Hot as Sin (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #2)(33)
Author: Bella Andre

“You do such amazing things every day, Sam. What I do isn’t nearly as important.”

Hating to hear her belittle herself, he said, “You don’t need to put out fires to make a difference.”

But hadn’t he done the same thing she was doing now, immediately assuming that she had to be looking down on him and his salary?

How much of the blue-collar, white-collar dichotomy was in his own head? Was it simply that he was threatened by her going and changing on him?

After trying to tell himself that her new glossy look was nothing but a fake mask, he could finally admit that the changes she’d made weren’t necessarily bad.

Besides, how could he fault her for pulling herself out of the trailer park and making something of herself?

“What about you?” she said, shifting on the sand to get a better look at him.

Oh shit, he’d accidentally opened up a can of worms by asking her about her job. Hoping to head her off at the pass, he said, “My life’s pretty much the same as it always was.”

Except for the blip after she left and he nearly lost everything.

Undeterred by his terse answer, she said, “Do you still live in the same part of town?”

Hell no, he couldn’t stand to drive through the same neighborhoods where they’d often go walking late at night when there was a full moon.

“I’m closer to the beach.”

Leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, she was one hundred percent focused on him. “What about the guitar? Are you still playing?”

Only a handful of people knew he played. How could he have forgotten that Dianna was one of them? Or that the only songs he’d ever written had been three-chord love songs dedicated to her?

He shrugged. “I haven’t played in a long time.”

He had no intention of admitting that he hadn’t touched his guitar since the day she left. How could he, when every note he played reminded him of her?

Clearly getting frustrated with his reticence, she asked, “You must be one of the more established guys on the Tahoe Pines crew, right?”

“I am. As you can imagine,” he said, dropping his guard for a moment, “I’m not opposed to kicking the rookies’ asses around the block when they need it.”

She grinned at him. “Who else do I know on the current crew?”

“Only me and Logan.”

Shit, how could she have forgotten his brother?

“And Connor, of course.”

Talking about his brother felt like venturing back into a minefield, so he quickly said, “In the off-season I’ve been helping lead some adventure tours for a friend’s company.”

“Ah, so that’s why you know how to do all of this.” She gestured to their gear and the river. “Any chance you’d consider doing a segment on your friend’s company for my show sometime? It’s just the sort of thing my viewers love.”

Oh shit, he couldn’t let himself think about the future. About seeing her again.

Or, worse, not seeing her again.

“It’s getting late. We should get back on the river.”

Hurt flashed on her face before she wiped it away.

“I’ll clean our plates,” she said, grabbing everything and heading toward the water.

The thin fabric of her pants outlined the swell of her hips, her taut thigh muscles. When she knelt down on the sand to wash out the tin cups they’d eaten out of, even though he knew he shouldn’t be watching her, he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

From the first moment he’d met her, he’d desired her. Intensely. If anything, the years between that first meeting and the present had only made his yearning grow stronger.

The water had washed off her makeup, and without the fancy clothes and hairdo, she looked more and more like the eighteen-year-old girl he’d fallen in love with.

Finished shaking out the cups, she turned away from the river and caught him staring. Her eyes opened wide, her ni**les peaked with awareness. Sam knew it would be the easiest thing in the world to lower her onto the sand and release their pent-up cravings for each other’s bodies.

Hell, no. He couldn’t go there again.

He quickly packed up the food and stove and they got back on the river, an uneasy silence hovering between them again. Damn it, was there anything they could talk about that wasn’t a minefield?

Guiding the raft around a tight curve after several tense minutes of easy rafting, he suddenly squinted into the distance, unable to believe what he saw.

They were coming up on a strainer.

Formed by trees on the banks, with piles of large rocks in between, a strainer was incredibly technical and dangerous. Water could flow through it, but a boat couldn’t.

Especially not one moving this fast.

If he’d been in the raft by himself, or with Connor, they’d have had a better chance to get through the strainer without too many broken bones or a concussion. But with a total novice beside him, Sam had to think fast.

“Get ready to jump out.”

Dianna whipped her head around to face him. “Are you kidding?”

As they moved closer to the strainer, he barely had time to say, “We’re going to jump together,” before he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.

She was stiff in his arms and he knew he had to make a move before she tried to pull away.

“Take a breath and hold it,” he said, and then they were falling over the swirling, rushing water.

Using his body to cushion her from the fall, he felt her start to panic a moment too late. She slipped out of his grasp and her head went under.

The raft flew over the water into the wall of tree limbs and rocks, and he knew that if he didn’t get to her soon, she’d smash into it as well. Swimming hard across the current, he jammed his knee into a rock and barely flinched.

Where the hell is she?

He couldn’t see her head or hair above the white water and a thousand agonizing images flashed through his brain.

Finally, Dianna’s head rose out of the white foam. Ignoring the burning in his arms and legs and lungs, Sam heaved himself through the water and reached for her. He had almost grabbed her shirt, almost grabbed her arms, when she sank beneath the surface of the water.

CHAPTER TWELVE

DIANNA RELAXED into the wonderful dream.

She was floating and felt warm all over. And then suddenly there were big hands pulling and shoving at her and she was fighting them, trying to get back to that sleepy place. But the hands were stronger and they dragged her up through thick, wet foam.