During his next contact with Sean, Ben got a few more details about how they’d gotten trapped. Before the hotshots had even reached the command post, they’d spotted a new burn, a finger of the forest fire closing in on the highway, near a small settlement.

They called it in, then set about going door to door, letting people know a wildfire had them in its sights. When everyone had been warned, they got back into their crew buggy and hit the road. Except the road hit back. A deer, panicked by the oncoming wildfire, charged onto the highway. Sean swerved to avoid it and the vehicle hit a patch of melted snow and fishtailed into a tree.

No injuries, just a fast-moving fire and a broken-down truck. They didn’t want to divert resources from the big wildfire, so Sean had called on Ben.

This was exactly why Sean had sold the airstrip to the Knight brothers, and why they’d purchased the Robinson. Helping out the hotshots with rescues and reconnaissance flights had always been the goal. Of course, Ben hadn’t imagined that he’d be rescuing the hotshots themselves.

He kept in close communication with them as he buzzed up the coastline. They’d had to retreat back to the village they’d just warned everyone to evacuate.

“Is there a town square or something where I can land? Or maybe a nice big bank building with a flat roof?”

“There’s a gas station, a video store, couple guesthouses, a pub and that’s about it. Not a flat roof in sight.”

“At least you can check out some videos while you’re hanging around.”

“Jokes. Awesome. Just what we need.”

Ben flipped through his options. A rescue generally required two people, one to pilot the chopper, one to put on a harness and ride a cable to retrieve the victim. The Robinson had been customized with regulation rescue gear. If he could get the door open and the cable lowered, the hotshots could put the harness on themselves. That would bring two up at once, and there were three of them. Two trips up and down.

But as he drew closer to the scene, his strategy changed completely. Wind was pushing the wildfire straight toward the highway and, judging by his gauges, it was picking up speed. Just to confirm, he switched to the nearest AWOS frequency and caught the tail end of the updated forecast. checked in with the nearest air traffic control.

Twenty knots east-southeast and picking up speed.

He switched back to Sean. “I’m going to need you to find the best spot on that highway for me to land. Got any flares with you? That’ll tell me more about the wind too.”

“Yup, we’ll set one off.”

“We need to make this as swift as we can. I just got a look at that fire.” He didn’t want to incite a panic, but he needed them to know.

“Ten-four,” said Sean calmly. “We have line gear with us, and that includes shelters. You’re plan A, but we have a plan B.”

Ben relaxed a tiny bit. The hotshots were pros, they knew what they were doing. Many of them had survived a burnover a couple years ago, when they’d deployed their emergency tents and a wildfire had burned right over their heads.

He followed the curving line of the highway until he spotted the smoke from the flare. He throttled down and maneuvered the chopper down, down, through gusts of smoky air. It was a tricky descent, with treetops whipping back and forth on either side of the highway, and bursts of wind pummeling the Robinson. But the chopper was a big, heavy, mighty beast, not easily buffeted. Operating a rotorcraft wasn’t much like flying a million-dollar fighter jet. But as soon as he’d left the Air Force, Ben had gotten his helicopter rating, with this exact kind of crisis in mind.

As he lowered down, the wind created by the rotors made the firefighters’ mustard-yellow shirts whip against their bodies. He recognized Sean, Josh Marshall and Finn Abrams. They all wore heavy-looking backpacks and boots, and were grinning at him and waving.

As soon as the helicopter’s skids touched the pavement, he put the hand brake on and yanked open the door. He eyed the rugged firefighters and their gear. Three hotshots, plus him, crammed into a helicopter designed for four—they’d just make it if they didn’t go over the weight limit, which was eight hundred pounds, give or take. He estimated their combined weight, then gestured at their gear bags. “How much do those weigh?” he shouted over the thwacking of the blades.

“’Bout fifty pounds,” Sean shouted.

“Feels like a hundred some days,” added Josh, who was always the jokester of the group. Ben had spent enough evenings with them at Barstow’s to know.

That added up to an extra hundred and fifty pounds. “Easy to replace?” he asked.

Without another word, Finn dumped his bag onto the street. Ben gave him a salute as the others followed his lead. One by one, they ducked under the blades and climbed inside. When they were all aboard, Sean closed the door and gave him a signal.

With a wary eye on the wildfire raging a few hundred yards away, Ben opened the throttle. The rotors sped up into a blur. Murmuring a quick prayer—the Robinson was pretty damn close to its weight capacity—he slowly pulled up on the collective and depressed the left foot pedal, which controlled the tail rotor. The helicopter lightened on its skids and slowly lifted into the air.

Always an incredible feeling. Of course, he’d never flown the copter in conditions like this before.

The Robinson struggled hard against the force of the headwinds created by the fire and the weight of its load. Ben fought the cyclic pitch, which kept wanting to steer the helicopter in the wrong direction. The firefighters stayed quiet and let him battle it out.

“Come on, come on,” he muttered under his breath to the overburdened Robinson. “You can do this, baby. Make me proud.”

Slowly, painfully, the craft put distance between itself and the ground, and Ben was sure they were going to make it. A hundred feet, two hundred, the highway now a gray, curving line between forests, flames on one side, virgin green on the other.

And then a terrifying jolt made the chopper drop about twenty feet.

Shit. Turbulence? An in-draft created by the fire? He twisted the grip of the collective to get the rotors spinning even faster. He felt the quiver of the engine in the palms of his hands.

Not now, he thought in a sudden, profound panic. I still have to…Julie.

Julie. He had to see Julie again. And not in the friend way. In the love way. The way in which two people show their true hearts to each other. He had to show her, tell her how important she was to him. Had always been.

He fought the cross current that had seized them, Julie’s smile shimmering in his mind’s eye. Right hand gripping the collective, feet on the pedals, he powered through the gusty fire-generated winds. Go, go, he chanted. Not silently, as he’d thought. But out loud, and joined by the hotshots. “Go, go, go,” they all repeated, until the chopper had enough altitude to level out. Then they changed their chant to “Yeah, Ben!” and pats rained down on his shoulders and back.

He drew in a deep breath and let it out. He tilted his head back and forth to release the tension. “Sorry, guys,” he called over the engine noise. “Didn’t expect it to be so white-knuckle.”

“Dude, you are never paying for a drink at Barstow’s again,” shouted Josh. “That was fricking amazing!”

Ben grinned, more out of sheer relief than anything else. He’d had some dicey moments in the Air Force, but somehow that was different. These were firefighters, friends, guys whose wives and girlfriends he knew. If something had happened to any of them, the heartbreak of Evie, or Suzanne, or Lisa… God, he didn’t want to think about it.

Julie. He wanted to see her, now. He wanted to sweep her into his arms and nuzzle her hair and tell her that he’d never stopped loving her. And never would.

As soon as they approached the Knight and Day landing strip, he started looking for her. She came racing out of the office as the helicopter descended toward the tarmac. Tobias followed at a slower jog, but Ben barely noticed him. Julie. He wanted Julie in his arms as soon as humanly possible.

The skids touched down, and he powered down the craft. The firefighters stepped off first, whooping as they landed on solid ground. Tobias veered toward them, but Julie kept going. She darted around the nose of the Robinson, reaching him just as he set foot on the tarmac.

Before he could even say a word, she flung herself into his arms.

“You’re okay. You’re okay,” she kept whispering. “I was so scared.”

“Hey, hey.” He soothed her by tracing slow circles on her back. Her heart was racing, rapid heartbeats drumming against his chest. How many missions had he flown without anyone fretting over him? All of them. Until now. “I wasn’t the one in danger. All I had to do was swoop in with the chopper. Nice work if you can get it.” He kept his tone light and teasing, or at least he thought he did.

She drew back a step, looking at him sternly. “I know you. It wasn’t that simple, was it?”

“Not quite,” he admitted. He’d liked it more a second ago, when she was pressed up against him. “Hey, if I tell you I cheated death by a whisker, will you hug me again?”

That brought a real smile to her face. She swatted him lightly on the upper arm, then dove into his arms again. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t do this. I know we’re starting fresh and we’re friends and all of that. Can we just…have this moment and then go back to your friend questionnaire?”

“I’m not sure it works that way.” He brushed a silky lock of hair away from her face so he could see her. “I’ll try, but now that I’ve had you in my arms…” He gazed into her wide eyes, still dark from the adrenaline that had rushed through her system. “I’m not sure I can forget how good this feels.”

And God, did it feel good. She molded her body against him, warm and soft and tempting. He filled his hands with her, drank her in. His cock went hard as steel, but he shifted so she didn’t feel it. Maybe she wasn’t ready for that yet. Maybe she was still on Project Friendship. He didn’t want to screw things up, but God, he wanted her with a throbbing, aching need.

She tilted her head and rested her chin against his chest. “I never forgot how this feels,” she whispered. “Never.”

Did she mean… God, he hoped so.

“Julie.” His voice was rough from smoke and desire. “Would you like to come over tonight? Maybe someone could stay with Felix.”

“Come over…” Color rushed into her face. “Like we used to? In the old days? Come over and do homework and make out?”

He grinned widely. “We can skip the homework.”

The sound of a throat clearing made them both jump. Ben kept his arms around Julie—no way was he letting her go now—and turned to see the three rescued hotshots, along with Rollo, grinning at them. Rollo must have come to pick them up.

“Just want to say thanks again for the extraction,” said Sean.

“You bet,” Ben answered. He liked all these guys, he really did, but right now he just wanted them gone so he could settle things with Julie.

“It was a little hairy there for a moment, huh?” Josh said. “My life actually flashed before my eyes. I liked the last part best, everything with Suzanne and Faith in it.”

Ben felt Julie stiffen in his arms at Josh’s mention of his life flashing.

“Right?” Finn laughed a little. His facial scar was a little redder than usual—irritated by the smoke, maybe? “That was a hell of a ride. You have nerves of steel, Ben Knight. Couldn’t ask for a better rescue pilot.”

“Jupiter Point’s damn lucky you guys are here and geared up the way you are,” added Rollo.

“Spread the word. Knight and Day Flight Tours, the experience of a lifetime.” He grinned as he shook Rollo’s hand.

The hotshots saluted him again, smiled at Julie, then took off across the tarmac toward Rollo’s rig, an impressive crew of good-looking, rugged individuals. Solid, good guys. And he’d just saved them.

As soon as they were out of sight, Julie swung around and pushed at his chest. “You made it sound like it was easy! Like you were never in danger!”

“There’s always some danger. There was a wildfire. They’re dangerous.”

“But—” The stormy look on her face dissolved into something else, something deeper, more emotional. “Tonight. What time?”

“Anytime. Just show up. I’ll be waiting.”

She nodded, and the air between them quivered with electric anticipation. The adrenaline from the rescue still hammered through his veins. He remembered this feeling from the Air Force, when every sense was heightened, and the world appeared sharp and clear and present.

Except now Julie was here, and all his senses were completely attuned to her.