Make Me Lose Control (26 page)

He pulled at her arm, but she wrenched away and went back to battling the fire with a new length of blanket. “You go!” she yelled without looking at him. “I’m saving this. I’ve got to save this.”

And, fuck, he knew that she did. As much as he wanted to drag her away from danger, as much as his own instincts were clamoring to leave now because there was little time before the flames spread, Shay Walker had allowed him to see inside her so that he was certain of one thing.

This salvation would be her redemption.

His acquaintance with that inner core of her meant he knew she must see this through.

As he picked up the remaining blanket, he wondered if it would have been better if they’d remained strangers.

Ten minutes later, it shocked the hell out of him to realize they’d won. Shay stepped back, her blanket falling at her feet, as he stomped through the pile of ash to make sure there was nothing left to reignite. Then Brett leaped through the doorway, a fire extinguisher in each hand.

He skidded to a halt, taking in the situation. “Out,” he said, speaking the obvious.

“Toss me one of those,” Jace ordered, and he doused the detritus of the fire with the foam.

“What the hell was burning?” he asked, to no one in particular.

Shay’s breathing was ragged and her face was covered with muddy soot. “I think it was kids torching a years’ worth of homework assignments.”

Jace lifted the hem of his T-shirt to wipe his face, examined its ashy state and decided against it. “Your sister saved the day,” he told Brett. “Should we call the fire department? Tell them the danger’s passed?”

“Yeah,” he said, yanking his phone from his pocket. “Shit. No coverage.”

“That’s what happened to me.” Shay sank to the floor as if too weary to stand another moment.

“I’ll text London. She has a signal at the clearing and can make the call.” He grimaced. “Though I’d better get back there, just in case they want to hear it from an adult.”

“You go ahead,” Brett said. “I’ll let Shay catch her breath and then we’ll follow.”

Jace looked at his soot-covered battle partner. She had her bloody knees drawn up. Her arms circled her shins and her eyes were closed. As he watched, they opened, their icy blue rimmed with red. “Thanks,” she said. There was a relieved peace about her that acted as a parachute to his adrenaline crash.

“You’re welcome,” he said. “We’ll talk, okay?”

Her eyes had already closed again. “Sure.”

But then she didn’t come home.

Brett sent a text telling Jace that he and London should go ahead and return to their house. He and Shay would meet with the fire inspector, who was coming out to inspect the damage.

As the dinner hour approached, London received a text from her tutor, instructing her about where to find fixings for a meal. She told the girl she’d see her later.

Jace didn’t hear a word from Shay himself and he noted that “later” was pretty damn vague. It started to piss him off.

As he slung a couple of plates on the kitchen table for himself and his daughter, she looked across at him, her eyebrows rising. “What are you going to do?”

He ratcheted down his temper. “About what?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Everything.”

“We’ll figure it out.” He looked around the house he’d originally considered butt ugly. “Do you like this place or should we find another in the area?”

Her eyes lit up. “We’re really going to stay?”

“We’re really going to stay. I still might have to make the occasional business trip—I’ll rearrange things as best as I can—”

“Maybe I could bunk with Poppy and Ryan when necessary...and you know, do some babysitting for Mason.” She sounded enthused. “Or Shay could come back...”

Shay had to come back.

He worried she wouldn’t for the rest of the meal and until London took herself off to bed. She said, “Good night, Dad,” and wasn’t that a kick in the ass? He smiled and ruffled her hair and she complained about that so he did it again.

But then he was alone as night settled around the house. He sat in the living room nursing a beer. The only lights he’d turned on were those on the porch and in the foyer, just like Shay’s date night.

And just like her date night, he was sitting in the dark living room when she let herself into the house.

“Shay,” he said as she passed his still body.

She jolted, put her hand to her throat. “You scared me.”

“Sorry. Are you all right? I didn’t hear from you and was worried.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she perched on the chair adjacent to his spot on the couch. “I should have called to thank you again. Brett and I went to Poppy and Ryan’s, Mac brought some clean clothes over for me and we all had dinner together, talked.”

“Ah.”

She hesitated. “I guess I should let you know I’m not going to France.”

He decided against a touchdown boogie, though it was a near thing. “Is that right?”

“I told you about my dad—”

“You said you remembered him telling you he loved you.”

“After he found me in the woods. I’d forgotten in the...in the trauma of it all, I guess.”

“I’m glad you remembered.”

“Yes.” Even though it was dark, he saw her bend her head, stare at her hands clasped in her lap. “So, I’m not going to France. I’m staying in the mountains. My brother and sisters and I discussed it over dinner. I fought for the land today and because of that...I finally feel like it’s my land now, too.”

“Shay Walker,” he murmured.

“Yes.” He could hear the smile in her voice. “Shay Walker.”

They sat in silence for a long moment. Then she spoke again. “How did things go here?”

“It’s been pretty quiet since my daughter hit the sack. By the way, we’ve decided to make a go of it, London and I. Regular school, full-time father.”

“Jace!” She swiveled to fully face him. “What changed your mind?”

“Hard to pinpoint just one thing.” Though the Walkers figured into it pretty heavily. He wanted that kind of connection for his daughter, with her.

“I’m so happy for you both.”

“About that happiness...I’ve been sitting in the dark contemplating the kind of woman I’ll eventually settle down with.”

“Oh.” She sounded nonplussed. “You seemed so sure that wasn’t going to happen.”

He shrugged. “Not with Greeting Card Wife.”

“Well, I think she was perfect for you,” Shay said in an airy tone.

“I don’t want a woman I pick up in a bar.”

He heard her offended sniff.

“I want a woman who picks
me
up in a bar.”

The atmosphere in the room changed in an instant, becoming charged with wariness and uncertainty. Had she closed her heart to him already? “Shay?”

“I’m still here.”

And because of that, he was plowing forward. “It’s probably not fair to you, what I want. God knows I’m fumbling my way into fatherhood and I’ll probably make a hash out of being a husband.”

There was a long pause. “Nice alliteration,” she finally said.

“Thanks, I’ve been practicing that. Is it...is it softening you up at all?”

“For what?”

“To take me on. To become part of my family. To belong to me and London like we’ll belong to you.”

He heard her breath catch.

“I considered doing the noble thing and leaving you free for Officer Upright, but it turns out I’m not so chivalrous. I want it all, and I won’t have it all if I don’t have you.”

Another long pause. Then she whispered, “I...I want it all, too.”

More sunlight shined on his heart. He knew what she was hinting at. “I love you, Shay. I’m in love with you.”

“Why? When?” There was astonished delight in her voice.

The sound of it nearly broke him. He was up and he drew her up, too, so he could enclose her in his arms. “I think it started with those smart-ass emails. And I was certain when I saw your naked baby butt.”

She shoved at him, but he held firm. Then she tilted her head. “Hey, wait. I remember something else. You told me you loved me at the cabin today.”

“I did. And I was a little annoyed that you didn’t appear to notice.”

“There was a lot going on at the time.” Her hands curled around the back of his neck and she toyed with his collar in a proprietary way that he found, frankly, adorable. “Will you make me a fairy house?”

“A new one every year,” he promised.

She buried her face in his chest. He stroked the back of her hair. “What are you thinking now, my lovely one?”

She lifted her head. “That I’m going to make you very happy.”

Frowning, he tapped her nose. “That’s my line.”

“We’ll share,” she declared.

And looking down at the wonderful woman in his arms, Jace Jennings knew that was going to be the best way to live the rest of his life.

EPILOGUE

L
ONDON
LOOKED
HERSELF
over in her bedroom mirror, retucking a lock of hair in her updo and fussing with the strapless bodice of her prom dress. Though she’d danced the night away, the gown still looked perfect.

There’d been quite a lot of “discussion” around the Jennings dinner table about what was appropriate for an eighteen-year-old to wear to a dance just weeks before high school graduation. Her father had some ridiculous notion involving sleeves and high necklines. Shay had talked him around.

London figured he’d actually given in because she was not going with a date, but with a group of her girlfriends. They were in her room, too, now, chattering and checking on their own dresses and makeup. The limo had dropped them off not more than ten minutes before and at any second their guests would arrive for the postprom party.

Shay had suggested they volunteer to host that bash, that way avoiding her dad objecting to London going to an all-night event. Sure, now he was complaining about having to chaperone until morning, but he liked to pretend he was grumpy.

Since marrying Shay, he was really quite malleable.

In the distance, the doorbell rang. “People are here!” London said to her posse. Since the other four were still fussing with their lipstick, she went downstairs by herself. Glancing in the kitchen as she passed, she saw her father and stepmother in a lip-lock. No wonder they hadn’t heard the bell.

They were even more crazy about each other—if that was humanly possible—now that Shay was a week shy of her due date. London was getting a little brother
and
a little sister. She’d decided on a college down the mountain but close by in the LA area, just so she wouldn’t be too far from taking part in the raising of the new members of her family.

Wearing a smile, she turned the knob.

Her fingers strangled it when she saw who was standing on the front step. Colton Halliday.

Yes, it was his rangy figure, his tousled sandy hair, his half smile. Though she’d seen him on occasion—Amy was one of her closest friends—they’d both taken great pains to avoid each other.

It hadn’t been that hard over the past three years since he’d been going to college in Colorado.

But she was almost a college girl herself, not some gauche, freaky fifteen-year-old, so she should be able to handle this moment with a modicum of sophistication. “Hello,” she said.

“Hello,” he replied. “Did you have fun tonight?”

“Sure. Because it was, well, prom.”

He nodded. “Yeah, prom.”

She remembered his senior year he’d gone with his girlfriend, the one who had been studying abroad when she first met him. They’d broken up before college, however. His love life was a mystery to London now.

As was why he was here. Surely he wasn’t one of those college guys that showed up at high school parties, she thought with an inner grimace. That would be such a disappointment.

“Um, would you like to come in?” she asked, because she figured she must.

“No, no.” He held up a small duffel bag that was in one hand. “Ames left her overnight stuff at home. I volunteered to bring it over.”

“Oh!” She was glad they were both spared the embarrassment of an unexpected,
older
party guest. “I’ll take it.”

The transfer went off without a hitch.

Colton Halliday remained on her doorstep.

She raised a brow. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes,” he said, stepping forward. He cupped her face with one big hand, bent his head and kissed her.

It wasn’t the first time she’d ever been kissed, but after a second she couldn’t remember any of those that came previous. When he moved back, she gripped the door to avoid toppling over.

He was grinning at her.

She was just happy to realize she was still breathing.

“Are you going to be around this summer, England?” he asked.

England.
A nod was the best she could do.

“Me, too. Want to go to the movies next Saturday night?”

Another nod.

He continued to grin. “It’s a date.”

Then he jogged down the steps and disappeared just as a gaggle of classmates came pressing through the still-open door. One girl, who’d been new this year and Amy’s senior project, looked over her shoulder then at London. “Who was
that
?”

Her past? Her future? London smiled at her friend. “Just some guy I know.”

She pulled the other girl toward the kitchen where food and drink awaited. Her dad looked up as the crowd surged into the room. “Everything okay?” he asked, smiling as he walked to London.

“Everything’s fabulous,” she answered, going on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. It was prom night and college was coming in September and possibilities were opening up all over as she took these first real steps into her own life—the life in which her dad and Shay would always have her back.

Master of her fate, captain of her soul, certainly. But never alone and never lonely. “Love you, Dad,” she whispered, and he drew her close.

“Love you, too,” he said, his voice gruff. “Love you always.”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from TAKE MY BREATH AWAY by Christie Ridgway.

“Emotional and powerful…everything a romance reader could hope for.”
—Publishers Weekly
on
Bungalow Nights

In
Make Me Lose Control
,
USA TODAY
bestselling author Christie Ridgway returns to Blue Arrow Lake with the dazzling story of opposites attracting in the rustic mountains of California. Be sure to check out book one in the all-new
Cabin Fever
series:

Take My Breath Away

Looking for more titles by Christie Ridgway? Check out…

Beach House No. 9
Bungalow Nights
The Love Shack

Available now in ebook format!

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