Smoking hot indeed, Cassie thought after she rang the doorbell and the door to the fire station opened. A ruggedly handsome man stood before her. His blue eyes ran so deep and locked onto hers so fiercely that it took a moment to notice the frilly pink apron he wore.

Then she laughed.

“Well, you’re a surprise!” she said. “The apron, I mean. It’s quite incongruous with …” That body. The firefighter was average height but broad, with huge muscles taut beneath the fabric of his dark blue uniform shirt. His eyes were the piercing, painful blue of glacier ice, and shaggy medium-brown hair framed his face. She gestured in the general direction of his muscular upper half. “… with the rest of you.”

“I lost a bet.” He stood motionless, and the moment grew awkward as he kept his gaze on her but said nothing more. There was no welcome, no come-on-in.

Cassie tried again.

“I’m Cassandra Holt. Call me Cassie.” She stuck her hand forward, and damned if she didn’t feel an electric current run between them when he shook her hand. He had a firm but not-too-tight grip, which Cassie was glad for because his arms were so powerful, like those of a boxer or bodybuilder. Or a firefighter, dummy. Like a man who carries people from burning buildings. “I’m from KFLS Channel Eight. I’m your ride-along.”

He nodded, but still no words. Well, then, she thought. He’s definitely the strong, silent type. Whatever would he do with a chatterbox like her? Something delicious, she decided, suddenly fixated on his lips. When she forced her gaze up and met his equally compelling eyes, she noticed there seemed to be a bit of floundering in them, and just as she caught on that maybe he was tongue-tied—or even shy?—a foam football whizzed across the room and hit him in the head from behind. He seemed grateful for the opportunity to focus his attention elsewhere and turned to see who had thrown the ball.

The thrower was a fellow firefighter, tall, dark, and handsome with an easy smile, who strode over and slugged the man in the arm.

“Invite her in and introduce yourself!”

“Oh—right!” His cheeks colored to match the pink apron he wore. “Come in!” He stepped aside to let her pass. “I’m Cody.”

As she moved past him, she noticed his name, printed in white on the left breast of his uniform, just below the Golden Falls Fire logo.

“Cody Bradford,” Cassie said, liking the sound of it. It was a good, strong, solid name. “Nice to meet you.”

Cody said nothing in return.

The other firefighter rolled his eyes and came forward to introduce himself.

“I’m Sean Kelly. I’m the engineer—driver—on the engine truck.” They shook hands. “Excuse his awkwardness. Cody’s our resident hermit. He doesn’t interact with human beings much.” He gave Cody a good-natured shove, almost brotherly, and a smiling Cody pushed him back.

Cody’s smile was warm and genuine, and Cassie’s curiosity was piqued even more. Where did sex and love come into play in a hermit’s world? Just looking at him, it was clear he had testosterone to spare—but did he have an outlet for it?

“He lives out in the boonies,” Sean continued, “and it takes him a while to warm up his tongue once he gets back to civilization.”

Warm up his tongue—I could help with that, she thought with a blush, shocked at her own gutter thinking. Never before on assignment had she been distracted by a man’s … tongue … and biceps … and bottled-up sexual energy.

She bit her lip and looked at Cody in a new, considering way. Back in Manhattan, she’d always dated polished men. Men who were quick on their feet. Quick with a pick-up line. Quick to want to possess her sexually in a conquest sort of way. She was very much the same; dating in Manhattan was a competitive sport. Cody, on the other hand, seemed like a man who would take his time. Who’d linger over every inch of her body. And he’d probably want to have sex in nature, a fantasy she’d often had but never fulfilled. The fact that she was thinking about it at a moment like this was both disconcerting and arousing. But, hell—why not just run with it and have a little fun?

“I’m sure Cody’s tongue works just fine,” she said, and when Cody got a deer-in-headlights look, Cassie grinned, amused by the idea that he may or may not be able to figure out if she’d meant anything sexual by it.

Yes, Cody. Yes, I did.

“Well, then he must be in awe of your womanly beauty,” Sean said. He had a deep heartwarming laugh, the kind you couldn’t help but laugh along with, and Cassie understood his comment had been more of a joke on Cody than a compliment toward her.

“I’m sure that’s it. He’s in awe of my beauty,” she joked back, raising her eyebrows at Cody, daring him to refute the assertion—which he didn’t.

Cassie’s whole body tingled with excitement.

It was going to be a very fun day.

* * *

Damn right I’m in awe of your beauty, thought Cody. So in awe I can’t get my shit together for the life of me.

Cassie Holt was like a creature from another world, a woman so beautiful she didn’t seem real. An energy emanated from her the instant he opened the door of the fire station, and that’s what had caused his fumbling introduction. As did her pure perfection—because, really, everything about her was perfect, or at least perfect to Cody.

She was petite and slender, but had elegant feminine curves which the pantsuit-thingy she wore showed off quite nicely. Her eyes were an unusually bright green, and there was a depth in them, too, that made him unable to look away. Her shoulder-length blond hair was styled into a perfect flip at the ends. He could tell her skin was soft, and he’d had to fight back a ridiculously inappropriate urge to stroke her cheek. He expected full well she would have slapped him if he had—which she’d have every right to do. He didn’t even let himself look down after his first glance, because she had a Barbie-doll waist and breasts to match, and it was much, much safer to look into her lively green eyes.

Don’t get too worked up, he tried to tell himself. He would bet she knew next to nothing about firefighting, and her expensive clothes and quick, authoritative accent put her origins far outside Alaska. Cody would have guessed East Coast. Definitely a city girl. High maintenance. The opposite of his type. He would probably never see her again after today.

“Cody’s your escort for the day,” Sean said. “Hopefully you’ll be able to get more than two words out of him.”

“I hope so, too,” Cassie said. “Or else it’s going to be a really dull feature story, and I’ll lose my job.” She turned back to Cody. “So you’re not a big talker, eh? I’m pretty good at getting people to open up.”

“Well, that’s your job, isn’t it?” he said, and immediately wanted to kick himself. He should have said he looked forward to her trying, but the words didn’t come fast enough, and now it would just come off as lame.

Thankfully, she laughed.

“Indeed, it is my job.” She gave him a mischievous look. “Cody, we’re going to have fun together, you and I.”

They headed toward the living room of the station, which was past the small entry vestibule. As they walked, Cody untied the apron string and pulled off the apron.

“So tell me about this bet you lost,” she said.

“Push-up contest,” he said. Ugh, Neanderthal. Speak, man, or she’s going to think you don’t know how! “Sean there challenged me and another guy to do a one-armed pushup contest while he threw the football at us to try and knock us off balance.” His heart warmed when Cassie giggled, and he continued, “The bastard only threw it at me, never at Josh.”

“Excuses,” Sean called to him.

“It’s true,” said Josh as he walked up to Cassie to introduce himself. “Cody mauls us all in any strength contest we do. Josh Barnes, good to meet you.”

Cassie’s expression remained warmly neutral, but Cody was conscious that she glanced at his biceps even as she shook Josh’s hand.

Feeling a bit emboldened, he tossed the pink apron onto one of the ten big black leather recliners that were set up in two half circles facing a wall-mounted big screen TV, and swept his arm the width of the living room.

“So this is our living room,” he said.

“This building is so modern,” Cassie said, looking around. “I guess I didn’t expect that.”

Cody tried to see the fire station through Cassie’s eyes. He knew she wouldn’t feel the same sense of belonging he did every time he stepped inside, but he wondered if she might feel the same appreciation for the purely functional space. He’d set up his own cabin in much the same way, where everything was in order and everything had a purpose. Life could be messy, but the station never was.

“It must be really special to work in a place like this,” she said. “At a job like this.”

“Trust me,” Cody told her. “The glamour wears off.”

“That’s how I feel about the newsroom, too,” she said. “People think TV news is glamorous, but it’s a lot of grunt work and a lot of seeing the bad side of human nature—along with the good, of course.”

“Same here.”

She took in the wall, decorated with the randomness of the firefighters’ collective personality: moose antlers, a carved wooden Maltese cross, a framed photograph of Darth Vader, a Seattle Seahawks flag.

“Is there somewhere I can set down my laptop and bag?” she asked.

“Sure.” Cody gestured for her to follow him into the kitchen, where Jack sat at the long table doing paperwork. “Captain Jack Barnes is waiting to give you the legal spiel.”

“Captain Barnes?” Cassie looked at Jack and then at Josh. “I thought he was Barnes.”

“They’re brothers. Joshie is the baby of the family.”

Jack stood, came forward, and offered Cassie his hand.

“Welcome,” he said. “I’m Jack Barnes, captain of the Engine One crew. We’re happy to have you here today. I’ve seen your newscasts, and I think you do real solid work, especially for being so new to town.”

“Thanks,” Cassie said. “People here are so friendly and willing to help—like you guys. Thanks for letting me spend some time with you today. I promise not to get in your way too much.”

“No worries about that,” Jack said. “Say, I caught your story the other night on the community health clinic. Doc Bauer’s a good friend of mine, and he was very pleased with how the story turned out.”

“Oh, yeah, thanks! He’s such a nice guy,” Cassie said.

“That he is.” Jack motioned for her to sit down at the long table to fill out the paperwork. “First I have a release form for you to sign, and then Cody can introduce you to the rest of the guys and give you a full tour of the station. Do you think you can handle this guy being your escort for the day?”

“Oh, I can handle him.” Cassie’s eyes twinkled. “The question is, can he handle me?”

Damn, Cody thought as an image came to him, unbidden, of pulling Cassie to him in the bunkroom and letting her know what he could offer. If you only knew all the ways I want to handle you, Cassie Holt.