them.
âHere,â he called out to Aidan, holding out an arm for Kenzie.
âIâve got her,â Aidan said.
But Kenzie had had enough, of Aidan and his capable, strong arms, of his scent and especially of the memories. So she reached out for the second firefighter, going into his arms without looking back, arms that had never held her before, arms that didnât know her, arms that didnât evoke the past.
Even though she wanted to, she wouldnât look back.
3
B Y THE TIME A IDAN HAULED himself out of the water, Ty had handed Kenzie off to the EMTs. Dustin and Brooke took her away from the flames and straight to their ambulance.
Good.
Chilled, drenched to the skin, Aidan made his way through the organized mayhem to his rig, where he stripped down and pulled on dry gear, the questions coming hard and fast in his head.
What the hell had Kenzie been doing there? Odd timing, given that in all these years, sheâd not shown up in Santa Rey, not once. At least that he was aware of. Blake had never mentioned any visits, but then again, why would he? Heâd had no idea that Aidan had dated his baby sister, and then walked away rather than engage his heart. Theyâd never told him, knowing he wouldnât have liked it.
Nope, Kenzie hadnât been back, not even for Blakeâs memorial service, and yet suddenly here she was, on Blakeâs boat, a boat that just happened to blow sky high once sheâd set foot on it.
Odd coincidence.
During the time the two of them had been in the water together, the sky had lightened. Dawn had arrived. The chief had put an explosives team in place, and had a plan to contain the fire. Aidan needed to get back into the thick of it, but first he had to see Kenzie and make sure for himself that she was okay. Sheâd had a head laceration and multiple cuts and wounds, and that had been before heâd tossed her into the water.
He looked through the horde of people working the flamesâEddie and Sam, Aaron, Ty and Cristina, plus the guys from Thirty-Three, all on hoses and past the explosives experts surveying the still burning shell of Blakeâs Girl to where the ambulance was parked.
Kenzie was seated at the back of the opened rig between Dustin and Brooke. She was dripping everywhere, her clothes revealing what he already knew, that she was petite and in possession of a set of mouthwatering curves that had gotten only more mouthwatering in the past few years. She wore layered tees, the top one pink, ribbed and long-sleeved, unbuttoned to her waist, the one beneath white with pink polka-dots, opened to just between her breasts, both soaked through and suctioned to her body enough to expose her bra, which was also pink, lace and quite sheer.
Heâd been a firefighter for years and heâd rescued countless victims, many female, some of whom had been as wet as Kenzie, and never, not one single goddamn time, had he ever stopped in the middle of a job to notice their breasts.
It was his first clue that he was in trouble, deep troubleâbut when it came to Kenzie, that was nothing new. He chose to ignore his observation for now, for as long as he possibly could. His gaze dropped past her shirt with shocking difficulty, to a pair of button-fly jeans low on her hips, also dangerous territory because heâd always loved her legs, especially how bendy they could getâ¦.
Donât go there.
She shoved her hair out of her face, which still looked far too pale, even a little green, although that didnât take away from her beauty. Once upon a time sheâd been a gorgeous study of sexy, frou-frou feminine mystery to him.
Some things never changed.
As if she felt his gaze, she looked up, and from fifty feet, between which were other firefighters, equipment and general chaos, she found him.
Between them the air seemed to snap, crackle, pop.
Six years ago, the thought of a long-distance relationship had been as alien to him as a