Page 10 of The Mountain Man’s Heat (Blue Mountain Burn: The Firefighters of Hartley Ridge #1)

Chapter Ten

Hudson

“What is your problem, McKinney?”

Jerking my stare from the station house’s computer monitor, I narrow my eyes at Jake as he strides into my office.

“I’m busy, Conroy,” I say. “These reports aren’t going to write themselves.”

He snorts, stopping on the other side of my desk and crossing his arms over his chest. “Mate, you’ve been staring at the screen without moving for the last thirty minutes.”

“It’s called contemplating.” I grab the mouse and jerk it around the mouse pad.

The cursor flies over the screen, and it dawns on me I have no fucking clue what report I’ve been attempting to write.

Since waking up to find Iris and Archie gone from my home this morning, my brain seems to have shut down.

“It’s called sulking,” Jake shoots back.

“You’ve been a bear with a sore tooth all day.

You yelled at Gibbo this morning for making a cup of coffee wrong.

His coffee. I’m pretty certain Gibbo knows how he likes his coffee.

” He puffs out a breath and shakes his head.

“He and Riggs have a bet going you struck out on Tinder. If that’s the case, suck it up, mate.

If it’s something more serious…” Worry creases his forehead, and he uncrosses his arms. “It’s not something more serious, is it?

I haven’t just torn you a new one after you’ve been told you have cancer, have I? ”

“No.” I shake my head and release a shaky sigh, an invisible band squeezing my chest. “Nothing like that.” Swiping at my mouth, I shake my head again and grunt out a wry laugh. “I think I’ve fallen in love with Lily Andrews’s niece.”

Not think. Know.

Jake’s eyebrows shoot up. “You what? The one from Melbourne looking after her house and dog?”

An image of Iris fills my head. Of her dimples creasing the edges of her lips, her eyes twinkling with playful mirth as she questions my taste in Batman and dances the Batusi with me to no music…

“Yeah.” I huff. “That one.”

“When the hell did you have time to do that?”

“Archie got loose in the storm. I helped her catch him.”

His eyebrows lift higher. “The storm last night?” A grin spreads over his face. “Well, that explains the abrupt nature of our call last night. I interrupted you getting some a?—”

“Don’t,” I growl.

He stops. Studies me. And then he lets out a soft grunt.

“Shit, Hudson. You’re serious? As long as I’ve known you—what?

Four years?—you’ve never been in an actual relationship.

I mean, I know you’re no pure virgin, but you’ve scorned the idea of letting anyone truly get close to you, especially since your dad died.

I’ve watched more than one woman try to change your mind only to give up brokenhearted. And yet, after one night with…”

“Iris,” I supply, my heart thumping faster at her name.

“After only one night with Iris, you’re hooked?” He laughs. “You never do things half-arsed, McKinney. I’ll give you that. It’s about bloody time love smacked you in the face. I’m happy for you, mate.” Pausing, he frowns. “So what’s with the grumpy attitude?”

I claw my hands through my hair. “Because she left. With Archie. Sometime after the storm while I was still asleep on the floor.”

Jake narrows his eyes again. “Did she leave a note?”

The hole in my chest twists tighter as my mind picks over—for the umpteenth time—the Post-it I found on my kitchen counter this morning.

Hudson,

Thank you for saving Archie last night. And for your hospitality. Your floor is very comfortable.

Iris

I snort. “Yeah.”

“And? Did she tell you to stay away from her?”

“No.” I picture the drawn smiley face. Her generation use emojis differently to mine. Did that smiley face mean something I don’t understand? “But she didn’t ask me to breakfast.”

“Maybe she doesn’t like breakfast?”

A wry chuckle falls from me. “Not helping, Conroy.”

He lets out his own chuckle. “Mate, I am the last person to confess to being an expert at relationships and love. Do you think the pair of you have a connection?”

Hell fucking yeah.

I nod. “I do.”

“And you haven’t heard from her today?”

“No.” My gut clenches. “But the second I read the note, I wanted to head up the mountain. If for no other reason than to see if she’s okay.” I throw up my hands. “But doesn’t that make me a creep? Shit, I’ve been out of the dating game for so long I don’t know the rules.”

“I tell you what the rules are.” Jake arches an eyebrow. “Rule number one is make sure everyone is safe.”

“Hate to tell you this, Conroy, but that’s the first rule of the station house.”

“Yep.” He points at me. “You drill it into us every shift and callout. And right now, the day after a storm that caused some pretty severe destruction here on the mountains, can you tell me if Iris Andrews is safe? Do you know?”

I stare at him.

“Go see if she’s okay, mate.” He shrugs those massive shoulders of his. “If she is but wants nothing to do with you, you’ll at least know you lost your heart to a one-night stand.” Sympathy and mirth twist his lips. “And if that’s the case, we’ll get drunk together. My?—”

The phone on my desk rings. Not the one for reporting fires, but the office phone.

Jake answers it. “Hartley Ridge Fire.”

A faint voice comes through the connection, little more than a whisper of indistinct sound from where I’m standing. His eyes snap to me.

“Yeah, he’s here,” he says, voice neutral. Guarded.

I hold out my hand, waiting for the phone. Probably Mr. Dutton on Acacia Avenue complaining about the live music at the pub across the street from him. The old coot is the biggest killjoy in town.

“Sure,” Jake says into the phone. Is he trying not to smile? “I can do that.”

I wriggle my fingers. “Give it to me.”

“Alright,” he says. “Take care.”

He hangs up, folds his arms over his chest, and looks at me.

“Who was it?” I ask. “What’s going on?”

A grin splits his face. “How quickly can you get to Lily Andrews’s place? Cause there’s a certain young woman from Melbourne up there who really wants to talk to you in person. Said something along the lines of the biggest mistake she’s ever made in her entire life is leaving you this?—”

I jolt to my feet and bolt out of my office.

“This morning,” Jake calls behind me.

The last thing I hear as I sprint to my motorbike is him shouting, “Have fun.”