Burns So Bad

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Someone hollered something about a ban on fairy tales, but she kept right on talking.“There was the girl who we’ll call Gina, to protect the innocent.”“You claiming to be innocent?” Joey tipped his canteen toward her and she winked, settling back against her pack.“Now Gina was paying her own way through grad school and those tuition bills packed a wallop.She figured she needed to get a gig in addition to teaching because she was pretty damn sick of Ramen noodles.”“So she hooked up with a bunch of smoke jumpers.” Someone hooted.“Becoming a weatherman comes with a stiff price tag.”She didn’t want to talk about the weather.Not when she could be out living it on the frontlines.Grinning, she plowed ahead with her story.“Smoke jumpers are an ugly ass bunch—present company included—and our Gina was looking for something a little prettier.So she put her on dancing dress and this pair of five-inch stilettos.” She mimed sliding a pair of fuck me shoes on her feet, holding out her ash-covered steel-toes.“Just like mine here.A real sexy number.”“This isn’t Miss America,” Evan groused.“You don’t have to show me your shoes.”“You watch beauty pageants?” Mack leaned in.“Hell, man, the swimsuit part is okay, but a shoe parade on the boardwalk?”“How come you know about it then?”“I got sisters.And a mother and way too many aunties.” Mack grinned and swiped a marshmallow.“Other than that, I’m pleading the Fifth.”“Well our Gina wasn’t running for Miss America.She was looking for something a whole lot less nice.”“Did she find what she was looking for?” Rio eyed her and she told herself that was not a shiver she felt chasing down her spine.“She sure did.She took herself down to a strip club her friends told her about and she got a job dancing weekends there.”Mack frowned.“Are we in fact territory here—or fiction? Because I’m just saying—knowing which would help me visualize this better.”Gia grinned at him.“I’m not telling, but if you were standing in line outside the club on a night she was dancing, you’d better be slipping the bouncer more than twenty bucks to get in and park your ass in the good seats, because Gina could dance.She had this little school girl skirt and stockings that came up to right here.”She sliced a finger across her Nomex-clad thigh.Yep.Every eye in the house followed that move.Sex had that effect on her boys.Even Rio was watching.Which was the whole point if she was being honest with herself.She wanted him watching her.Rio was playboy naughty.Gia got that.He didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but he’d never slow down and stop.That heat between them, it burned so bad and the bad was both good—and not.She could have him and the erotic possibilities of that had her hormones going wild.Unfortunately, her head saw the other outcomes just as clearly.She couldn’t sleep with him without jeopardizing her place on the team.He and his brothers owned Donovan Brothers.That made him her boss.Worse, he was a former SEAL and protective to the core.She’d seen that over and over in him.If he became her lover, he’d want to protect her.Keep her safe.And there was nothing less safe than jumping out of a plane into the heart of a fire.That was also true.The radio picked that moment to squawk, interrupting her Cosmo-inspired masterpiece.“Base to jump team, come in.”Evan cursed and grabbed the mike.“Jump team to base, we copy.”“Playtime’s over, gentlemen.” She flipped them a two-fingered salute and turned her attention to the radio.The chorus of groans was quickly hushed by the update from the command center.The winds had picked up and the fire they’d believed knocked down had come roaring back for round two.So much for the rest break.They’d be working through the night.She shoved to her feet, reaching for her pack.As she headed for the trail, falling into single file behind Joey, Rio’s hand circled her wrist—touching her, against all the rules they didn’t talk about—his thumb rubbing over her pulse.Which wasn’t speeding up, damn it.She couldn’t play his kinds of games [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Pokrewne