He'd do whatever it took to keep them all safe.
“No.” She swallowed hard. “Never. My father was a hero.”
“My point exactly,” he said, invading her personal space one more time. He got close enough to see that her olive-tinged skin was still flawless and that her cheekbones were more pronounced than he'd remembered.
Something tugged at him, a remembered sense that she hadn't been all there six months ago, but then again, he hadn't exactly been studying her from a distance. He'd been rubbing his lips against hers while grabbing her ass with both hands.
“Hotshots don't light fires that kill their own men. Call McCurdy and tell him to pull my suspension.”
“If you want a prayer of clearing your name, Mr. Cain, I suggest you stop issuing ridiculous orders and cooperate with my investigation.”
Even though he was close enough now to lick her, her voice remained steady, irritatingly calm given all he'd just thrown at her. A part of him couldn't help but admire a woman this strong, even though she had his balls in a vice grip. She hadn't even tried to move away from him. In his experience, it was a rare woman who didn't run from confrontation.
“You and I both know there's nothing to investigate,” he said again. She was one tough cookie, but he was a dog with a bone, one he wasn't going to relinquish anytime soon. “You saw what happened to Connor. I need to get back to the fire to make sure the rest of my men make it out in one piece.”
Her mouth tightened as she grabbed her briefcase off the table. “Again, I am very sorry about the accident today. But this suspension stands. And I encourage you to abide by Superintendent McCurdy's instructions.”
Fifteen years of fighting fire had taught him to refigure his plan of attack whenever flames shifted directions. It was time to do that very thing with Maya.
“Your boss know about us yet?”
Her eyes narrowed. “There's nothing to know.”
“You sure about that?” Playing off his hunch that she hadn't forgotten the way she'd responded to his mouth on her br**sts, his fingers in her panties, he said, “That day in the bar, I never got a chance to tell you how pretty you were.”
She held her briefcase in front of her body like a shield. “I'm not interested in talking about that day. Our previous encounter has nothing to do with this situation. Nothing at all.”
He allowed his gaze to roam her body in a leisurely fashion. “The way you reached across the bar and grabbed me was something straight out of every guy's fantasies. Especially when the girl looks like you. When she's that responsive.”
“Mr. Cain,” she said, her tone brittle and, finally, angry, “I am long past the point of humoring you. I will contact you again for a personal interview. Until then I advise you to stay away from the fire and not bother my boss. He'll know what you're trying to do.” She widened her stance. “I can guarantee he won't kick me off this case. Something that happened six months ago isn't going to alter my methodology or my assessment of the crime.”
A knock sounded and Gary's voice penetrated the thick fire-resistant metal door. “Logan, we've got more trouble on the mountain.”
After ten years together on the fire line, Gary knew Logan's earlier trip to the emergency room didn't mean jack and that as long as Logan could walk and use his hands, nothing would keep him away from a fire.
Nothing except a fire investigator handing him his temporary walking papers, courtesy of numero uno at the Forest Service.
Logan yanked opened the door and Gary shot an apologetic glance at Maya. “Sorry to interrupt your meeting.”
It was pointless to waste time on pleasantries. If Gary knew why Maya was really there, he wouldn't bother being polite.
“What's going on?” Logan asked.
“The winds have shifted and the fire's headed straight toward the new housing development on the southwest ridge.”
Logan cursed. It was just the kind of bad news he didn't need right now. If the fire took out a neighborhood of multimillion-dollar houses, the insurance companies would pick up the tab. But the Tahoe Pines hotshots would shoulder the blame.
He quickly issued his instructions. “Call in several urban crews to water down the rooftops and cut fire lines in the surrounding acreage of the border properties.”
“Are you going to take the mountain or the housing development?” Gary asked.
“Neither,” Logan said, dropping the hugely unexpected bomb on his squad boss. “I'm out for now.”
“What the hell?”
“I put out a couple of random campfires in Desolation last week and some hikers reported me to the ranger. Plus, someone called my name in to the tip line and now the Forest Service honchos think I lit this fire. I'm on suspension until they find the real arsonist.”
Gary rubbed his hand over his face and when he looked back at Logan, it was as if he'd aged a decade.
“I can't believe this. You're a goddamned hero and they're trying to pin this on you?”
“It looks good on paper. I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you more.” But when he turned back to the room, Maya was gone. “Shit.”
He had to hand it to her, on top of being fearless, she was wily. And quick. At this rate, she'd have the noose wrapped around his neck by nightfall.
“I still can't f**king believe this,” Gary repeated.
Logan needed to get out of the station and on Maya's tail. If he were her, first place he'd go ask questions was Joseph's cabin. After all, the man had taken him in as a teenager for unspecified reasons. She wasn't stupid, she'd know there was a story there.
Only three people in Lake Tahoe knew Logan's true history: Joseph; his son, Dennis; and Logan himself. If Joseph were well, there was no way in hell that he'd give up Logan's secrets. But if Joseph's mind wandered into the darkness, even for sixty seconds, irreparable damage could be done.
Logan quickly reassured the squad boss. “You've got this under control, Gary. You don't need me out there. Put Sam at the anchor point with the radios. Take half the crew to the houses, dig a wide line along the wild-land border, and keep the roofs and gardens wet.”
He didn't wait for Gary's response. His squad boss and seasoned crew would deal with the fire. He had ultimate faith in them.