Ignite (Wildwood 1)

Nice. He was getting another chance to talk to Harper before she took off for the BFD. And he’d get another glimpse of Delilah flirting with the oblivious Lane. That shit was starting to become amusing.

“Just wanted to say good-bye,” Delilah said, her gaze lingering on Lane in his uniform. West wouldn’t be surprised if her tongue lolled out of the side of her mouth. “You going into work, Lane?”

“Yeah.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin and tossed it on top of his empty plate. “What are you up to today, Dee?”

She didn’t even flinch when he called her by her old and much-hated nickname. That was a sure sign she was totally hung up on his big brother. “Nothing much. It’s my day off. I suppose I should go over to your sister’s place and check up on her.”

“What’s wrong with Wren?” West asked, frowning.

“Stomach bug. Said she was barfing last night.”

Ew. He was avoiding his sister at all costs.

After all, he had a shower-sex date later tonight. He didn’t want anything to ruin his chances at getting Harper naked again.

HARPER TEXTED WEST right before she left the diner, going against her better judgment but deciding fairly quickly to hell with it. She may have started out playing games with West, what with the way she screwed and dashed last night, but tonight, she wasn’t in the mood for games. She wanted to see him. Take him up on his self-proclaimed shower skills and see if he was as good as he said. Her muscles ached and her back was sore from working in the office today. She was seriously looking forward to having his hands on her.

Want to meet at your place around seven?

She sent the text, chewing on her lower lip as she waited for a reply. But none came. Not immediately, not after five minutes, not after fifteen.

Giving up, she hopped in her car and drove back to her grandma’s place, trying her best not to get mad.

“What are you doing here?” Grandma asked the moment she walked in the house. “I thought you were going out tonight.”

Frowning, Harper dumped her purse on the kitchen counter. She’d never told her grandma that. “I might go out later.”

“Hmph.” Her grandma shook her head. “I sort of need you out of here tonight, Harp.”

Harper frowned. She couldn’t remember the last time someone called her Harp. And she had a feeling her grandma had said it with a hint of irritation in her voice too. “Are you having company?” She braced herself for the answer.

“As a matter of fact, I am. Maybe you should go visit your parents and see what they’re up to. I bet they’d love to have you over for dinner,” she suggested.

Yeah right. More like they’d love to trap Harper at the dinner table and drill her about the reasons she’d broken it off with Roger. Forget that. She’d been avoiding her parents as much as possible since the relationship ended. She knew she couldn’t run away from her problems forever, but for now, she liked living in her protective little bubble.

“I’ll dig up plans with someone,” she muttered as she went to her room, closing the door behind her.

She glanced around the tiny guest room she was temporarily calling her own, wishing she had her own place. Not that she could afford anything by herself. She’d definitely need a roommate to survive on the money she was currently making. Delilah had offered her couch in her tiny one-bedroom apartment on the second floor of her dance studio, but Harper had declined. And Wren lived in a small, one-room cottage on the far edge of her parents’ property, close to the lake. She hadn’t even bothered offering Harper a place to crash because she knew Harper would say no.

Considering how isolated Wren’s place was, it actually gave Harper the creeps anyway so . . . no thanks.

She had her phone clutched in her hand, her gaze stuck on the screen as she silently demanded West to text her back.

As if by magic, h

er phone lit up with a text message from him. But when she read it, the disappointment made her shoulders deflate.

Sorry. Got called back to the station to cover. Can I get a rain check on that shower?

Wow, there went her evening plans for real.

Everything okay? Is there a big fire or something?

Her phone buzzed in her hand.

Yeah. Tate’s engine got called out on a strike team. Big fire near Sacramento. I’m stuck here covering. No days off in the foreseeable future.

She pressed her lips together, staring at West’s text. Firefighters worked lots of overtime and during the summer months, the Cal Fire guys worked constantly.