Wild Heat (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #1)(58)
Author: Bella Andre

Maya pinched her eyes shut as Jenny moved closer. Back when she’d lost her father and brother, she’d wanted to die. But now she wanted to live, if only to see Logan’s face one more time, to feel his heart beating steady and strong beneath her cheek.

A roar sounded to her left and she opened her eyes just in time to see Logan flying through the air, his hands clamping around Jenny’s waist as he dragged her to the ground.

Maya’s heart was in her throat as she watched the man she loved knock the roaring chainsaw off the side of the trail and wrestle Jenny into a prone position beneath him.

“Stop it, Logan. I love you,” Jenny cried.

He shifted his weight slightly in shock. “Did you start this wildfire to get back at me for not going out with you?”

Maya watched a tear seep out from beneath Jenny’s lashes as she said, “Dennis told me about Joseph’s problems. I knew you’d think he lit the fires. And I knew someone would see you putting them out.” Her tears stopped falling and she smiled a sick, twisted smile. “It was so easy to set you up. But I wasn’t going to kill you, Logan. I was going to comfort you.” Her smile turned to a scowl. “If she hadn’t shown up, that’s what I would have done.” She craned her neck up from the dirt to yell, “But you did, you stupid cunt. Because you wanted to f**k him too bad, couldn’t wait to drop to your knees and suck his dick, could you? That’s when I knew I needed to kill both of you.”

Logan’s low, hard voice interrupted the woman’s angry ramblings. “I could kill you for touching her.”

Spit flew from her mouth and slid down his cheek. “Fuck you, ass**le.”

His hand went around Jenny’s throat and even though Maya hated her more than anyone on earth, she couldn’t let Logan kill her. Not for her. Or Robbie. Or Tony. Or Connor.

No matter how much Jenny deserved it, Logan would be haunted by her death for the rest of his life. Maya couldn’t let it be one more thing Jenny took from him.

“Logan, please. Don’t. Let go of her.” She wasn’t sure if he could hear her, but she kept talking anyway. “I know she deserves to die, but not like this. She’ll get what she deserves. I promise. She’ll rot in prison for the rest of her life.”

She held her breath as she waited for him to decide. And then she realized he must have let up his grip, because Jenny started coughing.

He didn’t turn his face away from his unwilling hostage. “Are you all right? Did she hurt you?”

Maya’d certainly felt better, but she was alive. Thank God.

“I’m fine.”

She was about to tell him the duct tape was by his left foot so that he could restrain Jenny, when her shoulders and her hair suddenly felt like they were about to ignite. She looked up into the branches above her head and worked to contain her fear.

“Logan, this tree is on fire.”

He shifted his weight to look at her, and Jenny took advantage of his split-second distraction to wriggle away. She ran up the hill, as fast and nimble as a rabbit.

Logan squatted at her feet, ripping at Maya’s duct tape with his teeth and hands.

Seconds later he’d removed enough tape to set her free. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her out from beneath the tree, just before a loud crack sounded and it split in half.

“The fire will take care of her,” he said, and even as the fire threatened to overtake Maya, she shivered at the picture his words painted.

He pulled her down the trail; the smoke was so thick she couldn’t see farther than her elbow. She tripped and fell to her knees, and the next thing she knew, Logan’s arms were around her and he was carrying her through the smoke. She clung to his neck, knowing if she let go and they were separated, she’d be toast. She tried to take a breath, and choked on the thick haze of smoke.

“We’re going to get out of this,” he promised her in a low voice, and she believed him, even though all signs pointed to the opposite outcome.

Suddenly, another blaze appeared, a fireball rolling up the hill, straight toward them. Maya heard a squeak of fear emerge from her lips as the blaze illuminated their circle of hell. She tried to get closer to Logan, her heart racing.

“Hold on tight.”

He dropped down and pressed her into an indentation in the rock, pulling his fire-resistant jacket over his head and fanning it out to cover them both completely. It would buy them fifteen seconds, maybe twenty, in a flame front.

Her nose was jammed into his breastbone, and even though she could hardly breathe, even though she’d nearly been massacred by a madwoman with a chainsaw, she felt strangely safe.

Flames rolled over the trail and he said, “Scream,” so she started yelling. It was the only way to keep the fiery gases from scorching her lungs, but she would have screamed anyway, as she felt a sphere of fire roll straight toward them.

She braced for impact, tried to somehow prepare herself to be burned alive, when the fireball rammed into the rock and exploded. She didn’t know how long Logan held her as her entire body shook. Of everything that had happened so far, this was by far the scariest. Jenny’s bombs and house fires were crazy, but nature was wholly unpredictable.

Logan pulled her against him and she’d never been happier to feel his strong arms circle her body. She scrunched his sweat-soaked shirt in her hands, burrowed her face into the hard wall of his chest.

“Thank you,” she finally said, the words “I love you” still stuck on the tip of her tongue.

God, why couldn’t she just say it already? He was the man she’d been waiting for all her life. And yet, in the circle of his arms, she was more scared than she’d ever been.

He cupped her jaw in his hand and covered her mouth with his, sweeping his tongue inside to mate with hers. Without words, his kiss told her how afraid he’d been of losing her, how much he loved her.

“We need to get out of here. Do you think you can walk?” he asked gently.

She nodded, her throat clogged with a full range of emotions: Fear. Love. Confusion.

He helped her to her feet and put an arm around her waist, holding her close as they headed downhill. Five minutes later they were finally able to see the blue sky and breathe in fresh air again. She sucked it into her starving lungs as they picked up their pace on the steep downhill grade. Logan never let go, never let her stumble.

Several minutes later when they were in a much safer spot, he carefully ran his hands over her face, her neck, her shoulders, her wrists.

“Damn her for touching you,” he said against her lips.

Maya threaded her hands into his slightly singed hair and kissed him. She’d never get enough of him, would never want to stop kissing him. But this wasn’t the time and place for making love.