Page 10 of Sparks Fly

But it’s already too late. The first wave of rowdy recruits comes tumbling into the training area, jostling between themselves like a pack of overgrown, overconfident pups. Mercifully, none of them seem to register the yearning tension still thrumming between the lieutenant and her favorite student. Even so, the intimate moment is well and truly shattered.

Rising to her feet, Hallie composes her features into an impassive mask and ushers Kaia toward the crowd with a subtle dip of her chin.

She can’t bring herself to meet her eyes, unsure whether she’ll find relief or devastation reflected there.

This maddening attraction is quickly spiraling out of her control.

As much as she tries to douse the flames with all the self-control she can muster, Hallie has a sinking feeling she’s in grave danger of getting burned.

6

KAIA

Kaia’s heart is still thundering as she strides to join her crewmates for roll call, the ghost of Hallie’s breath still lingering on her lips. She fights to school her guilty expression, to stamp down the raging want still coiling low in her belly from their heated almost-kiss.

Hallie had been so tantalizingly close, close enough for Kaia to drown in the azure pools of her eyes, to trace the sharp lines of her jaw with her fingertips. She had been powerless to resist, throwing caution to the wind as she had leaned in to obliterate the charged boundary between her and her superior. And for one delirious, endless moment it had seemed like Hallie might finally give in.

But of course, the arrival of the other rookies had shattered that fragile tension just when things were about to combust between them. Hallie had coolly reassembled her professional mask as always, not even daring to meet Kaia’s eyes as she ushered her toward their crewmates. Leaving Kaia to wonder, not for the first time, if this crackling heat between them was recklessly one-sided after all.

Maybe she had only imagined the reciprocal want darkening Hallie’s eyes to swirling storms. The same blazing desire Kaia felt every time she drank in the lieutenant’s powerful presence. Every passing minute of their private training sessions had slowly been driving Kaia to unravel at the seams.

Well, she supposes as she takes her position alongside the other rookies for inspection, at least the bitter sting of rejection won’t be anything new.

Straightening her shoulders, Kaia clears her hazy thoughts and concentrates on the morning briefing. Her pulse still hammers with chaotic adrenaline, but she forces herself to keep her expression as coolly impassive as Hallie’s always is. As though absolutely nothing had occurred between them mere minutes ago.

Of course, controlling her restless desire for the lieutenant proves to be the least of her worries, as the sudden blaring signal of an emergency call-out rings throughout the station.

Hallie immediately assumes command, calling out the report of a raging house fire in a residential neighborhood nearby. She barks precise instructions, and Kaia springs into action with her fellow rookies.

The metallic wail of the truck sirens proves effective in yanking Kaia fully back into the moment with harsh clarity.

This was real, this was what she had been training so relentlessly for all along.

No more time to dwell on the heated morning with her fiery commander, they had a job: save lives at any cost.

The smoke is already thick and acrid when they arrive on the scene, the house nearly engulfed in blinding shades of orange and red. Lieutenant Hunter’s authoritative bark rings out over the chaos as the engine roars to a halt, throwing the crew into a seamless flurry of coordinated response. Within seconds, Kaia has her mask secure, helmet on and a hose in hand, eyes flicking back and forth between her crewmates and their leader.

I won’t let her down today.

Though she knows better than to be distracted on the job, Kaia can’t help the possessive rush that comes over her at drinking in the sight of Hallie at her peak—jaw taut with intense focus, every muscle toned and primed as she deftly maneuvers her team into position. Kaia’s admiration only burns more feverishly at the unwavering confidence with which Hallie commands her role in the field. Her lieutenant is poetry in motion, magnetic and unstoppable.

Squashing down the forbidden embers of attraction, Kaia hurls herself fully into attacking the blaze with the rest of her crewmates. Sweat instantly soaks her uniform as scorching smoke plumes around her, the roaring hiss of the pressurized hoses filling the air with their deafening white noise.

For several endless minutes, Kaia loses herself completely in the adrenaline-spiked focus of combating the relentless torrent of flame and fumes. She works flawlessly alongside her unit, seamlessly alternating positions and hose trajectories without having to so much as raise their voices over the din. A savage thrill surges through her at how synchronized they’ve become, the culmination of Hallie’s grueling training finally paying off in the field.

They have the makings of a proper crew, moving and breathing as one.

Just as that rush of hard-earned pride swells in Kaia’s chest, a noise abruptly cuts through the chaos. She snaps her head up in alarm. Over the shriek of the water cannons and the roar of the devouring blaze, she’s certain she can hear a faint, pitiful whining of an animal’s muffled cries.

Without a second thought for protocol, she slams her end of the hose into Cochran’s hands with a terse shout to take over. He gapes at her in bewilderment as she sprints away, barreling towards the smoke, her senses straining to pinpoint where the noise is coming from.

The heat sears her skin even through her protective gear as she surges through the house. She hears Cochran’s alarmed shout behind her but presses on, laser-focused on locating the source of those cries.

There!

Toward the very back of the building, a mournful bark echoes. Kaia can’t see anything through the smoke but she follows the sound to what she is pretty sure is the kitchen.

Without pausing to consider the risk, Kaia begins to clamber over the fallen debris in her path, swerving and bending to avoid the remnants of blackened beams sagging from the ceiling.

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