“Go. I’ll be okay.”
He stepped back between her legs, his eyes boring into hers. “Rest while I’m gone. Please?”
“Don’t worry, my mother won’t let me lift a finger.”
“Good.” One more kiss before he turned, and the second he walked away, she had to fist her hands to stop from dragging him back.
* * *
Red-hot flames dancedin front of Becket’s eyes, heat radiating all around him.
Another damn forest fire. The second in the past month, but this one was bigger.
He moved around his crew, making sure everyone was where they needed to be while watching for spot fires. Every time they thought the blaze was under control, another spot fire would pop up, or the wind would change and spread the flames.
He lifted his radio. “Copter 312, we need that water drop. What’s your ETA?”
He’d ordered the water drop when they’d arrived and the damn thing still wasn’t here.
His radio sounded. “Station 8, this is Copter 312. We’re four minutes away.”
It wasn’t good enough. Four minutes could mean the difference between a fire being contained or becoming uncontrollable.
“A few more minutes until the drop,” Becket yelled to his crew.
“They better be quick,” Moose yelled. “Wind changes direction again and the whole mountain could go up.”
Becket fucking knew that.
Those minutes took a long fucking time to pass. Then his radio finally sounded again. “Flying over now.”
“Water drop,” Becket yelled.
He and his crew dropped flat to the ground, heads down and hands going over their helmets as the water fell over them.
They all remained on the ground for a few seconds before pushing to their feet.
The last of the flames seemed to be out. Thank God.
“All right, let’s spread out and make sure it’s all gone,” he called.
Becket grabbed an extinguisher and moved through the debris. When footsteps sounded behind him, he turned to see Teddy jogging over. “Beck. Wait up.”
Becket kept walking. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just…we haven’t really talked about yesterday,” Teddy said as he caught up.
His jaw clenched. “Now isn’t the time.”
“I’m sorry.”
Becket’s fingers tightened around his extinguisher. “Teddy—”
“I should have been more efficient yesterday. And I should have been more aware of my surroundings and braced when that dog jumped on me.”
Becket stopped and turned, fighting for calm that he didn’t have. “Did you check the undercarriage before attaching the chain?”
“I…” He swallowed. “No. I’m sorry. I should have.”
