Page 20 of Single Mom for the Firemen

“Is that why you moved into the cabin?”

I stare up at him, surprised. For a moment, I’m about to laugh at the ridiculousness of that statement—but then I see it from his perspective, and I clam up. Because he’s got a point. If this woman had just turned up out of the blue and started trying to ingratiate herself into the household, I might think that she was there for one reason and one reason only.

“No, no, that’s not why I came here,” I assure him quickly. “I—I have other reasons. I won’t get into them. But I just met you guys and thought that you must have such an interesting story, and I want to bring it to life, you know?”

He runs a hand through his dark hair, and I catch sight of just a glimpse of silver. He shakes his head. “We’re not doing this for publicity,” he tells me firmly. “We’re not doing this because we want some kind of hero worship or?—”

“No, I know that,” I promise him, taking another step toward him. “And that’s not what I want the story to be about either. I can tell that you guys have some amazing things to say—and you can get them out in front of a big audience if you let me do this story on you. You sure there’s not a message you’d like to send out to the world? Something that would make your life easier? Something that you wish all the tourists who came here would know?”

“They should already know,” he mutters. “After the fires ten years ago, I don’t know how anyone can possibly not care about this shit. The damage it did to the people, the community, the local environment…if they had any idea, they would never get into half the shit they do.”

“And that’s what I’m saying,” I reply. “I can get that message out there. Tell the people who come here to understand what they’re fucking with, and how they can protect it. You’re telling me that you wouldn’t take the chance to make sure people knew that?”

He looks down at me, studying my face for a long moment. I realize I’m holding my breath. I don’t know what to say. But I get the feeling that landing on the wrong side of these guys, as I might have done with the revelation of the story, could land me in more trouble than I knew what to do with.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” he tells me, after a long moment of silence. I fight the urge to punch the air. That might be a little too forward, given everything that’s going on.

“Yes! That’s amazing,” I exclaim, unable to contain my excitement completely. “How about you come down to my place tomorrow? During the afternoon?”

“I guess so,” he sighs, but there’s a small smile on his face. If there’s one way to get someone in on a story, it’s by making them feel like they’re going to have the chance to speak uninterrupted about something they’re passionate about.

“Anyway, I think you should go,” he adds, glancing over his shoulder. “I don’t think…”

“Yeah, it’s okay, I get it,” I reply. “Jake doesn’t want me here. I need to get back to Callie, anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

I wave to him as I head off, not wanting to give him the chance to reconsider the answer he’s just given me. Because, as of right now, I have someone who’s willing to speak to me for this story. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I have something new to look forward to.

And as long as I’m out here, I want to find as many things to look forward to as humanly possible.

10

MASON

“That’s me finished my patrol,”I walkie-talkie in to Killian. He takes a few seconds to get back to me—I get the feeling he was probably dozing in the chair, exhausted from everything that happened yesterday.

“Right, right,” he replies, and I can hear him stifling a yawn. “Just let me know when you’re headed back…”

“Will do,” I tell him, and I turn toward the cabin where I’m meant to be spending the rest of my afternoon.

I still don’t know if this is a good idea. I have no clue if what Vanessa told us is true. I looked her up online last night, and it took a little digging, but I found a few articles published at a prestigious local newspaper that seem to have her byline attached to them.

But despite my doubts, I begin to head toward her place before I can find a reason to talk myself out of this. I don’t know what she’s going to say to me up there. No clue what she’s going to ask me. But I will take any opportunity to take on the people wholeave this place worse than they found it, and this might offer me a chance to do just that.

Plus—if I’m being entirely honest—there’s a part of me that’s jealous about what Killian got to enjoy with her yesterday evening. He hasn’t shared any details, but he doesn’t need to—I can tell from the cocky grin on his face today that he can’t stop thinking about it, even if he swears up and down that he’s just smiling for no reason.

Because she’s hot, there’s no doubt about it. Not just the way she looks, though that’s part of it, but the way she carries herself—the way she moves as though she already knows she has every inch of attention in the room trained squarely at her, and doesn’t need to do anything to earn it.

And it’s been a long time since I’ve been with a woman. Alongtime. I had a couple of short-term relationships over the years since I moved out here, but none that came to anything. Women don’t want to be with you when you’re more focused on taking care of the forest for generations to come than going out to dinner with them. I can’t say I blame any of them. Given how unorthodox our life out here is, it’s not as though it would make for an easy sell.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss it. Not the same part of it Killian misses, or at least, so I think—he’s never seemed like the kind of guy who wanted anything more than the physical. But it’s the other side of it I miss. Being close to someone. Being alone with them. Knowing that there’s no call for you to be anything other than your true self. That’s the part I miss. Waking up wrapped around a woman, with her head on my shoulder and her hand in mine…

But that’s not what I’m here to do, not in this place. No, I am going to give her something for her story—something that will at least keep her off our backs for the juicer details of the story. I get the feeling that Jake doesn’t exactly like the idea of coming to her with all of his deepest darkest secrets.

I lift my knuckles to knock on the door when I reach it, and I hear her light tones from inside.

“Hey! I’ll be right there!”

I lean back on my heels, not entirely sure what to expect here. But a moment later, she opens up the door, her face bright with excitement.

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