There was no longer any doubt in his mind. He was in love with this woman. Crazy, head-over-heels in love no matter how hard he tried not to be. It was a truth he’d denied for too long. A truth that had been eating him alive since the day she’d walked out of his life. And at that moment, it didn’t matter to him that she could never love him back. She was alive. That would have to be enough.
She came against him with all the finesse of a Mack truck traveling at a hundred miles per hour. Buzz heard himself grunt. Her arms went around him. The pain in his back and shoulder made him stiffen. But even as the pain ran like a lit fuse up his spine, pleasure infused every nerve ending with a power that stunned him.
“Kelly,” he whispered. “Kelly…”
Her essence surrounded him. The softness of her body teased his senses, taunted his sensibilities, made him ache with a need every bit as acute as the pain in his back.
Putting his arms around her, he buried his face in her hair and held her tightly. He heard her name, realized belatedly he’d spoken it again. She smelled like smoke, but he could still discern the sweet essence of her beneath it. He drank it in as if it were clean, cool water, and he was crazed with thirst.
“You came for me,” she said breathlessly.
“You knew I would.”
“Eddie—”
“He’s okay.”
He wanted to devour her, hold her so tight that he simply absorbed her. Even surrounded by danger, his brain fogged with pain, he wanted her with a need that was insane. Not just physically, he realized, but for the first time in his life he needed someone on an emotional level. He needed her so desperately he could feel it running through him like a hot thread.
He lowered his mouth to hers. Pleasure sparked like static. He tasted smoke and softness and subtle heat. The mix of flavors intoxicated him. He knew kissing her in the middle of a raging forest fire wasn’t very smart. But for the first time in his life, Buzz didn’t care. He followed his heart, gave it free rein, let it guide him.
He didn’t expect her to kiss him back—Kelly was no more prone to imbecilic behavior than he was. But when his tongue slipped between her lips, she opened to him, purring in the back of her throat like a cat. He kissed her long and hard until he was drunk on pleasure. Until the raging fire and the pain in his shoulder faded into the distance like a spent storm.
Vaguely, he was aware of her arms around his neck, her mouth clinging to his. Desire flared hotly in his veins, racing through his body with every thunderous beat of his heart.
An instant later, sanity intervened with the snap of dry wood and the splintering sound of a tree falling nearby. Buzz pulled away, keenly aware that he was aroused and wanting, annoyed because she did that to him every time he looked at her and he knew how lousy he was going to feel when she walked away for good.
“This is a damn fine time to do this,” he growled. “But you taste incredibly good.”
Kelly stared at him, caution dawning in her eyes. “So do you,” she whispered. “A little smoky.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
“I’m glad you came. I mean…I’m glad it was you. I was hoping it would be you.”
“I couldn’t stay away. I couldn’t leave you out here.”
“Buzz…” She raised her hand, then let it fall as if realizing it would only fan a flame far more dangerous than the fire raging all around.
He wasn’t sure what he would do if she touched him again. Kiss her again, maybe. Or maybe he’d do something really stupid like tell her he loved her…
“We don’t have much time.” Loath to let her go, he stepped back and motioned toward the ATV. “We’ve got to go.”
“You’re hurt.”
“I can drive.” Taking her shoulders, he guided her over to the ATV. “Get on.”
She turned to him, ran her hand lightly over his shoulder. Even though her touch was light, the pain made him wince. She tossed him a worried frown. “My God, you’re shoulder feels like it’s dislocated.”
“It’ll keep for a little while.”
“Buzz—”
It took tremendous effort, but he climbed behind the wheel without wincing. “Get on.”
“You’re stubborn as a mule.”
“I guess maybe that’s one of the things we’ve always had in common.” He stared at her, unmoving, a standoff he was determined to win. “Come on, Kel. We don’t have much time.”
“What am I going to do with you?” Exasperation laced her voice as she slid onto the seat behind him.
He cut her a look. “I don’t think you want me to answer that.”
“Probably not.”
Keenly aware of the press of her body against him, Buzz jammed the vehicle in reverse, braked hard, then headed in the same direction from which he’d come. An instant later he slammed his foot down on the brake. Fear drizzled through his midsection when he saw knee-high flames flickering over the path he’d taken earlier.
“How are we going to get through?” Kelly asked.
“The same way I came through the first time.”
“It wasn’t on fire the first time, was it?”
Using his uninjured arm, he worked off his shirt.
“What are you doing?” she asked.