Damn,” Tyler cursed, digging out their beeper from under a heap of clothing. He glanced at his beeper and frowned. “Not mine.”

Jules checked hers and said, “Mine. We better hurry back.”

They put on their shed clothes in two minutes flat and two more minutes later he stored the remains of the picnic in the saddlebag and Jules climbed on the bike behind him.

Back on base, Jules dashed to the ready room, shedding her civilian clothes for the second time today. When she came out wearing the heavy Kevlar suit, he longed to kiss her goodbye, but since they hadn’t found the time to talk about the status of their relationship, or non-relationship, he opted for simply wishing her good luck.

Jules joined the team gathered at the truck and his heart squeezed when he saw the woman he loved drive away to fight another wildfire. He knew she could handle it, had all the training required to do the job and survive, but worry still crept into his heart watching the woman he loved drive away into the lurking danger.

The time dragged on and on and when the night settled, Tyler couldn’t wait any longer and walked over to operations hoping for news about Jules.

“Hey Armstrong, what’s up?” Chief Carted called out to him.

“Nothing. Just checking in about the other team. Any news?”

The chief eyed him curiously and said, “Not good news, unfortunately. Mike, who was on the first team is seriously injured and we sent a medevac. They’ve lost plenty of time with his rescue and meanwhile the fire has roared into gear. The reserve team couldn’t go in as planned, because the fire cut off the access route.”

“Anything we can do?” Tyler asked, his throat constricted. Jules was on the reserve team.

“Nothing but wait. Right now, we can’t send in relief, because we don’t know how. If worst comes to worst, we’ll ask for smokejumper support.” The chief saw Tyler’s frowned forehead. “Cooper is fine. She’s done this job for five years.”

“How do you know?”

“Everyone at base knows. It’s written across your forehead, and hers too.”

“And here I thought we were being so subtle.” Tyler chuckled sheepishly at being called out by his superior.

“Nothing subtle about the way you two look at each other.” The chief paused a moment and said, “None of my business, but she’s a great hotshot. It’s the first time in those five years I’ve seen her falling for a guy. She’s not easy to open up, so don’t hurt her.”

“I won’t. I’m serious about her, much more serious than I believed I could ever be.”

“Good. Now get out of my way. Get some sleep in case we need to send in another team early tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks, chief,” Tyler said and disappeared. It was still too early to go to bed, but since he was driving himself out of his mind with worry about Jules, he might as well hit the bed with a suspense novel.

But the book didn’t capture his attention. The print blurred every time thoughts of Jules crept inside his worried mind. Caring for a woman so much was a new experience for him. It was exhilarating and frightening at the same time. When his phone rang, he answered without glancing at the caller I.D., “Hello?”

“Hey, Tyler. How did your date with Miss Wonderful go?”

“Vivian. It was good, really good.” Heat pooled in his groin at the memory of how it had felt to be inside of Jules. “Unfortunately, it was cut short by the alarm going off.”

“Alarm? So why aren’t you on a fire?”

“It was her alarm,” he said, feeling the worry creep up his spine again, clutching his heart in a vice grip.

“Her alarm? What does she do? Is she a medic?”

Tyler gave a chuckle. “No, she’s a hotshot.”

“A hotshot? As in firefighting hotshot? One of those crazy people my crazy brother Tyler decided to join, jumping out of airplanes into roaring wildfires?”

“No, that would be smokejumpers. We usually go in by truck, or sometimes by airplane if it’s far away.” He thought for a moment and then asked, “Are you worried when I’m on a fire?”

“Worried? Crazy with fear, every single time. When I hear a fire engine horn I instantly think of you and send a prayer to heaven to keep you safe. But I’m also proud as hell that my brother is such a hero.”

“Wow. I had no idea, not until today,” he said in a pensive voice.

“And what happened today?” Vivian asked.

“Jules happened. She got called to a fire and I’ve been barely able to function with worry for her.”

“You really got it bad for her,” Vivian said, laughing as if she’d known it the entire time. “But you’ll get used to it. Now tell me about her. How does she look? Where’s she from? What does she do off-season? How was your date?”

“Hey, slow down. That’s a heck of a lot of questions in one single breath.”

“Okay, so what’s she like?” Vivian asked.

“She’s gorgeous. A fighter. And she’s the best team leader I’ve ever worked with. Her intuitive knowledge about the fire is stunning—“

“She’s your boss? Say that again!” Vivian interrupted him.

“Technically, no. Chief Carter is my boss, but every team has a leader when deployed, and she’s one of them,” Tyler explained.

“I can’t believe this.” He thought he heard his sister flopping down, but that could be his imagination. “You…you’re falling for a girl who’s not only a firefighter, but also your boss? What’s happened to you? Weren’t you the one who said, ‘the less brain cells the better to screw’?”

Tyler’s face burnt with shame. He wasn’t particularly proud of his crass words, but back then they had made sense. In his life, women were there for one thing only: wild, unabated sex without strings attached. He sighed. “My opinion has changed. I want Jules because she has everything I adore. Apart from the obvious physical attraction, she’s smart, strong, and doesn’t take bullshit from anyone. She not only understands my love for firefighting, she actually loves it as much as I do.”

“God, bro, you do have it bad for her. When do I get to meet her?”

“Not so fast. I don’t want to scare her away, by subjecting her to the thorough interrogation methods of bulldog lawyer lurking underneath the mask of my beautiful sister,” he said, teasing his sister about her job.

“I’m a court reporter, dipshit. We don’t speak unless spoken to, and here I thought you’d said she was strong and smart. She should be able to fight her way out of a tiny bit of questioning – that is if she has honorable intentions where my brother is concerned,” Vivian teased right back, and Tyler’s ears burnt even hotter at the mention of honorable. What they’d done earlier today wasn’t anywhere near to being honorable.

“Enough about me, tell me what’s new with the family?” Tyler changed the topic.

“Drake and his girlfriend Roxie are heading back to Sicily soon.”

“Sicily?” Tyler asked. “Let me guess, there’s a volcano on the island that’s about to erupt?”

“Drake says the Etna is bubbling up for what could be the eruption of the century. Why any living soul would want to be near an erupting volcano is beyond me.” Vivian stopped only long enough to let out one of her infectious giggles. “Although the love for danger seems to run in the family.”

“Out of six of us, only Drake and I have dangerous occupations,” Tyler said, when the sound of an arriving vehicle reached his ears and he stood up, heading for the door. “Viv, I’m going to have to cut this call short. Jules just got back, and I need to see that she’s okay.”

“You go take care of your woman and we’ll talk later. Love you, Tyler.”

Tyler left his room and rushed to meet the arriving crew. The first thing he saw was a person on a stretcher unloaded and his pulse skyrocketed. His legs almost refused the service as he ran over to find out who the injured hotshot was.

She was the last one to exit the truck, her face smeared with soot and ashes, her clothes covered with caked mud from head to toe. The ends of her hair were singed, but she still looked beautiful. He closed the distance and regardless of how dirty she was, he wrapped his arms around her, pressing a kiss on her stinky hair.

Jules sagged against his chest for a moment, before she looked up and gave him a lopsided grin. “I need a shower. Urgently.”

“Sounds good, let’s go. I’ll wash your back.”

She made a sound that was part groan, part laugh and pushed out of his arms. “As enticing as that sounds, I think I’ll have to refuse. This time.” She grinned up at him and then added, “But you could round me up some food if you wanted to and I’d be forever grateful.”

Tyler smiled down into her pale blue eyes that always did strange things to his insides, and nodded. “I’ll do just that. Shall I bring it to your room?”

“Please? I don’t think I have the energy to walk to the cafeteria.”

“Then your room it’ll be. Go shower and I’ll see the fresh and clean version of you in thirty minutes.”