Wildfire Hurricane (A Ryder Boys Novel Book 1) (3 page)

“Homely ship, that was close.” Ray patted Dash’s smoking sleeve, snuffing out the smoldering ashes. “Sacrifice your body for the game.”

“Right.” Dash nodded.
Shit.
He hadn’t heard those words since high school.

Dash turned as Corey clapped him on the shoulder. “Sorry I missed that block, man. How’s the knee?”

He was able to stand, but kept most of his weight on his good leg while gritting his teeth so the pain wouldn’t show on his face. “It’s fine. I’ll be good as new next week.”

Corey nodded, but Simone snorted a laugh behind them.

“You gave it all you had, Mad Dash.” Corey shook his hand. “We’ll kick their butts next year.”

“Damn right.” Dash refused to move until his center had jogged back to the gym. When he felt certain no one was watching, he hobbled toward his truck.

“Good as new by next week? I call bullshit.” Simone caught up with him in two steps. “When are you ever going to listen to me?”

“Not tonight.” He tossed his duffle bag in the truck bed and yanked the door open.

She climbed in the other side. “Get rid of the ball and save your ass.”

“And risk turning it over? No way.” Gravel sprayed the car next to his as he stomped on the gas. “Taking the sack kept the drive going.”

“But you had to watch the next play from the bench with an ice pack on your knee.”

Pain shot through the swollen joint, but he gritted his teeth and growled back at her. “I had to give the team another chance to win.”

“I know. ‘Sacrifice your body for the game.’ You say that every week.”

“Damn right.”

“But what good does it do when you lose?”

A wall of flame roared up in front of Dash, and his crew scrambled for cover. But he refused to back away from the heat. His heart raced and he squelched the urge to run. He couldn’t let his crew see his badass act falter. “We’re not losing today!” He grabbed his Pulaski axe, and they dug the line wider.

Part of him secretly hoped the email had been a typo, and he’d get the chance to prove Simone wrong. Another part of him with a long, selective memory hoped he’d get the chance to screw some sense into her. Horny teenage sex and so much more. They’d shared a bond that still lingered even after being tainted by betrayal.

***

“It’s Simone, not Simon. Why does everyone forget the E?” Simone Leveque deleted the email and snarled at her new assistant, Flynn.

The young man actually backed up a step. “I didn’t write it. It came from FEMA. I just forwarded it to the command center staff.”

“Ever heard of proofreading?”

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t know you weren’t Simon.”

“No one ever does. I’ll give you that.” She reined in the flying monkeys. After all, she didn’t want to scare off her young hottie assistant on her first day. “Radio the superintendent again. I need to know what’s happening with that fire.”

Static crackled as Flynn grabbed the mic and adjusted the frequency. “Wilhelm Hotshot Crew, come in, over.” Silence and then static. “Come in, please.”

“Are they in trouble?” Simone’s heart raced and goose flesh covered her arms. Hotshot crew. She’d heard that term before, but struggled to recall what it meant. All her previous EMS assignments had been in urban areas. She grabbed her phone and quickly searched the term: an elite crew of highly trained and physically fit firefighters, sent to the most dangerous areas of a fire. These guys knew what they were doing.
Thank God someone does.

She stood and paced in front of the radar display. The smoke had spread over the valley, pushed by the wind toward the city.

“I doubt it.” Cassandra typed a few commands on her computer and a projection map appeared on the radar. “This particular superintendent won’t be distracted while he’s fighting a fire. He’s that intense and focused.” The smile on her face suggested she knew from personal experience.

“He’s a big damn hero.” Flynn practically gushed all over his desk. “When the Nightfall Canyon fire started last year, he was the first firefighter to attack it—before his crew got there. His balls must be gigantic.” He held up both hands as if palming watermelons. “I’m joining the Wilhelm Hotshot Crew as soon as I finish training. Sooner if they’d let me.”

“The last EMS manager couldn’t contain him.” Cassie sipped her coffee, but the cup failed to hide her glowing eyes.

Flynn squirmed in his seat. “He answers to no one.”

“He’ll answer to me.” Simone yanked the mic from Flynn’s hand, but before she could speak, the radio crackled and a static-distorted voice filled the room.

“Wilhelm HC superintendent here. The fire is one hundred percent contained, over.”

“Good job,” Simone responded. “Report back to base, over.”

“Command center.” Flynn corrected her.

She snarled at him and he ducked behind his computer monitor.

“On our way, over.”

Simone walked away from the radio and surveyed her new command center. The circular room descended to a cluster of computer stations. A multi-screen monitoring system covered one curved wall, displaying real-time weather radar, satellite imagery, and several functions she hadn’t explored yet, but Flynn had assured her they were state-of-the-art. For this town.

Belladonna’s Peak. It meant
beautiful lady
in Italian. “How’d the city get its name? For a woman?”

“No,” Flynn shuddered. “For the nightshade that grows in the shady parts of the mountains.”

“Nightshade…isn’t that stuff poisonous?” An appropriate name for this place. The mountains loomed over her apartment building, casting long shadows at sunset and creating a chill even on the warmest evenings. Even though she’d lived there only a week, she got the distinct impression that the lurking peaks could be hiding something dangerous.

“Deadly.” Flynn typed a quick search on Google and pulled up a photo of a lovely bell-shaped purple blossom with glossy black berries. “If you go for a hike, don’t pick the flowers.”

Simone studied the image over his shoulder. “Got it.” Botany lesson completed, she resumed her survey of the command center. The rest of the equipment failed to impress her, but the staff seemed competent enough.

Cassandra Storm, meteorologist. Simone had read the woman’s file and found out that was her real name. She’d said it with pride when Flynn introduced Simone as the new boss, but the young assistant had to smother a laugh.

Flynn McCarthy, administrative assistant fulfilling his other-duties-as-assigned clause, had been the first to greet her when she arrived this morning. Tall, lanky, not quite blond hair that swept his eyebrows. She could’ve spent the day staring at him, but the fire needed all of her attention.

Thunder had woken her up three minutes before her alarm was supposed to go off. She’d stumbled across her bedroom in the dark, tripping over boxes while searching for a light switch that had a lamp plugged into it. Lightning guided her, a bright flash immediately followed by a boom that rolled through the surrounding mountains. “Any ideas about what started the fire?” She stood at the top of the circular stairs, overseeing her minimal staff.

Cassandra spoke up. “A low-pressure system in the Pacific sent a line of thunderstorms through here early this morning.”

“Probably a lightning strike.” Flynn finished her thought.

“It’s developing circulation.” Cassandra’s brow wrinkled as she alternately studied the satellite image and the radar loop. “Almost like a tropical storm.”

“Unusual for this part of the country?” Simone descended and leaned over the meteorologist’s shoulder, watching the satellite photo spin.

“Yes, the water temperature is usually too cold, and the winds push most storms out to sea, but we’ve had a hot summer this year because of El Niño. It’s not impossible.”

“Keep an eye on it.”
Watch anything and everything.
Even the smallest detail could cause trouble. “Where’s the rest of my staff?”

“Everyone except me has another full-time job.” Flynn sat at his desk and rambled off the list of EMS team members. “The police chief, the fire marshal, Cassandra. The hotshot crew has their base here, but the superintendent is never around enough to break his chair in.”

“Not the type to plant his butt in the office?” The superintendent might be an alpha dog, but she’d make sure he knew who held his leash.

“He’s an active guy.” Cassandra’s face flushed red and that goofy smile curled her lips again. “When he’s not fighting fires he’s busy with prescribed fire operations, habitat improvement, trail construction projects, working out…” Her voice trailed off while she spun a golden curl around her fingers.

Office romance. Yay.
Simone swore to put an end to that real quick. She crossed her arms and stared at the monitor wall, barely hearing the heavy footsteps behind her.

“Jesus Christ, it
is
you.”

CHAPTER 2

I know that voice.
Ripples of pleasure cascaded down her spine, chased by a whisper of hope. Could it really be him? He’d left her behind, and she’d never once heard from him. Part of her heart had searched for him while the greater part tried to hold itself together. If she lost him again, there’d be no surviving it this time.
It’s not him. It can’t be.

“Turn around and speak to me, Simone. Unless you want me to stare at your sweet ass all day.”

Flynn coughed and Cassandra gasped.

Simone slowly spun and faced him. He stood at the top of the stairs, holding an odd-looking axe in his hands and snarling down at her like Cujo having a bad hair day. Sculpted muscles filled out his once scrawny frame. Soot smeared his scowling face and streaked his clothes. His short brown hair stood straight off the top of his head as if shocked to see her. He could’ve been someone else, and for a moment her memory failed to place him. But that scar, the jagged lightning bolt on his cheek, marked him as the man who’d seen through her act and let her touch his soul. “Daschle Herbert Ryder.”

His knuckles turned white as his fingers tightened around the axe handle, and his scar popped in stark relief against his darkening face. “Don’t you dare—! I can’t believe you’re…I never thought…especially after all this time!”

A smile twisted her lips. She couldn’t help it. Sparks sizzled through her limbs and exploded between her thighs. So many years since she’d seen him and making him sputter still turned her on.

Aching loneliness crashed over her and she rocked back, bracing a hand against a desk to remain upright.
My God, I’ve missed him!
But she couldn’t let him know that. Bastard didn’t believe her then and he wouldn’t believe her now no matter how much she argued her innocence. She planted her feet and crossed her arms over her chest, using old, festering anger to support her quivering legs. She found the rage much closer to the surface than she expected. “I want you to…”
Kiss me, touch me, bend me over this desk and fuck—
Her heart fluttered and she clamped her lips shut before she said any of that. “To go to hell.”

Dash scratched his head and coughed as a cloud of ashes descended on his shoulders. “Where do you think I’ve been, darlin’?”

***

Roaring flames around us.

Blazing heat between us.

The fire could’ve forged us forever.

But she tempered it with betrayal.

The last line of his epic poem raced through Dash’s brain as he became aware that everyone in the room was staring at him. Flynn. The pale, no-balls secretary who begged to be on Dash’s crew gaped, his gaze darting between him and his new boss. His eyes lit up and he cracked a grin as if he’d discovered a way to exploit the situation.

Cassandra.

Oh shit, Cassie.
His wannabe and his used-to-be in the same room. Shouldn’t that have caused a time warp or something? Dash shuddered and tried to recall Mal’s crazy theories about timelines and alternate universes.
What are you doing, man? Ditch the fiction and focus on reality.
He watched a question mark draw itself on Cassie’s face. He’d deal with that later.

Simone. Not Simon. He should’ve known that. Hell, she’d probably made the typo herself so her reentry into his world would make an even bigger splash. Her long black hair spilled shiny coils down her back, and her deep brown eyes flashed hot enough to melt chrome. She stared at him too, arms crossed, feet planted shoulder-width apart. Ready for battle.
Jesus, am I getting hard?

“Where you’ve been?” Her eyes widened and her lip curled. “I have no idea where you’ve been.
You’re
the one who left, remember?”

“Remember why?”
Damn it, don’t do this now!

She flinched. No one else saw it because their gazes were still glued to him, but she faltered—just for a moment—then the fuse ignited. “Because of
you
! I never touched him! I told you that, but
you
refused to believe me.”

“I have proof.”

“Fuck your proof!” She stalked toward him.

Dash tried to hold his ground. He hadn’t dared approach her, but Simone’s inescapable magnetism drew him down the stairs. The axe created a boundary between them, and his knuckles popped as he tightened his grip. A standoff formed in the center of the circle, but Dash recalled the strategy he’d used against her countless times. He kept his voice low so their spectators couldn’t hear. “I’d rather fuck you, darlin’. Do you think it’d still be as hot as our last time?”

Throw her an unexpected pass and see if she fumbled it or came down with a completed catch.

“It wasn’t supposed to be our last time.”

Ouch. But her recovery impressed him and his dick swelled.
Goddamn it, why do I still love fighting with her?

Another stalemate. She jammed her hands on her hips. He nearly snapped the axe handle in two.

The radio crackled and sent everyone scrambling for cover. “Wilhelm HC to command, over.”

Flynn crawled from under his overturned chair and grabbed the microphone. “Command here, over.”

“We spotted smoke coming from the point of origin. We’re going to investigate, over.”

Simone strode over to Flynn’s desk and snatched the mic from his hand. “Keep us posted, over.” She glared at Dash. “Smoke?”

“Probably a flare up. Pretty common even after containment. My guys can handle it.”

“Your guys?” She paced in front of him like an attorney cross-examining a suspect.
Did she pick that up from Mal?

“My crew.”

“
You’re
the hotshot crew superintendent?”

“You’re goddamn right I am. And you’re stuck with me.”

***

“And I’m your boss.” Simone smiled as she snatched the baton and left him standing in her dust. She’d never needed a team. She could win this thing all by herself. Just like always.

“Yes, ma’am.”

She stumbled short of the finish line and spun. His eyes sparkled as the too easy acceptance rang in her ears. “Good. Take me to the flare up.”

“No.” He hefted the axe to his shoulder and turned toward the stairs. “I need a shower.”

“Ooo…” A low moan escaped Cassie, and Flynn snickered while the forecaster visibly shivered, biting her lip as her cheeks flushed.

What the hell is that?
“Superintendent.” Simone refused to chase after him. He’d follow her orders. “I’m the head of this department, and you answer to me. Take me to the burn area.”

Dash stopped in his tracks, his knuckles whitening on the axe handle.

Flynn covered his mouth with his fist and faked a cough. “Standoff.”

He nodded toward the door without looking at Simone. “Let’s go.”

She scrambled up the stairs, following his heavy footsteps.
Damn it, how’d I end up chasing him?

Fading rays of sunlight reached over the mountains, turning the smoky clouds a brilliant burnt orange in the darkening blue sky. Dash tossed the axe in the back of his truck, climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine all in the same move. The man still drove a Ford. Not the same beat-up hunk of junk his brothers had passed down to him, but a man’s vehicle, no doubt about that.

Simone jumped in her car as he peeled out of the parking lot, following him through quaint downtown, an average neighborhood, then up winding gravel roads into the mountains. Large looming houses surrounded by towering trees and locked gates populated the area, growing more sparse as they ascended. Without warning, the forest thinned and what remained stood black and smoking. Dash drove across the charred ground, swerving around fallen trees. He stopped next to the crew’s fire truck and got out. Simone joined him, cementing her place as the woman in charge.

He acknowledged her presence without prodding. “Ray, Brett, this is Simone Leveque, the new EMS manager.”

She shook their soot-covered hands and refrained from wiping the grime on her pants. “Good to meet you, gentlemen.”

“Go home, guys. I’ll take over from here.”

I?
All through high school, his favorite word had been we.

Dash’s arms tightened around her with every disbelieving word. “We made that touchdown. That’s how we won the game.”

She leaned back and held his face in her hands, forcing him to focus on her. “You made the touchdown. You won the game.”

He shook his head, dislodging her grip. “No, if Randall hadn’t made that block, I never would’ve gotten in the end zone.” He grinned and kissed her.

“Pay attention to me.” She dodged another kiss, but he caught her cheek with his lips.

“I am.”

“No, my words.” But she laughed as he kissed down her neck, shoving her collar down with his chin.

He sighed, but kept his mouth on her skin. “Okay, words.”

“It’s okay to take credit when you do something impressive. You scored the winning touchdown. Yay you!”

“I’m gonna score again.” He slipped his hand under her shirt. “Yay me.”

“Will you stop?” She squirmed in his hold as his seeking fingers approached her breast. “I’m trying to make a point.”

He laughed and released her. “Okay. I’m listening.”

“Yeah, the team helped you win—”

“That was
my
point.”

She clapped her hand over his mouth. “But what if they’d failed you? Remember last week when Corey missed a tackle and you got blindsided?”

Dash flinched.

“The drive stalled and you walked off the field without scoring.”

“Yeah, but we got a touchdown on the next possession.”

“No,
you
got a touchdown. Not one of your receivers was open, so you ran it in yourself.”

“Their defense had good coverage.”

“And you gave the team all the credit. I bet you would’ve taken the blame if you’d lost.”

He shrugged. “Probably.”

“
Your
quick thinking won the game. The team let you down, but you saved their asses.”

“That’s what a team does.”

“Not in my experience.”

Simone had lost count of the times her friends or family had let her down. Except for Dash. He’d only done it once.

Has he changed? Or is he leaving me out?