Jill Shalvis - Free Fall

Looking royally pissed, Lily nodded for three of the crew to go down and handle it, leaving just her and Chris. The snow kept coming down, plus it wouldn't be long before they'd need the lights-daylight was fading fast, already impeding vision. "I'll go after this idiot," she said, resigned.

"Skiing out from there will be tough going," Chris said. "And we'd have to send a snowcat to pick you up, which'll pull someone away from another post. We're already short-staffed."

"It'll be a climb back up, then." She began to gear up with the harness and ropes the others had left. "Can you set up some caution tape to close off this area until we find the signs?"

Watching her, Logan discovered he couldn't sit back any longer. "Let me go down for him," he said.

"Logan-"

"Your knee might give out on you on the way back up. I've done this a thousandtimes. More."

"In the snow? On ice?"

"In the snow, on ice," he assured her. Maybe not at this altitude, and not at a ski resort, but so what? He could do this, more safely than she could at the moment.

She looked at her patroller. "Chris, you should officially meet Logan. He's SAR out of Ohio, a helicopter and rappelling expert. We can use his help, yes?"

"Are you kidding? Yes."

"Hey!" came a faint cry from over the cliff. "You guys ever coming for me or what?"

Lily rolled her eyes at Chris, then leaned over the edge in a way that suggested a great ease with heights and an even greater confidence in herseif. "Are you injured?"

"No! Just cold!"

"I'm coming." She grabbed the ropes but her walkie-talkie chirped again, and at the news from Danny at base she swore softly. They had a kid on his last run of the day with a broken wrist on the bunny slope, leaving her team stretched thin and thinner. "Chris-"

"I can't leave you alone, Slim."

"I've got Logan."

Logan moved in. "I'll do whatever's necessary."

Chris agreed reluctantly and turned to Lily. "Rap-pel down to him, but risk the ski-out, since you don't have enough manpower to pull you back up. Keep on the radio. I'll send in a snowcat to pick you up at the bottom."

"And then there were two," Lily said to Logan when Chris had left.

"My knee's good enough for what needs to be done." She prepared to rappel over the edge. "Don't let me fall."

He looked at her in horror. "I won't."

She smiled. "That was a joke, Logan. Gotta lighten up some. After I'm safely down, send my board down, too, then maybe you could gather the ropes for me and shut off the light. I'll ski the guy down to meet the cat."

And with that, she was gone. Totally trusting, believing in him, confident in her own abilities to make this thing happen.

She had to be the most amazing woman he'd ever met in his entire life. But that thought would have to because he now had her hanging off a sheer, icy cliff in questionable weather, her life in his very hands.

How many times had he put his own life in his teammates' hands and never given it another thought? Hundreds. Thousands. So he had no idea why his stomach had fallen to somewhere near his toes, with his heart in his throat, where it firmly remained until she signaled to him that she had reached the victim.

He sent down her board, then pulled up the ropes, gathering them so that he could ski with them looped over his shoulder. When he took another look over the edge, Lily and her rescue vie were already gone. Safe, he hoped, knowing they were moving down harsh, unwelcoming terrain not meant for humans.

Logan quickly taped off the area and shut down the light. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the growing twilight, and then began his own descent, on the regulated, patrolled slope closest to the rescue, stopping only half a minute later when an odd flicker of reflection came from the cluster of trees to his right. Skiing off the trail, about five feet in, between two tight trees, he found three signs.

Three "out of bounds" signs. He gathered them up, tucked them under his arm and, with the ropes still looped over his shoulder, headed down again, not stopping until he was at the lodge, standing in front of the first-aid cabin to its right, listening to the radio conversation between a patroller on a snowcat and Lily.

He was relieved when he heard she'd been picked up, but had to wait another fifteen minutes before she came into view, looking tired and in some pain.

"Hey," she said in surprise at the sight of him hanging out on the covered deck. She lit up with pleasure, which froze on her face when she saw the signs lying at his feet.

"The area's taped off-and I found these just off the trail," he said.

"So some punk really moved them on purpose. Damn. Hard to remember if I was ever that stupid. Thanks for putting the tape up-and bringing these down." Sh? picked up her walkie-talkie and asked someone to come get the signs and put them back where they belonged in the morning, before the hill opened to the public.

"You okay?" Logan asked when she was done.

"Sure. You didn't have to wait for me. I don't want you to waste your ski time on me."

Hadn't anyone ever waited for her? Made her feel like she was worth waiting for? "I just wanted to make sure your knee was okay-"

"I'm a big girl."

Yeah, he was getting that. Getting that she had to be. She was also intelligent, quick-witted and strong as hell.

She stepped off the covered deck into the lightly falling snow, then turned toward him, opening her mouth to catch a snowflake on her tongue.

A tongue he suddenly, desperately, wanted in his mouth. "You're sure you're not hurt?" He moved off the deck to stand next to her. They were alone, and because of it, he stepped even closer.

"What are you going to do if I am?" she asked in a daring voice as she caught yet another snowflake on her tongue. "Kiss it better?"

"Maybe."

"I dare you."

Without hesitation, he hauled her up against him to do just that and covered her mouth with his.

Her surprised murmur filled his head, along with the ensuing heat when the kiss went instantly hot and sweet all at once, sending hunger and desire skittering through his veins. He rocked against her, and with another surprised murmur, she opened her mouth to his, clutching him close.

Close was good, even if they were separated by clothing and gear. The material was designed to insulate, but none of it was a match for the heat that zapped between them. The pressure of her body, the, glide of her tongue with his, gave him a glimpse of both heaven and hell. Heaven because he couldn't remember a better kiss than this, hell because he wasn't going to get much more, not out here in the open as they were.

But God, she fit against him so absolutely, as if she'd been made for him, and he fisted his hand on her jacket, low at her spine, rather than explore her curves and heat in public. After one more slow exploration of her delicious mouth, he forced himself to pull back, letting out a groan when her lips clung to his before letting go with a little suction sound that made him even harder.

Mouth still wet, she stared up at him, her eyes soft and aroused and touchingly unsure, as if she, too, knew that this was different-and far more terrifying because of it. Then the expression was gone and her cocky grin flashed. "Thanks for the help today, ace. It's always nice to work with another adrenaline junkie. You ever want to change locations, you're hired."

His heart was still threatening to burst out of his chest but he managed to answer. "I'm not an adrenaline junkie."

That made her laugh. "Anyone who willingly throws himself into a situation like you have- twice-is an adrenaline junkie." She smoothed her fingers over his jaw with a smile. "Don't look so unsettled. You should know, we can't help ourselves." Leaning in, she bit his lower lip. "I gotta go."