Love in Flame (De La Fuente Family 5)

“I’m sure we’ll be on our way soon,” Rae replies, watching my reaction before she moves around her car.

“Your brilliant idea again,” the girl complains.

Out of curiosity, I follow and find a slender pair of legs sticking out of the car door, and a firm body follows as she stands in front of her mom.

Her eyes snap to mine and do a once over of my grubby form. She obviously likes what she sees because her eyes light with interest. “Not that I’m complaining, but where did you come from?”

Amused at her flirting, I point over my shoulder just as two of my friends appear. “In case you haven’t noticed the forest around here is on fire. You two shouldn’t even be in this area even though it’s now under control.”

“We noticed, which was why we tried to get away from here.” She shrugs, offering her hand. “Andie.”

I quickly shake her hand, “Diego,” and decide to get them moving again while I absorb the fact that Rae really does have an adult daughter.

My brother and Rae have told me about Andie, but seeing Rae’s daughter in the flesh is a wake up call.

Shaking my head, I ignore them both while I turn back toward the hood of the car to quickly reattach the plug. “There,” I step away from the car, “all done. Give it a try.”

Rae climbs into the car and turns it over—the engine purrs to life.

She jumps out and her bright smile nearly knocks me on my ass. “Thank you.” Rae takes a step toward me when she quickly halts, looking embarrassed. “We better go.” She glances at her daughter. “Andie.” She motions to the car.

The girl rolls her eyes and smirks at her mom as she gets back into the car, slamming the door behind her.

Rae flushes and holds my gaze. “Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome, Rae.”

She glances behind me and quickly moves to her car. “Well, we better go…we’re staying with your family so I’ll see you around.”

My heart thuds in my chest at the thought of her being so close, giving me a new burst of energy to get myself home. “I’ll see you soon,” I drawl with meaning behind my words.

Stepping out of her way, I watch them drive away.

“The daughter was hot,” Rich states, wrapping an arm over my shoulders. “The redhead couldn’t take her eyes from you though.”

I shake the image from my mind before I go crazy. “Whatever. Let’s head back before they send a search party out for us.” We fall into step knowing that after we’ve checked in at base that we can head home for some much needed sleep. I have a feeling that sleep might be hard to come by after seeing Rae again and knowing that we’re both under the same roof won’t help at all.

While I half listen to Rich and Levi, I wonder if Rae’s missed me as much as I have her.

RAE

I can finally breathe again as I drive toward the De La Fuente farm where Aiden insists we take refuge until the fire isn’t at risk of coming near my cottage.

It makes sense, I just wish that Lucia would stop going out of her way to make me feel unwelcome. I haven’t been around much over the past few weeks, but the two occasions that I have, made me feel like locking myself in the bathroom and having a really good cry. I’ve seen her a few times around town and while I’ve always been polite, she completely ignores me.

It makes me sad.

The last thing I wanted when I moved us here was to cause problems, but that’s all I seem to have done.

“Mom?”

“Yeah?” I glance into the mirror before keeping my eyes on the road. “What’s up?”

“That man, Diego,” she pauses, thoughtful, “you know him?”

My heart sinks but I can’t lie to her. “Yeah, he’s Aiden’s brother.”

Her eyes widened. “Seriously?” She shakes her head. “Of course he is. He was cute.”