Hot Seduction (9 page)

She knew that was part of the job. “You've been in Northern Lakes a lot this summer.”

“Because of the arsonist,” he said.

“He hasn't set any more fires,” she said. At least none that she'd heard about. “Maybe he's stopped...”

“Hopefully,” he said, but he sounded doubtful. “I'd hate to leave before he's caught.”

She tensed. “Leave?”

“I'm going to be interviewing for another job,” he said, “for a smoke jumper position that operates out of a base camp in Washington.”

“You would leave the Huron Hotshots.” She thought he was close to his coworkers. Even though they relentlessly needled each other, there was also affection apparent between them.

“It's always been my goal to be a smoke jumper,” he said. “I just had to put in a couple of seasons as a Hotshot to get the experience necessary for the position.”

She'd been such an idiot for sleeping with him, and she didn't have the excuse of still being drunk. He'd made it clear from the beginning that he wasn't staying. But now that she'd slept with him, she wanted to do it again.

And again...

But that would only put her at greater risk of falling in love with him. And she couldn't do that because then it would break her heart when he left—just like he'd warned her.

She had no one but herself to blame.

11

C
ODY
WASN
'
T
SURE
what he'd expected after sleeping with Serena. But he'd at least hoped to do it again. Instead she'd frozen him out. She hadn't let him close to her since that hot, amazing morning when they'd had sex.

That was all it had been. Had she wanted more? Had she thought he'd declare his undying love and stick around—to help her with the house?

He wasn't that kind of guy. As he'd told her, he didn't get why she was so upset about the place. It was just a house, though clearly it meant a lot to her because it had been in her family so long.

But it was also a money pit. Once she'd had the air-conditioning fixed, the roof had started leaking. He wasn't sure why she wanted to hang on to a place that was so old it was falling apart.

She was too young to tie herself down. She hadn't been out since that night she'd gone to the Filling Station.

Of course it had only been a few days. But that seemed like an eternity to him. He had to go to town to get away from her because being around her and not being with her, inside her...

That was driving him crazy. He'd never been so on edge—so achy and needy. He knew now how it could be between them—how wild and wonderful...

So why didn't she want to do it again?

Hadn't she enjoyed it?

Maybe he should have taken more time—given her more orgasms. He could if she gave him another chance. But he was too proud to ask, to force his attention on someone who clearly didn't want it.

Annie begged for attention, bouncing beside him as he walked to his truck. Stanley was already at the firehouse, washing trucks. It was just his summer job until he would start college in the fall. He was working to pay his tuition. Cody would find a way to help him out with what he couldn't afford, just like he'd helped him out with his room and board. Serena had been instrumental in that, though.

She had understood his need to help Stanley, even though Cody wasn't certain he understood it. Maybe it was because when Stanley had come to that last group home Cody felt like a big brother to him.

Yeah, he would find some way to help the kid with tuition—even if he had to force a loan on him. Cody had money. As a Hotshot, he worked crazy overtime. And because the US Forest Service had provided a cabin, he'd had few expenses. Just his truck.

He climbed into it now and slid the key in the ignition. Braden and the assistant superintendents were given US Forest Service trucks to drive, but Cody preferred having his own. He'd put a lift kit on it and jacked it up. With its big tires and clearance, it could get through parts of the forest that the official trucks could not.

Those tires spun in the muddy driveway as he headed away from the house. He'd had enough of Serena's silent treatment. She was clearly mad at him.

That was fine. They would never see eye to eye on the house or his need to travel. So it was good that he would be leaving soon. He just had to check in at the firehouse before taking off to Washington for that interview.

Maybe he should have told her he'd be gone for a while. But she hadn't been receptive to any of his other attempts at conversation.

Or at anything else...

Had she seen him leaving with his bag?

He glanced back at the house. But he couldn't see it through the trees. He could have turned around, gone back and told her.

But instead he revved the engine and tore out of the driveway onto the street, tires squealing and mud flying behind him. He was mad now. He was mad that she was mad.

He'd been straight with her from the beginning. He'd told her that they were a bad idea. But she'd wanted to make love with him. Of course she'd been drunk then. She hadn't turned him down the next morning, though—when she'd sobered up.

Still...

He could have just brought her the coffee and aspirin and left. He was the one who'd initiated the sex, who wanted more.

Hell, he wasn't upset at her. He was disgusted with himself for being such an idiot. He didn't often get mad anymore, not like when he'd been a kid quick to anger. His temper was probably why they'd moved him so often. So he'd learned to control it. For the most part.

But when his temper flared, he felt like that hothead again. His foot pressed harder on the accelerator. He was the teenager who'd driven too fast, too carelessly—who'd wrecked cars.

He eased his foot off as the road curved. He wasn't that hothead anymore. He was older. Wiser.

But the truck didn't slow down. He moved his foot from the accelerator to the brake. But the pedal hit the floor with no resistance—with no effect.

The brakes were gone. And the curve was too sharp for him to maneuver at this speed. He cursed and braced himself for the crash he wouldn't be able to avoid.

* * *

S
ERENA
CURSED
HERSELF
. She'd been such a bitch to Cody since that morning he'd given her pleasure like she'd never felt before.

It wasn't his fault that he didn't care about the house. He'd never had a home, so how could she expect him to understand and commiserate with her about the possibility of losing hers?

But that wasn't the only reason she'd frozen him out. She hadn't wanted to get used to him being around and making love with her when she knew he wasn't going to stay. But she hadn't expected him to leave so soon. He'd been carrying his duffel bag with him when he'd left the house.

She always respected her boarders' privacy. But Cody wasn't just a boarder—not after that morning. He was her lover, too. Or he would be if she hadn't been such a bitch. So she ignored her flash of guilt as she reached for the doorknob of his room. She'd brought the key, but she didn't need it. The knob turned easily.

Of course he wouldn't have bothered locking it behind him if he'd moved out. He wouldn't have left anything for anyone to take. Not that he'd brought much stuff with him anyway. He traveled light so he could travel easily.

He'd told her that, too.

She stepped inside the room. The bed wasn't made; the sheets were tangled as if, like she had, he'd struggled to sleep. She had washed her sheets, but she could still smell him in her bed, still feel his arms around her, whenever she tried to sleep.

She could smell him in his room. She found herself picking up his pillow from the floor. She held it against her chest. But it wasn't like holding him.

He'd left some things on the side table. A watch. A phone case. A picture. She picked up the frame and stared at all the smiling faces of the Hotshot team.

Did he really intend to leave them? To leave Northern Lakes?

Probably. But she didn't suspect today was the day. He'd left too much behind—at least for him—to have moved out. He would come back.

Wouldn't he?

He'd left his window open, too—the curtain rustled in the breeze. Once she'd fixed the air conditioner, the heat wave had broken. It had rained, too. Maybe that had cooled down the temperature.

The rain had made the driveway muddy and the roads slick. Through that open window, she heard the sound of a crash—the sickening crunch of metal and the blare of a car horn. It could have been someone else.

But Cody had just left. So she knew it had to be him. As if Annie knew, too, she began to howl. Serena rushed down the stairs and out the front door. Her car was parked where Fiona and Wyatt had left it when they'd driven it back for her a few days ago.

The keys dangled from the ignition. She started the car and tore out of the driveway—just like Cody had moments ago. She should have stopped, grabbed her purse. She didn't care that she didn't have her driver's license, but maybe she would need her phone to call for help.

At least she had a first aid kit in the trunk. She knew to always have that with her. She was afraid she would need it, especially as she turned the corner and saw the crash site. There were no skid marks on the road. It was like he'd just missed the curve and driven off into the trees. The front of the truck was crumpled against the thick trunk of one—steam rising from beneath its hood.

She pulled off to the shoulder of the road and threw open her door. “Cody!”

Was he okay? Could he hear her?

She hurried over to the truck, worried that she would find him slumped over the wheel. Or worse yet, with his head smashed through the broken windshield. His truck was too old to be equipped with air bags. He'd had no protection when he'd hit the tree head-on like he had.

Her heart pounded fast and frantically. She was so scared that she might have lost him. She braced herself before looking through the broken driver's door window. But the truck was empty. His door was crumpled but the passenger door stood open.

“Cody!” she yelled for him again.

He came around the side of the vehicle, blood trickling from his forehead like it had the night she'd found him on the bathroom floor. She reached out for the wound, her fingertips touching a jagged piece of glass. She needed her first aid kit.

But she didn't want to leave his side—not until she was certain he wouldn't pass out. He obviously had another head wound. What about internal injuries?

He could have broken his ribs on the steering wheel; he could have ruptured organs.

“Are you okay?” she anxiously asked him. “Did you lose consciousness?”

Maybe that was why he'd crashed. Maybe he hadn't fully recovered. Maybe he shouldn't have been driving yet.

“No,” he said. “I'm fine.” He didn't look fine, though. In addition to being bloody, his face was flushed and his green eyes bright with anger.

“What happened?” She hadn't seen any other vehicle, but that didn't mean that someone hadn't driven him off the road. She'd come around these curves a lot of times and nearly struck someone who had veered across the line into her lane. Usually because they had been preoccupied with a phone call or a text message.

A muscle twitched in his cheek as he clenched his jaw. He was very angry.

“What happened?” she asked again.

He nearly spit out the words when he replied, “My brakes went out.”

If it had been a mechanical malfunction, she doubted he would be as mad as he was. There was more to the crash than that. But when she pressed him for more details, he only shook his head.

He wasn't going to share with her what he really thought had happened. Maybe it was because he was mad that she hadn't been talking to him. Or maybe it was because he didn't want to scare her.

But it was too late for that.

Serena was terrified because of how she had felt in those moments when she hadn't known whether or not he had survived the crash. She had been more than upset; she'd been devastated.

Despite his warnings, had she already fallen for Cody Mallehan?

12

E
VEN
A
COUPLE
of days later and more than half the country away from her, Cody continued to be haunted by Serena's face. He paced across the concrete floor of the old airport hangar, but all he could see was how terrified she had looked when she'd peered inside his truck. Her naturally tanned skin had been pale, her dark eyes wide with fear. She'd been worried about him in a way that Cody couldn't remember anybody else ever having worried about him.

But she was Serena. She cared about everyone. It was just her nature. Even if she had been mad at him, she still cared. She'd even offered to drive him to the airport when he'd told her about his interview.

Had that been to help him out, though? Or because she wanted him gone now?

He couldn't blame her. But she didn't know what he suspected—that someone had cut his brakes. She didn't know his suspicion that the same someone had tampered with his bathtub. He'd told her that he'd accused Stanley of hazing him. But he hadn't told her what he believed now—that the arsonist was trying to take him out.

Of course he had no proof. So he hadn't shared this with her, or with anyone else. Yet.

He shouldn't have left. He should have postponed his interview until he knew what the hell was really going on in Northern Lakes. He shouldn't have left her alone.

But his truck was old. Maybe the brake line had just rotted out. It was possible. Doubtful given the care he'd always taken with the classic Ford. But possible.

He paced the length of the airport hangar. Metal shelves, filled with parachutes and packs of tools and supplies, lined the walls. This was it: the smoke jumpers' base in North Cascades, Washington. This was where it had all begun—where smoke jumping had started. He'd been there before, so maybe that was why he wasn't as excited as he'd been then. He had already built up his hopes once to have them dashed when he'd been deemed not experienced enough to be a jumper.

Mack McRooney was late for their meeting. But that wasn't why Cody paced. He paced because he was waiting for a call. He took out his phone again and glanced at the screen. He had good enough reception that he couldn't have missed it.

Impatience churned in his stomach. How long was it taking the mechanic to get to his truck? Sure, it probably wasn't repairable. He already suspected that much, but that wasn't the news he waited for. The phone vibrated in his hand, and he nearly dropped it as he hurriedly pressed the button to accept the call. “Yes, what did you find out?”

“That was no accident, man.” The mechanic's voice shook with the excitement that Cody struggled to feel. “That brake line was sliced clean. Somebody cut it on purpose.”

Cody wasn't excited. He was pissed. And scared, not for himself, but for Serena. He'd left her alone in the house she never bothered to lock. He needed to get back to Northern Lakes.

“Do you want me to call the police for you?” the mechanic asked.

“I will,” Cody said. He should have at the crash site. Serena had wanted to. But then he'd told her about the interview. Her skin had paled—like it had when she'd walked up to his truck. But she'd agreed that the police might not come out for a single-vehicle accident.

But now he knew it wasn't an accident at all. Someone had deliberately caused him to crash. “Save the brake line for me,” he told the mechanic.

“That's about all I can save, man. The truck...”

It was a total loss. Cody was lucky that was all he'd lost. Worse yet, what if Serena had been in the truck with him? He shuddered to think what could have happened to her. What might—if he wasn't home to protect her.

“I'm gonna try to find a front clip for it, but with how old it is, it's hard to find parts for...”

“I know,” Cody said. “It's fine.”

“Hope you had insurance.”

Replacing the truck was the least of his concerns at the moment. “I need to go,” Cody said.

He was no longer alone. Mack McRooney—the bald-headed mountain of a man—had joined him in the airport hangar. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said.

Cody clicked off his phone and slipped it back in his pocket. His hand was shaking slightly—from the confirmation that someone was after him—as he held it out to Mack.

“No need to be nervous,” Mack said. “You and I have been through this before. You already know what I'm going to ask you.” He pointed at Cody's head. “What the hell happened to you?”

He shook his head. “Nothing I can't handle.” He was going to damn well find out who'd been causing his little accidents. But he had a sick feeling that he already knew. The arsonist was targeting him now.

With Cody gone, would he come after him another way? Would he come after the woman who...

What was Serena to him? The woman he'd slept with once, but who'd avoided him since? Maybe she would be safe. Maybe the arsonist wouldn't realize what she meant to Cody—since Cody wasn't even sure what she meant to him.

Too much...

She meant too much.

* * *

“S
O
HAS
B
RADEN
called you?” Fiona asked as she leaned over the island in Serena's kitchen.

Serena didn't look up; she focused on the carrots she chopped on the butcher-block cutting board. In high school shop class, she'd made the board for her mother, who'd treasured it like one of the many antiques in the house. “Braden?”

“Braden Zimmer,” Fiona said. “Wyatt's boss. You two seemed to hit it off the other night. I wish Cody would have let
him
drive you home.”

She was glad he hadn't. She had made enough of a fool of herself with Cody. But he hadn't seemed to mind. He had taken care of her that night. And then the next morning, he'd
really
taken care of her.

Her skin tingled and heated as she remembered the way he'd touched her, the way he'd kissed her...

She had relived over and over again the sensation of his tongue inside her and then his cock...

She had never had orgasms as powerful as the ones he'd given her. Her body felt hot and achy with need for more. For Cody...

“Yeah,” Fiona said. “Braden should have driven you home.”

“It would have been out of his way,” Serena said.

“I don't think he would have minded,” Tammy said as she joined them in the kitchen. She'd just finished putting the purple streaks in Mrs. Gulliver's hair and helping her back to her room. “He seemed to really like you.”

She shrugged. “I don't know.” Mostly because she didn't remember anything but Cody. She couldn't get him out of her mind. She kept thinking about how thoroughly he'd made love to her. And she kept thinking about the other morning when he'd crashed into that tree.

“Trust me,” Fiona said. “Braden likes you. And that's huge after what he's been through.”

“What's that?”

Had he grown up like Cody had—in a series of foster homes, never staying anyplace for long? Her heart ached for Cody's horrible childhood and his lack of stability. Serena hadn't had a father, but she'd been lucky to have an amazing mother, grandmother and extended family.

“Braden just survived a particularly nasty divorce,” Fiona said. “His wife—ex-wife—cheated on him, left him for that man and then heartlessly invited him to attend their wedding.”

Tammy cussed. “What a bitch!”

At Tammy's shrill outburst, Annie lifted her head from her paws. She was sprawled at Serena's feet—as usual. Drool had pooled onto the hardwood floor beneath her jowls. Serena really hadn't intended to let the dog into the house. But she'd fallen for Annie like she was afraid she was falling for Cody.

“I wasn't talking about you,” Tammy told the dog. “You're not a bitch—at least not like Braden's ex is.”

“So has he called you?” Fiona persisted.

Serena shook her head. “But then I didn't give him my number.” At least she didn't think she had. Parts of that night were particularly fuzzy—like how her bra had wound up on the floor. She remembered taking off Cody's belt and shirt and her blouse and skirt. But the bra...

“I gave him your number,” Fiona said. “And I told him to call you.”

Irritation made Serena's voice a little sharp when she replied, “You shouldn't have done that.”

“Why not?” Fiona obviously couldn't see the problem. “He's a really nice guy.”

“I have another really nice guy who wants to go out with me, too.” Gordon had called; he'd wanted to make certain that turning her down for a loan hadn't ruined his chances of dating her.

“Cody?” Tammy snorted. “He's not a nice guy.”

“Yes, he is,” she defended him.

“He's Cody the Cad,” Tammy said. “You can't trust a player like him.”

Serena's stomach lurched as a possibility occurred to her. “Were you two ever involved?”

Tammy laughed. “No way. I know better than to flirt with guys like him.” She narrowed her eyes and studied Serena's face. “Oh, no...”

“Oh, no, what?” Fiona asked as she looked back and forth between Serena and Tammy. “What happened?”

Serena shook her head. She wasn't about to share what had happened between her and Cody. It wasn't anyone else's business—not even her best friends'. “I don't know what she's talking about.”

“You and Cody—something happened,” Tammy persisted. “You think he's a nice guy.”

She did. But she wasn't going to admit that either. “He's not who I was talking about,” she said. “Gordon Townsend has been calling me.”

“He turned you down for a loan,” Tammy said, as if she needed the reminder.

She was very well aware of that. “Yes, and he feels terrible about it.”

“Terrible enough to reconsider?” Tammy wondered.

She hadn't thought about that. But maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to him again. She had no other choice but to sell the house. While Cody didn't think that would be a big deal, it would destroy her. It would be like losing her mother all over again. She could hear her laugh in this kitchen, hear it echoing off the beams of the adjoining hearth room. When Serena sat on the front porch, sometimes the swing would move as if someone was sitting on it—as if Mama was still there. Or Grandma...

She could feel them all inside this house—all the family who'd lived here before her. And even though Courtney had been gone for years, she could feel her in the house, too—could remember playing with her twin at their mama's feet where Annie was sprawled now.

Would Gordon reconsider and give her a loan?

“I don't know.” She doubted that he could, since her circumstances hadn't changed. But maybe he could tell her what she needed to change.

“But he's the reason you don't want to go out with Braden?” Fiona persisted.

She didn't want to go out with Braden because she wasn't interested. Because he didn't make her pulse quicken or her skin tingle...

Gordon didn't do either of those things to her either.

Only Cody did...

“I'm sure he's great,” Serena replied. “But I have too much going on right now to get involved with anyone.”

“Well, I'm glad you weren't calling Cody nice,” Tammy said. “I figured you were too smart to fall for his charms.”

Apparently she wasn't because she truly believed he was a good guy—even though he didn't want anyone else to know it. Still a little irritated, Serena remarked, “And I figured you would know better than to judge someone by their reputation.”

Tammy's face flushed. “Hey...”

But Tammy couldn't deny it. She had a reputation for being a flirt, too. Some people thought she did more than flirt, but they would be wrong. They didn't know Tammy like Serena did. Not that it would matter if she did.

“I know you're mostly just talk,” Serena teased her.

Tammy shrugged. “You know me. You don't know Cody.”

Serena suspected she knew him better than most people did. She knew about his childhood—or lack of one. And she knew what he did for Stanley even though Stanley didn't know.

“I don't see his truck out front,” Tammy said. “He must be out with some woman now.”

He was in another state—at a job interview. But since she wasn't certain if anyone else on his Hotshot team was aware of that, she kept her silence. She was getting used to keeping Cody's secrets. The only thing she knew she wouldn't be able to keep was Cody.

He hadn't moved out yet. But he was leaving. Even if he didn't get the smoke jumper job, she doubted he would stick around. Moving was all he knew.

And staying was all she knew. But would she be able to continue living in the house where she'd grown up? Or would she have to sell it to satisfy her sister's lawsuit?

At the moment she was less upset about losing the house than she was at the thought of how close she had come to losing Cody.

If he'd hit that tree a little harder...

He could have been killed. He could have been killed when he'd fallen in the shower, too. Since moving into the boardinghouse, he'd had two really close calls. Was that a coincidence? Or was something else going on?

Was he in danger?