Page 5 of Surge of Fire

He starts running, pushing through the crowd. His bag hits the ground, and within seconds, I’m swept up in his arms. And it’s like when we were younger. His arms form a cage around me that protects me from the world. From my father’s death. From the broken look in my mother's eyes whenever she looked at me, the daughter who looked so much like the man she loved.

Tears leak from my eyes, and my arms wrap around his neck, holding him tighter as he swings me around. The air feels cool. The world feels far away, like nothing outside of this man and his arms matter.

“Sam,” he says my name in that breathless way. That vulnerable way. It’s the only time Aydan is vulnerable – when he’s with me. When we’re together.

He pulls back from me, and it takes everything in me to let him go. I’m tall for a woman at five ten, but Aydan is a giant at six eight. I forgot how small I feel next to him, almost dainty. It's the only time I feel that way.

We stare, assessing each other. He’s wearing a button-up blue shirt with a collar and sleeves rolled up. He looks so damn sexy. I don’t know when forearms started turning me on, but they do now. And I don’t know when he started dressing so… professionally, rather than in his t-shirts and jeans.

“You look… different,” he tells me, and the expression on his face is shocked.

“Do I?” I ask, frowning and looking down at myself. I’m wearing a white tank-top, jeans, and boots. It’s pretty much what I wore in high school, so what does he mean? “Bad different?”

Aydan doesn’t answer, and when I look up, I can’t read the expression on his face, but it’s intense. “Sam…”

What?My heartbeat picks up even faster.What’s wrong with the way I look?

“Sam!”

I turn and see Granger racing toward us. Unlike with Aydan, Granger is pretty much mowing down people with his big body. While Aydan is built like a quarterback, Granger is built more like a linebacker. A linebacker-sized dog who doesn’t realize how big he is. His dark hair is crazy, sticking out in every direction, and his clothes are wrinkled. But nothing beats the wild look in his eyes. The man really is like a giant dog who thinks he’s a puppy.

His arms are around me in seconds, and he squeezes me so tight I’m pretty damn sure he’s going to break a rib.

I gasp for breath.

“Granger, put her down, man. You’re killing her with your love again!” Aydan says, his voice filled with laughter.

He drops me and steps back, his gaze running over me. “Damn, girl! You got hit so many times with the hot stick, that stick must be on fire!”

I feel my cheeks heat and smack his slight stomach. “Shut up! I wasn’t!”

Granger turns to Aydan. “Come on, tell me you didn’t notice,” he points at my chest and then makes a ‘boob motion’ against his own chest before saying, “those?”

I cross my arms in front of my chest. “Ewww!”

Granger laughs. “I don’t just mean your boobs. The ass. The face. All of it. Our ugly duckling has grown into a swan people want to spend time fu–”

“Nope,” Aydan cuts him off, the word almost a growl. “Granger is just being an asshole. You look fine, Sam.”

“Fiiiine, he means,” Granger says.

Aydan punches him in the shoulder, and Granger winces and rubs his arm. Granger only gets punched when he’s being a realasshole, so I think the pain has cut into the haze of his stupidity. “What I meant to say is that it’s good to see you, Sam. We’ve missed you.”

I smile, still feeling weird.I look exactly the same as when I left home, don’t I?“It’s okay. How was the trip after the earthquake? I was really worried about you two, but I knew you didn’t have a cell connection.”

“We were fine,” Granger says, “but we heard some girl on your bus turned into an action hero and saved the day.”

“Was it you?” Aydan asks, not missing a beat, and absolutely no humor in his voice.

I don’t know why, but I feel uncomfortable. “Well, yeah, but I’m sure the story was exaggerated.”

Granger looks between me and Aydan, seeming to pick up on something I’m missing. I look at Aydan, and I’m surprised by how pissed off he looks.What exactly had I done that was that bad?

Aydan moves closer to me, and now his smoky scent washes over me. “Sam, we’re not kids any more. We’re adults. We’re breakable. You need to be more careful with your life.”

“What did you want me to do? Let us all die?” For some reason, I’m pissed too.

Maybe because I hate being told what to do.

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