Free Flaming Desire - Part 3 (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) by Helen Grey

couldn’t see any signs of a flame anymore. Maybe it had spontaneously extinguished. I looked around for a few more minutes and didn’t see anything.
    Come to think of it, I could use a potty break. Even though the others were quite a distance from me, I found the remains of some brush that wasn’t completely destroyed, surrounded by several charred and blackened lodgepole pine tree trunks. Several nearby looked untouched. Fire had a way of doing that, much like a tornado—skipping and hopping over areas, often leaving one tree burned and charred while the one next to it remained fresh, healthy, and green. I was just about to pull down my pants and squat when I heard a popping sound above me. I looked up, my mouth dropping open in dismay.
    The top of the tree had erupted into flames—small flames, but flames nevertheless. The lower half had been left unscathed. I quickly forgot about peeing and yanked up my pants, pulling my walkie from one of my side pockets. I pressed on the button on the side of the device. “Matt, over.”
    I heard a squawk, a cackle, and then a crackling sound, but the tree line, or the orientation of the mountainside was making it difficult to get a clear signal. The fire in the treetop quickly spread downward, consuming fresh branches, popping with sap that ignited with a hiss. In a matter of seconds, a breeze swept down slope. The fire surging down the tree trunk seemed to move faster. I gazed up an alarm as I saw embers floating on the breeze. In a matter of moments, another tree, and then another had caught fire.
    “Matt!” I called again into the walkie. Nothing but crackling met my ears.
    Shit.
    I quickly made my way back to the tree line toward the meadow, wildly gesturing for either Matt or Steven to see me. Their backs were turned to me. Once again, I tried to use the walkie, but they didn’t react. Something was wrong with mine. I began to shout.
    “Matt! Steven!”
    I thought they hadn’t heard me, but suddenly Matt turned around, cast his gaze along the edge of the meadow, and then caught sight of me. He lifted an arm as if to wave, but I quickly rotated my arm, urging him to come—and quickly. He turned and shouted something to Steven, although I didn’t hear the words. In a matter of moments, the two men raced toward me.
    “What is it?” Matt asked. “Why aren’t you using your walkie?”
    “It isn’t working,” I informed them, and then gestured back into the tree line. “There’s a stand of lodgepole pine on fire! The breeze must’ve carried some embers from down slope!” I turned and headed back into the trees, with Matt and Steven following. In a matter of minutes, we had reached the area. The tips of the lodgepole pines were now fully engulfed, and the breeze had begun to gust, threatening to send more embers down slope toward the other crew.
    Matt tried his walkie, got his captain. In a matter of seconds, a voice responded, muffled and crackling. “We’ve got a flare-up here!” Matt told him. “We need a chainsaw crew. It’s blowing downwind, your way!”
    Unfortunately, there wasn’t much we could do about this flare-up since we were only armed with shovels and fire axes. I didn’t know whether we would stay or go, wait for the chain saw crew, or the other Hotshot crew to come up. That question was settled when Matt directed Steven and me to start clearing the brush on a line that extended in the direction they would most likely fall when the chain saw crews arrived and attacked their trunks. The line would follow the direction that the breeze would likely take any embers as well.
    We all got busy with shovels, fire axes, and picks. I worked like mad, yanking, pulling, trying to clear as much undergrowth and debris from the area as possible. I refused to allow myself to think that it was an impossible task for three people, no matter how determined.
    I don’t know how long we worked at this, but I refused to think about it. My muscles burned. I choked