Burned by a Kiss (19 page)

• • •

“Tell his royal highness to get his dumb butt back here or we’re going to take the ranch over like squatters,” Romero said. “How does he think cattle and horses get cared for? Magic elves?”

“I agree,” Cisco said. “Whatever made Nick go off, tell him to fix it. Does he really pay you?”

“Just got a check,” Santana said mildly. It had been generous, more generous that the job was probably worth. Maybe a little guilt money. “You sprung yourselves on him, remember?”

“We have no formal offer of employment,” Luke said. “We are, in fact, squatters. I say we break into the house and live life like we used to.”

“I think that would be against the law.” Santana wondered himself if Nick planned to come back, or if he was going to be more of a hands-off owner. “He didn’t say much to me when he left. It was Sierra who moved you guys in on him. Be thankful for that.”

“And meanwhile, has anyone heard from Sierra lately?” Cisco checked his phone.

“I saw a credit card charge in Montana.” Santana knew that would stir up his brothers, and he’d been none too pleased himself.

“You’re tracking her credit cards?” Luke stopped what he was doing. “She’s going to be pissed if she figures that out.”

“I’m not proud of it, but I was getting worried.” He leaned against a sawhorse. “Looked like she stopped to buy food for Joe.” He still couldn’t believe she’d taken his dog. That dog she said he needed to keep his head from lodging up his butt.

Maybe that ship had sailed.

“If we know where she is, why don’t we go talk to her?” Romero demanded.

“Because nobody dragged me home when I left, and nobody impeded your travels when the three of you wanted to hit the white sands of Mexico.” Which was another reason why he loved thinking about Emma about a hundred times a day: She was steady, she was sane. She had her clinic, and that was always going to be her touchstone, right here, in Star Canyon. He didn’t have to worry about her going off on an expedition to find herself.

Although finding her wearing the wedding gown last night had been a shocker. To be honest, after his visit to the station, he’d been so screwed up he’d been ready to put an end to their relationship, jump in his truck, and hit the highway. See if he could outrun the pain.

Then he’d seen Emma looking like a goddess, and everything inside him had rushed to life. Even now, he wished she was here. It was staggering how much he needed her.

She said she wasn’t expecting anything from him, but that wasn’t fair. Emma Glass deserved a man who was a stayer, a man who would never leave, a man who would wake her up every morning with a hot kiss and some hotter lovemaking.

“So, what’s up with you and Dr. Glass?” Romero asked. His brother lounged near an empty stall. “Somebody said they saw her trying on wedding dresses. Something you need to tell us?”

“I wasn’t trying on wedding gowns,” Santana said, “why are you asking me?”

“Town grapevine says the two of you were locked in a hot-and-heavy,” Luke said, “which we neither confirmed nor denied. But we did wonder.”

Cisco grinned. “It’s good to see you happy, bro.”

“Now, wait a minute,” Santana said, “when wasn’t I happy?”

His brothers guffawed, leaving the barn. “Hey! I’ve been happy my whole life! Nothing’s changed!”

They didn’t turn around. “I’m a ray of sunshine,” Santana muttered to himself. “What the hell do they know about my happiness?”

• • •

Emma closed up the clinic and drove to the small library on the square, which was run by Honey Martin, Captain Phil’s estranged wife. Phil and Honey lived in separate houses, but Emma had high hopes that one day they’d reconcile.

In the meantime, she wanted to do some research on supernatural phenomena, and though their library was small, Honey managed to collect some gems over the years. The library was her passion. She even had a couple of free “tiny” libraries she’d scattered around the more far-flung parts of Star Canyon, so that folks who couldn’t get into town often had something to read. Where there was a person, there was a reader, Honey liked to say.

Honey was also Star Canyon’s resident expert on woo-woo—that being Honey’s label for the constant investigation she liked to do into what others privately called silly. Or mystical. Or communing with the spirits and ghosts. Honey just let everybody tease her and went on about her business with a smile. Those who believed in otherworldly matters thought Honey was an angel. Tonight, Emma was looking for guidance, and here in Honey’s sanctuary, she hoped she’d find it.

“Hello!” Honey called as soon as Emma walked in the wide doors of the library. “Come for a gossip, or a book?”

“Both. Maybe some advice.”

“If it’s relationship advice, I’m the last one you should ask.” Honey smiled. Her silvery-gray hair shone under the hanging lamps over the circulation desk. “I hear you’ve been hanging out with a certain Navy SEAL.”

“Some,” Emma said, hedging, and Honey laughed.

“What can I help you with?”

Everything that had happened in Lightning Canyon had stayed on her mind since that night. The discussion about ghosts. Mystical wedding gowns that twinkled. She hadn’t imagined that. Sierra had recovered from her fever quickly in Lightning Canyon—and she had a feeling it had less to do with Miss Sugar’s homeopathy than something else. “What do you know about supernatural occurrences?” Emma asked, feeling slightly embarrassed for asking.

“That they happen every day. What variety are you curious about?” Honey pulled a book toward her, opening the well-worn tome to a spot with a wisteria-printed bookmark inside. “They happen all the time. Let me lock up. It’s closing time. Read that page and see if it answers the questions you have.”

“Over time a thing becomes a talisman if enough people imbue it with their belief system,” Emma read. Honey turned off a few of the overhead lights in the large room and drew a lamp closer to Emma’s and her seat. “A thing can be wished into being,” Honey said. “But your question is, if something happens because of magic, is it real. Or did you just want it that bad that you made it happen.”

“That’s exactly what I want to know,” Emma said, surprised. She thought back to that night in the wedding shop, and Melly Shelby’s gown. The gown hadn’t held any mystical powers for Miss Shelby. And no wedding dress, enchanted or otherwise, was going to solve Honey and the Captain’s issue that kept them apart—whatever it was—nor would a simple dress and a good fairy tale change anything for Mary. So why had she seen what she had? “Have you ever had a vision?”

Honey smiled. “One doesn’t necessarily share their visions freely, do they? Especially if one is the steady, make-no-waves librarian.”

Emma looked at her. “So you do believe in visions.”

Honey nodded decisively. “I certainly do.”

“I mean, outside of drinking or taking pharmaceuticals.”

Honey giggled. “Why in the world would I confuse the two?” She grew serious. “A true vision changes a person. You never forget it, but more importantly, it changes your life.”

Emma’s breath caught. “Why?”

“Because a true vision makes you want to deserve it,” Honey said. “You know that’s your way, so to speak. If it’s not a true vision, it sort of melts away. It’s hard for people to change, so sometimes only a real vision will make it happen.”

Sierra didn’t believe in enchantment, claimed she didn’t believe in anything. Sierra was looking for something—or she’d be here in Star Canyon right now. The dress and the shop had just been a momentary illusion of permanence. Sierra didn’t want the shop, the dress—or Nick.

Emma claimed she wasn’t looking for a permanent man in her life, either. The clinic kept her plenty busy, at least that’s what she’d always told herself.

But had she dreamed Santana into her arms? Because honestly, that’s what it felt like, a wonderful dream she never wanted to wake from.

“Maybe I was looking for something and I never realized it,” Emma said slowly.

“You mean Santana.” Honey nodded. “And secretly you’re wondering if he’s too damaged to go the distance. If you’re wrong to get your hopes up. But you feel magic, anyway, when you’re together. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?” She sighed. “I can see where your belief systems might be challenged. I would certainly change mine if a hunky fellow like him came into my life. And you’ve always been the steadfast sort, from your childhood.” Honey smiled wistfully. “But it’s okay to believe in love, Emma. When the sheriff proposed to me, I would have gone to the ends of the earth to be with him.”

Emma was stunned. “You live in the same town, and you’re not with him now, Honey,” she said, as gently as possible.

“One never knows. People change over time, don’t they?”

“I don’t think I do,” Emma said, thinking that if Santana was ever hers, she wouldn’t want their love to change. She’d want it to grow brighter, burn hotter.

“Oh, but you have.” Honey’s face was serene with wise understanding. “You’re changing because you’ve fallen in love.”

“How do I know it’s real? And that I just didn’t want it so much I made it happen?” Emma asked, feeling stupid for having to ask, and scared that the beautiful thing that she and Santana had might somehow slip away.

“Because I’m guessing you’ve had a vision.”

“I did. I thought maybe I was crazy,” Emma said. “But it’s stayed with me and every day, I’m more convinced that my heart belongs to Santana. I don’t know if he feels the same.” She shrugged. “And what woman doesn’t see twinkles and sparkles when she sees a wedding gown?”

The second she said it, Emma knew she wasn’t going to convince Honey or herself that she wasn’t madly in love with Santana. It had nothing to do with weddings or gowns or if they ever even talked about a serious relationship between them. She was in love with him, and her heart knew it was real.

No matter what happened, she was going to have to throw caution to the wind and admit that she was mad for a certain Navy SEAL.

“You’re a practical woman, Emma. A daddy’s girl.” Honey smiled. “You know your father was a fine man. And when he passed away unexpectedly, I watched you suffer. You bore it silently, and stepped into his shoes. You’re not crazy, you’re just beginning to understand the magic that is available to us on earth, if we allow it to come into our lives. It’s hard sometimes to accept that there are supernatural blessings available to us after we’ve suffered a loss.”

“I guess I just needed to know that I wasn’t believing in something that wasn’t there.” She took a deep breath. “I guess I’m looking for answers. Thank you for helping me find them.”

“Well,” Honey said, closing her book with the pretty bookmark in it, “the only way to really find out the answer you need is to ask, isn’t it?”

Ask Santana if he wanted a relationship with her, just the two of them. Long-term.

Long-term was the problem. Santana didn’t know anything long-term. His whole life had been upended when Sonny hadn’t made it out of the biggest fire Star Canyon had ever seen.

“What do you think happened the night Sonny died, Honey?”

“Well, not that the captain talks about such things with me, when we do talk,” Honey said slowly, “but I have an idea that we’re going to learn surprising things about that night. We have so many new folks in town, you know. The artist’s colony has been a good thing for Star Canyon. But it’s brought other folks in as well. It’s been a lot of change for our little town.”

Which meant there was precious little new information yet that could help the Darks.

Rapping on the door made both ladies jump. They could see Santana’s large frame through the glass door, and Emma’s heart instantly leaped.

“There’s your man.” Honey got up. “You know,” she said, “trusting a vision sometimes means walking through a door to a new and unexpected place. But you have to open the door to find the answers you seek.”

Emma sat still as Honey gave her a kind smile and went to let Santana in. “You gave two ladies quite a start, young man.”

“I saw Emma’s truck. Though I’d stop by to rescue you, Honey.”

Emma watched him walk in, big, handsome, beautiful, mouthwatering, oh-my-God sexy, and wondered how she could ever back away from a man she’d loved almost all her life.

She couldn’t. No matter what he had going on in his life, she was going to have to wait to find out if the vision she’d had meant anything.

She did believe in magic—and Honey was correct: Once you’d had a vision, you wanted to believe in it, deserve it, wish it into your life. Get closer to it, again and again and again.

And that was how the vision had changed her: She was going to walk on the wild side, put her heart out there.

For love. For Santana.

And hope she didn’t get burned.

Santana awakened in the night, his heart racing, his head thick with blackness. Holy fuck, where was he? He heard yells, maybe rockets, gunfire. Thick smoke surrounded him. He hunkered down, reached for his Sig, couldn’t find it.

Something warm and soft shifted near him. A small hand moved to his rod, stroking him. Some of the darkness shifted. He was in bed with Emma. The adrenaline changed to a different kind of fire as she warmed him, teasing him into hot hardness.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “You’re in Star Canyon. You’re at my house.”

Caught in the nightmare, he must have tensed, maybe yelled.

His heart still raced uncontrollably. The blackness hadn’t subsided. He tried to concentrate on Emma’s magic touch, letting it chase off the nightmare. Heal him.

“Make love to me, Santana,” she said urgently, and he did the only thing he could at such a sweet request.

He rolled over, buried himself deep inside her. She clung to his back, her legs locked around his thighs, drawing him in, urging him faster,
more
.

His throat locked up. She kissed him, drawing his mouth down to hers. Her kisses hungrily claimed him, and he drove inside her relentlessly, her gasps against his lips a salve for the tornado threatening to overwhelm him and destroy his life. The tornado was determined to steal everything he had, curse everything he wanted—but he wasn’t going to let the darkness win.