Page 31 of Smokin' Situation

Walking us to a nearby underwater rock ledge along the side of the spring, I turned and sat down, framing her face with my palms while I deepened the kiss, my tongue tangling with hers in the steam rising off the water.

“Mmm,” she hummed, rocking in my lap, her pussy sliding over me in a way that threatened to end things much sooner than either of us wanted. It’d been months since I’d been with a woman, and she was too alluring. My own personal siren sent to drag me to the depths of temptation.

Skating my lips along the side of her neck, I gently bit her ear, groaning when she thrust her hips down, arching backward with a gasp. Urging her forward, I kissed along the side of her neck, whispering in her ear. “You ready to talk now?”

“Now?” she whimpered, running her fingers through my damp hair.

Leaning back, I grasped the sides of her waist, halting the distracting rocking before I did something reckless, like fucking her in this hot spring bare. “While I would love to continue exploring where this is going, I don’t have protection with me. And I don’t think we should go there yet.”

She nodded, swallowing hard as she took a shuddery breath. Her legs unlocked from my waist, and I turned her, urging her to lean back against my chest. Interlacing our fingers, I took a deep breath, trying to decide where I should start.

“A few months ago, I was involved in a search and rescue mission along the edge of the national park,” I began, enjoying how comfortable she seemed nestled against my chest. Maybe her solid presence would help me stay calm. “The trails in this section had been closed because of conditions after the snowmelt, so we had some hikers who decided to camp in a restricted area that was scheduled for a controlled grassfire burn by the forestry service.”

“They should have never been there,” I murmured, feeling my pulse spike as I thought back to the call we’d received from theburn team and the winds that’d battered my crew once we’d jumped. Rhey squeezed my hand, grounding me. “The burn team hadn’t seen signs of their camp when they ignited the first line. By the time they realized that the area wasn’t clear, the winds changed and then all hell broke loose.”

“The burn boss—they’re the person in charge of the controlled burn plan—had miscalculated and despite it being late winter, the fire jumped the tree line they’d built a break near. The hikers were trapped along the edge of a ravine.”

“We never should have taken the mission. Our entire outfit knew that the wind shear was dangerous, but we were running out of options. The rest of my crew jumped, but I came in too hot when the wind shifted. I ended up right on top of the fire and was prepared to adjust my course to overshoot the target, but I saw someone huddled down in the path.”

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm despite the barrage of images that were flickering through my mind of that damn purple dot through the smoke. The look of panic on that woman’s face when she saw how close the fire was to where she was stuck, paralyzed with fear. Me landing a few yards away in full gear, headed directly for her as fast as I could move down the hill with my gear on.

“Hey, come back to me,” a distant voice broke through my subconscious, and I blinked, making eye contact with Rhey as she gripped both sides of my face. “Breathe. You’re safe.”

Nodding, I drew in a ragged breath, trying to stem the sense of panic when my body recalled the piercing, sharp pain of the fire licking up my back. Rhey’s gentle touch and imploring eyes soothed the memories, so they didn’t take over.

“You don’t have to finish. It’s okay,” she whispered, stroking my cheeks with her thumbs.

“I managed to get her into my quick deploy fire shelter bag, but a wind gust took down a tree, pinning me in place when I tried to get further away from the fire,” I whispered, trying to breathe through the worst of the panic, her presence grounding me. “Mygear protected me from the worst of it, but the line came through too fast for them to get to me in time.”

Rhey’s chin quivered, tears springing to the corners of her eyes. Shaking my head, I looked away, knowing I’d fall apart if she did.

“It could have been much worse. I honestly thought I was a goner.” She sniffled, and I reached up, brushing a tear off her cheek. “The pain likely caused me to pass out, and I came to in the hospital a day later.”

Rhey leaned in, wrapping her arms around my neck and tucking her face into my neck. My fingers traced her back in aimless patterns. Her presence helped keep the panic from creeping in, her fingertips tracing the puckered scar tissue on the back of my neck.

“Overall, everyone was lucky. No one died. They got the fire under control before it did too much damage. But I—” my voice cracked, and I tried to choke down the emotions I’d been hiding from everyone for months. “But I knew it was my last jump. The thought of gearing up sent me into a full state of panic. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. The burns were extensive, but I only needed grafts in a few places where the seams on my gear had failed. Once I was discharged from the hospital, they offered to let me back on desk only duty until I was fully healed, but I had a panic attack in the parking lot.”

“I turned in my resignation from my specialist assignment the next day. I was a liability. They knew it, and so did I. An investigation was launched, so I had to relive it over and over as they took statements from everyone involved. When they told me I had to be cleared by the staff psychologist if I wanted to stay with the department, I complied, but talking about it just made the panic attacks worse. She diagnosed me with PTSD, and cleared me for light duty, but my heart wasn’t in it anymore.”

She leaned back, cupping my cheeks and kissing me softly. “I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t want your pit—” I said, shaking my head, but she held tight, interruptingme.

“Gratitude is the only thing I’m feeling right now,” she whispered, tracing the scar along my forehead where my helmet cut me after it’d taken the impact of the tree. It was still pink, not as angry as it’d been after the accident, but I’d never take my equipment for granted again. My gear saved my life. “If things had been different, you might not be here at all, much less with me right now.”

Gratitude had been elusive for a long time, anger and sadness ruling my emotions. The first three months had been a haze of depression and panic, my addled brain trying to cope with my entire life being sent into upheaval because of one decision I knew I’d make again if put in the same situation.

“Once I fully resigned, and they released me, I came back home. Moved in with some family, talked with the local fire department while I tried to find a job.” I took a deep breath, feeling the tension fading from my body as I focused on my surroundings. The warm water. The weight of the woman in my lap. The powerful body I still had, besides it being worse for wear.

“Are you planning to stay?” she asked, scooting back on my thighs and putting a little distance between our bodies.

“If you would have asked me last week, I wouldn’t have been able to give you a definitive answer.”

“And now?”

“Now,” I breathed, pulling her back in before I reached up to cup the sides of her neck with my palms. “I might be finding some reasons to stay.”

The sweet smile she gave me in return warmed my chest in a way I knew was dangerous, but for once, I was ready to let the fear of the unknown go to chase after what I wanted.

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