Wild Heat (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #1)(34)
Author: Bella Andre

Jenny shot another glance at Maya before saying “Sure thing, Logan. I’ll go put your order in.”

Maya gave him an amused look when Jenny rounded the corner. “Boy, does that girl have a crush on you.”

“Jealous?”

She watched Jenny giggle while whispering something to a cute busboy before walking into the kitchen. “I take it back. She flirts with everyone.”

He noted that Maya didn’t go anywhere near his jealous question and he grinned. She didn’t need to answer. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Now all he needed was for her to figure it out too.

Still looking at Jenny, she suddenly frowned. “Hey, wasn’t she with you at the airstrip this morning?”

“She was meeting Dennis for breakfast. They’ve been dating for a while.”

“Dating Dennis, huh?” She looked pensive. “How does he feel about his girlfriend flirting with you?”

He’d wondered the same thing and had come to only one conclusion: “He’s not the jealous type.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Sure he isn’t.”

A couple of firefighters from the urban station walked in and headed to the bar, probably to pick up some drinks for the road, and her face fell. He knew she was thinking about Tony.

“I was serious last night when I offered to help with your brother’s case.”

She turned back to him, her eyes wide with surprise. “I don’t get it. Why would you want to help me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

It was clear that she didn’t know how to respond. Probably for the very same reason he wasn’t comfortable coming clean about Joseph yet. Despite their physical connection, she was as unsure of him as he was of her.

“Thank you,” she said in a soft voice. “I really appreciate your offer. Maybe when this case is done …”

Her words fell away and he wanted to press her further, make her commit to seeing him again when they were on the other side of this craziness.

Right then, he saw David walk in and search through the crowd for them.

“David’s here,” he said, and Maya’s expression became all business again.

As glad as Logan was that they were going to know what had caused the explosion, the interruption had come too soon. At last, he’d felt as if he was getting at the real Maya Jackson, the flesh-and-blood woman with insecurities and hopes and softness, not just the hard-as-nails fire investigator that she forced herself to be every minute of every day.

David pulled up a chair. His happy-go-lucky friend looked as solemn as Logan had ever seen him. “I’ve got it.”

Before he could say more, Jenny arrived with their sandwiches. They waited in tense silence for her to put them down and go away, but she was clearly in no hurry to leave.

“Hey, David,” she said, “how are you doing?”

“Fine, thanks.”

“Some fire burning, huh?”

He shot a quick look at Logan. “Yup.”

She looked between the three of them, finally noting that something was up. “You guys need anything else? Ketchup? Mustard? Are you hungry, David?”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Okay, then. I’ll be going on a short break for the next few minutes, so just holler at Amy if you need something else.”

They all nodded, the plates of food remaining untouched. Finally, Maya broke the heavy silence after Jenny left. “What have you found out?”

“I’ve been able to clearly identify gasoline and fertilizer.”

Maya closed her eyes for a moment. “Together they explode just like a bomb. It’s easy and inexpensive. Anyone could have done it. It’s the perfect crime.” When she opened her eyes again, Logan got the sense she wasn’t really seeing them. “Gasoline and fertilizer are too common, too likely to be in anyone’s garage. Finding the person who laid the groundwork for the explosion is like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

During his fifteen years as a hotshot, at the first sign of trouble Logan immediately sprang into action. He used his body, his tools, and his brain to fight deadly blazes. But this time things were different. Instead of battling fire, he was up against an arsonist. One who was out for blood.

“Thanks for the help, David,” Maya said, pushing back her chair without touching her food. “I need to get going, need to check a few things out.”

Logan stood up and threw down forty dollars as David handed Maya a printout of his results.

“Keep the faith. You’ll find out who did this. And you’ll stop them before they do it again. I’ll stick around the house the rest of the weekend if you need me to test something else.”

Maya gave him a weak smile as she took the lab paperwork then walked beside Logan to his truck. “I appreciate you hooking me up with David,” she said when they were alone again, in the front seat. “And thanks for going above and beyond the call of duty today, first with the fire, now with this.” She looked him in the eye. “But you need to stop wasting your time helping me, and get a lawyer, Logan.”

What the hell? She’d told him she believed him.

She put her hand on his arm. “I know you didn’t do it. But this is a small town. How many gas stations are there nearby, without driving all the way downtown?”

“One.”

“How many places to get fertilizer?”

“One.” He knew exactly where she was going. “And if the gas and fertilizer in my garage come from the same lots as the ones David just tested and my name is already on the suspect list …”

She finished his sentence. “It’ll look like you did it.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MAYA HAD come to Tahoe to prove Logan’s guilt, and he’d completely turned the tables on her.

Now she was certain of not only his innocence, but his compassion and understanding as well.

He was far too perfect, and far too difficult to resist.

She looked up, suddenly, and realized she hadn’t told him where she wanted him to take her. “Where are you going?”

“To my house to get those fertilizer and gasoline samples.”

No. She didn’t want to go there, didn’t want to pick up any evidence that could possibly link Logan to the crime.

But she knew he was right. If there was a chance that they could definitively rule him out, she could call McCurdy and get him to officially end Logan’s suspension.

She needed Logan to promise her one thing first, though. “If it turns out your samples are a match, promise me you’ll get a lawyer.”

Stuck behind a big tour bus, he took his eyes off the road and looked her in the eye. “I’ll do it, but you’ll come with me.”