“Why do you think I’m calling?” Cora asked, pacing away from the karaoke bar. For the first time since she’d moved to Brush Creek, she wanted to go back inside. But the texts with Helene had intensified, and then Charlie had taken her phone and sent a few messages without her consent.

Before she knew it, Helene thought the man she was bringing to the family anniversary party was her boyfriend. A very serious boyfriend. A boyfriend who had mentioned diamonds.

Cora pressed her eyes closed and wished with everything in her that she hadn’t let her stupid firemen friends take over her phone. But she was in too deep now, and Kent had given her Brennan’s number.

Brennan was so silent for so long, she wasn’t sure if he was still on the call. “Well?” she asked. “What’s your schedule like tomorrow?”

“Uh, my sister hasn’t texted me yet. But I’ll probably be at the rec center.”

“You get your schedule from your sister?”

“Yeah, my family runs a handyman business. We do housecleaning, landscaping, painting, whatever you need. It’s called A Jack of All Trades, and Wren manages the schedule for all of us.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’m usually free in the evenings.”

Cora couldn’t wait until evening. She had to prep this man she barely knew to meet her very inquisitive mother and sister, and she only had seven days to do it. Seven days. Panic clogged her throat. She might as well give up now. There was no way she could spend enough time with Brennan to make her family believe she’d been dating him long enough to be talking marriage.

The idea was laughable anyway, something she’d very sternly pointed out to Charlie. He’d laughed and said, “Oh, come on, Cora. You’ll settle down eventually, won’t you?”

She hadn’t answered, instead, grabbing her phone and stalking out to the parking lot to make this call.

No, she didn’t want to settle down. Brush Creek wasn’t a permanent stop for her. It was an outlying town in a huge fire zone. It was a place she could get the experience she needed to put on her hotshot application. Though she wasn’t particularly religious, she’d found herself praying for big wildfires in the wilderness surrounding Brush Creek, just so she could have some experience beyond a small ditch fire or a backyard barbeque gone awry.

“What about lunch?” she asked, opening her eyes and looking up to the stars. “I could just hang out with you while you work. I can mow a lawn or move dirt or whatever you’re doing.”

“Oh.” The surprise in his tone wasn’t hard to find. “I—I—”

“Maybe you can text me where you’ll be, and when, and we can…talk.” Her stomach coiled like a snake ready to strike. She wanted to believe she could get by at the party by disclosing to Brennan her favorite foods and colors, but she knew she’d have to tell him more than that.

Her throat felt like someone had poured acid down it. She’d have to tell him about Brandt.

“Uh, yeah, okay,” Brennan said. “I’ll text you.”

“Great.” Cora took a deep breath. “Things have gotten…a little out of hand with my family. It’s just one party. Next Saturday. It’ll probably take your whole day.” If he was working tomorrow, maybe he wouldn’t be able to come next weekend.

“I can get it off,” he assured her. “I can do one party.”

“I’ll give you all the details tomorrow,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he said. “I was willing to go with you before, and that hasn’t changed.”

Cora nodded and said, “Great, see you tomorrow,” before hanging up as quickly as possible. She didn’t want to blurt out that they’d have to hold hands and possibly kiss at the party. He probably wouldn’t want to come then.

She sighed and turned back to the entrance to the karaoke bar. Although…. She relived the moment they’d looked at each other, and she couldn’t believe that tether had only been present for her. He’d felt something too. Something strong enough to get up while she was singing and go talk to his old pal Kent.

Cora had said she’d be right back, but she headed for her bike instead. No text needed. Kent and Charlie had done enough for one night anyway. Maybe it would do them some good to think they’d caused her enough distress to run her off.

She swung her leg over her motorcycle and stuck the key in the ignition. Summer provided such freedom for Cora, and she fastened the strap of her helmet under her chin and set the bike north up the hills toward the strawberry fields instead of south toward her apartment down by the high school.

The cool darkness swept past her, pulling at her ponytail and releasing all of her pent-up anxiety. She’d moved to Brush Creek the weekend following the family anniversary last year, and she’d only been back to Vernal a few times over the past twelve months. Enough to show her family she still loved them. But not often enough to cause her mental distress.

The awkwardness she could expect to feel with her happily married sister and her equally blissful older brother crept upon her again. She simply didn’t fit now that she was divorced and fully focused on getting a coveted and respected spot on an interagency hotshot crew.

There were only twenty spots per crew, and Cora desperately wanted one. She’d put in an application two years ago—the last time the open applications were being taken—and she’d been passed over time and time again. She’d relocate if she had to. Heck, she’d do anything if it meant she could get a spot on a hotshot crew.

She tipped her head back, increasing her speed until the headlamp on her motorcycle could barely show her what was coming before it came. With the speed, and the cold air, and sheer thrill of darkness surrounding her, her mind finally quieted.

By the time she returned to her apartment, she was ready to focus on her next problem: Brennan Fuller. As she bent to pick up her two American shorthair cats, Queenie and Cornelius, she wondered if they’d even be compatible enough to make it through a five-hour party.

Pippa, her great dane, bellowed a bark at her. “I know,” she said. “I’m in real trouble.” After all, she could barely make it through a five-hour party, and it was her own family. No way Brennan could survive that.

She filled food bowls and refreshed water, ignoring the sloppy way Pippa lapped like it was her first time drinking, and retreated to her bedroom. Her mind revolved through conversation topics for tomorrow, with facts she’d need to know about him for when her mom and sister pulled him away from her and began questioning her mercilessly.

A moan pulled through her throat, and she laid awake for a long time, wondering what she’d gotten herself into.

Cora woke to three texts from Brennan. He was indeed going to be at the recreation center for most of the day, weeding flower beds, trimming bushes, and barking “everything that isn’t grass.”

Cora didn’t bother showering. Wasn’t worth her time or effort if she was going to be spending the day outside with shears and wheelbarrows.

And a handsome man.

Fine, Brennan was pretty fine to look at. He’d seemed nice enough, and Kent had had nothing but good things to say about him. Apparently they’d grown up in Brush Creek together.

Cora arrived at the rec center at eight o’clock sharp, wondering which truck in this cowboy town belonged to Brennan. Doing landscaping and yard work as he did, he’d surely own a truck. She eyed a huge silver thing with wheels almost as tall as her as she crossed the lot toward the main entrance. Didn’t seem like a truck Brennan would own, but how would she know?

She bypassed the front doors, spotting four bags of bark lying in the grass near some shrubs. Definitely on the right track to finding the man whose life she needed to memorize as quickly as possible.

Rounding the corner, she ran smack dab into something solid and covered with denim and gray cotton.

“Oof,” Brennan said, catching her around the waist before she could rebound off his body.

“Sorry.” She hastily backed up, smoothing down her own simple T-shirt. She couldn’t help scanning him. With the brown leather work boots and the long, jean-clad legs, and that T-shirt that clung to his chest and arms….

Everything around her went soft.

His mouth moved, but she couldn’t hear him through the pounding of blood in her ears. Finally, she licked her lips and looked away.

“Hey, are you okay?” He touched her arm, quickly pulling back when she looked at his fingers on her skin. Could he feel that same electric pulse now jump-starting her heart? Did a tingle start in his throat and shoot through his stomach too?

“So my stupid coworkers told my sister that I was bringing my boyfriend to the family anniversary party.” She flicked her eyes in his direction again and found him staring at her. “I tried explaining, but my sister, Helene, well.” She blew out her breath. “She can be a real piece of work. I could tell her the truth, and she wouldn’t believe me at this point.”

“I think I can handle it. Believe it or not, I’ve been someone’s boyfriend before.”

Cora smiled. “I’m sure you have.” She cocked her hip and looked fully at him, struck again by his straight nose and those brilliant white teeth and wow, did he have stars in his eyes?

She cleared her throat, reminding herself that she hadn’t gotten up and done fifty pushups for fun. Or to impress Brennan Fuller.

“I’m sure you normally learn things about a woman one at a time,” she said.

“Normally, yes.”

Core pulled in a deep breath. “Well, this isn’t going to be normal, then.”

He let his eyes travel from the top of her head to her own booted feet. “I don’t think much about you is normal, Cora.” His face immediately reddened, and he ducked his head.

Ah, so he’d felt the current between them. Did time seem to swell and stop when he looked at her the way it did for her?

“We’ll have to fast-track some things.”

He put a ball cap on his head, making his jaw seem slightly squarer than before. “Can you talk and work at the same time?”

“Sure thing.”

He nodded toward the parking lot. “I’ve got loads more bags of bark in my truck. An extra pair of shears. Stuff like that.”

She positioned herself at his side, glad when he led her to a normal-sized truck the color of his dark jeans. He lowered the tailgate and lifted three bags of bark with the words, “You can grab the shears and that bucket.”

Cora waited until he’d turned from the truck and then she heaved three bags of bark into her arms too. As she stood a few inches shorter than Brennan, it was quite the stretch to get her arms around the bags, but she hipped them into place and started after him.

When he flung his bags on the ground beside the ones she’d already seen and then turned, his eyes widened. He stumbled forward. “Cora, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

She let him take a bag of bark, saying, “It’s bark. It doesn’t weigh that much.” Besides she lifted weights every day. The fire equipment the hotshots carried could weigh up to one hundred pounds, and she had to take it with her everywhere.

“How long have you been a firefighter?” he asked, swiping one hand under his hat.

“Nine years.” She continued with her story, telling him about her job at Fire House Four in Vernal and her desire to be a hotshot on a national crew.

As she talked, the truck got unloaded, and Brennan finally slipped on a pair of work gloves and clapped his hands.

“So you like fighting fires. Been doing it for a while. You’ve been here a year, and you want to be a hotshot.” He lifted his eyebrows, as if to check to see if he’d gotten it right.

Cora grinned at him, gesturing for him to continue as he handed her a pair of gloves as well.

“Family’s in Vernal. Sister named Helene. Her husband is Matt. They have two kids, a boy and a girl. I can’t remember their names.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Cora said, impressed he’d remembered as much as he had.

“An older brother named Edgar. He’s married to…uh….”

“Dani,” Cora supplied.

“Dani, right.” He pulled a bucket down to the corner and started pulling microscopic weeds from around the bushes. “They have three kids. All girls.”

“Those are the basics, yes.” She joined him, starting down about ten feet and intending to work toward him. “So what do I need to know about you? Siblings? Parents still married?”

Brennan sent a booming laugh into the sky, but Cora didn’t understand why. She waited for him to quiet, then met his eye with unspoken questions between them.

“You don’t know anything about my family.” He said it with a sense of awe, his beautiful eyes broadcasting just as much astonishment.

“I know you’re a Fuller,” she said. “Kent said your family was a founding family of Brush Creek.” Which meant he had strong ties here. Strong ties that wouldn’t break when she finally got appointed to a hotshot crew.

Doesn’t matter, she told herself, plucking another thistle from where it tried to hide right up next to the trunk of the shrub. This is a temporary arrangement. One week. One party.

“Right,” he said. “Both sets of my grandparents are still alive. I have a great-grandfather still living too. My parents are still married, yes, and I have eight brothers and sisters.”

“Eight.” Cora coughed, the surprise on her tongue quick and sour. “Wow.”

“You don’t need to remember all of them,” he said. “Two of my older brothers are married, and the sister just younger than me is getting married in a couple of weeks.”

“Well, maybe I should know her name,” Cora said. “Maybe we’d be friends?” She wasn’t sure why she’d phrased it as a question.

“Of all my sisters, Wren is definitely the….” He seemed to fumble for the right word, finally coming up with, “one you’d meet first.” He looked away quickly, his attention singular on the weeds now.

“How many brothers?” she asked.

“Three. All older.”

“So five sisters.”

“All younger.”

“Well, that makes it easy, doesn’t it?” She threw a beaming smile at him, thrilled when he returned it easily. That conduit between them blinked into existence again, and Cora had the strangest desire to sweep her hand down the side of his face just to feel the strength in his jaw.

Clearing her throat, she dropped her eyes to the ground. The dirt seemed like a deep, rich chocolate brown, and she sifted it for a moment, trying to get her bearings. She finally got herself back together enough to pull another weed from the ground.

When they met in the flowerbed, they both got up and repositioned themselves to get another section of garden weeded. “So,” Cora said, sighing. “Let’s do favorites next.”

“Favorites?”

“You know, favorite food. Color. What do you like? What do you not like? That kind of thing.”

“Don’t you think we should work out how we met first?”

“Oh, well, I thought we could just go with the karaoke bar.” She met his gaze. “Don’t you—I mean—do you—?”

“You think that’s romantic enough for your family?” He paused in his work too, his gaze all-assessing and combing her face.

Cora didn’t care what her family thought, not about this. “I thought it was pretty romantic,” she admitted with the shrug of one shoulder. “I mean, you went and talked to my friends while I was singing.” She ducked her head, wishing she’d brought a hat she could hide behind.

“You have a beautiful voice,” he said, drawing her attention back to him. “Like an angel.”

Cora had never been called an angel before, and she rather liked the way he looked at her with that adorable glint in his eye. She also had no idea what to do with these soft feelings inside her or why she had the urge to know everything about Brennan—not just what she needed to get through the party. But everything about him, so she could decide if their lives could intertwine and become one.

Startled by the treacherous path her thoughts had taken, she shook her head and got back to work. She needed Brennan for the next week, that was all.

She certainly didn’t need him to worm his way into the soft parts of her heart. She didn’t even have soft parts of her heart, and it would be better for both of them if they focused on putting on a good performance for the party and then getting back to their real lives.