Wild Heat (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #1)(63)
Author: Bella Andre

She kicked her shoes off as she walked toward the clear blue water. The sky had lost its look of dark gloom, the clouds quickly shaking off the gray to return to their usual bleached-white glory. She was finally ready to take in the beauty all around her.

She listened to the water lapping up on the shore, watched a couple of toddlers giggle as they rolled in the sand, and then someone was saying her name and she turned around and saw Logan standing right behind her.

Her heart pounded like crazy, just like it had the first time she’d seen him six months earlier, standing in the doorway of the bar; just like it had five days ago when he’d pulled off his helmet after running up the mountain and she’d realized he was the man she was after; just like it had when they’d finally made love and she’d known love was exactly what she felt for him.

Deep, unending love.

She drank in the sight of him. He was so beautiful, so big and strong.

And he was alive.

But even though she was desperate to be alone with him, to tell him everything that was in her heart, naked and in his arms instead of standing in the middle of a public beach, she needed closure first.

“What happened to Jenny? Is she going to die?”

Logan’s eyes were dark with regret. “Sam found her. She was badly burned, but still breathing. The doctors don’t think she’ll live without life support.” He paused. “And she’s pregnant.”

“She told me she was pregnant when I was taped to the tree,” Maya said, swallowing hard, vividly remembering the horrific scene. “She was going to tell everyone it was your baby.”

“I should have guessed. I should have known what she was plotting.”

“No one could have known,” Maya said firmly. “She was a jealous woman who went over the edge. I wouldn’t have picked her out of a crowd.”

He moved closer. “Every time I think of you with her, I go a little crazy.”

“I’m not going to say I wasn’t scared, because I was.” She smiled at him. “But I was never worried. Not for a single second. Because the best damn hotshot in the world was coming for me.”

She didn’t want to talk anymore, so she launched herself at him, knocking them both down into the sand. He pressed a row of kisses along her jawline.

“I’m glad you’re still here,” he whispered into her ear, sending shivers up her spine.

He rolled them over so that the warm sand was at her back and he was blocking the sunlight with his beautiful face. She wasn’t confused anymore. All she wanted was Logan. Forever.

“I love you,” she said, the words falling from her tongue so easily. And then they were kissing again, and she was whispering the same three all-important words between their kisses, wanting to tell him a hundred times, a thousand times that she loved him, to make up for her earlier reticence, her confusion.

“So many times, I wanted to tell you I loved you.” She needed to explain everything to him, knowing that she could admit her weaknesses, that he would still love her. “I was so scared. I still am.”

“No,” he told her as he stroked her arms, her back, her hair. “You’re the bravest woman I know. The strongest.”

“I didn’t want to love you. I didn’t want to love any firefighter, ever again. I thought my mother was crazy sitting by the phone. Waiting. How could she think my father wouldn’t come back? He was my hero. I thought he was invincible.”

“He was.”

“He wasn’t, Logan. He died.”

“And before that day came he loved you with everything he had. So did your brother.”

The way he was looking at her, like she was the only woman he’d ever loved—like she was the only woman he would love for the rest of time—made her tremble with desire. And something so much deeper, so much stronger.

“I’ve always loved you, Maya, from the first moment I saw you, when you demanded a drink, then decided kissing me was better than getting drunk.”

She stared at him, surprised by his revelation. “You couldn’t have. I was a mess.”

“You were beautiful. As soon as I touched you I knew you were mine.”

It had been the same for her. “That day in the bar,” she whispered, “you were all that stood between me and—”

“I know, sweetheart. You don’t need to tell me.”

“But I do,” she insisted. “You were a flash of light in the darkness. The only person who could help me find my way out.”

“You would have found your way without me, Maya. I’m the one who needed you. I was running. Just like you. Every day, I was afraid of losing control, afraid of what would happen if I did.”

“I like it when you lose control,” she teased.

He smiled and she pressed her fingertips against his beautiful lips.

“That’s just it,” he said softly, his words a sensuous caress. “I can lose control with you, Maya. You make everything right. Perfect.”

She couldn’t stand to keep her mouth off of him for another second, so she caught a handful of his T-shirt in her fist and pulled him closer, a repeat performance of their first kiss.

His grin was swift and then his mouth was on hers and his tongue was in her mouth, tasting her, branding her as no man ever had.

“Marry me,” he said later that night when they were finally alone and she was cradled in his arms, and she whispered “Yes” to the only man on earth for whom she would have dared risk everything.