Burning Up Read Online Free PDF Page A

warm against his hand.
    â€œBaby, what’s wrong?”
    Â 
    Larger than life, Jack Donovan filled a space and sucked the air straight out of it. That hard body of his was a weapon and a warning. He’d hold his own with anything life threw at him. His short hair was plain practicality, he’d told her once. Any longer, and fire would just singe it off. Looking at him now, with his dark eyes and sun-tanned skin, she saw he hadn’t changed. Not in any way that mattered. He was the sort of man who was always outside; no one could lock him up or pin him down.
    She’d always been cautious. Practical. Even back when she’d been ready for a high school sweetheart, Jack Donovan had been a delicious treat—and completely off-limits. He hadn’t been a forever kind of boy, and she’d known she didn’t really want to pay that kind of price. Flirt with it, sure. But loving Jack would have cost too much.
    He was a damned hero, and she needed him off her porch. Now.
    She’d heard through the grapevine that he’d done a few tours with the Marines, then started a private firefighting company. Now he was the hired gun on the largest, most dangerous wildfires. He put his men up on planes and then followed them out the door, jumping into the thick of the smoke and the heat to wage war. He was pure trouble.
    â€œFire.” She forced herself to step away from him, but she knew her stiff smile was a tell she couldn’t afford. Jack had never been stupid, and the last thing she wanted right now was to draw attention to herself. “You drove out here to tell me there have been fires.”
    Surely he meant wildfires, and that meant she was still safe. Thank God. Summer wildfires weren’t personal. Dangerous as hell, if they blazed out of control. But not personal. He hadn’t found her.
    Jack’s dark eyes watched her retreat. God, she’d loved his eyes. Those eyes had made her feel like the center of the universe. “Yeah.” He shook his head. “You know what I do, Lily. And it’s fire season up here.” He hesitated. “Donovan Brothers is filling in.”
    This summer was even drier than most. She watched the weather forecasts every night, tracking the elusive rainfall with spreadsheets and lists the hot California summers devoured. All the experts in the world couldn’t coax a drop from those burning blue skies. She had to sit back and wait, hope and pray that the skies would eventually fill up and spill their bounty onto her fields. And that burning heat was only part of the trouble she had.
    â€œYou volunteered, you mean,” she said, keeping her voice deliberately light. She knew what his team cost. No way this town could afford them, so he was here because he had a soft spot for his childhood home, after all. That soft spot shouldn’t make her want to smile. They weren’t children. Not anymore.
    â€œYou need to be careful, Lily.” She didn’t know whether he was talking about the upcoming fire season—or something else. Those eyes of his didn’t move from her face. Uneasy, she tugged self-consciously at her shirt, and that made her angry. He was just a man. A childhood acquaintance all grown up. “Maybe think about leaving till things quiet down,” he urged.
    She took the pamphlets he held out to her, his fingers brushing hers. Before San Francisco, she might have considered seeing where the spark of attraction led. Now all she wanted to do was lie low. She’d come here for the safety and familiarity of Strong. In running home to her roots, she’d found something even better. What she could build here was special. When she finally made it into bed at night, she might still be alone, but she knew she’d found something she needed here. Peace. Space. Healing.
    The farm was her life now. She’d emptied her 401K, quit her high-powered advertising job, and bought this. She hadn’t known a