Wildfire (13 page)

While she instinctively knew that if Elaine would let her in she would be worth it, she couldn’t dwell on that because it seemed that the good captain didn’t want the walls around her shattered. It didn’t matter that the kisses they shared were amazing. She knew that Elaine wasn’t immune to them. She had seen the look in Elaine’s eyes and the haze of desire that had filled them. But she was done being rejected by the ranger so instead she threw herself even further into her work and it was paying dividends.

She was up before the sun each morning for breakfast so that when the first rays of light appeared she would be ready to work and she didn’t stop until she absolutely had to. On some nights, she worked by the light of her lantern to draw the last soil or core samples. She would eat a quick meal only because she knew she had to, then retire to her tent where she would enter all the data she collected into her computer and wait for the slow process of her Internet to connect so that she could file her reports. She would then send her nightly e-mails to Stacey and Raine before crawling into her sleeping bag to catch a few hours of sleep.

Devon had just spent the last twenty minutes digging through the frozen ground to carefully extract the root of a
vicia gigantean
. It was usually located a little closer to the coast so she was pleasantly surprised to find it. She didn’t need to put it under a microscope to see the foam still visible along the roots from the decontaminant that the ground crews had used, but she still slipped it under the field scope to see how the foam was affecting the root structure. Once she charted the root pattern she snapped off a few digital pictures before replanting the root in the ground. Her hands were chapped and beginning to hurt. The long days were taking their toll on her skin but it would all be worth it if she was home with her family sooner than planned.

She had just picked up her gear and was getting ready to pick herself up when someone asked, “Need a hand?”

Devon was so startled she nearly jumped out of her skin. It had been a good week since she had heard that voice. She craned her head around to see Elaine leaning casually against a tree wearing faded blue jeans, a button-down denim shirt, the same Doc Martens she had seen before and a light fleece jacket with her hair pulled back through a ball cap. She didn’t look a thing like a ranger but she looked every bit as sexy as Devon had ever seen her.

Devon looked down at the mud on her hands and pushed herself to her feet. “Umm…I don’t want to get mud on you.” She turned her hands palms up to show Elaine what she had meant.

Elaine simply shrugged. “Wouldn’t have cared.”

Devon reached for her water bottle to wash her hands. It was much warmer than washing her hands in the river and it kept her occupied so that she wouldn’t have to look at Elaine right away. She was trying to figure out what Elaine was doing here and while she contemplated asking, she decided to wait for Elaine to explain her purpose for the visit.

Elaine cleared her throat as she glanced down at the rock near her foot; she kicked it slightly with the toe of her scuffed boot before meeting Devon’s eyes. Watching Elaine’s discomfort made her want to take pity on her, but she had promised herself she wouldn’t. So she waited patiently for Elaine.

“I know it’s the middle of the day and you still have a lot of work to do but I was hoping that maybe you would want to come up to the cabin and have dinner with me. I have a roast on.”

Devon cocked her head and regarded her carefully. “You want to have dinner with me?”

Elaine’s smile was shy and lopsided. “I thought perhaps we could talk?”

“Talk?”

Once Devon met Elaine’s eyes, she knew she had to put herself out there one more time and give Elaine the chance to talk through whatever it was she wanted to talk about.

 “I know I owe you an explanation.”

Devon looked her straight in the eyes. “Yes.”

“Yes to the explanation or yes to dinner.”

Devon finally relented and smiled. “Yes to both.”

Elaine audibly exhaled and Devon turned before Elaine could see her grin. “Let me put a few things away and I’ll be ready.”

Elaine looked at her watch. “It will probably be late…if you…I mean if you would like to stay the night.”

Damn this woman was adorable.
Devon looked at her for a long moment, trying to discern if there was any other intention behind the invitation. She certainly didn’t feel up to any more rejection from this woman. But then again if she didn’t put herself in a position to be rejected then it wouldn’t be an issue.

“All right. I’ll just be a few minutes.”

Elaine remained next to the tree as she watched Devon gather her equipment and store it in the tent. There was some brief rustling and a moment later Devon emerged with a daypack that she assumed held Devon’s clothes.

She had spent the last week doing patrols and looking for poachers. She had also spent the time trying to figure out exactly what she wanted—no needed—to say to Devon. She knew that she had to apologize to her but it was more than that. She owed Devon an explanation and she had hoped that the words would come to her. They hadn’t but she also knew that she couldn’t stay away from Devon any longer. There was something about the woman that was like a magnet and Elaine couldn’t deny it anymore. So here she was.

She was so nervous. She had thought about how it had felt to sleep next to Devon and she had missed her body. She didn’t think that it was possible to sleep next to another woman in a totally platonic fashion and then miss her.

As they made their way up the trail Elaine tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. It wasn’t like they weren’t two educated, successful women who couldn’t sit down to a meal together.

As they entered the cabin they were greeted by the smell of roasting meat and vegetables and Devon realized how hungry she was.

“If you would like to go ahead and shower while I finish making dinner you’re welcome to.” Elaine decided to focus foremost on being a good hostess.

“Are you saying I stink, Captain Thomas?”

“No. I just thought you might like a hot shower after all of those…” She turned and saw Devon’s smile.

“Relax, Elaine. And yes I would love a shower, but are you sure you don’t need any help in here?”

“There isn’t much to do, so by the time you get out dinner should be ready.”

“All right,” she said as she headed for the bathroom.

The table was already set, save for the roast that Elaine was about to put in the center of it when Devon came out. How she managed to put it down without dropping the thing she had no idea. Devon’s long hair was still wet and had dampened the very thin cotton material of her well worn T-shirt around her breasts, accentuating them. She also had on a pair of plaid silk sleep pants that accentuated her tight ass and well-defined legs.
Christ, the woman is a goddess.

Elaine busied herself with uncorking the wine, hoping not to make a complete fool of herself. By some saving grace she managed to remove it without spilling any. As Devon approached the table, Elaine pulled out her chair and it occurred to her that this felt very much like a date. Something she hadn’t really done in years.

“This all looks wonderful, Elaine. You made gravy—how did you know it’s one of my guilty pleasures? Thank you.”

“I’m glad you said yes to dinner tonight or else I don’t know what I would have done with it all.” She felt a little sheepish as she poured their wine and then cut roast for both of them.

When they both were finally settled with food and drink, first bites taken and praised, Devon asked, “So you wanted to talk?”

Elaine looked down at her plate. Now or never.

“Devon, I owe you an apology.”

“I suppose that depends on the reason you’re apologizing.”

“I know I sent mixed messages.”

Devon took a sip of wine. “So why did you do it?”

Now comes the hard part.
“Right before I took this assignment my ex moved out. It made our split final. I mean it was literally weeks that it took her to leave. But the truth is that the relationship had been over for a long time. We were more like roommates than lovers. I should have ended it a long time ago, but we were just so good at going through the motions.”

“So why did it finally end?”

Elaine swallowed. “I can’t tolerate cheaters and I made that clear from the beginning. But she cheated anyway. When I came up here it was to make peace with myself and everything that happened.”

Devon digested this bit of information. “Are you still angry with her?” She reached across the table and took Elaine’s hand.

Elaine certainly wasn’t going to pull hers away even if Devon’s caress was sending tiny shock waves up her arm that were making it difficult to concentrate.

“I don’t think I’m as angry with what she did as how she did it. Everyone at our station knew. Well, everyone but my crew. They would have told me. But others bent over backward to keep Grace’s secret. So I think my pride more than anything was hurt.”

“Is Grace a good ranger?”

The question was insightful and totally unexpected. “Why do you ask?”

Devon shrugged. “Well, I imagine that part of the reason you are still at your station is because of your crew and their loyalty to you. But you don’t strike me as the type of person who would stay after something like that occurred.”

“I stay because it’s home. My team is my family and I know that sooner or later the whispers will die out and there will be a new scandal to circulate. But to answer your question, Grace is not a good ranger. Shortly before I broke it off I found out that the only reason she has the job is because her daddy pulled some strings to get her a nice comfy desk job. She’s expecting an inheritance and one condition of receiving that inheritance is that she works.”

“And because your pride was publicly bruised it won’t let you walk away?”

Elaine smiled. “Something like that.”

Devon nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”

“Because it wasn’t until this last week when I was out doing patrols that I finally figured it out for myself.”

“Okay.”

“So will you forgive me?”

Devon was pensive for a moment. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“Just try talking to me. Even if you don’t know the words at least try. I would rather know that you don’t know what to say than have you say nothing at all.”

“I can do that.”

Elaine was relieved to know that her actions hadn’t caused a permanent rift between them. The conversation was once again relaxed and easy as they talked about what each had been doing during the week they spent apart.

Stomach full and glad of the electricity, Devon let Elaine talk her into catching up on work while Elaine did the dishes.

Dev,

Raine is doing quite well. We went to the doctor this morning and he said that an early delivery is possible. Your nephew shouldn’t arrive for another few weeks yet, so please don’t worry. I’ll keep this short as I know how busy you must be. I hope the ranger isn’t bothering you too much, he best keep his big, hairy paws off you. I know, I know, you can take care of yourself. I am very relieved to know that you aren’t out in the snow freezing your ass off. Talk to you soon.

Take care. Love,

Stacey

Devon smiled as she read Stacey’s e-mail. Stace hoped the ranger wasn’t bothering her too much? How ironic that she’d chosen those words when Devon was very much bothered, hot and bothered!

As Devon closed her laptop and set it aside, she organized and gathered her notes before returning them to her bag. As she removed her glasses, the silence broke.

“Tell me about Stacey.”

The question seemed to come out of nowhere. Devon looked at Elaine, who had been sitting across the room working quietly for the last little while, trying to figure out why she would ask. “What is it that you want to know?”

“You said she was your best friend. How did you two meet?”

Devon thought back and knew she was smiling. “I was thirteen and I had just moved into a new neighborhood. My dad got a job here in Washington State. It was hard leaving all my Oregon friends behind, but it was too good of an opportunity for him to pass up. I hadn’t been out of the house much, but I finally worked up the courage to ride my bike around and see what my new surroundings had to offer. Stacey lived down the block. I damn near wrecked my bike when I saw her sunbathing.”

“Sexy, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. Anyway, Stacey wasn’t shy about anything. So we started hanging out. She was the first person I had ever met who made me realize that there were other people out there like me. Other girls who liked girls instead of boys.” Devon laughed at the memory. “My parents loved her right away and began treating her like a daughter. We told each other everything. We still do. We became friends so fast and we spent so much time together that she felt more like a sister than a friend. We fought like sisters that’s for sure. She even treated Raine like a sister. I was so young that it never even occurred to me that Stacey and I could be more than friends.”

Elaine was busying herself with putting away cutlery. “Did you ever decide you could be?”