Page 14 of Smoke and Fire
The words he said next caught me by surprise.
“I need help.”
I blinked.
Wait,Inner Me me said.What?
“Help?”
He nodded with a bleak sigh. A balloon had deflated inside him, and everything that once held him up had disappeared. The one phrase that would removemy reservations about Mr. No Words was the quietly utteredI need help.
I swallowed, trapped now.
“Help with what?”
“Something that I think you’d be perfect for, if you like people, money, and can work independently.”
Color me intrigued. Not only had he just given me a sentence with more than ten words, but his mention ofwork independentlyclued me right in.
“What is it?”
Those sapphire eyes turned downright wary. He stepped back and motioned to the table with a nod.
“It will take a while to explain. Have a seat. I’ll buy you a drink.”
4
BASTIAN
As far as first dates went, this wasn’t my least smooth.
Definitely my weirdest.
If you could even call this a date, that is. Dahlia sat across from me with her right shoulder back, her head tilted to the side. The wary purse of her lips made her look like a diva about to pounce, her cheeks tense in warning. What made a girl her age—probably twenty-eight, just a few years younger than me—have that expression?
My plan whirled through my head, but all the meticulous details and pieces fell into a mental heap. For several moments, I could only stare until I managed to wrench three words free.
“I write books.”
Dahlia’s eyebrows rose, but she didn’t comment on the awkward start.
“Books?”
“Books.”
“Okaaaay,” she drawled. “You need help with that?”
I ignored her question—it would be answered in a moment—and stayed on the track that my train of thought barreled down.
“I’m also a wildland firefighter.” A hand rose to gesture vaguely to the plume of smoke that had ebbed in the morning, but would grow as the afternoon progressed. “In a day or two, I will most likely be assigned to work that fire with my crew. We get forty-eight hours off after every two week assignment. That’s why I came back, but I’ll need to leave again soon.”
Her mouth opened, but closed. She gestured for me to continue. This is where things got rocky and would likely go downhill fast.
My mind wandered back to the way she’d blushed and attempted to justify reading a romance novel. Her expression had been open and bright, but now it looked straight suspicious. I tried to explain, but words failed me. Never mind that I could knock out a 10,000 word sprint in two hours when I needed to, but I couldn’t find two words to put together now.
Dahlia took pity on me. “What does writing books have to do with you being a firefighter on an assignment?” she asked.
Her arms folded across her chest, reminding me of a wary cat. Bristled and ready to strike, but not yet threatened.
