Wildfire: A Novel (The Maple Hills Series)

Aurora hands me my second coffee of the day as we watch Xander and Emilia argue.

Several weeks ago, the words talent and show were mentioned in the same sentence in what I hoped was a joke. Then Aurora told me how important it is to her, emotional blackmail some would say, and because I can’t help but do whatever she wants because I’m obsessed, I’m now waiting to be taught to dance.

I knew that if I let her down after missing the first practice she would never learn to trust me, so I’ve been in our designated rehearsal spot before everyone, ready to go.

What Aurora didn’t consider when she told us we had to be prepared enough to do a good job, is that we would have to decide on our talent as a group.

I know what my and Aurora’s talent is, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to do it on a stage with an audience.

She stands beside me, occasionally bumping me with her hip, while Maya and Clay stand on my other side, and the four of us congregate together watching our two other counselors argue. Again.

“It’s a talent contest, Xan,” Emilia snaps.

“And I am brimming with natural talent,” he argues back.

“I’m a professionally trained dancer.”

“You can’t teach what I have.”

Maya folds her arms across her chest, tilting her head. “Should we intervene?”

“Nah,” I say, taking a swig of my coffee. “He’ll wear himself out eventually.”

“Emilia won’t,” Aurora says, taking my mug out of my hand and sneaking a sip. “She’ll never back down to a man.”

The kids were getting antsy about not having enough time to practice since we keep them busy all day, so we switched things up to give us all the morning before returning to regularly scheduled programming this afternoon.

I assumed Aurora was exaggerating when she said it’s a big deal, but she wasn’t. Everyone takes it super seriously, which makes me worry even more.

Rory steps closer to me, seemingly absentmindedly, her arm rests against mine as she continues to watch our friends fight like siblings. God, I’m pathetic for enjoying something as simple as her gravitating toward me.

“Hey!” she shouts at Xander and Emilia, making them both look at us all watching them. “How about you come up with something and you can just teach us when you know? If I wanted to watch two people fight over something pointless, I’d spend time with my parents.”

“Fine,” they both snap, immediately returning to arguing with each other.

“Go enjoy your day off,” Aurora says to Clay and Maya. “There’s no way they’re agreeing on something in the next two hours.”

“You’re a real one, Roberts,” Maya says, yawning and waving as she disappears in the direction of the cabins.

“I don’t mind hanging around here for a bit longer to help,” Clay says, sticking his hands into his pockets and shrugging lazily.

His smile is odd today. It’s forced and awkward and it’s making me want to stand in front of Aurora and shoo him. I can’t, obviously, because that would be rude, not to mention slightly unhinged.

“There’s nothing to help with,” she says, her tone sharper than I’ve ever heard her be. “You deserve a break, so go enjoy it.”

Clay’s eyes flick to me and I instantly realize I’m missing a piece of the puzzle. Clearing my throat, I put on my best fake smile to match his. “Enjoy your day off, dude. There’s nothing interesting happening here.”

He finally concedes, looking embarrassed as he heads off toward the cabins behind Maya.

“Why’s he being weird?” I ask Aurora quietly as he gets further away from us.

“Dunno. Can you make sure nobody gets eaten by a mountain lion for five minutes.” She takes the empty mug from my hand and grabs our water bottles from the picnic table. “I’ll get us some water and some deck chairs and we can just sit and watch everyone, okay? Should I get us some paper for origami? Yeah, I should. Find us a strategic spot.”

She’s disappearing toward the main building before I even have a chance to answer her. I watch her leave before ambling toward Emilia and Xander who are, unsurprisingly, glaring at each other. “Why is Clay being weird today?”

Emilia’s eyebrow immediately rises. “Why are you saying ‘today’ like he isn’t like that every day?”

“Rory was snappy with him and he looked embarrassed.”

“He’s been like that since he tried to kiss her,” Xander says casually. “You just haven’t noticed because you don’t pay attention to any of us because we don’t have blond hair and suck your dick.”

“You sound jealous,” Emilia snorts.

“I am. I’d look fucking great as a blond,” he says back. “Not into dicks though, sorry dude. Tried once, not for me.”

“Back up.” My fingers find my temple to try and process the past ten seconds. “He tried to kiss her?”

“Yeah, I told you!” Xander argues. “You went to her cabin to check she was okay and ended up volunteering me to work.”

“You told me he was annoying her and invited her on a vacation, but you didn’t say he tried to kiss her!”

“Oh, my bad,” Xander says casually, like my brain isn’t now full of the image of Clay kissing Aurora.

“Who’s trying to kiss who?” Jenna says, appearing behind me, catching the end of what I said. The last couple of days have been exceptionally hot, so Jenna kept the dogs with her to make sure they were keeping cool. Fish circles me excitedly, while Trout immediately tries to eat my shoelaces and Salmon paws at me to be picked up. “Gentlemen, no more treating the pups like babies. The carrying stops.”

“Feels unreasonable but okay,” Xander grumbles, pouting.

“It’s for our talent show performance, Jen,” Emilia immediately lies as I crouch to the dogs’ level to fuss them all. “We’re workshopping a plot.”

Jenna looks between the three of us. “Where’s trouble?”

“She’s finding some deck chairs for us to sit and keep an eye on everyone,” I say, concentrating on the dogs. Being around Jenna, knowing I’m doing something I shouldn’t be, makes me really fucking nervous. I don’t understand the rush everyone talks about when they talk about sneaking around. I don’t feel that at all, all I feel is guilt. It’s just not quite enough guilt to make me stop.

“I doubt she’ll be able to reach them, they’re on the top rack in the equipment cupboard. I’ll go he—”

“I’ll go,” I interrupt quickly.

Jenna’s looking at me like she wants to call me out on something, but before she can, Emilia steps in. “Jen, will you help settle an argument, please? We can’t decide on a performance piece.”

She immediately launches into the options, which gives me the chance to run for it. I instantly almost fall down because Trout doesn’t let go of my laces but I finally get free and jog toward the main building. This place is covered in random storage rooms and buildings, so I check two before finding Rory in the third, balancing on her tiptoes on a stool, reaching for the deck chairs.

“Jeez, Rory!” I rush toward her, gripping her hips so she doesn’t fall and break something. “Why didn’t you come and get me to help?”

“I didn’t want to be annoying. I can get it, if I reaaaach—” I grip her hips tightly and lift her higher, until she can comfortably grab two chairs, and lower her back down safely onto the stool. I keep a hand on her while she hands me the chairs to set on the ground. Turning carefully, she gives me a sweet but mischievous smile as she sets her hand on my shoulders and I look up at her. “Told you I could reach.”

“Please don’t do things that might get you hurt.”

She jumps down, landing next to me. “You don’t need to be worried. I’ve been surviving my questionable choices for twenty years.”

“I do worry,” I argue, sitting on the stool and pulling her closer. “Don’t do it.”

She moves her legs over mine until she’s straddling me and I suddenly can’t remember why I’m worrying. Her arms wrap around my neck and she leans in until her mouth is close to mine, her voice lowers. “You know, telling me not to do something makes me want to do it.”

I brush my nose against hers. “What can I do to convince you to behave?”

“Hmm. I can think of a few things.”

“Here?”

“I don’t see any possums,” she says, leaning forward to tug at my lip with her teeth. “And I really do need to be convinced to behave.”

Kissing Aurora is intoxicating. Every inch of her molds to me perfectly and we fit together like we’re two people who have done this hundreds of times. It’s hard to worry about getting caught when she’s grinding herself against me, but it isn’t impossible. “Is there a lock on the door?”

“Nope,” she says, running her mouth along my jaw. “We’ll have to make it quick.”

Groaning, I hold her hips steady. “I don’t have condoms.”

She leans back, smiling sweetly. “That’s okay, it was probably a silly risk anyway.” She goes to stand but I hold her in place.

I unbutton her shorts and she watches me, teeth sinking into her bottom lip as she tries to steady her breathing. “You can’t be loud,” I whisper, sliding my hand into her panties. Fuck, she’s always so ready for me.

“I refuse to be held accountable for my actions when you look like that.”

There’s something about how much she compliments me that makes me feel untouchable. She isn’t shy with it, telling me how hot I am even when I’m doing the most mundane tasks. It gives me the confidence that she’s as attracted to me as I am to her and makes me want to risk everything to watch her say my name as her eyes roll back.

She’s not hard to please like this. Kissing, pressure, consistency and the most important bit, telling her how incredible she is. I’m addicted to the way she clings to me as her body rocks against my hand and when I feel her tighten and pulse around my fingers, I crash my mouth into hers, absorbing the sound of her chanting my name.

This bit is my favorite. When she’s satisfied and clingy, trying to get as much of her skin on mine as possible. I carefully remove my hand, pulling her close to me as she sags against my body.

“I’m going to put myself in danger more often,” she laughs.

“I can’t lie, I was motivated by jealousy not chivalry. Why didn’t you tell me Clay tried to kiss you?”

“Because I thought Xander told you? You came to my cabin and said you were jealous,” she says, frowning.

“Yeah . . . that was about something far more petty than a kiss.”

“Never had you down as the possessive type.” There’s nothing hurt or sad in her tone. “It’s always the ones you least suspect.”

“You get that way when you know how fucking special someone is. How they have no goddamn idea how much brighter they make everything. You’re like sunlight, Rory. I want to bask in everything you have. And I absolutely don’t want to share that with Clay. Not even for a minute.”

Her body stiffens as she leans back, putting distance between us. “I’m not those things.”

I hate that she doesn’t see it. “You are.”

“I don’t want to be sunlight, Russ.” She shakes her head adamantly. “If you stand in the sun for too long, you get burnt. I don’t want to be another person who burns you. Let me be moonlight.”

The look of vulnerability on her face steals my breath away. “What if we get caught in the rain? You don’t get rainbows at night.”

“You don’t need rainbows when you have the northern lights,” she says softly. “And last time we got caught in the rain we did just fine. Incredible, in fact.”

I want to say something sweet and funny, but looking at her scrambles every thought in my head. Nothing seems good enough. Nothing quite tells her how mesmerized I am by her. “If you’re moonlight, does that make me the sea?”

I’m cringing at myself as she leans in and kisses me. Slow, soft, meaningful. “You want me to talk about sharks again, don’t you.”

Just like that, the tender moment slips away as we both begin to laugh, but I don’t mind. “We should probably head back before someone comes looking for us.”

Scooping the chairs under my arm, we walk hand in hand toward the door. Rory turns the lights off as I pull the door open and that’s when Jenna appears.

My voice hasn’t cracked since I was fifteen years old but it does now. “Jenna, hi!” I clear my throat a few times. “Sorry, dusty in here.”

“I wanted to check you weren’t lost, you’ve been forever. Where’s Aurora?”

There’s a split second where we have to telepathically decide which avenue to take.

Or more accurately, which lie to tell.

Thankfully, Aurora steps out from behind the door and huffs. “Maybe if the storage in this place was labeled or made any freaking sense we wouldn’t have to check everywhere for some chairs.”

“Okay, attitude,” Jenna snaps and it reminds me how like siblings these two are. “Sorry for caring about your wellbeing. What a terrible boss I am.”

If Jenna suspects anything she doesn’t let it show as we all walk back toward the kids. After grabbing an extra chair for her and some paper for Rory, I position all three in a line in a shaded spot where we can watch all the different groups practicing.

I shouldn’t feel this on edge considering we didn’t get caught doing anything and sitting here together isn’t illegal, but considering I can smell Aurora on the hand I’m leaning against while Jenna asks me about college, it feels pretty illegal.