Mari Carr & Jayne Rylon
Into the Fire
Compass Boys Book 2
Release Date Nov. 28, 2017
James Compton is a man of two worlds. For half the year, he’s Seth’s oldest boy, working with his family and the horses on Compass Ranch. The other half, he’s Jamie, a daring smokejumper on the West Yellowstone Squad. Those two halves make him feel whole, happy, satisfied. Until he meets his boss’s daughter, Ivy…
Ivy Wagner’s life should be complete. College degree in hand, she’s excited to embark on her career as a large-animal vet. Add in the attention of one very sexy James Compton, and her future should be all sunshine and steamy shared showers. However, a shattering loss in her past ensures Ivy will never date a smokejumper…no matter how perfect for her James may be.
As the couple grows closer, it’s clear they’re headed for a day of reckoning. Ivy can’t lose someone she loves to a raging wildfire, and James may be incapable of giving up a vital part of himself, of living half a life.
When James faces his own loss, the pair are forced to confront their individual demons. What will they willingly let go of…and what will they choose to fight for?
Excerpt:
JAMES SAT in the back of the truck, fighting to keep his eyes open. He had foolishly volunteered to ride all the way back to the base in the truck that was towing the heavier equipment. Something he was regretting now. He was weary to the bone and still not quite close enough to his bed. They’d need to unload and unpack the supplies and then he’d spend at least thirty minutes standing under a hot shower, trying to wash off layers of black soot, grime and sweat.
They were still quite a few miles away from the turn off to the base when something caught his eye.
“Wait a minute,” he said to Butch, who was behind the wheel. “Pull over.”
“What’s wrong?” Butch asked.
Ivy’s beat-up truck was parked in the same lot where he’d met her. He was exhausted, worn out beyond belief—and pissed as hell that she’d go off traipsing through the woods by herself.
“Let me out here. I’ll make my own way back.”
Butch was surprised by the request, but didn’t argue. James climbed out and took off toward the trailhead, his aching feet forgotten in his anger.
He didn’t bother to mute his footsteps as he clomped through the woods toward the tree. Despite that, she didn’t seem to hear him approach.
He opened his mouth to blast her for taking such a dangerous risk, but something about her posture stopped him. She was kneeling in front of the tree, her pose looking like that of someone praying. Her head was bowed and as he got closer, he realized she was shaking.
No. Not shaking.
Crying.
“Ivy?” he whispered, anger giving way to terror. Something was wrong. Really fucking wrong.
She didn’t respond, so he repeated her name, louder.
“I can’t do this.” She didn’t turn around, didn’t look in his direction. Her voice was hoarse, low, hard to hear.
“Do what, baby?”
“Wait for you to come home. I’m not strong enough.”
She was turned away from him, still huddled as if by tucking herself into a ball, she could protect herself.
“Look at me, Ivy.”
She shook her head.
“Ivy.”
“I can’t!” she yelled.
He walked over to her slowly, then knelt next to her. He gasped when he caught sight of her bloody hands. “You’re hurt.”
She clenched them together and refused to face him. He didn’t need her to. Just her profile was enough to tear his goddamn guts out. She was wrecked. Completely.
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About the Author: Mari Carr
Mari Carr Writing a book was number one on Mari Carr’s bucket list and on her thirty-fourth birthday, she set out to see that goal achieved. Too many years later, her computer is jammed full of stories, novels, novellas, short stories and dead-ends and she has nearly eighty published works. Virginia native, Mari Carr is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller of contemporary erotic romance novels. With over one million copies of her books sold, Mari was the winner of the Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Plume award for her novella, Erotic Research. Join her newsletter so you don’t miss new releases and for exclusive subscriber-only content.
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About the Author: Jayne Rylon
Jayne Rylon Jayne Rylon is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She received the 2011 Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Indie Erotic Romance. Her stories used to begin as daydreams in seemingly endless business meetings, but now she is a full time author, who employs the skills she learned from her straight-laced corporate existence in the business of writing. She lives in Ohio with two cats and her husband, the infamous Mr. Rylon. When she can escape her purple office, she loves to travel the world, avoid speeding tickets in her beloved Sky, SCUBA dive, and of course read.
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