A Flame To Bear (Fire Bear Shifters 4) Read online

  “Of course! Is there anything else you need? I can send you some clothes, if you want.”

  “No, thanks. After you send my credit card, I’ll be fine. I can pick up a few more clothes here if necessary, but I’m planning to be on the first flight back to D.C. once I have my passport in hand. Thank god I have that. I don’t know what I would have done if my driver’s license had been my only I.D.”

  “Okay,” Sarah said, then lowered her voice to a whisper. “Have you talked to Jim?”

  Bailey sighed. Jim was her boss, and her next phone call. The last thing she wanted to do right now was talk to him, but she knew the conversation had to happen eventually. Might as well rip off the Band-Aid.

  “No, I haven’t talked to him. I’m about to call him.”

  “He’s upset about the story,” Sarah said, her voice still in a whisper. “He’s been trying to put on a show like he’s upset that Conner died, but yesterday he called me into his office and asked if I’d heard from you. He started cursing and saying that he needed an update on the drought story. That man is sick in the head. I seriously think he doesn’t care about anything except his stupid newspaper.”

  Bailey rolled her eyes heavenward. “Thanks for the warning, Sarah,” she said.

  A few minutes later, Bailey nervously drummed her fingers on the particleboard of the cheap hotel desk, listening to her boss’s phone ringing. She thought for a moment that she might actually be lucky enough to get his voicemail instead of him, but Jim picked up on the sixth ring.

  “Bailey! Where are you?”

  “I’m still in Red Valley. I was discharged from the hospital this morning and managed to get another hotel room. Everything I had here burned up in the fire, and I can’t get home until I get a new I.D.”

  “Did you manage to save any of the work on the story?” Jim asked.

  Bailey grimaced. She had expected her boss to be a jerk about still wanting the story to get done, but she hadn’t expected him to be quite so cold. He hadn’t asked her how she was, or expressed any sorrow over Conner’s death. All he cared about was his work.

  “We lost everything,” Bailey said. “My suitcase, my wallet, my laptop. My portable backup hard drive. Same with Conner’s stuff. The only part of the story saved would be the stuff we had already emailed to you.”

  Bailey’s voice cracked as she spoke. She suddenly felt cold and alone. Conner was dead, and all her boss could think about was the story he had lost.

  “Damn. Well, sit tight,” Jim said. “We’ll have to see what we can do to recreate the story.”

  Bailey sat dumbfounded, unable to believe that her boss didn’t have the decency to at least pretend that he cared about losing Conner and almost losing her. In that moment, she realized that she couldn’t go back to working for him. She had poured her whole life into this job because she hadn’t known what else to do. The job had been stable, and had paid well. But it wasn’t her passion, and nearly dying had made Bailey realize that she needed to stop wasting time just going through the motions of life. Bailey took a deep breath, and finally said the words she should have said years ago.

  “If you want to recreate the story, then you’ll have to find someone else to do it.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” Jim said, his voice sounding genuinely confused.

  “I quit,” Bailey said. “I just lost a good friend and colleague, and nearly lost my own life. I need some time to process what happened, and to think about what’s really important to me.”

  “Bailey, I’m sorry if you felt like I was pushing too hard. It’s just that the story is time sensitive. But you’re right; you’ve been through a lot. I should have been more sensitive to that. Why don’t you take a little time off, and I’ll find someone else to finish up this story. There’s no need to quit.”

  But Jim’s apology was too little, too late. For the first time in years, Bailey had allowed herself to imagine living for something other than Jim’s deadlines. She didn’t know what that something else would be, but she knew she had to try to find it.

  “I’m sorry, Jim,” Bailey said. “I’ve made up my mind. It’s time for me to live life on my own terms.”

  Before Jim could reply and try to change her mind, Bailey hung up the phone. Tomorrow, she might regret not having a job. But for the moment, she was going to enjoy finally being free.

  Chapter Four

  Almost as soon as Bailey hung up on her boss, the phone started ringing again. Jim tried calling back several times in a row, but Bailey ignored him each time. He wasn’t her problem anymore.

  With no job to worry about, and no way to travel anywhere until her passport arrived, Bailey decided that now was as good a time as any to go looking for the firefighter who had saved her life. She threw on a cheap pair of tennis shoes that had been another clearance rack find at Wal-Mart, and made her way down to the hotel’s front desk.

  From the kind young man working at the front desk, she learned that there was a fire station less than two miles from the hotel. She decided to walk to the station in hopes that someone there would know who Trevor Hayes was. At the fire station, she met a burly blonde man who knew Trevor. The man told her that Trevor was actually a volunteer firefighter and lived on the outskirts of town at a base for a group of smokejumpers who fought wildfires. With no car, and no way to rent one, Bailey thought she would have to put her plans to go thank Trevor on hold. But the burly firefighter told her that he just happened to be heading that way, and that he would give her a ride there if she liked.

  Bailey agreed. She would have to figure out a way to get back to town, but she could worry about that when the time came. A half hour later, she climbed out of the fireman’s truck in front of a large airplane hangar. There were several vehicles parked out front, but not a single person in sight. Bailey timidly walked up to what appeared to be the front door and knocked.

  She waited several moments, and tried knocking again. Just as she raised her hand to try knocking one more time, the door opened. A tall man with chestnut brown hair and deep blue eyes crossed his arms and looked down at her with a scowl. Despite the cool February weather, the man wasn’t wearing a shirt. He had some of the biggest bicep muscles that Bailey had ever seen, and his blue jeans hung low on his hips, revealing a perfectly sculpted six pack. If it hadn’t been for the angry look on his face, Bailey would have considered him one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen.

  “Can I help you?” the man asked.

  “Um, hi. I’m looking for a man named Trevor Hayes, and I was told he lives here.”

  “What business do you have with Trevor,” the man asked, crossing his arms.

  Bailey frowned. Tempted to ask the man why he cared, she thought better of it and smiled sweetly up at him instead.

  “Trevor saved me from a hotel fire I was caught in two nights ago. I wanted to come thank him in person.”

  The man looked Bailey up and down, and must have decided that for some reason he didn’t like what he saw. “Well, I’ll pass the message along,” he said, and then started shutting the door.

  Before Bailey even realized what was happening or could protest, she found herself staring at the closed door.

  “What the heck?” she asked herself, then started pounding on the door again. No one responded, and she was left standing outside the hangar alone and feeling like an idiot. Irritated, she turned on her heel and started marching toward the road. She had no idea why that man had treated her so rudely, but after her conversation with her ex-boss this morning, she had no patience left for bad-mannered men. She wasn’t sure how far town was from here, but she decided to just start heading in that direction, and hope someone would drive by that was willing to give her a ride. She refused to stand outside the hangar door and beg for that jerk to open it.

  Ten minutes later, Bailey was still stomping in anger as she made her way down the road. She heard a vehicle approaching behind her, and turned to see a large, white SUV. She held out her thumb in the classic h
itchhiking gesture, not caring that soliciting a ride from a stranger was probably ill-advised for a lone female on a country road. The SUV slowed down, and pulled onto the shoulder in front of her.

  She ran up to the vehicle and hopped in to the front passenger seat. The driver had dark brown hair, expressive green eyes, and muscles that strained against the fabric of his gray t-shirt. He was even better looking than the man who had answered the door back at the airplane hangar—especially since the man at the hangar had been such a jerk.

  “Hi, there. Heading into town?” he asked, as he started pulling back onto the road.

  “Yup. Thanks for the ride,” Bailey said.

  “No problem,” he said, and then extended his hand out to her. “I’m Trevor.”

  “Trevor? Trevor Hayes?”

  “Yes,” Trevor said, and gave her a sidelong glance. “Do I know you?”

  “Oh my god,” Bailey said. “I was just back at the airplane hangar looking for you, but some asshole answered the door and then slammed it in my face when I told him I was looking for you. I have no idea what his problem was. I only wanted to come thank you in person for saving my life. I’m Bailey, the girl you rescued from the hotel fire the other night.”

  Trevor slammed on the brakes, causing Bailey to lurch forward against her seatbelt.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Are you okay? I just wasn’t expecting to find you randomly hitchhiking out here. How did you get out here in the first place? Did you hitchhike from town?”

  “I got a ride from someone at the fire station. I went there looking for you and they told me you live out here. I thought I could probably find someone at the hangar to give me a ride back to town, but I wasn’t expecting to have the door slammed in my face.”

  Trevor rolled his eyes. “That was Zach. It’s a long story, but he’s basically a giant asshole to everyone. Sorry you had to deal with him.”

  “It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Anyway, like I said, I just wanted to come thank you in person. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be here right now.”

  Trevor looked down at his hands on the steering wheel. He was still stopped in the middle of the road, but he didn’t seem too concerned about that. “I’m really sorry about your friend,” he said. “I did my best to save him, too. I’m so sorry I didn’t make it to him in time.”

  “Hey,” Bailey said. “Don’t blame yourself for that. Obviously, it’s a complete tragedy that Conner is gone. But it’s not your fault. He panicked and shut himself in the bathroom where he was sure to suffocate. You never even had a chance to get to him in time.”

  “I guess. It’s just that I’m not used to failing on the job.”

  “You’re not used to failing? Trevor, fires are really dangerous and unpredictable. You should know that. Aren’t you a smokejumper fighting wildfires? Sometimes things get out of control and you can only do so much. Don’t beat yourself up. You’re only human.”

  Trevor chuckled. “If only,” he said softly.

  Bailey frowned. She wasn’t exactly sure what he found funny. This guy might be a hero, and gorgeous to boot, but he was a little on the strange side. Bailey didn’t know how to respond, so she sat in silence and stared at the empty road ahead. Trevor did the same thing, and for several long moments the only sound in the SUV was the whirring of the engine.

  Just when the silence was beginning to get truly awkward, Trevor exhaled loudly and looked over at Bailey. “So,” he asked, his expression somber. “Was Conner your…boyfriend?”

  Bailey chuckled. Although there was nothing funny about Conner dying, the idea of any kind of romantic relationship with Conner was laughable. He had not been her type at all.

  “Oh, god, no. I guess it probably looked that way since we were in the same hotel room when you found us, but we were just friends. I worked with him for several years, and we knew each other pretty well. But that was it. I’ve actually been single for what feels like forever. No time for love when you’re a slave to your job, you know?”

  “I don't know, actually,” Trevor said. “I really like my job. The people who work with me are my best friends. They’re basically my family, and I guess I'm pretty lucky with that. But I am actually thinking about quitting my job as a volunteer firefighter.”

  “Really?” Bailey asked. “I hope it's not because of me, or Conner. I'm sure rescuing us felt traumatic, but Conner’s death is not your fault.”

  “No, it's not that. It's just that I need to be active physically, or I go a little crazy. But that fire a few nights ago was actually the first action that we've had in a while. The Red Valley Fire Department doesn't get many calls other than minor medical emergencies. Which, I guess is a good thing. But I don’t think the fire department really needs me, and the job doesn't meet my goal of staying physically active. The wildfire season only lasts for the summer. During that time we’re really busy, but the rest of the year not much happens,” Trevor said, and shrugged. “What about you, though? You just quit your job. It sounds like you'd worked there for a long time? What's next?”

  Bailey sighed. “I'm not exactly sure. It's been years since I've had time to think about what I really want. I guess the first step is to go back home, and try to get my life in order there. But, after that, I don't know.”

  “Where's home?” Trevor asked.

  “Washington D.C.”

  “Wow, you're a long way from home,” Trevor said. “What kind of work are you doing out here?”

  “I'm a journalist. During college, I thought it's what I really wanted to do. Once I got into it, though, I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. By that time, though, I didn't know what else to do. So I just kept at it. But almost dying in a fire made me realize that life is too short and precious to just do something because you don't know what else to do. It sounds cliché, but it's true. Life-and-death moments really make you think. Besides, my boss acted like the biggest jerk when I talked to him this morning. Basically, he only cares about getting the story he wants. He barely even acknowledged that Conner died, or that I almost died. After what I went through, I just can't work for someone like that anymore.”

  “I don't blame you for that. He sounds like a real winner,” Trevor said, sarcasm dripping in his voice.

  “Yeah. Telling him I quit felt pretty awesome. But realizing that I have no idea what the next step is doesn't feel so awesome.”

  “Why do you have to go back to D.C. right away? You're already all the way out here, and it might be nice to have some space from your everyday life to think about what your next step will be,” Trevor said.

  “I don't know,” Bailey said. “It never even occurred to me to stay here. My whole life and all of my stuff is back in D.C. Now that Conner's gone, I don't know a single soul out here. Well, actually, that's not entirely true. I do know a nurse named Mindy. She loaned me a hundred dollars so I would have something until my credit cards and I.D. were replaced.”

  “You know me,” Trevor said. “I’m someone.”

  Bailey shrugged, but didn't say anything in reply.

  “Is your family in D.C.?” Trevor asked.

  “No,” Bailey said. “I don't really have any family or friends. Work was pretty much it for me, which sounds really sad, I know. But, it is what it is. That's just the way things have been for me for several years.”

  “Why don't you stay here for a bit? At least a week. Give yourself a little bit of time to recover from the crazy ordeal you've been through.”

  Bailey furrowed her brow as Trevor started driving his SUV forward again. After thinking about it for a few moments, Trevor's suggestion didn't sound all that bad. She had never been to Northern California before, and it might be nice to actually see the area. She loved hiking, and she'd heard that there were some amazing trails nearby. Before the fire, she and Conner had been so busy working that she hadn't had a chance to see much except the screen of her laptop.

  “Look,” Trevor said, “You don't have to decide right this second. Just give
it some thought. I don't have much going on right now, especially if I quit the volunteer job. I'd be happy to take you around for a week and show you some of the sights.”

  Bailey shrugged again. “I'll think about it,” she said. “I'm stuck here until my passport arrives, anyway. I can't get on the plane without an I.D.”

  “Where are you staying right now?” Trevor asked.

  “Red Valley Inn,” Bailey said.

  Trevor nodded. “I'll drop you off there and give you my number. If you decide to stay for a bit and want a tour guide, let me know. I'm more than happy to show you around.”

  Bailey nodded but didn't say anything else. She spent the rest of the ride back to town in silence, thinking about what Trevor had said. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of staying in Red Valley for a while. She had nothing to go home to, and spending a week being chauffeured around by a man as gorgeous as Trevor didn't sound like a bad plan. She wondered if he had suggested that she stay another week because he found her attractive. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, though, she laughed it off. She looked a little rough, with her haphazard hairdo and Wal-Mart clearance rack outfit. She definitely wasn't winning any beauty contests for her appearance right now. Trevor had probably offered to show her around because he felt guilty about not being able to save Conner, which Bailey thought was ridiculous.

  But, Bailey thought, as Trevor pulled in to the parking lot of Red Valley Inn, if spending a week with her made Trevor feel better, then that was a cross she was willing to bear.

  Bailey took the piece of paper Trevor offered with his number written on it, and promised to be in touch. As she watched him drive away, she already knew that she wouldn't be putting her passport to immediate use when it arrived the next day.

  She would be too busy calling Trevor Hayes, to see if his personalized tour guide services were as good as he’d promised.