Wild Heat (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #1)(14)
Author: Bella Andre

“Your girlfriend sure is pretty.”

Maya turned back to Joseph, utterly confused by his random statement. Why on earth would he say such a ridiculous thing when he knew exactly why she was here?

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Maya clarified.

Logan grabbed her elbow and hauled her into the kitchen. “Time to go.”

She wrenched her arm from his warm grasp. She hated men who thought they could push her around simply because they were bigger. Even more, she hated the way her ni**les immediately peaked beneath her bra at Logan’s rough touch. “I’m not leaving until I’m finished with my questions.”

Joseph shook his head and smiled. “She’s tougher than your usual girls, Logan. And smart too, you can see it in her eyes. I wouldn’t piss her off if I were you. I don’t want to see you let go of a good thing. Gonna have to think about weddings and babies one day.”

Joseph’s eyes had become slightly unfocused and Maya shifted her gaze to Logan. She saw worry. Fear. And then she realized what was going on: Joseph was suffering from dementia. Or, worse, undiagnosed Alzheimer’s.

Logan grabbed her briefcase, his voice low so only she could hear it. “There are plenty of other people you can grill about me. Guys on my crew. Old girlfriends. People whose lives I’ve saved. Not a tired old man who needs to rest.”

She hated the thought of walking out of Joseph’s cabin without answers. But Logan was right. Joseph’s health wasn’t stable. She’d have to put this interview on the back burner until a time when he was, hopefully, in a more coherent state of mind.

“We’re going to head out now, Joe,” Logan said, patting Joseph on the shoulder.

“This is your last chance, boy. You f**k up again and you’re going to lose this pretty girl.” Joseph’s shoulders sagged into his broad frame. “Hell, you throw a match in the wrong place and you’re going to lose everything.”

Logan’s hand pressed into the small of Maya’s back, pushing her across the room. And she let him. Perhaps another investigator would have been tougher. Meaner. But Maya believed in playing fair, and right now wasn’t the time to grill Joseph, even though his mental mean-derings might be full of revelations about her suspect’s past and potential motivations for lighting a fast-moving wildfire.

The truth was there. She’d find it one way or another, and she’d do it without hurting anyone.

Logan pulled the door shut behind them and as she quickly moved away from his heat, she noticed that his truck was completely blocking hers on the narrow dirt driveway. Her hands fisted at her sides. Slowly uncurling her fingers one by one, she turned.

“Please move your truck.”

He swung her briefcase from the tip of one finger. “You’re probably going to want this too, aren’t you?”

She held out one hand, making sure it didn’t shake from frustration. “Yes, thank you.”

He gave it to her, then strolled over to her car. “City vehicles always come with low-grade tires, don’t they?”

She followed his gaze. Crap. Her front right tire was flat.

“Dry pine needles. They’re hell on rubber.”

His words were light, conversational. And yet, she bristled at the victory she sensed behind them. Not to mention the fact that standing in the middle of a forest with her lead suspect and a brand-new flat tire was pretty damn suspicious. But the last thing she was going to do was let him think she was scared. Especially since she didn’t think he’d do anything to harm her while Joseph was just a wall away.

“I’ve got a spare,” she said as she clicked open the trunk with her remote.

He was mistaken if he thought she was a girly girl who couldn’t take care of herself. Her father had made sure she knew how to change a tire—and shoot a gun.

Logan crossed his arms over his chest, looking for all the world like he was trying not to laugh. “Good luck getting out of this driveway with a spare. One time my buddy tried it when we were kids and we had to call a fire truck to pull him out of a mud hole. Car was stolen too, so he spent the night in jail.” He headed over to his truck. “How about I give you lift? Take you wherever you need to go.”

Maya couldn’t believe her bad luck. Was it really coming down to this? Was she going to have to accept a ride from her primary arson suspect? She should head back inside Joseph’s cabin and call AAA to come fix her flat. But that would take time. Time she didn’t have anymore. Not now that the fire was out of control and had already taken down a hotshot. And if this wildfire followed typical arson patterns, there’d be new fires. Soon.

The longer it took her to nail the arsonist, the more lives and homes and land would be threatened by the wildfire. Plus, there was always Logan’s lingering threat to call her boss. The story would be better coming from her mouth first, give her a chance to put a more innocent spin on things.

“Fine,” she finally said, slamming the trunk shut and grabbing the rest of her investigative tools out of the backseat. “You can drop me at my motel.”

She remembered seeing a rental car agency next door to the motel, which meant she’d be out on the road and back in business immediately.

She stepped up into his passenger seat. The interior smelled like leather and fresh dirt and pine needles. And Logan. He slid in behind the wheel and her senses were overwhelmed with his smoky scent, his nearness, the way his thigh muscles pressed against the denim fabric of his jeans, the dark hair across his wrist.

She forcefully pushed aside her arousal. God, it shouldn’t be so hard to remain impartial around her suspect. He started the engine and as they moved through the trees she slowly recovered her equilibrium. Instead of fighting her reaction to him, she needed to save her energy and simply accept—and ignore—the attraction so that she could get back to business. In fact, the next ten minutes of captivity in his truck were the perfect chance for another Q&A session.

“Joseph mentioned you had some problems as a teenager, that your mother asked him to take you in.”

She waited for Logan to react in some way, but all he did was drive. Fine, he wanted to play hardball, she’d play hardball.

“You were obviously a problem child. What kind of problems did you have?”

“You really think I’m going to tell you?”

He took his eyes off the road for a split second and she could have sworn he was laughing at her.

“No, not really. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll go back to Joseph’s cabin first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll ask him then.” Logan wasn’t making it easy for her. She was happy to make it just as hard for him. “Watching his health fail must be difficult for you.”