Impulsion: A Station 32 Fire Men Novel (5 page)

That meant that everyone would be up late, out late, and the chances of either of them stealing a moment alone would be near nil.

“She scared me at first,” Harley admitted, thinking about the reason they had this afternoon together in the first place. “I thought she knew and was looking for a confession.”

Wyatt shook his head. He knew his mother would have come to him first. The family finances were no secret to anyone in this family, especially not Wyatt. He was the oldest of the next generation, and he, his brother,
sister, and cousins were all being groomed to take over the business one day. Wyatt knew exactly how much money Claire Tatum had brought to the facility, what any upset would cost them all. Even knowing that could not keep him away from Harley. He loved her. He would gladly give up any family name or legacy for only the promise of having her for the rest of his life.

He knew, though, that it wasn’t his family that would stand between them
—it was hers.

Harley had said as much. Wyatt knew when she was at home that her mother put Harley side by side with boys that were set to inherit and accomplish far more than had been dreamed
of for Wyatt.

It burned him. When he was away from her, his mind was punishing him
. He would see those boys dancing with her, see her parents smiling at them, the power they seemed to have, what they could give Harley that he couldn’t.

Harley swore to him that he was her only, that she had not so much as kissed another. He never asked for that declaration
. She had read the question in his eyes, just like she read every part of him. He offered her the same promise. It wasn’t a hard one to keep. Not only was Harley the only one he could ever see, his best friends weren’t daters much either.

Memphis wasn’t ever really in town enough to date anyone. Easton was fine with picking up a girl here or there, but he was too unsharpened to hold on to one. If he didn’t feel the flowery words girls wanted boys to say, he wouldn’t say them. They would get ticked at Easton and bail.

Which usually landed Easton and Wyatt at the farm, riding, working on cars, stealing a few beers from Wyatt’s daddy’s fridge. No one ever questioned why Wyatt didn’t date anyone. They assumed Wyatt and Easton both just had flings, were too much of men’s men to worry about such things.

Neither Wyatt nor Harley had a plan for how they could break out of the mold they were in, at least not one that Wyatt spoke about. When he was around Harley’s dad, he did his best to charm him, to show him he was a good man. He hoped that once Harley passed eighteen, maybe even
graduated college, that he could ask her to marry him. It would cause an uproar in her life, that much he knew. But he hoped by then it wouldn’t matter, that Harley would grow out of this fear she had of her mother.

Wyatt would hint to this secret plan, whisper it as they stared at the stars. Harley would only smile. Not enough to tell him that dream would come to pass.

“Do you think we’re being obvious by taking so many precautions?” she asked.

Wyatt slid behind her in the water. One hand landed on her hip, the other lower on her thigh, and that hand eased forward as he spoke. “Do I think we need to spend more time together? Yes.”

Before she could respond, both Ava and Kate fell from the rope, splashing the pair of them, dividing them.

Everyone splashed each other at that point
. It was an all-out war filled with laughter.

“Fire?” Easton said from the bank. He pointed to the sky. “It’s getting dark.”

All the girls rushed from the creek giggling.

Wyatt went to follow them, but Harley pulled him closer. Under the water, her hands moved over his chest. “I want to spend time with you…I want…Wyatt, I think I’m ready.”

If Wyatt weren’t tall enough to stand in that creek, he was sure he would have drowned. They never talked about how far they went, it just happened. This summer, it had been harder and harder to stop. The night before last was the closest they had been. She had pulled him closer, but when his hand rushed across her chest, he felt her heart thundering, felt her body trembling, knew she was afraid—and truth be told, he was terrified himself. He was sure he had no idea what to do in the first place, at least not how to do it right. He also knew that would double or nothing every risk he was taking with Harley.

“You’re sure?” he asked, hearing how broken his voice was.

“If you’re sure, I’m sure.”

His blue eyes raced across her beautiful face. “You’re not scared?”

“I’m terrified.”

Now he was confused.

“Don’t laugh at me, but I know that no matter what…this way, a part of you will never leave me.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Harley. We have nothing but time.”

Harley had her doubts about that. Next summer was anyone’s guess. Her mother had been planning to prepare her for school and was determined to take Harley abroad before she started. With the class load Harley was set to take on, along with the charity events her mother had slated her to attend, riding would be a hit or miss event. Harley feared this was their last summer together, but she knew if she told Wyatt that it would break him. She’d rather feel that fear alone.

Their names were being yelled from above, and they could hear the sound of the four-wheelers roaring to life.

“I never want to forget this summer, Wyatt. When you’re ready, I am.” And with that, she rose from the bank.

She was too nervous to look over her shoulder and gauge the look on his face. She had been daring to say that to him for the past two months,
had almost said it the first night she made it here. That night was hot, intense. They had been apart for months, which seemed to make the want that much more painful, but she chickened out.

She had figured out over this summer that though he flirted, he was the one that found the lookouts, or the safe places. He let her pace them. She knew if she weren’t blunt, he would never dare to push her, and even if she was, it would be like their first kiss, their first everything
. There would be a question lingering in his eyes, asking if she was sure.

Ava and Kate had opted out of the four-wheeler ride back and had piled into the Jeep. Ava begged to drive, but Harley told her no as sweetly as she could.

“Hurry, Harley. I want a shower before the fire,” Kate yelled from the back seat.

Before Harley turned the wheel, her stare caught Wyatt’s. His hands were rushing through his hair, pushing out the creek water, and every muscle in his arms and chest was flexed. He stole her breath, and that was before she saw the reverent gaze he was giving her, before she saw him taking what she said to heart.

She bit her lip, tried to smile, then drove away feeling a little foolish, wondering if she had pushed him into this. If he would only do this because she asked him.

“Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Easton asked Wyatt as he turned off his four-wheeler. Truman and Memphis never noticed they weren’t following them as the pair of them tore off after the Jeep, even daring to race Harley and the girls.

Easton’s first thought was that Harley had broken it off with his boy. If that were the case, they were going to have to steal more than a few beers from his daddy’s fridge
in the coming days. Easton was sure Wyatt would never overcome a blow like that.

Wyatt wasn’t one to kiss and tell. Even if he didn’t have to keep him and Harley on the down low, he wouldn’t have been that type.

But Easton was different. Their fathers were best friends when Easton’s dad was alive, so neither of them had known life without the other. Every terrifying aspect of growing up, from their first steps as toddlers on, they had accomplished together.

They were there for each other through the best times and the worst.

Easton was spending the night at Wyatt’s when they were just boys. Wyatt’s father came in, woke them both, and told Easton his father had been lost in a fire that night. Before Wyatt’s father broke that tragic news, he sat on the edge of the bed in the middle of the night, telling both of them how much honor and pride firemen had, how they were guardian angels and sometimes they were called home before we wanted to let them go.

Easton never cried, not that Wyatt saw, but a part of Easton died that night, too. At least the part that always teased, laughed
, and joked. Wyatt assumed that because of that life-altering moment Easton was forced to grow up faster than the rest of them, meaning he dared to do more first—at least with girls.

Easton was the one that told him to stop being a chicken and kiss Harley way back when, told him to screw whatever barriers were around him. If you wanted something, you had to take it because tomorrow is never promised.

That was just the type of guy Easton was. He knew how to charge forward but be safe at the same time. In most cases, Wyatt only knew how to do one or the other and counted on Easton to balance him out.

“She
…um…” Wyatt cleared his throat as he sat astride his four-wheeler. “She wants to—she said she was ready.”

Wyatt didn’t have to explain what he was talking about to Easton, and honestly Easton was halfway sure the pair of them had been down that road already. A slow smile came over his face as he held Wyatt’s gaze. “That’s not a bad thing. You just need to be careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

“I mean
careful
,” Easton said, lowering his head, holding a knowing stare on Wyatt.

Wyatt’s head was spinning too fast to figure out what kind of careful he was talking about
…careful because of the trouble they could get in if they were caught? Careful with her? Or careful…oh yeah, that’s what he meant.

“You want me to get some stuff for you?”

Easton’s mom was a nurse. Wyatt wasn’t sure what kind, but he knew she worked with women. Easton was always around the floor she was on or the office she worked in a few days a week. He had snagged protection not only for him, but also Wyatt’s cousin, Brant, and a few other guys at school before. If any one of them had dared to buy it themselves, someone in town would have seen them, or at least they assumed they would have.

“I don’t know how serious she is,” Wyatt said, moving his hand down his face. Harley was always a mystery to him. Most times, her words didn’t add up to what her body language or shy smiles would say, at least around others. When they were alone for more than five or ten minutes here or there, he thought he saw the real her. He wanted to talk about this with her, but at the same time that made him feel like a total girl. Was this even something that you talked about? He didn’t know, and that was his issue.

“What exactly did she say to you?” Easton asked, reading Wyatt like a book.

Wyatt hesitated. “When you’re ready, I’m ready.”

“Are you ready?” Easton asked.

Was he ready? He downright craved Harley. The sight of her alone
jacked up his heart rate. He had been waiting for this for years, felt like lifetimes to him.

Instead of saying that, he gave Easton a
what the hell do you think?
glance.

Easton let a laugh burst through his stoic image. “Look, man, you’re walking this path alone. I haven’t been down this road. I can’t tell you what to expect, what to watch out for, nothing beyond be careful.”

Wyatt pulled his brow together in confusion.

“It’s gotta be different when you have feelings for them. I don’t have a clue about that.”

He wasn’t saying that to be an ass, and Easton was definitely not a player. He was just a blunt son of a bitch. Girls at school would fall all over him, flirt like crazy. When the mood struck him, he would hang around one for a bit. Whether it went somewhere or not, it was nothing to him. He made no bones about it. They knew he didn’t have feelings for them. Wyatt was pretty sure that the girl that took Easton’s virginity thought if they went down that road that Easton would magically spawn emotions; she figured out real quick that nothing and no one could change him.

Wyatt roared his four-wheeler to life, ending the conversation, only giving Easton one nod, a nod that said
yes, it’s gotta be different
, and
yes, steal me some protection
.

***

Harley was still mentally berating herself as she walked up the back steps to the plantation home.

Camille pulled up in the golf cart that she drove from barn to barn. “Good night, girl
. Why do you look even tenser than when we talked earlier?”

Harley gave her the best smile she could
muster without looking the woman directly in the eyes. “Still working on the mechanics of having fun. That bonfire is next on the list.” It was a dry joke, but Camille smiled anyway. Harley took that as her cue to run for her life, and she did.

After a shower, she called her dad
. This was part of her normal routine. He heard the other girls in the background laughing and running from one room to the other.