Wild Heat (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #1)(25)
Author: Bella Andre

First, though, he needed to find out what Dennis had already told her.

“I blew it, man” were the first words Dennis said.

“Oh shit. You told her.”

Dennis’s hands were out in front of his body as he defended his f**kup. “I didn’t know who she was. She didn’t tell me until we landed. I saw the fire and I didn’t have enough caffeine in me yet and I couldn’t control my mouth.”

It was always excuses with Dennis. Always had been. Joseph and Dennis had taken Logan in when he didn’t have anyone else and he would give up his life for his adopted family, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed as hell right this second.

Jenny looked between the two of them. “What are you talking about, Dennis? Who is that woman? What did you tell her?”

“She’s an arson investigator. She’s here because of the Desolation fire.” Dennis looked like he was about to cry. “I didn’t mean to sell you out,” he said to Logan. “I swear it, man.”

Jenny looked helplessly at Logan. “He doesn’t know yet. I was going to tell him when he landed.” She turned to her boyfriend. “Logan has already been suspended from the fire. That’s why he’s standing here right now.” She lowered her voice to a hiss. “That woman is investigating him.”

Logan had never seen Dennis look more upset. Or nervous.

“Oh Jesus, I’m sorry, Logan. They’ve got to know you’d never do something like that, right?”

“What did you tell her about me?”

Jenny shot a questioning glance at Logan. “What are you talking about? What dirt does he have on you? Is it something that could get you in trouble?”

A muscle jumped in Dennis’s forehead. “Swear to God I told her it was just stupid kid stuff. You were never trying to hurt anyone. You were just pissed off at everything.” A flurry of words were hurtling out of his mouth as he worked to clear his conscience. “I’m sorry, man. But even knowing about that stuff you used to be into, there’s no way she can pin this fire on you. Everyone knows hotshots are holy men around here.” Dennis glanced nervously at Jenny. “Besides, it’ll be impossible to get any good evidence. It’s all burning up. You’re safe.”

Dennis always did have a knack for saying stupid things like that. A gust of wind dusted them with ashes as Logan reminded himself that none of this was Dennis’s fault. He hadn’t been a pyro, Logan had.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said to his foster brother.

He turned and headed for the office to face down Maya. It was time to do some serious damage control.

CHAPTER NINE

A SIGN on the office window said the private airport wouldn’t be staffed until later that morning, but the door would be unlocked so that people could use the bathroom. Maya locked herself in the single stall to get her thoughts in order before facing off against Logan. Again.

She gulped down some ice-cold tap water to clear her head and returned to the small room just as he let the door close behind him, his broad shoulders and six-plus feet effectively blocking all sunlight. He looked like he hadn’t gotten much more sleep than she had, and still, he was so gorgeous she lost her breath just looking at him.

“You’re a pyromaniac.”

Logan didn’t bother to deny the truth. “I used to be. A long time ago. But I’m not that kid anymore.”

He couldn’t think he was going to get out of it that easily, could he, that his charming good looks would make her say Oh, okay, never mind.

“I might have believed you yesterday when I asked you point-blank why you went to live with Joseph. But now you’ve forced me to reexamine things. To ask myself why you were hiding something so important from a fire investigator. To consider whether or not you’re guilty, after all.”

“Look,” he said, “I used to light fires. I was a stupid teenage boy who didn’t have a clue.”

Even as he tried to talk his way out of the extremely damning evidence against him, his kiss was still imprinted on her lips. She could still smell him. Taste him.

Damn him for having such power over me!

“Why should I believe you? All I know is that you were seen putting out two fires near the ignition point— and you used to light fires for fun.”

“I can see how you’d think that. But this time, it doesn’t add up. You asked me about my past yesterday. Well, here it is: I lit fires when I was a kid because my dad was an ass**le and it made me feel powerful. I didn’t get that fires could destroy things, that they could spin out of control and kill people. I was a f**ked-up kid. That’s all it was. I swear to God, Maya, my past has nothing to do with these fires.”

It was incredibly difficult to hold tight to her doubts in the face of his sincerity.

“How can I be absolutely sure that it really is all in the past?”

She thought back to her interview with Joseph the previous afternoon, how sad it must be for Logan to see a once-strong man fade away.

“Joseph took you in during a difficult time in your life. He was good to you, he treated you like another son, and now his health is failing. It must be incredibly hard for you to deal with. You wouldn’t be the first person to act out of grief.” She took a deep breath. “Like me. With you. When Tony died. You wouldn’t be the first person who’d screwed up in the heat of the moment. Or the last person.”

“Of course I’m worried about Joseph,” Logan agreed. “I want to get him to a doctor. I want him to move in with me so that I can keep watch over him. I want to hire a cleaning crew to wash his clothes and empty out his sink and make sure that he eats. But there’s a big difference between making out with a stranger and arson.”

“Really?”

Her voice shook on the lone word as she thought back to that day in the bar, when it had seemed like her whole world was crashing down around her.

“Are you sure there is?” she found herself asking.

He moved closer. “It’s all tied into your brother, isn’t it? This case. Me being a firefighter. Being here in Lake Tahoe.”

She instinctively pulled her bag up over her chest as a shield. Why did he always have to go to the one place that hurt the most? “No. Tony’s case is completely separate from this one. I know what I’m doing.”

At least she used to. Before everything got so damn complicated. Which was why she needed to focus on the facts at hand. And not the way her libido spiked whenever he came within five feet.

“The fact is that pyromania is a huge strike against you, Mr. Cain.”

He came closer again and she felt her throat move as she swallowed, saw his eyes catch her nervous reaction to his nearness.