Flame (Firefighters of Montana Book 5) by Victoria Purman

people would get was “good”. “Thank you. I have a secret ingredient that no one knows about.”
    “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
    “A secret means you don’t tell anyone.” And boy, had she kept her fair share of secrets when it came to this man. “Tell me something, McCoy. You just said that people like my trail bars. Does that include you? Do you like my trail bars?”
    He studied her face. She felt her cheeks warm and almost sizzle under his gaze. And then, oh God, other parts of her were sizzling, too.
    “Yep.”
    She splayed a hand to her chest. His gaze flickered to her breasts, longer than a glance, which was interesting and confusing all at once. “Oh, my. You actually ate something that I made?”
    He smiled, almost reluctantly. “Don’t have much choice. They’re in our ration packs. It’s that or starve.”
    Cady playfully saluted. “Glad to be of service to the men and women of the Glacier Creek service station.”
    Dex stood silently next to her. They watched Sam and Laurel take some of the plates of food and offer them to the people milling in the crowd.
    Dex finally cleared his throat. “Can I get you a drink or something?”
    Memory plays tricks, doesn’t it? For years, you don’t remember anything then wham. She had a horrifying flashback. She glanced around urgently, checking the location of the small dance floor and the jukebox. It had been right here. The bar was behind her. The wall of bottles to the left. Oh, God. They were standing in the exact spot. This was where they’d had the argument that had led to that kiss with Dex four years before. The kiss she should have forgotten all about, but never could. She’d never felt that way with anyone, ever.
    “You want to buy me a drink?” she asked.
    “Sure. I’m on call so I’m not drinking but that doesn’t mean you can’t, right?”
    “Yes. Okay. You can buy me a drink.”
    He looked down at his shoes then up at her. “It’s whiskey, right?”
    “Yes.” She was taken aback. “How do you know that?”
    “I remember.” Dex turned to catch Hugh’s attention and the bartender poured one. Dex handed it to Cady. “Cheers.”
    “Cheers.” She sipped it, waited until the familiar warm inner glow hit her chest, making her feel brave. Or was that reckless?
    “Look, Dex. There’s an elephant in the room right here between us.”
    He raised one eyebrow.
    “Hell, I don’t mean an actual elephant.” Was he making this harder on purpose just to torture her?
    “Listen. You and me? We have to get past the thing that happened.”
    “What thing is that?”
    “Look. We’re older now. I’m a business owner. You’re a smokejumper. We run into each other professionally. We’re not kids in high school anymore.”
    When Dex remained silent, Cady nervously continued talking. “Four years ago, the night before I left for California, you and I were standing right about here talking, well, fighting, and then you dragged me off and we—”
    He quickly raised a hand. “Wait one minute. There was no dragging.”
    “Okay, there was no dragging. I followed you. But after that, back there in the dark, when you and I were alone?” Cady took a deep breath. “I did something really stupid.”
    “I don’t remember,” Dex said, turning to the bar, resting his elbows there before looking sideways at Cady.
    Oh, so now he was trying to be nice. And that made him even more incredibly sexy. The suit. Those eyes. The trying-not-to-smile smile. And what good was any of it? He still wasn’t interested in her one bit. The feeling sat like a rock-hard cupcake in the pit of Cady’s stomach.
    She leaned in, her arm brushing against his. “Look, Dex. You don’t have to play nice to protect my feelings, okay? We both know what happened. We both know that I kissed you. It was stupid and I want to apologize.”
    Dex’s jaw clenched. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
    “Clearly, there is.” Cady continued, careful not to let him know the