The smell of burnt bread and something else none of the men could describe wafted through the hallway of the huge house. Jez grimaced as she heard the men beginning to come out of their rooms. Shit, at least she had been able to get down here before Keely completely destroyed the kitchen. It had been close, because when she walked in, flames had been shooting up the stove vent from a pan Keely apparently forgot about.
“I told you.” Keely grinned and shook her head. “How about I pay you to finish off the cooking this week?”
Jez grinned, “How about you take some cooking lessons with the money you are willing to pay me so when my turn comes around, you can cook.”
Keely looked like she was thinking about it and then smiled and shook her head. “Nah, I would hate for any future beaus to get the wrong idea about me. I mean, hey if I can’t cook, then they won’t have ideas about me being barefoot and pregnant.”
Jez snorted and turned back to the stove. She had salvaged the salad Keely had been making and then threw away whatever she had been attempting to cook, making a simple spaghetti and meatballs. It wasn’t the best she could do, but at least they would have carbs.
“What the hell is that smell?” a male voice yelled down the hallway.
“I hope like hell this isn’t what we have to look forward to this week,” another voice groaned.
Keely looked at her with a smirk and Jez rolled her eyes. “Told you so,” her new friend whispered and Jez fought to keep the laughter from bursting out. Yep, they were bitching already.
The guys began to trickle in, Keely smiled at them and announced to all of them that she sucked at cooking and therefore was trading favors for whoever wanted to sign up. Keely ended up pleading with Jez to help her out when the only guys who wanted to trade had bathroom detail. Gross.
“Hey,” one of the guys yelled from the table. “This is good, maybe we should have Jez cook all the time.”
“Yeah,” another one chimed in. “Best meal we have had yet. Where did Barbie go?”
“She didn’t make the cut,” Nix announced and the room went silent. They didn’t care one way or another if the blonde bimbo actually was cut, they cared more about the fact the cuts had started. The men looked around the room and appeared to try to measure who would be at the table a week from now, no one could tell.
Jez turned around and smiled at all of the guys trying to take the tension out of the room, but her eyes landed on Nix and the other two men who flanked him. Damn it, eye candy on crack, she wasn’t going to be able to keep it cool if they looked this good every day. Keely laughed, changing the subject in the room, and teased all the guys about her cooking and taking praise for asking Jez for help, while she shuffled to the opposite end of the huge table of men and sat down, keeping her eyes on her plate.
The voices flowed around her as she picked at her food and tried to appear relaxed. The guys laughed and teased each other and soon she was able to actually ignore the three men who silently ate and stared at her intently. Damn.
“Jez?” One of the younger men laughed loudly when she finished telling an off-color joke. “You are the woman of my dreams, cooks like a chef, and has the mouth of a hot-shot.”
She heard someone clear their throat and then a deep voice said, “Why don’t we eat and hit the sack, training is at the ass crack of dawn.”
The guys moaned and she looked up to see Nix frowning right at her. What the fuck did she do? The guys who were on clean-up laughed and joked as they piled the dishes on the counter. Jez stacked hers and then turned only to bump into Gray who was standing close to her. When he grabbed her arm to steady her, she felt the zing of awareness zap right through her.
“Sorry,” she mumbled and brushed past him trying to get away.
“Hey, Jez?” She heard Keely call her as she reached the doorway. “Hang on, we need to talk about what I am making for dinner tomorrow.”
Jez smiled and waited for her friend and as they walked out the door, she glanced over her shoulder one last time before shaking her head and walking behind her friend.
Chapter Three
Today was going to be brutal on the trainees and he wasn’t looking forward to the knowledge. They would be training in full rig, complete with their packs and provisions, just as if they were in the field and fighting a fire. The temperature was going to be in the upper 70’s with a chance of rain and thunderstorms, and in full gear, any strenuous movements would up the temperatures to around 90 degrees inside the firefighters’ suits. A real fire would soar the hotshots temps over one hundred degrees.
Knowing Corbin, they would be learning how to take out scrub plants that weren’t necessary for the environment, but wildfires loved. It was a hot and thankless job to do in the off-season, but a godsend when a team was trying to keep sparks from spreading during the fire season.
The old man was getting meaner as he got older, and Nix was thankful that he’d kept himself in shape during the off season. He knew the training routine by now, but once in a while things were changed up just to fuck with the seasoned veterans. No one but a veteran of a few years actually knew how grueling the job was until they did it. He could almost pick which ones would fail today.
Walking into the kitchen and heading for the coffee pot was routine for him. He was normally the first man awake, and regardless of who had KP duty, who was the first up made the coffee. The hundred cup coffee urn was already happily percolating away and Jez was standing at the stove with two griddles flipping pancakes like she was born to it.
Damn, he didn’t like the way he felt to see her with that spatula in her hands and her hips swaying as she listened to the music from her IPod. He could see the hot pink ear buds and wire hanging into her shirt pocket bounce on her chest as she dropped several more pancakes onto the griddles. Fuck.
He’d woke up with the usual morning wood and took care of it by imagining Jez on her knees in front of him sucking his cock. That was no more than a half an hour ago. Now the fucker was stirring around thinking about those lips again. He had to look away from that ass swaying around, or he’d probably end up with that spatula upside his head and reassigned away from here for the year.
He poured himself a cup of coffee and blew over the rim of the cup to take a cautious sip. Shit, not only could the woman cook, she made excellent coffee. He took his cup and sat at the table to wait for her to notice that she was no longer alone. He had some files on his reader that he needed to go over anyway, so now was as good a time as any for that particular task.
Jez caught sight of a man sitting at the far end of the table. She turned her head just a bit more and dropped the metal spatula onto the empty griddle. Damn, Hottie number one was sitting there by himself drinking a cup of coffee and tapping the screen of his work pad. She felt herself stand straighter and that crazy feeling was back in her gut, just like the first sight of him had caused her to feel.
Tall, with dark brown hair and golden brown eyes, and shoulders, lordy yes. His features combined to a panty soaking face she wanted to see smiling. She still wondered why he frowned at her the night before. People normally liked her, and by people that also meant men. Men usually smiled at her and tried to impress her with their looks and humor. She could spot a narcissistic man from a mile away and stayed clear of them. When she decided to take on a man, she didn’t want to be forced to compete with him for mirror space each morning.
Nix Cayson wasn’t pretty, he wasn’t conventionally handsome, the man was seriously sexy. He was also stoic and she got the feeling he didn’t like her one bit.
Being the straightforward type of woman, she slapped six pancakes on a plate, grabbed the syrup and a fork and took it over to where he was sitting. Maybe they needed to talk and he could get his hang-ups about her taken care of so it wouldn’t get awkward in the near future. Her father always told her that a team had to function as one unit, or things could get dangerous in the high country while fighting wildfires. Having the team leader giving you dirty looks all
the time wouldn’t help at all. She set the plate down near his arm, and left the syrup and fork next to it before going to the coffee urn.
She sat down across from where he’d begun eating. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? “
His eyes raised and met hers as he nodded his head. He hadn’t planned to have a heart-to-heart with her until he knew for a fact if she was going to be the type of pilot to go in hot, almost waiting for the exact moment before a line of trees fell. He admired her old man, but he wasn’t a fan of the way he did the job. Nix had been on the ground the day Stryker bought it, and almost killed his kid in the process. He was the one who had pulled her body from the wreckage and hauled her out far enough for the medics to work on her, and he had gone back to finish the job of fighting the fire. The girl’s blood stayed on his hands and gear until he and the others finally got the fire contained. They’d lost two other men that day and the blame for their deaths was laid entirely on Stryker’s shoulders as far as Nix was concerned. Officially, they’d perished in the fire, and that would always stand, but he knew if the pilot had been listening to the instructions he’d been given, the chopper and the two front men would still be alive to tell the tale.
“I’m sure you know who my father was, and you might think that I got special treatment to get here, but I had to work for the position. Jeb and Corbin demanded that I was in top shape before I was allowed to step foot inside The Shack. I’m here because I’m a damned good pilot. So if you have a problem with me being here, let’s get it hashed out now.”
She folded her shaking hands, not certain why she was so agitated. “I want to understand why you act like you don’t like me or want me here. I’ve never met you before, so if you’re in a sharing mood, please tell me. And before the others come down, if you don’t mind. I am trying to fit in here as much as anyone else, and the glares you were giving me last night, I am pretty sure some of them picked up on. I don’t want to explain my shit to other people, since we are all living together, they are going to ask.”
He speared another forkful of pancake and chewed it before bothering to answer her question. Damn it, she was right and he knew it. What the fuck was he supposed to say, ‘yeah, I am having issues with you. Your father was one of the best pilots out there but he fucked up, and even though I seriously want to know what kind of pilot you are, I want in your pants even more. So yeah, I glared at you, and I will keep glaring at you until I can feel that sweet little body beneath me so I can fuck you out of my system.’ Instead, he said.
“It’s not that I don’t like you, Jez, and yes I know who your father was.” He sat back and downed the last swallow of coffee in the mug. He forced himself to smile, “I like you just fine.” His smile disappeared, and his jaw felt tight, but she’d asked for his reasons and he wouldn’t skirt the issue, well, he didn’t skirt part of the issue.
“My concern is not with your flying ability, I have no doubt you can land that chopper on a tree top if that’s where you need to set it. My concern is how you do the job, not the stunt, not the fancy flying, not the heroic shit. Can you take orders and follow them, can you put your ego aside and actually work at being part of a team.” He stood, picking up his empty plate and mug to take to the sink, and finished his answer to her question.
“To my way of thinking, the only way we will know for certain is by doing the job, it’s not personal, like I said before,” he let his eyes roam her now standing figure, then looked up again to catch her eyes with his. “I like you just fine and if we were anywhere but the job, I’d be more than happy to show you just how much I could like you.”
What the hell? She watched as he rinsed his plate and cup before putting them in the dishwasher, and leaving the room. She shook her head and stomped back to the stove to finish cooking breakfast. The man had nerve, she’d give him credit for that. He was attracted to her physically, but he didn’t trust her to do her job for some strange reason, and that made her determined to prove to him that she could “do the job” as he put it. The arrogant ass. Knowing her panties needed to be changed before she left this morning pissed her off at her body’s response to that smoldering look and sexy smile.
Keely did a fancy fist pump when she walked into the room and saw that Jez had breakfast under control. The gesture made the replacement cook laugh. “Don’t get to feeling too froggy, woman, I was up and I was hungry, you still have the rest of the week to get through. You’d better hope they are satisfied with just pancakes and coffee, because that is what’s cooked and ready.”
Keely grinned, “Are you kidding me? The last crew I was with ate cereal for breakfast when it was my turn to cook. One guy even made this whacked out version of lumpy oatmeal with raisins and nuts in it. Pancakes are the bomb, and if they don’t like it, they can go without as far as I’m concerned.”
Ten minutes later, the room was filling up with grunted “good mornings” and praises for her cooking efforts. She sat with Trystan and Grayson, and they kept her laughing throughout the meal. When she asked what happened to the woman with the broken fingernails, the entire side of the table burst into laughter.
Trystan wiped his fingers on the paper napkin and admired his nails, holding his hand up for his companions to admire. “I think I need a sick day to get my nails done, yesterday was hell on my manicure.”
There was more laughter from his clowning, and Jez happened to look up right into the eyes of the man that all but told her he didn’t trust her. She couldn’t help herself, “Uh oh, boys, he’s giving us that look again, I guess it’s time to roll.”
He knew Trys would have a thing or two to say to him later, and Grayson was giving him dark looks, but he ignored them and turned to look for Jeb or Corbin. He needed to do something physical to work the mad out of his system. He’d felt like a real bastard this morning after he talked to Jez, but she asked him, and he wasn’t the kind of man to mollycoddle anyone. Even an attractive blonde who brought the sunshine to mind whenever she smiled.
Jeb was standing by the conference room door when Nix finally saw him. He made his way to his mentor. “Good morning,” he grinned at the older man. “Did you get the privilege of taking Barbie to town last night or did Corbin get the honor?”
Jeb was in a good mood and let the dig about Barbie go by for now. “Corbin got that chore, he had to get something from the lumber company this morning, so he stayed the night in town. I have today under control. Did you notice it started sprinkling a few minutes ago?” Now it was his turn to grin, and he enjoyed telling the team’s leader, “You are gonna enjoy today, man, tell your team to gear up, we got climbing ropes and chopping upright logs down, you all get to practice your beaver skills with an ax.” He laughed at the younger man. “I can see the prospect delights you,” he slapped Nix on the shoulder, looked at his watch, and said, “training yard at O six hundred. That gives you twenty to get the girls ready.”
Nix wasted no time warning the trainees that it was time to gear up. He set their ears to a new standard of ringing by whistling between his first two fingers up against his lips, and got their attention faster than if he’d yelled at them. “Gear up, training yard in fifteen.”
It wasn’t taking out brush as he’d thought, oh no, today would be much worse. Negotiating the obstacle course in full gear and a one hundred pound pack on your back would certainly separate the men from the boys for sure. He watched the women who had somehow gotten to the head of the pack going through the front doors, and he could have kicked something because of the wary look Jez gave him as she passed close by on her way out.
The three men watched Jez struggle to pull herself up the rope ladder, admiring her determination.
Trystan grinned at Nix and speculated aloud, “I bet she would be real appreciative from a good massage after her shower tonight. Her muscles will be screaming and sleep will be hard to come by, if I remember my first time on that ladder correctly. Her glutes would be a pleasure to massage between my hands, but then there’s those n
icely developed pec’s to consider too. The thing is, I might be tempted to lay my dick on those fuck me lips and see if she needed to thank me for my skills in loosening up her muscles. I wonder if she’d take me up on an offer to ease her pain?”
Gray had been watching her climbing, and he didn’t see the grins that Trys and Nix exchanged. His eyes stayed focused on her body as he commented, “You are an asshole, when I pulled a hamstring last year you laughed at my pain and told me to suck it up. Although I have to say, I’d like to do more than give her a massage, and if I ever get my hands on the cheeks of her ass, the massage I give her will be more internal than external, and mine won’t put her to sleep right away.” He turned to look at the two best friends a man could have. “I want this one, she is strong and smart. She is also sexy as hell and makes my cock stay semi-hard whenever I see her or hear her voice. My vote is that we work on bringing her into the fold.”
Trystan put his hand on Gray’s shoulder and they both looked at Nix. “Now, you see here before you a man with a serious case of conflict. If you look closely at his face, you see the stoic evil bastard who would walk through a wall of flames to save a rabbit. If you look closer, you see a man that has plans for that rabbit. Do you see the way his eyes are narrowed, and the set to his jaw? Now if he wasn’t wearing these stylish pants like we all were issued, you’d see a man with a cock that is so hard he could hammer nails with it. I bet that sucker makes it painful for him to walk, let alone go through this obstacle course.”
“He’s also suffering from the same damn thing all three of us are. We all actually like this one more than any of the others before her. This one is sweet and has staying power. Like you said she is smart too. That means we’re going to have to actually turn on the charm and get her used to the idea of having three horny men to give her pleasure and love.”