Page 11 of Burning Hearts

“He said he can’t leave yet.”

Logan put his hand on her shoulder. “But you can.”

And sheshould. Who knew what that guy would’ve done to her if Logan hadn’t intervened? She didn’t need to waste any more time trying to rescue her brother when Tristan seemed bent on ruining his own life.

“The second you saw this place, you should’ve turned right around and left.”

She brushed his hand off her shoulder. “They’d already spotted me. You think I came in the front gate by choice? How did you get in here? Are you following me?” She shook her head. “Why are you eveninAlaska?”

“I’m a smokejumper up here.” As if he was going to tell her that he’d only come up to the Midnight Sun crew because he’d heard she was up here looking for her brother. “There’s a fire to the west, and it’s headed this way.” Logan glanced at his watch, then touched the radio clipped to his belt. “I came here to warn these guys they need to evacuate. Then I need to catch up with my team.”

Her gaze moved from his radio and swept up his uniform. A slight pink blush touched her cheeks.

Yeah, attraction had never been their problem.Like what you see?

“Look,” Logan said, “if Tristan doesn’t want to go, then you can’t exactly make him. It’s time to go back to town and get yourself safe. Otherwise he’ll drag you into something you can’t get out of.”

Her gaze hardened. “So that’s your deal, Mr. Smokejumper Hero? You get to swoop in and rescue me, tell me how to live my life, and then walk off into the sunset? Hmm. Seems like we’ve had this discussion before.”

And he knew exactly where it’d happened.

In the Backdraft Bar and Grill in Last Chance County. Seemed like forever ago, and at the same time, not that long.

“I guess we’re done, then.” He took a step back. “For good this time.”

“Yeah, I guess we are.”

After that, he’d tried to forget all about her.

Hadn’t worked.

“You’re right.” He folded his arms across his chest. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to leave you here to face whatever these guys want to do to you alone. And it won’t change the fact I came up here to find you…so that we could see if there’s still a chance. For us.”

She stared at him.

“I need to know.”

“You came all this way to find out?”

Logan’s chest tightened. Did he want to be the guy who had to admit he couldn’t let go?

“Look, I appreciate that you care enough to make sure I’m safe, but?—”

He could hear the “thanks but no thanks” coming a mile off. Since he didn’t want toactuallyhear it, he cut her off. “So, where is Tristan? Is he helping you get out?”

“As a matter of fact?—”

Over by the door, a man cleared his throat.

Logan spun around, berating himself for being unaware someone had come into the room. Tristan stood there, a blank look on his face. Probably because he knew exactly what Logan thought of him. Before the holidays last year, a buddy had told Logan that Tristan had been involved in an incident with Benson PD at their community college. Now he was wanted for questioning by more than one agency.

Tristan looked at Jamie and held out a backpack and a busted satellite phone. “I found these. Figured you’d want to take them with you.”

She rushed over. “Oh, they totally smashed it. I guess that’s no surprise.”

“They went through your stuff as well, but unless you had cash in your wallet, they didn’t take anything.”

Logan glanced at Tristan. “You mean they have her name and they know who she is now?”

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