Page 2 of When We Dare

“It’s a campfire in the winter.” Maisie bounced in the snow as she smiled at me. Her cheeks were pink from the cold. “If this works, I’m gonna tell Beck we have to do it next year for Thanksgiving.”

“I’ve actually never done it by myself, but it worked when my mom did it.”

There were more people than I had expected to be here at the not-a-holiday party Tish and Griffin had organized. I met Tish when I helped handle some of the details of her custody case. When I moved to Willow Brook, Alaska to work in the expansion office for the law practice I’d worked for in Fireweed Harbor, Tish had welcomed me into her circle of friends here.

I was relieved to have a project to keep me distracted because Hudson Fox was here. Ever since I’d driven over one of his crutches months ago, I’d stumbled into the worst crush on the guy. I felt ridiculously flustered around him. Seeing as he was friends with many of my friends, it was difficult to avoid him.

For today, I could focus on my little project, but I was starting to feel like I had overpromised on this. When Tish started planning this, someone requested turkey and this seemed like a fun way to cook it. Even with my mother’s instructions, I fretted. I studied the trashcan, which was starting to glow orange.

“There’s a fire under it, this is how it’s supposed to be,” I said out loud to myself.

A raven was watching me from the trees, judging me, or so I thought. “Why are you looking at me?” I asked when it let out a startlingly human-sounding call.

I had no clue if the bird was answering me when it let out another sharp call into the icy winter air. It was roughly twenty feet away in the trees, perched on a bare branch above the snow. A magpie flew by, chattering at the raven who ignored it completely. All things considered, the raven was much larger and gave the magpie just as judgy of a look as it gave me.

The problem with this whole project was I didn’t even know how to check to see if the turkey was done. I fretted some more before leaning down to add some lighter fluid to the coals. Mistake.

Next thing I knew, there was a trashcan-shaped ball of fire. I could totally handle this. I looked toward the raven. It stared right back at me, still giving off judgy vibes.

I fetched my fire gloves and ran over, grabbing the trashcan again and flinging it into the snow. Everything was fine. Until my hair caught on fire.

I heard the sound of footsteps hurrying across the back deck. I hoped it was at least one of the firefighters. A moment later, someone lifted me and tossed me into the snow.

My fall was cushioned by at least three feet of snow. “Oh, my God!” My exclamation was muffled by the snow on my face.

I was discombobulated and felt someone’s hands sliding over my back and my hair. I was pretty sure it was a man because they were big and strong.

And then… “Stella, what the hell happened? Are you okay?”

Freezing cold and covered in snow, I rolled over and looked up into Hudson’s green eyes.

Chapter Two

HUDSON

Stella Lancaster stared back at me. Her big brown eyes were wide and her freckled cheeks flushed pink from the cold and the snow. Her blond curls were damp from the snow with a few singed locks of hair from the fire.

I’d just purposefully thrown her into the snow to put out the flames.

“I’m fine!” She looked annoyed.

“Your hair was on fire along with the back of your coat,” I explained.

I was practically lying on top of her. Even through her winter coat, I could feel her curves. I forced myself to roll away from her and sit up in the snow.

She sat up with me and eyed her heavy fireproof gloves. “My hands aren’t burned,” she said as she slipped the gloves off.

I glanced toward the deck to see there was a crowd watching. “Is Stella okay?” a voice called over.

A moment later, we were both standing. “I’m fine,” Stella insisted again.

“Your jacket is burned in some places on the back,” I pointed out. “Your hair is kind of burned on the ends too.”

Her lips twisted to the side as she let out a heavy sigh. “I’m pretty sure that caught on fire first.” Stella patted her hair and winced slightly.

“Let me see,” I said. I stepped around her and carefully brushed her hair away from the back of her neck. There were a few angry red spots and burns. “Your coat kept you safe, but you have some burns above the collar. It’s actually—” She moved to pull her jacket away from her neck. “Don’t!”

I was too late, and she let out a yelp. Graham, Madison, Tish, and a few others were making their way over through the snow.

---