by Jessica Gray
Another day of backbreaking work lay ahead, and Tyler took stock of his body, deciding he was still alive – just barely. Stretching muscle by muscle, he found there were few parts of him that didn’t hurt. Most prominently his earlobes. Coming to a sit, he used his hands to massage away the tension in his legs. An action that forced a miserable groan from his throat.
He turned his palms upwards to look at them and muttered a curse beneath his breath as he discovered the multitude of blisters upon blisters. Some still intact, others torn apart and oozing wound fluid. Stretching his fingers or closing his fists brought about searing pain. Just the thought of having to wrap his injured hands around the handles of the chainsaw again had him wincing.
Jules was the first one to crawl out of her shelter. “Morning Tyler. You can get another thirty minutes of sleep.”
“Nah, I’m good.” He was still slightly angry with her, but watching how she stretched and bent her long limbs was damn alluring to watch and caused his hormones to stir against better judgment.
“Here take this,” Jules stepped in front of him, holding two cups of instant coffee in her hands and an energy bar between her teeth. For a moment he considered taking the energy bar from her lips with his, but then he reached for one of the cups, wincing as his blisters came in contact with the warm cup, but doing a passable job of hiding his discomfort. “Thanks.” His voice was gravelly, from the lack of sleep or the smoke that managed to sneak beneath his mask from time to time the day before.
“Did you eat yet?” she asked him, sitting on the ground and sipping her coffee.
When Tyler shook his head, she gracefully sat down beside him, as if her body didn’t ache with every fiber and opened the energy bar before handing it to him. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For the training run yesterday. I shouldn’t have made you go with pack and everything.” She glanced down at her hands, holding the mug.
“It was nothing.” Tyler wouldn’t admit how hurt and furious he’d been at her.
“Yes, it was. It was mean and disproportionate. I…” She raised her wonderful pale blue eyes, sending electric shocks deep into his groin. “…I was angry at myself, because I’m so attracted to you.” Her voice turned into a whisper. “More than you’ll ever know.”
But just when Tyler wanted to mentally high-five himself, she continued to speak, “This attraction between us is powerful. Too powerful to give in to it. It would harm our focus on the job. We can’t let that happen. That’s why I overreacted. I wanted to protect both of us from getting hurt.”
“Can I decide for myself, what I need to be protected from, please?”
She smiled and for a short moment his world was perfect.
“And it’s definitely not you.”
Jules shook her head. “Romantic relationships end sooner or later. They always do. I’d rather have you as a friend than lose you altogether when the inevitable happens.”
“Just how do you know that’s what will happen?”
“Life experience.” She pushed out her lower lip and his heart ached for her. What had happened to make her so cynical? He’d never been one for true love and all those bells and whistles, but not out of conviction or disappointment. Rather it had been too much fun to sample what womanhood had to offer to him.
He reached out to put his hand on her arm, and couldn’t suppress a wince.
“You hurt?” She didn’t wait for his answer, but removed the cup from him, and then examined both of his hands. “Tsk. You should have tended to these last night.”
Tyler grimaced. “Yeah. One of my mayor regrets this morning. Right along with not getting a repeat of our kiss.”
Jules released his hands and gave him a stern look. “You never give up, do you?”
“Not until I have you in my arms, writhing and begging for more.” He grinned at the flush of heat covering her face. No, he would not give up on her. Ever.
“Dream on, rookie.” Jules got up and returned moments later with a first aid kit. “Let me patch you up. It’ll make the day more supportable.”
She delicately cleaned his blisters, applied a numbing salve to them and then wrapped his palms with both gauze and tape. Tyler watched her work, her head bent over his hands as she tended to him. His darn body responded to her soft and caring touch in a very predictable fashion, swelling hard as a rock with no relief in sight.
“Can you handle the chainsaw, or do I need to send you home, rookie?” Her eyes twinkled with the challenge she’d thrown him.
He gave her an indignant glance. “My hands may not look the part, but have you already forgotten that I never give up, boss? If you want to get rid of me, it has to be unconscious on a medevac.”
“Sounds like a true hotshot.” Jules chuckled and watched him for a long moment, sending shivers down his spine.
“Jules, I don’t think…” He stammered as he felt her hands settling on his shoulders from behind, expertly working the kinks from his neck and shoulders.
“Good. Don’t think. Just relax and say thank you.”
Tyler swallowed, his erection from moments ago at risk of exploding. He sent a prayer of thanks for the heavy fabric of his work pants hiding the growing bulge. He closed his eyes and all but started purring as she delved beneath the collar of his t-shirt, her fingertips pressing into his skin.
“Relax,” she murmured, squatting down behind him, the heat of her body scorching the entire length of his spine.
Relax? Are you kidding me? While his neck and shoulder muscles softened beneath her touch, the rest of his body pretzeled into one big and tight knot. Turning around and taking her lips in a passionate kiss was as tempting as it was inadequate. He sure as hell didn’t want to give a spectacle to the crew that was prone to wake up any minute now.
But he was determined to stay the course and force Jules to see how good of a match they made. He just needed a fool-proof plan to make it happen, and the patience of a saint.
Neither of which he currently possessed.
Chapter 10
Jules Cooper, you have got to be the dumbest female on the planet, Jules berated herself as she squatted behind Tyler’s strong back, kneading the kinks out of his shoulders. Her action had been done with good intentions, wanting to ease the pain she saw etched into his face. And maybe the tiniest little bit, she’d cherished the perfect opportunity to get her hands on him with a justifiable excuse.
But she hadn’t planned on the ungovernable reaction she’d have. Suddenly, the most important thing in the world seemed to be keeping her hands upon his person and figuring out a way to throw herself into his arms.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t do that right now. A beast of a fire loomed outside crackling, hissing and demanding attention, and the rest of the crew needed to wake to get after it. She really should stop massaging Tyler, before she gave in to the overwhelming urge of kissing him breathless.
Judging by his shallow bursts of breath and the rising bulge beneath his pants, he fought a similar battle. I have to stop touching him. Now! But her hands wouldn’t obey the order and continued pressing, kneading, sliding across skin sticky with dry sweat and grime.
Even though neither of them had washed in the last twenty-four hours and featured sooty smears on their exposed skin, he couldn’t be sexier. Thankfully a few minutes later, fate ripped the decision out of her hands, literally, as her alarm blared.
Finally, oh finally, she managed to tear her fingers away from Tyler’s skin, to switch of the alarm indicating it was time to wake the crew. “That’s going to have to do it, for now.”
She came around him and stopped when he reached up and grabbed hold of her hand. Looking down into his eyes was almost her undoing.
“Thanks, Jules.”
For a moment she thought he’d pull her down onto his lap and give her the kiss she needed more than her next breath. But he said, “Pull,” and with her help he jumped to his feet without having to use his hands for support.
“I need to wake everyone up. Again.”
“Okay. We’ll beat the beast today.”
“I hope so, rookie.” She walked away and soon noises of crew members getting dressed, disappearing behind the trees to relieve themselves, having their MRE and packing up filled the campsite.
In the meantime, Jules contacted the base of operations via radio, receiving updates on the weather, the wind forecast, and how the fire seemed to be moving.
Thirty minutes later with everyone assembled. Jules assigned the teams that would be working together, and outlined the strategy to defeat the fire.
“Above all else, keep your radios on and the volume up. The fire expanded during the night and the winds are expected to increase throughout the day.”
Everyone nodded and as a group, they headed for the fireline. The crew they were relieving was covered in soot, their faces streaked with sweat and ash. Their eyes showed just how tired they were.
Jules headed off with her partner for the day, Jeb, glad in a way for the strenuous day ahead because it would keep her from thinking about Tyler.
“Cooper?” she got the call over the radio and signaled for Jeb to continue throwing earth on spot fires.
“This is Cooper speaking. What’s up?”
“Hey, we got word that the fire is changing direction again. It’s headed away from your location, but we still need you guys to finish the fireline down the eastern ridgeline. I’m dispatching the truck to pick your team up at 6 p.m. at the third rendezvous point.”
“Roger that. Third rendezvous point just before dark. I’ll make sure we’re there.”
She radioed her squad leaders, relaying the plan for the end of the day and advised everyone to work efficiently and quickly. They had miles of fireline to clear before their day was done and then a three-mile hike to reach their pickup location. It would be another long, long day.
Eight hours of brutal work later Jules glanced at her watch.
“Team, we have half a mile left to clear and then we need to hump our butts over that ridge to our left to meet the truck for our ride to paradise.”
“Got it, boss.”
“We’re on it.”
Jules made sure everyone checked in, did a quick headcount as she walked down the line where her crew worked, and then got back swinging her chainsaw.
Working inside the fire zone, they sawed and chopped smoldering trees, cleared remaining brush and stomped out fire spots. She looked into nineteen sooty faces, each one more exhausted than the next. But everyone held up well, including the rookies. Out here in the wilderness nobody gave a crap how much weight one could bench, but cared a lot whether the person could swing a tool all day without bitching and whining.
Tyler hadn’t so much as winced, although his ruined hands must be killing him. Blondie disdainfully stared at the snags before cutting them off. And Jeb did his best to hide his limping. A stick propelled through the air had hit his ankle an hour or so ago. She’d have to send him to the doctor to be checked on once they were back on base.
The natural fire break provided by Mother Nature on this part of the mountain was much too close to the neighboring slope to leave things as they were. A strong wind could easily carry burning debris from the treetops over to the dry grasses on the other hillside, spreading the fire and doubling or tripling its size in mere hours. Not on my watch!
They finished the fireline and the crew began the trek out of the woods to the rendezvous point, where the ride back home already waited for them. Twenty filthy, sweaty, and exhausted hotshots exited the woods, their faces barely discernible, but smiles spreading for a job well done.
Everyone shed their packs, helmets, gear and dropped onto the nearest seat, dozing off the moment the engine revved up. Jules was the last to enter the truck, the fatigue claiming her, as she slipped into a half-sleep state where she was no longer surrounded by burning trees and fiery flames, but Tyler’s strong arms.
Chapter 11
They reached the base camp several hours later, and all Tyler could think about was a shower, food…lots of food…and sleep. Lots of sleep. With or without Jules in his arms. With would be his preference but he knew that was out of the question. Sleeping alone would have to do.
He exited the van, grabbed his gear bag, dumped everything to be cleaned and cleared later and followed the crowd. For some reason, and it wasn’t that he’d actively arranged it, Jules ended up walking right beside him and even sooty, stinky and overtired, she was still the sexiest woman he’d set eyes on. The hours of shut-eye caught in the truck had reenergized him enough to appreciate her sex appeal and parts of him that hadn’t been used much during the past two days sprang alive.
“It’s been great to work with you,” Tyler said to her.
She turned her head smiling and said, “Thanks. Same to you. Some guys have problems taking orders from a woman. Not you.”
“I admit it’s been a first and I wasn’t too keen on it, but you’ve turned out to be the best leader I’ve ever worked with.” He paused, the smile on her face doing funny things to his insides. “The sixth sense you have about the fire is both comforting and chilling.”
Jules laughed. “It’s because I consider her a living, breathing being with a mind that’s apt to change upon a whim.”
“Like a woman?” Tyler growled, the desire roaring through his veins.
“Maybe. Aren’t we supposed to have the prerogative to change our minds?”
“Does that mean I can hope for a change of mind regarding relationships with a coworker?” Tyler chanced his luck.
“You can always hope. But I wouldn’t hold my breath.” She slowed down and pointed at a door. “This is my room. See you around.”
Tyler yearned to disappear with her behind that door, but this would be taking things too fast. Although he was pretty sure he could coax her into kissing him and then she wouldn’t be able to hold back on the insane attraction bonding them together.
Instead he walked down the hall to his own room, stepped out of the stinking clothes and beneath a nice, hot shower. The water rained down on him, leaving dark grey streams running down his skin, along the shower base and into the gutter. He lathered his body and rubbed the caked dirt out of his short hair.
As life began to seep back into his bones, his thoughts turned to Jules and the shower she was most likely enjoying across the hallway. Her naked skin gleaming under the fluorescent lights, shiny with the water as it cascaded down over her lush breasts.
When she washed herself, would she stop and play with her nipples until they were hard and yearning for his mouth to suckle upon them? Would her hands delve between her thighs a little bit longer than was necessary to guarantee cleanliness?
Before Tyler realized it, he’d taken his erection in hand as the fantasy continued to unfold. It was mere minutes before he erupted, not holding back on his groan of release. The water streaming down his body had turned clear a long while ago and he switched it off, his legs wobbly with the experienced erotic fantasy.
Stepping out of the shower, he decided he didn’t have extra energy to spare for shaving. Food first. Sleep later. Shaving could wait until the next day.
He dressed into clean jeans and t-shirt and hurried for the cafeteria humming with hungry men and women, consuming their food like a pack of wolves.
“Hey, you spared something for me I hope?” Tyler called out, before sauntering over to the rich buffet. Their cook sure knew what a hungry crew needed after days of MRE. He placed an oversized steak onto his plate, filled the remaining space with mashed potatoes and a modest amount of veggies. Balancing the plate in one hand, he grabbed a bottle of coke with the other one.
Gunner waved him over to his table, and he reluctantly obeyed, although he’d much preferred to sit with Jules. At least he had a prime view of her shapely back, as she sat with Blondie, Kelly and Denis.
“Hey, Armstrong. You still feeling that chain saw?” Castor asked him.
Tyler nodded and grinned answering, “My entire body is still vibrating like a chord to the chain saw tune.”
“I heard your hands took a beating.” Kevin smirked across the cafeteria, returning from loading a second serving. “That could prove problematic later tonight.”
The rest of the hotshots burst into laughter and Tyler shook his head, hoping his face wasn’t giving himself away. Already took care of that. “The night is young. If anyone wants to offer help?”
“Not my first choice, but if you insist.” Gunner made an obscene gesture.
“Nah, thanks. I’m thinking more of soft, small and female hands, not your brawny paws.” Tyler tossed a dinner roll at Gunner’s head, grinning when the man caught it in the air, took a huge bite out of it, and then chomped his teeth several times before chewing and swallowing.
“Grow up, man.”
“Who me?” Gunner pulled an innocent grimace.
“Anyone else feel like they just fought a month-long war?” One of the other rookies asked.
“Come on, rook. That was just to develop a taste. There are much worse fires than this one,” Denis said.
The young man rolled his eyes, not sure whether the more experienced hotshot was simply teasing.
“Good job guys, get to bed. In precisely six hours and twenty minutes, this crew is considered rested and on the boards again.” The chief of operations said the words with a grin and everyone rolled their eyes at him. Soon thereafter everyone dragged their tired feet into their quarters to get some much-needed sleep.
Tyler hung back and fell into step with Jules. “I wanted to properly thank you for the massage this morning. It was a delicious experience and helped me get over the day.”
“Glad it helped…” She tried to keep her voice businesslike, but he noticed the hungry look in her eyes as if she were only a breath away from attacking him and kissing him senseless again. He sure as hell wouldn’t object.
But before he could figure out a way to get her to succumb to the simmering passion between them, she turned away to unlock her door.