Chapter Two
Murray Simpson didn’t recognize the ranger acting as the first line of defense onto the scene, and he didn’t care. Only one thing mattered the second he’d heard about the explosion over the radio: getting to Aslen.
“Whoa, buddy.” Ash and sweat combined into a paste along the man’s dark skin as he held up his hands. “This is an active fire. You can’t go in there.”
“Law enforcement division.” Smoke twisted and curled over the blackened wasteland in front of him almost as far as the eye could see.
It collected at the back of his throat, burning its way through him and raising his temper a notch higher as the reality of the situation set in.
It didn’t take much to imagine how close any one of these firefighters could’ve lost the battle they’d taken on.
Flames had died down, but teams were still working the embers, ensuring hot spots were doused to prevent another breakout.
A chemical odor churned acid in his gut. Gasoline. He’d recognize it anywhere.
Lava Point—though far north of the dense areas of the park—consisted of miles of woodlands and brush.
It was any wonder this section of the park hadn’t gone up in flames before today, but Aslen shouldn’t have been anywhere near here.
Her supervisor had given Murray his word she wouldn’t be called to big events like this.
Something primal and aggravated worked through him as he set sights on the woman who’d somehow managed to undermine every single rule he’d set for himself when it came to keeping his distance.
A vibration that seemed to tune directly to her shook him down to the bone, and without conscious effort, Murray was maneuvering around the man acting as nothing but an obstacle between him and Aslen. “Get out of my way.”
“Hey! I’m going to have to report you to the chief.” The firefighter scrambled to get someone’s attention. Wouldn’t do any good.
Murray didn’t bother looking back. “Go ahead. See where it gets you.”
At six foot four and 230 pounds, there weren’t a whole lot of people who could stop him from getting onto the scene.
He didn’t like to use his size to intimidate, but in this case, he wouldn’t hesitate.
That hum, honed specifically to Aslen, threatened to pull him apart cell by cell if he didn’t get to her. Now.
The woman who commanded his every thought and action sank down onto a bare patch of ground in the middle of the scene, staring out at the damage, unaware of him closing in on her.
Ash darkened her hair from its normal brown to nearly black, and clumped random strands together.
Taking a swig from the stickered green metal water bottle she’d carried around as long as he could remember, she tipped her head up to the sky and closed her eyes.
Murray pulled back on his pace. Some part of him wanted to tear into her for putting her life in danger while the other couldn’t get enough of the look of peace in her expression.
When was the last time she’d looked so…content?
He couldn’t remember. Though, if he was being honest with himself, he’d taken great pains to avoid coming into contact with her at all over the years.
Distancing himself a little more. Setting up invisible walls to keep her from getting through.
Didn’t matter. The know-it-all he’d saved back in middle school got under his skin no matter how hard he fought her off.
Sun broke through the black swirls of smoke and highlighted the rough scrape across Aslen’s face, igniting his protective streak all over again.
It wasn’t enough she’d charged into a dangerous situation, but she’d managed to get herself hurt in the process.
His shadow cast ahead of him and fell over her closed eyes.
One eyelid cracked open, then the other, as she took him in. Shock interrupted that smooth look of contentment as she scanned the scene. In an instant, she was on her feet. “What are you doing here? This is an active scene.”
“What the hell were you thinking taking on this assignment?” Murray didn’t bother hiding the rage coiling in his gut.
He’d promised to protect her since she’d been that skinny little thing he’d found crying behind a dumpster twenty years ago, and he wasn’t about to stop now.
Even if he had to protect her from herself. “You could’ve been killed.”
“I was thinking I was doing my job.” The muscles in her jaw jumped under the tension of her back teeth as she tried to control the volume of her voice.
It was the same every time she got riled, and the fact he could get such a reaction out of her brought him the slightest hint of joy.
Apart from being in the same room as her, hearing her laugh, oh, and having all of her attention.
But she didn’t know any of that, and he would do whatever it took to make sure she never would.
“Putting out fires is kind of in the title.”
“Not anymore. I’m submitting the paperwork to have you transferred.” Because apparently, he couldn’t trust her supervisor to follow orders. “Monday morning, you’ll be with the information rangers in the visitor’s center.”
No way she could get herself hurt providing visitors directions, restarting the park video in the cinema and answering the same question a hundred times in a single shift. At least, that was what he would tell himself. When it came to Aslen, he’d learned nothing was a sure bet.
“First of all, you are not my department head. Second, you can’t keep coming up with schemes to protect me like I’m made of glass.
This is my job. This is what I’m good at, whether you approve or not.
” Shoving her palms against his chest, Aslen attempted to push him off balance.
In vain. It would take a miracle for her five-foot-three frame to have any kind of physical influence on him, but stranger things had happened.
“It’s already done.” It wasn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
And if she ended up hating him more than she already did, he’d done his job.
He’d keep his distance, he’d make her think he didn’t care, he’d do whatever it took to protect her.
Especially from the way he cared for her—because nothing could ever come from that.
“Grab your gear. I’m taking you back to your place. ”
The tick in her jaw was back. Her knuckles whitened as she clamped down on the handle of her water bottle.
He could practically see the gears turning in her head as she strategized where to hit him with the metal.
It would hurt, but the pain would be nothing compared to the vise constricting his chest at the thought of losing the last person he cared about.
“My shift isn’t over, and you don’t get to tell me what to do. ”
No amount of training could have prepared him for the storm brewing in her green gaze.
It was that same look that’d preceded her telling him she’d taken a job as a national park ranger here in Zion after graduation.
Against his advice. She was supposed to take a safe job, meet a nice guy—one Murray would’ve vetted ahead of time with his connections to the Salt Lake Police Department—get married, have a couple of kids and live a boring life behind a white picket fence.
But Aslen Woods had never been that woman.
Numbness prickled in his fingertips as he gauged his chances of surviving the oncoming explosion. Battle-ready tension tightened through her shoulders as she took a single step toward him. He caught hints of gasoline and smoke coming off her clothes.
“Aslen!” Another fire ranger—a blonde bombshell who had no problem carrying the forty-plus pounds of gear strapped to her back—jogged to close the distance between them with a wide smile. “Look who’s up and about. How’s the head?”
Aslen’s wide gaze aimed at her friend broke the contained anger simmering beneath her skin. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She was a terrible liar. He narrowed his attention on the woman he couldn’t pry from beneath his skin if he was armed with a crowbar, scanning her from scalp to chin. “What’s wrong with your head?”
“Oh, is this the law enforcement ranger you’ve been talking about?
” Something along the lines of fascination hiked a wave of pink into the blonde’s face.
Clear interest transformed her expression from concerned into something brighter and more put together.
“He’s much more handsome than you described. ”
It took everything he had not to roll his eyes.
He was well aware of his influence on the opposite sex, but he was losing patience, which was already thin to begin with when it came to being around the one woman he couldn’t have.
Murray framed Aslen’s chin with his index finger and thumb, forcing her attention back on him, and she came willingly.
Despite his history of overstepping, he wouldn’t ever hurt her, and some part of her knew that.
Allowed him to touch her, get close even.
He softened his tone. “What happened to your head?”
“Nothing.” Aslen shook her head as if that would rewind time.
“The force of the explosion knocked her on her ass and cracked her hard hat.” Her friend nodded at the back of Aslen’s skull. “I told her to get assessed by the EMTs, but she refuses.”
Panic crested Aslen’s expression, and she wrenched free of his hold, adding a good bit of physical distance between them, as if his touch burned.
Problem was, he was a man of his word, and the promise he’d made years ago to protect her would die with him.
She gave him a clear view of the back of her head.
And the crust of blood drying in her hair. “Traitor.”
Dread coiled at the base of his spine. She’d stood here acting as if nothing was wrong when she might’ve sustained a brain bleed? This woman would be the death of him. Curling his fingers around hers, he hauled Aslen into his side. “Your shift is over. You’re getting checked out.”
She tried—and failed—to overcome his hold. “I can walk, Murray.”
“And yet you chose to sit down knowing you’d hit your head.” This wasn’t up for negotiation. He didn’t care how much she hated him. She wasn’t getting out of this. “You think I’m going to trust you to take care of yourself now?”
Aslen kept up with him despite their size differences. “It’s not your job to look after me.”
“Someone has to do it.” He walked her over to an ambulance outside the perimeter, sitting her down harder on the back bay than he intended. “She hit her head. Run a full workup and make sure she’s okay.”
The EMTs scrambled into action, closing in on either side of her.
“This is ridiculous. I have a job to do.” She waved off the EMT shining a light into her left eye while the other bandaged the scrape on her face. “You know as well as I do embers can resuscitate a fire. Not to mention destroy any evidence the arsonist might’ve left behind.”
“Arson?” He’d almost forgotten the bite of chemical odor coming off her clothes. She’d gotten close to the source. Too close. Damn it. Aslen was lucky to be alive. Did she really not understand how close she’d come to being ripped away from him? “You’re sure?”
Crime of any kind fell under the purview of him and his division. If someone had started this particular fire, he would find them—plain and simple—but more, someone had put Aslen in danger to begin with, and he couldn’t let that go.
“Hard to miss the signs.” Aslen nodded toward what looked like a collapsed shed a dozen or so feet into the tree line, completely at ease with the two EMTs poking and prodding at her scalp. “Or the body they tried to get rid of in the process.”
Murray’s insides went cold. “Show me.”