Page 23 of Just Can't Fall for the Enemy

An insect buzzed past my ear, drawing my gaze to Sophie. She looked at me in wonder, like she didn’t recognize this part of me. “You mean you aren’t going to feature it?”

“It depends on the other footage I get. I may be able to persuade Jill to skip it. She understands the industry better than I do.”

“Jill?” she asked, her voice tight. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“She’s a bit of a pain, actually. And expensive. I swear she thinks I work for her and not the other way around. But she’s one of the best assistants in the industry, so I keep her on.”

“Your assistant. Right.”

I gave her a sideways look. “Who did you think Jill was, exactly?”

“Nobody. I think this cold water has muddled my brain. Come on. I have something a little warmer to show you.”

The next stop was a full twenty-minute hike, and not a casual one. I found myself scrambling over boulders and wishing I hadn’t gotten so wet. But soon we reached another series of pools. I recognized the sulfuric smell immediately.

“Hot springs,” I said, surprised. “I’ve been to the ones in Idaho butdidn’t know you had them so far east.”

She slipped off her shoes. “Part of the same system, actually. Magma pockets heat the water underground for quite a distance. But this isn’t like the ones in Idaho, so be careful.”

I barely heard her as I undressed to my trunks and stepped in at the water’s edge—where I recoiled immediately. “Wow. That’s hot.”

“Thank you,” she said with a wink, suddenly sporting her swimsuit again. She strode past me into the water without flinching.

“You’re kidding me.”

“What, can’t handle the heat?” she asked, settling herself down until the water was up to her neck. “You get used to it.”

“There’s hot, then there’s sitting-in-a-volcano hot.”

“Don’t be silly. Lava can get past two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. This is only 106 degrees. You’ve sat in cars hotter than this on a summer afternoon.”

“Not in my bare skin. Which I’d prefer to keep if you don’t mind.”

“I’m glad you don’t sit in the car in your bare skin. That would be hard to explain to the people of Huckleberry Creek.” She winked.

This woman couldn’t possibly be for real. “It’s not something I make a habit of, so don’t worry.” My foot still burned where I’d stepped in, yet she seemed mostly unaffected. “Fine, you’ve made your point. Are you sure you aren’t some kind of heat-enduring Martian disguised as a forest ranger in Montana?”

“Montana, Mars. They sounded similar enough I thought this would be a good place to land.” Her voice softened. “Turns out I was right.”

There she was, up to her shoulders, and I couldn’t even put my feet in. Gritting my teeth, I stepped in again—and felt like I was standing in flames. But I didn’t recoil this time, waiting it out instead. Sure enough, I adjusted, and soon it didn’t feel like fire and brimstone anymore.

I folded my arms and tried to look casual. “I can see how much you care about your town. You go soft when you talk about them, like they’re your family. Not to mention your display at Alice’s the other night.”

Her face burned bright red now—whether from embarrassment or the heat, I couldn’t tell. “I don’t appreciate strangers insulting the people I care about.”

I thought about her conversation with the girl on the sidewalk and the way everyone at the reception knew Sophie, smiling and relaxing the instant she greeted them. If she was like that with everyone, no wonder they all loved her.

She’s easy to love.

I dismissed the thought before I could dwell on it much longer. “They’re lucky to have a defender like you.”

“I won’t let anything happen to them.” She lingered on the wordanything,and although she avoided my gaze, I knew she’d intended it for me. I just wasn’t sure what she meant by it.

As she stared at a nearby tree, I finally saw it in her eyes. The slightest glimpse, but a glimpse nonetheless.

Fear.

I took another step toward her, then another. Then I gritted my teeth and sank in right beside her. She looked up at me with a mixture of respect and a rare vulnerability. This woman obviously fought an inward battle I couldn’t begin to comprehend. For a moment, I wanted to remove whatever pain lay in her heart and let it dissipate into the open forest air.

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