“I know we still need men here,” I shouted. “But we’ve got to find a way to spare them anyway. The water from that lake could be our ace in the hole…” For a second the wind died down enough I didn’t have to shout. “This is growing by the fucking second and I want the option of using that water, by hand if we have to. Though goddamned pumps would be better.”

“Or a fucking winter storm,” Randy shot back, motioning for the lake crew to go on ahead. “Everything out here should be blanketed in snow right now… saturated at the very least. Inflammable. We’d have a fighting chance if the fucking winds would die down.”

The crew had been working nonstop for two days to flank the fire, struggling to outpace it until the vehicles had finally caught up with us. Then we’d headed farther north, clearing the path that led toward the gorge. If it reached that point, nothing short of a miracle would stop it. Because fire runs through a steep gorge like water, climbing the walls and devouring the heavy brush and trees that line them. The terrain there is impossible to clear, by backburning or even by hand. If it reached the forest above, the winds were capable of whipping the tiniest embers into a firestorm. And the higher the winds, the farther the sparks would fly…

I swung my Pulaski, tearing into roots and frozen ground, feeling the muscles in my shoulders burn in spite of the frigid cold. Randy and I had taken half the crew to the widest part of the gorge, determined to fight as long as the light held. But in winter, the sun sets early, and soon the only light we’d have would be the crimson glow of the approaching flames.

“Drink,” Randy said, thrusting a steaming metal bottle into my hands, “if I can’t fucking convince you to stop and eat something…”

I paused long enough to swallow scalding coffee. “What’s the word on wind vectors?”

“Twenty miles per hour after sunset, still holding due north,” he replied. “We might catch a break as long as the gusts don’t pick up.”

“And as long as they don’t shift eastward,” I replied, wiping grit out of my eyes with the back of one hand. “I can’t help thinking that Ember’s cabin is on the other side of that range, and you know as well as I do… that canyon’s thick with tall, dry pine.”

“And I know you’ve been on duty for forty-eight straight hours and need to sleep,” he said. “So far, it hasn’t shifted, and if it does… well, we should get whatever sleep we can, while we can. Did you talk to her?”

“I left a message,” I replied, as I heaved my axe onto my shoulder and followed him toward base. I could smell hot food and realized how long it had been since I’d eaten last.

“Did you tell her we’re in the hot zone now?”

“I told her that I love her,” I replied. I looked up toward the night sky, a sky that should have been filled with stars but was thick with haze instead. “And that I can’t wait to marry her.”

Somewhere deep underneath, between consciousness and unconsciousness, I knew I was sleeping. And in spite of the heaviness in my chest and a foreboding sense of urgency, I struggled to stay with her a little longer…

“Ember…” I whispered, running my hands over her body. She was dressed in a long silk gown that clung to her curves, so thin that I could see the rosy color of her nipples as they hardened under my palms. The white silk was cold as ice, but her flesh radiated heat and her copper hair licked around her face and shoulders.

“Jason…” she breathed into the hard curve of my neck. Her breath was hot and sweet and I pulled her into my arms. Her body shaped itself to mine, her breasts mounded on my chest. I tore through the delicate fabric that covered her and feasted my eyes on her naked beauty. Her breasts were even heavier than I remembered, mounded against my chest as I slid my hands down to pull her hips to mine. My cock was bare too, thick and hard with impatience and raging out of control. My blood was pumping fast, and the heat building between our bodies was rising. But I felt like I was seeking more than just the heat I craved. My cock was wet, glistening… poised and ready to thrust into her molten core. She wrapped her legs around my hips and I kissed her…

“I have a gift for you,” she said, and I could feel her tongue moving against mine. Her hands moved lower as I plundered her mouth, her neck… I sucked one nipple into my mouth and used my tongue savagely.

“There’s something… I’m supposed to tell you,” I said brokenly, unable to clear the haze that thickened the air around us. Love and lust made it impossible to think, impossible to remember… “I love you, Ember… I want you…” I struggled to find the words I was searching for…

But in one swift movement, she slid down my shaft, swallowing me with her hot pussy. “You need this first,” she said, her voice husky, seductive. “I’ve got everything you need… what you’re hungry for.” She moved on me like she was weightless, stroking and squeezing me, her body hot and wet and so fucking tight. Her skin glowed and her hair swept around her shoulders like flames. She was powerful and passionate, working my cock to a heated frenzy with a dominance that held me spellbound. She licked at me, sucked at my skin and my mouth, teasing me toward a climax that spiraled upwards like a storm. “Let me give you this,” she said, as I captured her in my arms and thrust myself into her clenching heat. “This gift…”

A split second more and I was covering her body with mine, turning the tables and thrusting inside her. I filled her more with every stroke, taking her hips in my hands, and her lips with my mouth. It was my turn to fan the fire and I felt my body bead with sweat as I drove her higher and higher. She was gasping my name and I could feel her body tightening, her pussy molding itself to my hard, thickening shaft. I could sense she was right on the edge, hovering as I was, between intensity and sweet oblivion. I leaned back, hilting myself inside her and watching her response as the first shock rocked her body…

I came, at least in my dream, spilling myself deeply inside her. And I could feel the power of climax drawing me out of the dream… closer to the surface of consciousness. No matter how I struggled to stay, I felt like I was losing her… the picture of her face fading as my body thrashed…

I opened my eyes and felt all the breath leave my body all at once. Crashing footsteps fell all around me and the air was heavy with smoke, thick with the intensity of the voices of the crew. I was on my feet before I was totally awake, running on pure impulse toward the crew hauls and equipment. I threw my pack over one shoulder and ran toward the fire along with the other men.

The moment I saw the flames, I remembered the last, fading image of Ember in my dream. Her hair brilliant, like a living thing… wild around her beautiful face. And her bare skin, pale… almost translucent…

And at her perfect center, a tiny, golden glow…