Radclyffe - Firestorm

Jac traced an irregular pale blue line. “Is this a stream?”

“Yes,” Mallory replied. “And we’ll need to be sure we don’t diverge when we hit it or we’ll leave an area uncovered. We’ll check GPS coordinates every fifteen minutes. Anything I missed?”

No one said anything.

“Everyone feel all right?” Mallory checked each of the team. “Got enough rest? Fuel?”

“I’m good to go,” Jac said.

“Me too,” Sarah said.

“Yep.” Ray stood. “Let’s go find these kids.”

*

Jac hiked her ass up onto a boulder, pulled a PowerBar from her pocket, and held it out. “Here.”

Mallory regarded the offering as if it were an exotic animal, her dark brows drawing down. “I’m not hungry.”

“Yes, you are, you just don’t know it.”

“You know, Russo,” Mallory said, jamming her hands onto her hips, “I think I ought to know what I need.”

“I don’t think you do. Eat the damn chocolate bar.”

“How is it you’re an expert on me all of a sudden,” Mallory griped, swiping the bar from Jac’s hand and peeling back one end of the wrapper. She bit off a piece and chewed vigorously, regarding Jac with a belligerent expression.

“I’ve been watching you. You don’t eat regularly, you don’t sleep enough, you drive yourself into the ground in the gym. You need looking after.”

“Ditto, ditto, and ditto.” Mallory poked herself in the chest. “But you don’t see me bugging you about what you ought to be doing, do you?”

“Not yet. I thought I’d give you time.”

“Unbelievable.” Mallory finished the PowerBar in three bites and stuffed the wrapper into the outside pocket of her cargo pants. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” The rock was dry but cold under Jac’s butt, and she tried to imagine what those kids must be feeling if they were stuck somewhere in ice and snow. “You think one of them is hurt?”

“Hopefully that’s all they are,” Mallory said, dropping down beside Jac on the huge stone slab and leaning back on her hands. “I can’t think of any other reason why we haven’t heard from them unless they’ve lost their equipment and are just trying to get down the mountain the best they can.”

“Without a plane in the air, I guess it’s possible they’re on their way down, and we just can’t see them.”

“I hope.”

Jac scanned the mountain looming over them—steep rock faces, patches of dense forest, acres of thick ice and snowpack. Climbing was difficult in daylight even with all the equipment they needed. Winter rescues were tricky—rescuers died every year attempting them. “With this terrain, if we’ve got injured, it’s gonna be tough getting them out. Especially after dark.”

“I know. Let’s find them before sundown, then we’ll figure out how to evacuate them.” Mallory checked her watch. “Five minutes. You okay?”

Mallory rested lightly against Jac’s shoulder, and Jac wasn’t cold any longer. They were in the middle of a dangerous rescue, as dangerous as plenty of the missions she’d been on overseas. She wasn’t frightened of injury or even death, but she was terrified of losing the first connection she’d ever found that made her feel as if she wasn’t alone. And she was plenty tired of pretending she couldn’t feel the heat that sparked between them. She slid her arm around Mallory’s waist.

Mallory shifted on the rock and stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “What the hell are you doing, Russo?”

“Sorry, I just—” Jac blew out a breath and inched closer, nuzzling Mallory’s hair. “You smell so damned good.”

“Are you out of your—”

“Hell with it,” Jac muttered, and framed Mallory’s face. When Mallory didn’t pull away, Jac eased forward and kissed her. Mallory’s skin was cool under her fingers, but her lips were soft and warm. Jac carefully traced the surface of Mallory’s lower lip with the tip of her tongue, and Mallory made a tiny sound of surprise in the back of her throat that whispered off into a moan. Jac’s chest seized and she couldn’t breathe, but she’d rather die than stop. Mallory’s mouth moved against hers and heat flooded her. For an instant, Jac glimpsed flames flickering in a hearth on a snowy winter afternoon. The feeling of home, of safety, of contentment wafted over her until the blaze caught and flames shot high and excitement scorched her skin. She groaned softly and slid her hand into the thick hair at the base of Mallory’s neck.

Mallory’s palm slapped against her chest, and Mallory jerked back. “Stop that.”

“Sorry,” Jac said, but she didn’t mean it. Her breath was coming fast, and all she could see was the hazy reflection of her own desire in Mallory’s green eyes. Mallory’s mouth said no, but her eyes said something completely different. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the muffin morning.”

Mallory caught her breath, half laughing, half choking. “Since the muffin morning? The muffin morning?”

Jac grinned. “That’s how I think of that morning when I saw you lying on your cot, your face so soft and sleepy and beautiful. I wanted to kiss you then. And just about every second I’ve been near you since. The muffin—I get a little excited every time I see one now.”

Mallory’s mouth curved into a smile, and her face flushed as if she were suddenly very warm. Her tongue flicked out and moistened the surface of her lower lip. She lightly traced the arch of Jac’s cheek with her knuckles and then trailed her fingertips along the edge of her jaw. “Russo, you’re crazy.”

“Not so much right now.”

Mallory shook her head. “Wrong place, wrong time—wrong person.”

“You said five minutes, so I’ve still got time,” Jac said softly. “And you look just right to me.”

“Your judgment is suspect.”

“Sometimes,” Jac agreed. “But not this time, Mallory. Not this time.”

“We’ve got a big job ahead of us.”

“I know,” Jac said, her fingers still threaded through Mallory’s hair. “That’s why I’m not going to kiss you again until later. Until after we find them.”

“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

“No, not always. But I’m certain about kissing you again.”

Mallory jumped down from the boulder as if it had suddenly come to life and growled at her. “You’re nuts. We are not doing this.”

Jac jumped down beside her and shouldered her pack. “Why not?”

“For about a million reasons, starting with the fact that—well—how do you even know I want to kiss you?”

“You do. You brought me a muffin.”

“Enough with the muffins,” Mallory snapped. She stared at Jac, her eyes bright, nearly feverish. “Damn it.”

Mallory grabbed Jac by the shoulders and jerked her forward, her mouth coming down hard over Jac’s. The kiss was hard and demanding and hot and so powerful Jac’s legs shook. As quickly as it began, Mallory pulled away. Gasping, dizzy, Jac reached out to steady herself on the rock. “Jesus, Mallory.”

“Now we’re done. I mean it.” Mallory grabbed her gear and stormed away.

Jac pressed her hand to her chest as her heart skittered around like a marble in a bowl. She never got this hyped even after she’d neutered a bomb, and she was always pretty damn high then. Maybe she was having a heart attack. She wasn’t certain her legs would hold her up, let alone carry her up the mountain, but she forced herself forward in Mallory’s tracks. She wasn’t foolish enough to hope Mallory wouldn’t regret what she’d just done, but Mallory’s kiss proved she wasn’t alone in her desire, and that was enough. At least she could tell herself that for now.

Chapter Twenty-one