her name on her byline.
His eyes narrowed as he watched her—”Emma” in person—carefully, but swiftly make her way down the wall, pushing away the spark of admiration he felt for her ability.
From his vantage point, he had an optimal view of her. He found his attention riveted on her small nuances—the way her brow furrowed as she scaled the wall, the way the full bottom rim of her lip was pulled between her top teeth, the small bead of sweat that rolled down past her temple, over her cheekbone and down the curve her of her cheek.
She quickly maneuvered her way down the rest of the wall. Once she made it to the floor, she spun around jubilantly and gave several of the nearby men high-fives.
“She’s amazing, huh, Shane? I’ve never seen a first-timer go down the wall so fast!”
Shane turned to one of the jumpers who’d come to stand next to him. He nodded his head curtly and glanced around. He’d unconsciously moved closer as he watched her and was now standing a few short feet away from the rappelling wall.
“Yeah, she’s a regular marvel.” As soon as he made the snide remark, Shane wished he could retract it. The younger jumper frowned, a puzzled look on his face.
“Do you know her, Shane?”
Shane shook his head and turned to watch the reporter with narrowed eyes.
“I guess you gotta wonder about a woman like that,” the man went on, oblivious to Shane’s irritation.
“What do you mean?” Shane asked.
The jumper shrugged his broad shoulders. “I don’t know. She’s so small, looks kinda fragile to me. Wouldn’t think a woman like that would be in her line of work. I guess I figured when they told us a reporter was gonna be following us around, living at the camp, I didn’t figure it’d be a woman. Damn sure not one as fine as Ms. Rawlings.”
When Shane raised a brow, the younger man blushed. “Well, you know what I mean,” he murmured.
When the woman in question turned toward them, as though she knew they were talking about her, she and Shane locked glances. From his short distance away he saw her large brown eyes widen as he deliberately allowed his gaze to leisurely slide over her, from the top of her head down to her small, boot-covered feet.
When his eyes met hers again, he noticed the subtle once-over she gave him as well before her eyes darted away. But not before he saw the flush of red on her deep brown skin.
Chapter Two
He was the sexiest jumper she’d ever seen.
Although, truth be told, Emma had only been at the hub station for a short time and had never actually met a smoke jumper in person before her arrival. But, no doubt about it, this one was at the top of the food chain.
The jumpers gave new meaning to the term “alpha male,” from the base manager all the way down to the new recruits. It was a prerequisite for the men in their line of work to be in top physical and mental condition, always ready to go into action when the call came.
For all that, there was still something more about this one; something indefinable. A hint of danger and a sharper edge surrounded him, clung to him, made him that much more…prime.
He was the kind of man who, if placed in a room with ten other men looking for a fight, would be able to take each of them down, one by one.
Emma shivered.
The minute he’d walked into the packed gym the back of her neck had prickled in awareness and she’d turned around in search of the cause. As she stood braced at the top of the rappelling wall, preparing to go down, she’d paused and watched him as he casually spoke to the others. When he had turned to face her, as though aware of her regard, she’d quickly looked away before he’d caught her gawking at him. Giving the jumper who was assisting her an absent smile, Emma focused her attention on the task at hand.
The jumpers, at first cool toward her, had slowly warmed up and had begun to take her seriously. She didn’t want to erase the progress she had begun to establish by being caught eyeballing one of the men as if she were a starving woman and he a big, juicy steak.
She had been expecting that she would have to work harder to gain the respect of some of the men, coming in as an outsider and the only female in their close-knit brotherhood. She knew it would take more than the few days she’d been there, yet she’d been both surprised and pleased with the welcome they’d given her, so far.
Today was the first day they’d invited her to join them for physical training. She’d brought along her backpack that held her camera and mini-recorder, but she hadn’t pulled either out.
A natural athlete, she’d been thrilled when one of the squad leaders invited her to give the rappelling wall a try, a training they used to prepare themselves for their live missions.
Emma had scaled down some of the most intimidating mountains in the Himalayas while following a mountaineering guide from Nepal while writing a story on the Sherpas. So when one of the smoke jumpers invited her to try rappelling, she’d been more than confident in her skills.
She eyed the jumper who scaled the wall alongside her. Concentrating on the climb, she put thoughts of the newcomer from her mind and made short work of the twenty-foot wall. She made it to the linoleum floor, spun around and grinned widely when she finished minutes before the other climber did.
Several of the men surrounded her, clapping her good-naturedly on the back. Her smile faltered when she again felt that odd prickling awareness slide along her skin. Glancing over her shoulder, her gaze collided with his—the jumper who’d entered the gym before she’d begun her descent.
He now stood just a few feet away, staring at her with an intensity that was unnerving. His light blue eyes were fixed on her, a deep frown on his face, pulling his thick, dark eyebrows together until they formed a straight line as he continued to stare at her…assessing her.
When she’d seen him enter the gym, she could tell he was tall, but now as he stood next to one of the other jumpers she could see that he towered over the other men. Dressed in a variation on what looked to be the standard uniform the others wore for physical training, on him it looked completely different. It was more earthy…more masculine.
He wore the standard-issue gray T-shirt that hugged his broad chest and wide shoulders and a pair of loose-fitting matching gray gym shorts that cupped his lean hips.
His dark hair was cut short, almost military short, save for the slightly longer length on top. Although he currently wore a deep scowl on his face, his wide mouth was sensual and inviting. He casually wore an aura of command that set him apart from the others.
Like a lightbulb going on, it suddenly dawned on Emma who he was. Shane Westwood. He was the second in charge, after the base manager, the one she’d heard so much about from the others. According to the men, he was the golden boy, the man who could fight fires single-handedly…a regular superman.
She’d also learned from one of the rookies that he was staunchly against any female smoke jumpers gaining membership into the small substation. When she asked why, the man had shrugged his shoulders, claiming not to know the answer.
But she knew there had to be a story behind
