smart, he’d keep his distance.
That was easier said than done, though, when work kept tossing them together like this. Like him, Tucker seemed both cautious about the personal and all business about the fire risk, heading right out of town, no coffee stops or reminiscing about Wednesday’s kisses. Heck, maybe Luis was the one making more of this than he needed to. But every time he replayed the sex in his head, Tucker’s intensity was there, his grasping hands and the look in his eyes, the sort of need that was hard to fake. Tucker cared, of that he was sure. And thus, he wanted to tread cautiously.
“Did you bring food?” he asked when Tucker yawned, unable to shut his own caring off, even with the internal lecture. They were in Tucker’s SUV because there hadn’t been a Jeep readily available for them with so much of the office out dealing with the increase to the red danger levels. “If you skipped lunch, I can unwrap something for you.”
“That would be good. Thanks. There’s a protein bar and some chips in the bag behind you. I’ll start there. I had intentions of convincing you to get lunch out today, but the fire risk stuff took care of those plans.”
“A date?” Damn it. He was not supposed to find that thought sweet. Fetching the food, he unwrapped a bar for Tucker and held it out. Their eyes connected, and yup, he wasn’t the only one thinking about those kisses.
“Something like that.” Smiling shyly, Tucker took the food from Luis. “My plan was to butter you up with lunch, then convince you to go to the scrimmage with me tonight.”
“You don’t really want me at the football thing.” Groaning, he let his head conk back against the seat.
“Sure I do. I like spending time with you.” Another small grin, this one that Luis felt all the way to his toes before Tucker sighed. “And not that it matters now—doubt we’re done in time.”
“Let’s see how it goes. I’ll try to work fast—not cutting corners, but I can try to speed things along.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Out at the site, they found a flurry of activity—hand crew digging fireline, a more experienced hotshot outfit battling the frontline and dealing with flare-ups stemming from efforts to control the initial blaze. A dry, hot wind wasn’t helping matters, and it wasn’t long before he too was sweating. His adrenaline surged, gathering energy from all the activity as he collected the weather and other fire data he needed to make more accurate predictions. He was also carefully looking for signs of possible arson or, alternatively, evidence of a lightning strike or other natural ignition source.
Meanwhile, Tucker was busy talking to leadership, and at one point, Luis lost track of where he was. His pulse sped up, the smoke hanging in the air seeming to thicken by the second, heat increasing until for a second he was back in California, working that terrible blaze, and Mike...
Damn it. He wasn’t supposed to care about Tucker or anyone else like this ever again. Tucker was a professional and could handle himself in the field and didn’t need Luis hovering. Not that his expertise guaranteed his safety, though. Plenty of firefighters each year saw devastating injuries and worse, and not simply hotshot personnel and smoke jumpers on the front lines either. Simply being out here was a risk. So is driving, he reminded himself, but that didn’t help his churning gut any.
He forced his mind back to work, but it kept wandering. What if he never got another chance to kiss Tucker? To hold him and hang out with him and listen to him talk...
Fuck it. He had it bad. And unlike when they’d been teens with the world stretching out in front of them, he’d lived enough years to know that a connection like theirs was precious and rare. And time was finite, always. Circumstances and choices made for a reality where people never had as much time as they wanted together. He hadn’t pushed for meeting up after work yesterday, and now he was mentally shoving his own shoulder. Idiot. At this point, leaving was going to suck no matter what, and avoiding Tucker only meant fewer memories and more regrets for later.
“Almost done?” Tucker appeared back at his side. “This appears fairly contained. I don’t think we need to scramble additional crews at this point, and I updated Fred with your latest insights as well.”
“Yeah. Just finishing up.”