Page 15

After being the last person checked out, Cadee finally walked out of the Copper Mountain clinic, waving goodbye to the doc. She’d only ended up with a piece of gauze on the side of her head where Nick had injured her. And a headache. And exhaustion.

It had taken almost all day, giving statements and everything.

She inhaled the fresh air that smelled of spruce and moss instead of dogs. Denali had a thick blanket of fog over her head, but the nearest foothill was dressed in a deep, rich green in the late-night Alaskan summer sunshine.

Wait. Where was everyone?

She looked around, and there sat Vince on the hood of that dark-bronze F-150 of his. He jumped off, wearing that one-sided grin that she loved so much.

“Hey, Cadee.”

She smiled. “Hey, Vince. Where is everyone?” she asked, jogging over to his truck.

“Headed to the jump base. I told them I’d give you a ride home. And here—” He tossed her phone over to her. “They found this in Nick’s truck.”

Cracked screen protector. Could be worse. The whole situation could’ve been. “How’s Jared?”

He laughed and pulled out his phone. “Here, I’ll show you the picture.” He poked at the phone and held it out.

Jared stood in front of the building she’d just been rescued out of—the militia’s dog building—with a huge, goofy, show-off grin, pointing at a large gauze pad taped onto his shoulder. Cadee laughed. “Glad it was just a graze.”

“It was a bit hairy in there for a bit. And it got even hairier—that chemical stuff isn’t just toxic. It’s lethal.”

“Yikes. Glad that’s not in your wheelhouse anymore.”

Oh. One of his one-sided grins. “I’m glad we’re in the same firefighting wheelhouse,” he said.

She laughed. “Me too. That reminds me. Logan said Tori and Orion just got back to the jump base. Full of stories.”

He leaned up against the back fender of the truck. “We don’t have to head back to base if you don’t want.”

She sagged against the truck next to him. “Thank you, thank you. I don’t necessarily want to. Everyone in Midnight Sun will keep asking me if I’m all right.”

Vince grinned. “Jade said that would probably happen. So, if it’s all right, let’s head elsewhere.”

“Where’s ‘elsewhere?’”

“Not telling you.”

“Okay, except…” She motioned down at the jeans and T-shirt her kidnappers had messed up.

He shrugged. “So what?”

She chuckled and pushed up from the truck’s fender. “Let’s do it.”

She leaned against the window, closed her eyes as he drove. His hand rested lightly over hers on the console between them, which inexplicably made her both relaxed and quivery. His truck was somehow comfy, and she dozed off. Deeply.

Then she startled awake, taking a moment to realize where she was.

In Vince’s truck. Vince’s truck?

She sat up, wiped the drool from her mouth. That was embarrassing. Vince was sitting out at a picnic table. It was like someone had made the clearing for no purpose but the table.

Fortunately, his back was to her. Cadee pulled the rearview mirror her direction, retied her ponytail. Then she pulled it out again, finger-combed her hair, and gently pulled off the gauze. That would leave a bit of a scar.

It was as good as she could do. At least the sleep had done her some good.

She climbed out of the truck, shut the door. “Hey, Vince, this is ‘elsewhere?’”

Laughing, he turned around. “Glad you finally woke up. You must have needed the sleep.”

She sat down across from him and glanced at her watch. “A good hour-long nap was enough to send away my headache.”

Vince scooched a large travel mug across the table to her.

“Ooh. Coffee. Thanks.”

“Of course.” He ran his hand along the cut on her head. “Looks like it’s already healing.”

“Yeah.” She didn’t want to talk about Nick and everything that had happened. She pointed with a grin at the handle-top pastry box in the middle of the table. “What’s that?”

“A plate-size cinnamon roll.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Genevieve’s Bakery.”

“And I thought she was all about baking cookies for Copper Mountain.” Cadee opened the box, sniffed deeply of the rich cinnamon. Her stomach grumbled, and she pulled off a hunk, took a bite. “This is the best. Where are we?”

“This is the backroad between Copper Mountain and Denali. Nice drive from the base. No clue at all why this picnic bench is here, but it is. Dad and I discovered it one week when I came up for a visit during college spring break. Cinnamon roll and coffee every morning we could. Haven’t been here since he passed.” But he smiled.

“What did you guys talk about?”

“Parachuting. College professors. Cinnamon rolls. The Bible. Jesus.” He took a sip of coffee. “My future.”

Silence fell comfortably between them as she sipped her coffee too and ate another piece of the roll. But she had a question that wouldn’t quit niggling. “Vince, I guess what I have never understood is why you broke up with me. At the funeral.”

He grimaced. “I did, didn’t I?” She nodded, and he leaned forward, took her hands in his. “Dad was a good man.” He paused, as if trying to pull his thoughts together.

“Cap lived his faith, shared it,” she said.

“Exactly. I didn’t want to disrespect him by hating God for taking him away. No, let me correct that. I didn’t want to disrespect God . So when Dad died, I just went neutral.”

She rubbed her thumb along the side of his hand. “That also explains the break-up. And the fighting.”

“Instead of real conversations.” He pulled away his hand. “Did I tell you I’ve started praying?”

“You have?”

“Surprised myself. But I’ve sort of realized that I don’t want to be detached from God.”

“What do you mean?” She popped another bite of cinnamon roll in her mouth.

“I mean that my relationship with God is back. A real one.”

She grabbed his hands, squeezed them hard.

He took a deep breath. “I can’t believe I went all neutral.”

“We’re, you know, humans.” She elbowed him.

It made him laugh. “Do this every week?”

“One hundred percent.”

“We probably can’t make it here every week.”

She sipped from her mug. “Of course not. We’re firefighters. But we need this, both of us. Coffee too.”

“But, Cadee…” He took a breath. “What about us ?”

Cadee got up, walked around, and slid onto the bench next to him. Her eyes crinkled with a smile. “We’re great. It blew me away that you came to rescue me.”

“Why? I love you.”

His hands on either side of her chin, he leaned in, kissed her. Until they could hardly breathe. Then they gazed into each other’s eyes.

“So, no more fighting? No more bossing me around?”

He grinned, and with it came the heat of the summer, the fresh breeze of their tomorrows.

“Let’s not go that far.”

And then he kissed her again.

Thank you for reading Burning Rivals .

Gear up for the next Chasing Fire: Alaska romantic suspense thriller, Burning Escape by Lisa Phillips and Michelle Sass Aleckson.

RESCUE. DANGER. DEVOTION.

THIS TIME, THEIR HEARTS ARE ON THE LINE.

He was born to fight fires...

When Tori Mitchell said goodbye to the handsome stranger after their heart-stopping dance on her last night of freedom, she never expected him to wind up on the same Midnight Sun elite smokejumper team. Now the two rookies are on the run through the Alaska backcountry, chased by militia men intent on stopping the wildlands firefighters. Forced to rely on each other, Tori has to ignore the sparks between them if they're going to stay alive. Otherwise that spark will turn into a flame neither of them can put out.

He's got something to prove...

Born into a family legacy of firefighting, Orion Price is determined to prove his worth up in Alaska. One explosive evening on the dance floor with Tori threatens the only shot he has to step out of the shadow of his mistakes. He's going to take this shot to show his family—and himself—that he can be the man they believe he is. Orion won't risk his heart, even if survival in an isolated community means faking a relationship with Tori.

Brace yourself for a high-octane, heart-pounding, inspirational thrill ride filled with real-life heroism, searing romantic suspense, and the restorative power of unrelenting grace.