Page 20 of Burning Justice (Chasing Fire: Alaska #6)

“We’ll have more fires tomorrow.”

“Right,” Kane said. “Logan is out. Hammer can cover one slot, but we need alternates if anything else happens like Orion reinjuring himself. Now that you’re off the hotshots, he’s panicking.

He wants Mitch, Grizz, Raine, and Mack to join a group from the Bureau of Land Management, get absorbed into their crew, and he wants to strengthen numbers and get the smokejumpers on a good footing for the remainder of the season. ”

“He ordered you?”

“It was Hammer’s idea.” Kane glanced over, but with the lightning flashing and the rain coming down in sheets, he needed to keep his focus on the road. A peel of thunder rumbled the car. “Don’t be mad.”

“Why would I be mad? This is what you trained for. You’ve jumped out of how many planes with Delta Force?”

“We weren’t paratroopers, but we know how to jump.”

“There you go. It makes sense.”

Kane wasn’t so sure she was as okay with this as she was making out.

“One day after a bus crash where you’re all tossed around, and you’re jumping out of a plane. Makes perfect sense.”

There it was. “You know what we did. The kind of men we are.”

“It’s beginning to dawn on me.”

“As opposed to the one-woman save-the-world show?”

“You opted for the military. You chose that life.”

Kane grinned. “I like my backup next to me when I’m being shot at, not on the other end of the phone—or at a safe house on the other side of the city.”

“Made it easier to hide the fact I was looking for my father.”

Kane tapped the brake. “My ring.”

“What?”

“I dropped it in your dad’s pocket.”

“You saw my father ?”

He nearly smacked his head on the steering wheel. “We got your location, and we rushed out to find you. I forgot to tell Jade I put my ring in your dad’s pocket after he told me I’d better find you.”

“You need to get a new one,” she said. “Do not go out smokejumping into the middle of nowhere with no tracker ring. Promise me, Kane Foster.”

She seemed to be more worried about him right now than she was about her father.

Given what she’d been through, he expected her emotions to be all over the place. But the fact was, if she didn’t want to ask about her dad, she had a good reason.

Whatever it was, she cared more about his safety right now.

He reached over and took her good hand, lifted it, and planted a kiss on the back. “I promise I’ll be safe. I’m not going to tell you not to worry about me, because I know you will. But I’ll be okay. I’ll have the whole team to watch out for me.”

“While I’m sitting back in the cabin feeling sorry for myself, trying to open the peanut butter with one hand. Spending all day talking to Jubal because everyone else is busy saving the day.”

He kissed her hand again.

“That isn’t going to appease me. You aren’t going to be out there with no way for anyone to find you.

I’m not going to back down about this. You aren’t going to break my resolve.

” She started to laugh, but it quickly dissolved into great big body-racking sobs that made his heart feel like it was going to burst out of his chest.

Kane hit the brakes and steered to the side of the road. He threw the car into Park and unbuckled both of their seatbelts, then dragged her over the center console onto his lap.

“You can’t fix everything.”

“I can try.” He tugged her close, his arms around her, being careful of her injured hand.

If she put up a fight, it was only on principle and it didn’t last long. He wasn’t going to turn this into a battle, even though that was the way she was wired.

“Let go,” he said. She’d been holding on to all of it for so long she probably didn’t even know how. “Let it go.”

She sobbed, swiping her face with her good hand. “I don’t need to do anything. I’m not going to com-plain.” A sob interrupted her. “I’m not going to wail about how t-terrible it is. This is what I do. I s-survive this stuff.”

“I know.”

“I got myself out.”

“I know.”

“I killed that guy to get away because he gave me no choice.”

“I know.” He held on to her, rubbing a hand up and down her back. “You got out, and you hid long enough for me to find you.”

“I would’ve made it on my own.”

“But you didn’t have to.” Kane felt tears burn in his eyes. “You know I wouldn’t have left you out there alone.”

“I know.” She gripped a handful of his shirt and held on. “I knew you’d be there. All of you. That the Trouble Boys wouldn’t let me down.”

Her words settled in him with a note of disquiet.

She still saw the Trouble Boys as a team, drawing a line of distinction between her and them instead of considering her and him .

“The rest of the team isn’t here.” His arm settled around her waist, his hand on her hip. With the other, he touched her cheek. Swiped away a tear. “Just me. And you.”

“Kane.” She whispered his name.

“No matter what.”

“I know that.”

“Do you?” He needed an answer. She knew what he was asking. “I feel like I’m putting it all on the line, waiting for you to give a signal. A green light. I know it’s probably better to wait until the mission is over and we get our lives back. But I nearly lost you today.”

He’d seen Elias in that bus, dragging her away.

Kane had flashed back in his mind to being a captive of Elias and his men. Just for sport. Not for any other reason except that he could . Those men had entertained themselves by cutting and burning his back, shredding Kane down bit by bit while he’d plotted and planned how to escape.

But he hadn’t rescued himself. Not the way Maria had.

His team had come for him.

“I nearly lost you,” he said again.

Her breath caught in her throat. “You didn’t. I’m right here.” She leaned in, just a little. “With you.”

Kane’s hand tightened on her hip.

He waited.

She eased forward, bracing against his chest. Doing what she needed to do to keep her other hand from getting bumped. Maria leaned in while the rain pounded on the car and lightning lit the interior. He saw the light in her eyes a second before she touched her lips to his.

Kane tilted his head to the side and let her set the pace, even though he wanted nothing more than to sweep them both away.

Tighten his hold on her, kiss her until she understood precisely what he’d been feeling for two years.

Since the day he’d found her in that cell in Syria.

Through the days he’d been a captive until they found him. And every day since then.

Followed by every day for the rest of his life. Unless they ended the misery he was in—with her, but unable to have her the way he thought God might intend. Around her, but never able to tell her how he really felt. Partners. Friends.

So much more, just out of reach.

All this sweetness and he’d never even known. He soaked it in now like a starving man. He drank her in, trying to fill himself up, knowing it would never be enough.

She stilled and eased back a little. “Well…” She chuckled.

He liked the sound of it.

“My hand hurts, but you’re a pretty good distraction.”

Kane said, “Happy I could help.”

“Did you really drag me onto your lap?”

“I needed to make a point.”

“Hmm.” She shifted in his lap. Probably trying to figure out how to get back over to her side. “It was a good point.”

“I think you might’ve made one of your own.”

“You can remember it when you’re smokejumping, and then you’ll be safe and come back to base when it’s done.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She eased her way back to her side with an audible sigh. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I can think of a few things.”

“Do they involve driving me back to base camp so I can take more meds and sleep for days?”

“Um…definitely.” Kane grinned, pulling back onto the highway.

It might be pouring rain right now, but tomorrow the sun would come up, and things would be different.

They hadn’t finished this. It wasn’t over.

But whatever happened, they had taken another step to being what he needed them to be.

Together.