“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Randy said, wrapping his hands around his mug. He’d stayed outside with Reilly way longer than it took for us to dress. Now we sat around the table in the kitchen, all of us pretending he hadn’t just walked in on us…

“Damn near no rain in months, all through the summer and across Nevada and Utah. And not a quarter of the snowfall this winter.” He brought the mug up and breathed in its steam. “The Santa Anas have blown half a dozen fires further east than they’ve ever gone before,” he went on. He looked from Jason’s face to mine. “The better part of three states have been blown fucking dry. And they’re not just surface fires anymore…”

I felt the blood rush up under my skin to heat my cheeks, but my hands were like ice.

“Jace, you have no idea how glad I am that you’re here,” Randy said, refilling his mug from our second pot of coffee. He blinked and swallowed. “I mean… it saves me the trouble of tracking you down,” he added quickly. “And I don’t have a hell of a lot of time before I have to get back, myself.” He glanced at me, and down at his cup. “Cap wants me to pull a crew together, mostly just for thinning the trees right now. He thinks we can cut the fires off at the western border, if we can clear enough land.”

“But you just got here,” I said, standing up to put the pot back on the stove. “You need food and a shower…” I gave his shoulder a little shove. And saw him wince.

“What?” I demanded. “What the hell was that?” I pulled at the collar of his jacket until I could see skin. Ugly, red blisters lined the side of his neck.

“You’re hurt, for god’s sake,” I cried. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s nothing, Sis,” he said calmly. “Embers fall from the treetops… and they stick in the crevices.” He took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “You’re so much like Mom when you worry,” he teased.

“And you’re as reckless as Dad was,” I shot back. “I don’t know how the hell Connie puts up with you.”

At the mention of his wife’s name, his face lit up. “She loves me,” he said. “Why the hell else?”

“Maybe because she’s two kids deep already and doesn’t have any choice,” I shot back, turning back to the stove. I could feel my neck hairs bristling, their eyes on my back. The almost-orgasm that was still humming under the surface of my skin wasn’t doing a damned thing to improve my disposition. I felt overheated, irritable, frustrated as hell.

“She’s got plenty of choices,” he said, looking pleased with himself. “I’m what she wanted.

You two are obviously back together, and nobody told me…” he ventured. “How long have you…?”

“Just because Jason’s here doesn’t mean we’re together,” I said, cutting him off, spinning around to face them both. I turned on Jason, my temper suddenly seething. I was angry and sick at the idea I’d be losing them both, not a day after they were both finally home where they belonged. “So you two have to leave?

“Then go. You’re grown men. You don’t need my permission. You don’t need me at all. Neither one of you… You never did…”

Half an hour later, I heard Jason’s footsteps on the other side of the bedroom door. I sat up, brushing the mess of hair out of my face, sweeping the tears off my lashes.

“Randy took Rye out for a walk,” he said, pushing the door open. “Or maybe the other way around…

“Em, I need you to talk to me…”

“What is there to talk about?” I asked. “We got carried away, that’s all… after not seeing each other in so long.” I wiped my nose. “We love each other, but what does that change? Nothing.”

He sat down on the edge of the bed and took both my hands in his. “How we feel changes everything, babygirl,” he said softly. “Or at least it has the power to, if we let it…”

I sniffled impatiently and lifted my chin. Swollen eyes or not, I was strong enough to face him, to face this. “When are you leaving?”

“In the morning,” he replied. “We should be back in two or three weeks, Em,” he said reassuringly. “This isn’t active firefighting, where we’re headed. They just need a team to clear the path, so that if the fires can’t be stopped altogether, at least they can be controlled. Nothing’s reached Colorado yet, sweetheart. And if we clear the tinder now, it never will.”

He pulled me against him and as my mind continued to argue, my body relaxed and responded. This was the power he had over me, to tease my body, to make me give in because I couldn’t resist the magnetic pull between us. But he’d always sugar-coated the truth and he was doing it now.

“I’ll be safe, Ember. Randy too,” he crooned, kissing my neck… the curve of my ear… “It’s hard fucking work, clearing. But it’s not dangerous. I’ll be back before you even know I was gone,” he said. He took my face in his hands and cradled it. The waterworks were starting up again… and not just tears…

“You promise me,” I said as forcefully as I could. But all the will in my body seemed to be draining downwards and pooling low in my belly. My core was turning hot and liquid, like the hot spring where he’d turned my whole world upside down. It was happening again, like a wildfire gone out of control.

“I promise you,” he said, pulling me down onto the bed along with him. Our bed… where he’d loved me so long, so hard, so many, many times before…

“And I’ll keep on promising you… for the rest of my life.”