Page 50 of The Fire Line

Fine. He had one, and Tessa represented a solution that had worked before Navarro ever drove through the ranch gate.

They had dated briefly after his divorce, then settled into something easier. Sometimes she was seeing someone. Sometimes Harris did not come in for months. When timing and interest matched, they ended the night together without promises, resentment, or any pretense that it was becoming more.

It had always suited him.

Tessa leaned one elbow against the counter. Her dark hair now ended above her shoulders instead of halfway down her back.

“You cut it.”

“Yesterday.”

“Suits you.”

“Thanks.” She watched him for a moment. “I didn’t do it for you, before that becomes a problem.”

“Wasn’t gonna make it one.”

“Good.”

That was one of the reasons Harris liked her. Tessa could leave an opening without standing over it to see what crawled out.

A customer raised an empty glass, and she pushed away. “Try not to disappear before I get back.”

Harris watched her move down the bar. She looked good. The shorter hair exposed the back of her neck, and when she bent to hear an order over the music, his attention went where it always had. She had always been easy to want.

That mattered.

He ordered a second beer and drank it more slowly. He had not come here to prove he was attracted to women. Twelve years with Claire had settled that, as had every night with Tessa, including the one less than a week ago.

What Harris needed was proportion. Navarro had been taking up too much room in his head, and a familiar woman, a familiar body, and a night without consequence ought to remind him that attraction was attraction. Nothing mystical. Nothing requiring days of bad decisions and malfunctioning radio equipment.

Navarro was a complication created by proximity.

Remove the pressure, reset the system, return to ordinary operation.

By the end of Tessa’s shift, Harris had stopped examining the plan so closely.

They crossed the highway to the motel because neither felt like driving farther. Tessa booked the room while Harris finished a cigarette outside.

The door had barely closed before she kissed him.

Harris kissed her back. That part was easy.

She pushed his jacket from his shoulders. He caught her around the waist and pulled her against him, one hand fitting over her ass while she opened another button on his shirt. Her mouth was warm and familiar. He knew the pressure she liked, how her breath changed when his hand moved beneath her shirt, and she knew his body too.

No explanation required. No unfamiliar ground.

His body answered immediately when her hand slid between them.

Good.

Harris closed his eyes, and Navarro stood in the equipment room with his shirt caught above his head.

Tessa’s mouth moved to his jaw. Harris put his lips against the side of her neck and tried to stay with the pressure of her hand, the familiar heat of her body against his.

Stay the fuck here, Harris.

Instead he saw olive skin, Navarro’s stomach, and the dark line of hair disappearing beneath his jeans. His mind followed it lower before he could stop it.