“My land, my crew, my responsibility,” Eric said. “I should have been out there with you. How bad is it?”
“We’re going to need to put in a fire line,” Liam said. “I called the fire department and the department of forestry on my way here. They’re going to come at it from one side, and I told the chief I’d talk to you about cutting the line on the other.”
Georgia bit her lip. Cutting a fire line meant felling trees to stop the flames from jumping, and digging a trench. It would take all night, probably well into tomorrow. She knew the men would work fast to keep the fire from spreading. She prayed it would be enough to keep the neighboring communities safe.
But either way it would be a while before Eric came home again, longer before they had a chance to talk about what had happened earlier.
Eric headed for the hall. “I need to change into work clothes. Wait here and then we’ll go.”
Liam turned to her, his brown eyes filled with concern. “You sure you’re OK? You don’t look like yourself.”
No, she wasn’t OK. Not even close. “Just thinking about all those people who might be forced to leave their homes.”
Liam’s mouth formed a grim line. “We’re going to do everything we can to keep them safe.”
“I know you will,” she said.
His eyes narrowed. “Are you sure there isn’t something else bothering you?”
There was. The emotional fallout from one mind-blowing orgasm. But she wasn’t about to share that fact with her brother. And compared with a forest fire, her problems seemed small and irrelevant.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Have you been sleeping?” Liam asked. “Are you having nightmares again?”
“I’m sleeping,” she said. Sometimes.
Not much scared her now. Not jumping out of planes or driving too fast. But sleep? The nightmares were so vivid, so terrifying, she often woke barely able to breathe. And those were the good nights.
When she’d been living with Liam, there had been times when she hadn’t woken up fast enough. The nightmares had held tight to her, and she’d screamed her heart out. He’d ripped her away from the dreams, begging her to wake up. If her screams terrified a grown man like Liam, what would a small boy like Nate do if he heard them?
Georgia didn’t want to find out. Since she’d moved in with Eric, she’d done her best to sleep only when thoroughly exhausted and then only for a few hours at a time. So far, it had worked. To be safe, she’d also asked for a room on the other side of the house from Nate. In Eric’s sprawling timber-frame home, it was a simple request to accommodate.
“I’m fine, Liam,” she said. “Don’t worry about me. You have a fire to deal with. Focus on staying safe.”
“Always,” Liam said.
Eric strode into the room. He’d traded his tailored office clothes for a pair of faded jeans and plaid flannel, sleeves rolled up to reveal the strong muscles of his forearms.
“I’ll ride with you,” he said to Liam. “While you drive, I’ll call and have the chopper ready. A flyover will give us a better idea where to put the line and set up the base camp. And I’ll call the crews. We’ll take shifts.” Then Eric turned to her. “You’ll have to get Nate up, fed, and ready for school.”
Georgia nodded. She could do all of those things. She didn’t want him worrying about Nate while out cutting trees in the middle of the night with a forest fire bearing down on him and his men.
“But I’ll be back to take him to school,” Eric said.
“I can do it.”
Eric shook his head. “I’ll be here.”
The men headed for the front door and Georgia followed. Eric paused, waiting for her brother to step out into the night, before turning back to her.
“Georgia,” he said softly, “when I get back, we need to talk.”
She waited until he disappeared into the darkness before shaking her head. Talking was the last thing she wanted to do. She needed things to go back to the way they were before she’d walked into his room and dropped her towel—before an emotional tidal wave had threatened the walls she’d constructed around her feelings, destroying the sense of security that kept her going from one day to the next. And she had to keeping going. She’d lived. She owed it to those who didn’t make it to find her way forward, not fall apart.
BY SEVEN ON Tuesday morning, Eric was running on fumes. He’d worked through the night, felling trees alongside his crew. If they held off the fire, he’d come back and salvage the downed trunks for timber. It wasn’t ideal. Nothing about a raging forest fire was.
He walked through the base camp and nodded hello to the men, who raised their hands in greeting, but he didn’t stop to talk. Smoke hung heavy in the air, and there was no mistaking the smell of burning fir trees. The mood at the camp was solemn, and no one expected chitchat. In the distance, he could see the fire jumping from the crown of one tree to the next.
It was heartbreaking to watch. His grandfather had bought this land, and Eric had grown up caring for those trees. He’d worked alongside his father, limbing them to prevent something like this from happening. One damn spark and it all went up in flames.
Eric looked away, scanning the camp. Volunteers had set up a table with to-go boxes of coffee, bottled water, and food. He headed over. If he was going to take Nate to school, he needed caffeine.
“Hey, man, you headed out?” Liam asked.
He must be more exhausted than he thought. He hadn’t noticed his friend’s approach. Eric nodded, filling a paper cup with lukewarm coffee.
“You might want to come straight back. The wind is changing directions,” Liam said. “The fire chief is talking about evacuating homes to the east.”
“I heard. Talked to him an hour ago. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He had to get Nate settled first.
Liam nodded. “If you have a chance, check in with Georgia. She seemed off last night. I’m afraid she is going to do something stupid.”
Too late for that. She’d found her latest rush. Him. Part of him was glad Georgia had come to him. It was physically safer than jumping out of planes, and the thought of her hitting on some random guy . . . damn, that felt like a punch to the gut. But hell, for all he knew, she’d been seeing half the men in the valley since she’d been home.
“I’ll check on her,” Eric said, stirring his coffee. He felt like a teenager, but he had to ask. “Do you know if she is seeing someone?”
The muscles in Liam’s jaw jumped. “She better not be. She’s not ready for that. If you hear different, tell me.”
Eric looked off into the distance where the orange flames danced on the tops of the trees: a physical reminder of how one mistake could destroy something that had taken decades to grow, like a friendship.
“I’ll beat the crap out of any man who tries to take advantage of her right now,” Liam added. “You’d do the same.”
“I would.” But not for the same reasons. Eric had taken advantage all right. Sure, she’d come on to him, dropping her towel in his bedroom. But he should have walked away. And shit, he should tell Liam. The guilt was one more thing weighing him down.
“Keep an eye on her for me,” Liam said. “She barely listens to me. But you? She’ll pay attention.”
His mind flashed to the image of Georgia on her knees heeding his commands. She’d listened. And if Liam found out, he’d have his balls.
“I’ve got to get going,” Eric said.
He headed for the makeshift parking area. Since he’d ridden over with Liam last night, he’d arranged for one of his crew to leave a company truck for him. After working through the night, driving would take all of his attention. He’d caught an hour of sleep at the base camp his men had set up and had woken up hard, dreaming about replacing Georgia’s hands with his mouth. He ached to taste her. Instead, he had to go home, take Nate to school, and then tell his nanny last night had been a one-time thing.