Page 5 of Sparks Fly

Hallie’s barked orders echo through the burn building as she ushers the rookie class into position. Thick plumes of machine-generated smoke billow around them, the harsh tang of acridity coating the back of her throat.

“Scenario is this: We have multiple civilians trapped on the upper floors. Entry team will advance the hose line while rescue teams move to extract. Maintain your spacing and communication at all times. First team, ready?”

A ragged chorus of “Ready, Lieutenant!” responds and Hallie gives a curt nod to the observation instructor running the drill. With a deafening blast of the electronic fire simulations, chaos erupts around them.

“Go, go, go!” Hallie shouts over the roar as the first squad charge in. She watches with a critical eye as they fumble their way into a sloppy line advancement, the hose team already breaking formation.

“Too wide, Cochran! You’ll never get that hose around the corner! Nguyen, verbal all clear before you?—”

A fresh cloud of smoke erupts, swallowing the stumbling recruits in a churning maelstrom. Hallie grits her teeth, fighting the urge to jump in and correct their piss-poor form herself, when she catches a flicker of movement through the haze.

Of course. Montgomery, breaching way too far ahead of her team. Again.

“Montgomery!” Hallie’s bellow cuts through the cacophony like a whipcrack. “Get back, now! You don’t leave until I give the order!”

She can barely make out Kaia’s silhouette pausing, that stubborn streak already shining through in her body language. A few tense seconds tick by...and then, finally, the reckless recruit falls back into line with her squad.

“Goddammit,” Hallie snarls under her breath. How many times will she have to drill this into Kaia’s overeager head? You never, ever leave your team behind. Rookie arrogance like that is gonna get someone killed one of these days. She watches the rest of the drill beneath furrowed brows, a dull headache quickly forming from the strain.

“Montgomery, front and center! Now!”

Hallie barely waits until the smoke has cleared from the burn room before unleashing her fury. The rest of the recruits are still catching their breath, rips and soot stains marring their turnouts. All except for Kaia Montgomery, of course. She strides right up with that stupidly confident gait, not a single flicker of shame on her effortlessly beautiful features.

“The hell was that in there?” Hallie demands, crowding into Kaia’s space until they are practically nose-to-nose. She can feel the heat radiating off the younger woman’s skin in waves. “You disobeying direct orders just for kicks? Or are you actually trying to get this whole unit killed?”

Up close, Hallie can see the bead of sweat tracing an irresistible path along Kaia’s sculpted cheekbone. The slight hitch in her chest as Hallie’s breath mingles with her own. For a defiant moment, their heated gazes remain locked in a battle of wills.

Then Kaia’s full lips part with a soft huff of air. “I had it handled,” she murmurs, seemingly unaffected by Hallie looming over her.

A little thrill sparks in Hallie’s gut at that blatant insubordination. She bites back the desire to grab Kaia by the collar of that sweat-damp uniform and really let her have it. Instead, she leans even closer until their noses are nearly brushing.

“You arrogant jackass,” Hallie growls in a tone that dares Kaia to so much as blink first. “Next time I say stay in formation, you stay in formation. Or so help me, Montgomery, you’ll be running drill cones until your legs give out from under you. Are we clear?”

Kaia stares right back at her, those rich brown eyes swirling with a storm of rebelliousness and something else Hallie can’t quite put her finger on. Hallie feels her heart kick up another beat, drowning out the sounds of the other recruits shuffling awkwardly around them.

Then, slowly, Kaia gives a minute nod. “Crystal, Lieutenant.”

For a suspended moment, they are the only two people in the world.

“Hit the showers, all of you. Come back better tomorrow or there will be hell to pay.”

Hallie marches back to her office without sparing the rest of the recruits a second glance. She couldn’t bear to read on any of their faces what they made of the heated exchange. Most likely they enjoyed seeing Kaia receive a dressing down, and that makes Hallie sick to her stomach. She wants nothing more than for them to respect Kaia Montgomery as a fellow crewmate, to acknowledge her abilities instead of writing her off just for being female. But Kaia isn’t doing herself any favors insisting on striking out alone. They’re all as bad as each other, and Hallie has to somehow forge an indestructible machine out of their resistant parts.

She blows out a harsh breath as she sags back in her desk chair, suddenly feeling every one of her thirty-nine years. She squeezes her eyes shut and tries to block out the memory of Kaia’s face mere inches from her own. Those impossibly full lips so close she could have leaned in to?—

No. Absolutely not.

Hallie snaps her lids open with a sharp shake of her head. Getting carried away with inappropriate bullshit like that would be career-ending faster than she could blink. Sure, Kaia’s dogged determination is impressive as hell, and that fearless swagger of hers is even more captivating up close. But none of that gives Hallie any excuse to be undressing the cock-sure little rookie with her eyes.

“Keep it professional, Hunter,” she berates herself in a fierce mutter. “Montgomery’s just another pain-in-the-ass kid who still hasn’t learned how to follow a goddamn order around here.”

Hallie forces herself to review the rest of the recruits’ sloppy performances from the last drill, anything to scrub Kaia’s teasing glare from her mind’s eye. The open defiance and that maddening spark of want she could have sworn she’d seen flickering there for an instant. It had to have been her tired, over-worked brain playing tricks, nothing more.

Just an arrogant ass who needs to be bent over your knee.

The unbidden thought whispers through Hallie’s subconscious. Her traitorous libido helpfully painting a vivid fantasy of doing just that—stripping away that smoky uniform until Kaia is bare, then pulling those lean, muscular limbs over her lap to?—

“Jesus!” Hallie hisses through her teeth. Her whole body pulsing with an electric jolt of pure need, shocking her out of that wildly inappropriate train of thought. “Get it together,” she orders herself firmly. “That girl is completely off limits. End of story.”

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