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:
For three weeks, Ivy kept her eyes closed to reality because she was so damn happy. Over the moon, actually. Nearly three months after meeting James in the woods, she was falling head over heels for him.
Every time she thought about his job as a smokejumper, she pushed it away, refusing to face it. Because she didn’t want to give up…well…any of it. Not the friendship, the laughter, the sex, the pleasure she found when he tied her up and did unspeakable things to her, or the peace she’d experienced in the moments when they were just vegging on the couch, indulging in a Game of Thrones binge watch on his day off.
“Any luck on the job hunt?” James asked as they hung out in the commissary. She’d just finished up her day at the clinic, but he was on call, so she shifted uncomfortably wishing they were anywhere other than on the base right now.
She knew he was worried about her finding something that would take her away from West Yellowstone. Truth was, there was a big demand for large-animal vets. She had her resume queued up and ready to email to no less than four clinics in different states in the Midwest. But every time her finger hovered over the send key, she couldn’t find the ability to click the mouse.
“Not yet.”
James leaned back in his chair, not bothering to hide his relief as he picked up his coffee cup and took a sip. “Weather is getting nicer.”
She’d been around smokejumpers long enough to know that wasn’t actually a good thing. Nicer weather brought more visitors to the park, thousands and thousands of hikers and campers. More people in the forest meant a higher chance of fires. So did the lightning from spring storms.
Recently she’d been toying with a thought, something she couldn’t let go of. An idea that gave her hope.
“Why do you do it?” she asked, forcing herself to broach the subject.
“Do what?”
“Smokejumping. It seems to me like you’ve got the perfect life on the ranch. You’re surrounded by family, and I’ve listened to you talk about the horses you and your dad breed. You clearly love that work. So why leave six months of the year to do this?”
James shrugged. “I’m not sure it’s something I can really explain. It’s more the feeling I get when I’m here.”
Ivy tried not to roll her eyes. She’d heard too many of the idiots around here talk about the adrenaline rush they got. Every time she listened to them going on and on about how it was the ultimate high, she wanted to scream. Putting your life in danger for a damn rush was stupid. Period. In her mind, that reason for jumping made them no better than druggies begging for their next hit of heroin.
If James said the same thing…
“On the ranch, I’m one of almost a dozen Compton guys working the land and with the animals. Between my uncles, cousins, and in-laws, it’s hard to feel like I’m making a difference. When I’m here, I’m doing something valuable, protecting the land, keeping it safe. It means something.” He sighed heavily. “Guess that’s a pretty shitty way to describe it. What it boils down to is, at home, I’m Seth’s boy and I breed horses, just like my dad. Here, I’m Jamie Compton, the smokejumper, the guy willing to put his life on the line to protect this incredible wilderness.”
Ivy wished he’d just made the damn adrenaline comment. At least, she could have combated that, made a reasonable argument against it. Tried to convince him that his work back home was more valuable than chasing some rush.
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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