turned to find him fanning himself. “It’s not what you think,” she said.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because what I think is that man is sex on two legs. He wears that firefighter uniform like nobody’s business. Well, except maybe his brother Hudson. Cuz Hudson looks pretty damn fine in his as well. I mean, when he strides toward me with that gun on his hip …” Jonathan gave a full body shiver.
“Going back to work now,” she said with an eye roll, and did just as Aidan had suggested—thought of him.
That night, back at her place, Lily found herself on edge. Did Aidan’s “later” mean tonight? She had no idea.
Normally her after-work routine consisted of a hot shower and PJs, but she stayed up late in her sundress, makeup still on. No need to scare the man unnecessarily.
But Aidan didn’t show, and this left her torn between relief and unease.
Unease won, and she called his mom. “I know it’s late,” Lily said quickly, “but I—”
“Oh, honey, I got the styling cream,” Char said. “Thank you so much for that. I should’ve called you, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not calling about that, I was wondering …” She grimaced. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course. My hair’s so much better than okay, it’s fantastic. Marcus can’t keep his fingers out of it—”
“I meant with Aidan,” Lily said. “He got called away today on a fire and he didn’t get back. At least, I don’t think he did.”
“No, you’re right, he’s still out. I got a text from Gray.” Char paused, softening her voice. “You should know he’s often out for days without a word. We just have to trust him, Lily. He’s the best at what he does.”
“I’m not— I mean, I don’t—” She blew out a breath. “It’s not what you think,” she said for the second time that day. And for the second time that day she got the same response.
“Are you sure?”
Chapter 21
The fire started out on a 10,000-acre horse ranch, which backed up to the base of Mt. Hennessy. This meant it threatened hundreds of thousands of acres of forestland if they couldn’t contain it quickly.
By noon the following day Aidan, Mitch, and the rest of the crew still didn’t have a handle on it thanks to an unseasonably hot day and forty-five-mile-an-hour winds. When the flames jumped the highway and started to climb the mountain, they called in reinforcements.
Aidan ran into Hudson at the incident command post. They’d arrested the arsonist, who was currently cooling her heels in county on a million-dollar bail.
Which isn’t what Hudson wanted to discuss. Nope, he wanted to discuss their dad. Perfect. Just what Aidan wanted to do.
“He called Gray,” Hud said, pissed. “He couldn’t even bother to call me. What the hell?”
“Told you, we don’t need him.”
Hudson stared at him. “Is that what you told Gray when me and Jacob appeared in Cedar Ridge? That you didn’t need us?”
“How is that anything close to the same thing?” Aidan asked.
“You’re all about family unless it doesn’t suit you. Hypocrite much?”
“Hud, he dumped you guys like you were a bad habit, just like he did us. How are you defending that?”
“I’m not. At all,” Hudson said. “I just think he should have to come back and help us fix his mess.”
“No,” Aidan said flatly.
Hudson let out a long breath of frustration and stalked off. But he only went a few feet before he whipped back around. “You just picked a fight and let me walk.”
“No, you picked the fight. If you want to pout and sulk, who am I to stop you?”
Hudson strode back, eyes narrowed, steam coming out of his ears. “You’re misdirecting.”
“Nice to see your night psych class is coming in handy.”
“And now you’re trying to piss me off.” Hudson stood firm. “Tell me what I’m missing.”
“Drop it,” Aidan said.
“Can’t. You’re my brother,” Hudson said simply.
“Shit.” Aidan stared up at the sky and then dropped his head, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “Just let it go, all right?”
Hudson’s eyes darkened with temper. “So you trust Gray but not me, is that it?”
“This has nothing to do with trust—”
“Yeah, right,” Hudson said. “Thanks for the reminder that you only do the things that suit you, Aidan.” And this time when he stalked off, he kept going.
Aidan swore and went back to work, but the fight with his brother remained forefront in his mind. It was an unfortunate two whole days later before they got the fire contained. Finally released from duty, Aidan and Mitch drove back into town. Mitch drove while Aidan checked his phone.
“Problem?” Mitch asked when Aidan swore.