Ignite (Wildwood 1)

And he was dying for a burger basket special from the BFD. When was the last time he came to this place? He couldn’t remember. The Bigfoot Diner opened when he was still in high school, and at first he and his friends had done nothing but make fun of the place. Until they all went in together one night and tried the food out, only to discover it was mouthwateringly delicious.

They quit making fun of it after that.

Besides, he’d heard a rumor that Harper was working here and he was hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Totally juvenile of him, he knew, but he really was craving a BFD burger. They were the best in town.

“Do you eat here much?” West asked no one in particular. He knew one of them would eventually pipe up.

“I’m not much of a meat eater,” Tori sniffed. The lone female firefighter on his crew, he liked Tori. Thank Christ she wasn’t a newbie. They were too antsy and ready for action, like overeager puppies. Though she did have a stick up her butt half the time. Not that he could blame her. The guys were brutal. He used to be too, but now that he had to manage the crew? He was their leader and couldn’t blow it by making some offhand remark.

“Yeah, we’ve heard that,” one of the bozos said right before he started to crack up, but he was the only one laughing. Jon was his name. Cocky, mouthy, good-looking, and young, he was a newbie and the son of someone in the human resources department at headquarters, which made his attitude that much worse.

In other words, West couldn’t stand the nineteen-year-old little asshole.

“Better watch your mouth,” West said, his low tone warning enough. Jon’s lips snapped shut and he sent a look to the other guys standing nearby. West turned away, not really caring if he pissed the kid off or not. He had a crew to run.

More like he had a crew to feed.

West pushed through the front door, Tori directly behind him, the rest of the crew falling into line after her.

They’d shed their turnouts earlier, after they’d fought a small vegetation fire started by a car flying off the road and landing in an empty cattle field. The hot transmission had lit the tall, dry grass beneath the car and within seconds more than an acre was burning. They got the fire out quick, but they were lucky the air still held a hint of moisture. Come late July into August, forget it. It would be dry as a bone.

He had to savor these days while he still had them. Predictions for this summer’s fire season were off the charts. What with California suffering through a major drought, the conditions were ripe for most of the state to burn right up. The forest that surrounded Wildwood was dotted with dying trees, the lush green pines broken up by more and more brown trees as time went on. If they didn’t have a wet winter with plenty of rain and snow soon, the entire forest was likely to die.

And then burn up.

A cute waitress approached, greeting them with a bright smile and an overenthusiastic hello. Her green T-shirt with the Bigfoot Diner logo emblazoned on the front stretched tight over her tits and he swore her nipples were hard. West did his best not to look at her chest, but the other guys were blatantly checking her out and practically drooling. Not that she seemed to mind.

Christ, he felt like an old man with this bunch.

“You want to sit outside or at a table in here?” the blonde waitress chirped at him, waving a hand at the remaining empty tables. Most everyone was sitting outside on the patio, enjoying the warm weather.

“Inside’s fine.” They needed to cool off and the restaurant’s air-conditioning felt amazing. They all settled at a large table that could seat at least ten, most of them not bothering to look at a menu, West included.

He knew exactly what he wanted. Burger basket, no onions with a side of the special fry sauce that wasn’t advertised. Only locals knew about it. Funny, how he’d fallen into his local routine pretty much the moment he’d stepped back into Wildwood.

“So what made you leave this place? I figured all Gallaghers were lifers when it came to Wildwood,” Tori said to him after the waitress took everyone’s order.

West was surprised by her question. Was she a mind reader or what? Didn’t much like being called a lifer either. “I was offered a promotion so I took it,” he said slowly, refusing to comment on the lifer part. “Why do you ask?”

As discreetly as he could possibly be, he let his gaze slide around the room in search of Harper, but she was nowhere in sight. He thought it was kind of odd, her possibly working at the diner. Didn’t she work with her boyfriend? Hadn’t she left to go to college for a few years? Hell, why hadn’t she just flat out left for good? That’s what he’d done though here he was, back where he started.

Harper was too damn good for this town.

Tori shrugged. “I know Holden, and he’s mentioned you a few t

imes. How you left Wildwood as fast as you could.” When West still hadn’t said anything she continued, “Holden and I were stationed together our first year. We went to the academy together.”

All firefighters had to go to the academy before they were assigned to a station. If they failed, they couldn’t become firefighters. It was hard enough to get into Cal Fire. Nothing worse than getting through the first gate only to be sent home packing because you couldn’t pass the basic physical tests.

West had just finished up at the academy near Sacramento a few weeks ago. It was a requirement for his promotion—the engineer was the one who drove the fire engine and he had to pass the driver’s test. Talk about sweating bullets. He’d practiced taking the test again and again, knocking over fewer and fewer cones with every try. Managing to squeeze that big-ass engine between the strategically placed orange cones hadn’t been easy.

But he’d passed. Still felt damn good just thinking about it too.

“So you and Holden are friends?” West didn’t think Holden could be friends with someone of the opposite sex, especially someone as naturally pretty as Tori, what with her long dark hair and warm brown eyes. But maybe considering he was so happy, so solid with Kirsten, Holden didn’t even notice Tori.

Yeah right.

“Sort of. We don’t really see each other much anymore except in passing.” Tori sent him a meaningful look. “Are you happy to be back here?”