Held in the wonderful embrace of Finn’s arms, tight against his hard chest, Lisa’s frustration drained away. She almost forgot what she was mad about.

Almost.

“This is the worst job ever,” she mumbled against his collarbone.

He laughed, his chest vibrating under her cheek. Her eyes closed from the sheer bliss of being with him again. “As far as I’m concerned, this is working out great. You’re safe and sound, and I get to see you the second I get out of the crew buggy.”

She pulled away and looked over his shoulder at the boxy green vehicle parked next to the hotshots’ domain. The side doors were wide open and the other hotshots were unloading gear. They were deliberately focusing their attention on their task rather than on Finn and Lisa.

“Shouldn’t you be helping them?”

“Nah, they told me to come over and say ‘hi.’ We noticed that you were talking to yourself. They got a little worried.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what a week with a movie crew has done to me. Do you know how much I miss my tower right now?”

He tugged her back into his embrace. “I’m sorry about the aggravation. But I’m not sorry about you being here. Have you had any suspicious incidents?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing. No one comes on the lot without being cleared by security, so I do feel safe here. Annoyed, but safe.”

“That’s all I ask.”

Her gaze drifted along his strong neck, to the place where black curls peeked past his collar. Being away from him had almost made her forget how attractive he was. She’d thought of him nonstop, but seeing him in person again took her breath away.

“Is the San Dimas fire out?”

“It’s contained. Our part is done. The local people can take it from here.” His smile dropped. “We have an off-site training session tomorrow, though. I don’t have much time.”

Disappointment tightened her stomach. Now that he was here, she realized how much she’d missed him. She wanted to curl up in bed with him and let entire days pass. Entire weeks, maybe. And now he was leaving again.

She didn’t let her sadness show, or at least she tried not to. But as always, Finn seemed to have a sixth sense about her feelings. “I’ll make it up to you, my queen. When can you knock off here?”

“I don’t know. It seems like they go late every single night. They’re shooting the big confrontation tonight. Annika gets to yell and throw a laptop across the room. She’s really looking forward to that. The rest of the crew is taking bets on how many prop laptops they have to make.”

Finn cocked his head at her. “You’re really getting the hang of this movie stuff, aren’t you?”

Oh no—she had to set him straight on that one right away. “I would rather work six back-to-back shifts at the ER than change one more bandage for Annika. She’s waiting for me right now, actually.”

He let go of her hand. “Don’t want trouble with the star.” He gave her a smoldering look from under that damn bandanna. “But later, you’re all mine.”

Her throat tightened with desire and heat pooled low in her belly. “Are you sleeping here tonight or at the guesthouse?”

“Babe, I’m sleeping wherever you’re sleeping. And honestly, I don’t plan to do much sleeping.”

She surprised him with a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m so glad you’re back,” she whispered.

He put his hand over his heart and smiled at her with so much tenderness her knees weakened. “I’m going to make you even more glad. Swear on my life.”

She watched him walk over to rejoin his crew. Her professional eye noticed that he was favoring his injured side. “If you play your cards right, you’ll get a massage,” she called after him.

Oops. She’d said that a little too loudly.

Baker, the massive black fireman, let loose a long laugh. “Can I play too? I can kick his ass at cards.”

She laughed, then hurried away before she said anything else she might regret. Like that she intended to give Finn much, much more than a massage.

* * *

Post-fire reunions were the best.

Of the sixteen hours before Finn had to report back to the base, he and Lisa spent ten in bed, and most of those awake and in bed. Much of that time he was inside her, which was exactly where he wanted to be. The relief of finding her still alive, and still in Jupiter Point, nearly brought him to his knees. All he wanted to do was make love to her, as many times and in as many ways as possible.

He figured he could catch up on his sleep in the crew buggy the next day. Or hell, just quit the crew. Who needed firefighting when he had the hottest, wildest, most fiery woman he’d ever known snuggled into bed with him?

He loved every freewheeling, combustible moment they spent together in bed. He loved it when she straddled him and licked his nipples and worked herself against his cock. He loved flipping her over, dragging her ass into the air and burying himself deep inside her. He loved it when she got so relaxed she sprawled across the bed like a rag doll. She let his lips and hands go wherever they wanted, let him feast on her like a hungry firefighter at a breakfast buffet.

Ordinarily, he would stuff himself after a fire, trying to make up for the calorie deficit after working long days under the hot sun. This time, he resented having to take breaks for food. All he wanted to do was gorge himself on Lisa’s sweet curves.

When they were both so spent they were seeing stars, they dozed off together. Her face nestled into the crook of his shoulder, her bent knee propped on his thigh. He didn’t want to drift off because it felt so good to hold her. Unconsciousness was the last thing he wanted. But he couldn’t fight it forever, and soon he was deeply asleep.

He was awakened by her mouth doing unmentionable things to his cock. Astonishingly, after all the times they’d already made love, he got hard nearly right away. “Jesus, Lisa, I thought I was done for the night.”

“I thought I was too,” she admitted. Her warm breath heated his flesh, then her mouth slid down his shaft again. He lost himself in the pleasure, the pressure, the joy of that intimate contact. Finally, he couldn’t take anymore. He pulled away and shifted position, cupping his body around hers so he could enter her from behind. The plump cheeks of her ass nestled around him. He probed the hot channel waiting for him. It gave way before the hard thrust of his penis. He reached around her front and pressed his palm against her heated, wet nest of curls. She arched against him, and then they were both grinding out a fast, hard, primitive orgasm, like two beasts in the night.

They both collapsed, gasping. “Fuck,” he said. Emotion was bursting out of him, pushing at the walls of his heart, impossible to keep inside. “Lisa. Damn it. I have to tell you something. I know you don’t want to hear it. But I have to tell you.”

“Don’t scare me, just tell me.” She lay on her side, one arm flung across the sheets, her skin gleaming in the soft moonlight, her dark hair spilling like ink over the pillow.

“I love you.”

He held his breath. She went still at his announcement. But she wasn’t leaping out of bed, so maybe it would be okay.

“I know you see this as just sex. But it isn’t for me. Not since the first moment I saw you. I know I made a joke out of it, with all those cheesy lines. But it was real. I loved you the second you walked into that tower. I looked at you and that was it. Love. Like a…a load of slurry dropped on my head.”

“A load of what?”

At least she was speaking. “Slurry. It’s the stuff they drop onto wildfires from air tankers. Lands like concrete. Guaranteed to knock you out.”

“Finn,” she murmured into the moonlight. “What you’re describing isn’t love. It’s infatuation. You’re letting your romantic side run away with you.”

He wanted to shake her. How could she dismiss his feelings so lightly? Even if they didn’t make sense to her.

“No. I might be a romantic, but I’ve never felt anything like this. Have you?”

He held his breath again. He knew his Lisa. She didn’t lie. Her face and its tendency to blush didn’t let her.

“No, I haven’t,” she answered in a low voice. “But that doesn’t mean this can go anywhere.”

“Why not?”

“Finn. Come on. I’ve seen your world now, up close and personal. All that Hollywood craziness. I’ve met your father.”

He winced at the reminder. She’d told him about that brief, nasty encounter. “That’s not my world and you know it. My world is the crew buggy, chainsaws and slurry. Camping behind the fire lines in the back country, with the sun rising over the mountains turning everything to gold. When you were in that tower, watching for smoke? Staring at the wilderness? That’s my world. You said you loved it.”

She rolled away from him. “Okay, but that’s just part of it. I have a life waiting back in Houston. A job, if I can get it back.”

“There are jobs here. Not just on the movie,” he said quickly, anticipating her protest. “There’s just as much need for badass nurses here as in Houston.”

“Why are you trying to ruin this? You’re leaving in about an hour. Do you really want to get into a fight now?”

He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. No, he didn’t want to spend his last hour with her fighting. But this battle needed to happen. He knew what he felt. He knew it was powerful and not going anywhere. If she didn’t feel the same, he’d have to live with that.

“I love you.” He drew in a deep breath. And jumped off the cliff. “I want to marry you.”

“Marry me?” She scrambled to her knees. Dawn was creeping in around the curtains, bringing pearlescent light into the room. It made her skin glow. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to say ‘yes’ yet. Or ‘no.’ Technically, I haven’t asked you yet. I just said what I want.”

She stared at him. Her eyes sparkled with…something. But not a yes. “Finn, I’m…I’m not the marrying kind. I’m too cynical. I’ve seen every member of my family get married and divorced. More than once. We don’t have a good track record with romance. I just…” She shook her head, gathering the blanket around her like a cocoon. “Let’s keep things simple.”

He dragged his hand through his hair. “You’re not your family, Lisa. You’re a compassionate, committed person. We’re great together, married or not. So why not married?”

She moved to get out of bed, but he stopped her with a hand on her thigh, her skin silky smooth.

“Maybe you should have more faith in yourself,” he said softly. “You have so much love in your heart, you care so much for people. I think you hide behind that cynicism.”

“Finn…stop this. I can’t—” She broke off, looking so distressed he could have kicked himself. He’d let his impulsive side run away with him.

“Okay, I’m stopping. At least for now. I promise I won’t ask again until I’m a hundred percent sure that’s what you want.”

She pushed the tangled sheets off her body and jumped out of bed. In the dawn light, she was so beautiful, poised for flight. He wanted to grab her hand and tug her back where she belonged. With him.

“All I ask is one thing in exchange.”

“What’s that?” She picked up a robe and slid into it. He wondered if it was the last time he’d see her naked body.

“I can tell you’re kind of freaking out. I get that. Just don’t—don’t leave without telling me.”

She gazed down at him, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. His stomach clenched. She was thinking about leaving. He could read it on her face.

He also recognized the moment when she decided it was a reasonable request. “That’s fair.” She tightened the knot on her robe. “Okay, Finn Abrams. This is your official notice that I’m leaving the bedroom and heading for the shower.”

“That’s funny. Really funny.”

She disappeared into the shower. He released a long breath.

Had he ruined everything?