Page 37 of Forgiving Her First Love

While she read, he took stock of the collared resort T-shirt she had pulled on for her civilian duty of driving people up to the airstrip. She usually wore bicycle shorts under her coveralls, the kind that hugged her hips and thighs, but today wore cargo shorts that fell almost to her knees, showing only her muscled calves above her slouched socks and heavy work boots. So cute.

“Maybe include a fiberglass option?” she suggested.

He forced his gaze up to her freckled face.

“The original hull is wood. The charm and value is in its construction.”

“Right. The labor looks accurate, and we can source the lumber here, but the shipping charge on a new engine? I’d double the fuel surcharge on that. They are killing us right now. Remind the captain to add lost revenue to their claim, too. The MissionaryII is definitely out for the season. What?”

She caught him staring at her mouth. Apparently, he was just as turned on when she talked about fuel surcharges as when she physically changed out an oil filter.

“Nothing.” He swallowed. “When—”

He’d been about to ask when Biyen’s father was leaving, but Trystan walked in with Storm doing her wiggle dance in the sling.

“Are you lost?” Logan asked.

“Reid said to find you.” He texted as he spoke. “He wants to talk to us.”

“About?”

“That’s all the information I have.” His phone dinged and he glanced at it. “He’ll be here in a sec.”

“Good. I want to talk about our emergency procedures.” Logan sat back and couldn’t stop himself from cutting a glance at Sophie, still mad at her for putting herself at risk. “That rescue was a shit show. We’re lucky it turned out as well as it did. We had too many hands on deck, not enough coordination from shore.”

Sophie sniffed and walked away, slipping onto the stool at the other computer and turning to tap its keyboard.

“It wasn’t great,” Trystan allowed.

“No, it wasn’t. I’ve had a look at the safety manual. The procedures are reasonably up to date, but we need to run a few drills. Reid will have to rewrite some for the new lodge and the rest of the new construction.”

“Sounds like you guys have it under control. We love it when the heroes do all the work, don’t we, Storm?” Trystan let her grasp onto his fingers so he could bring her arms over her head like a champion.

“You’re not off the hook. Your purview will be lost hikers and wildfire response. Anything that happens to our guests on land outside our lease is your jurisdiction.”

“Since when?”

“Maybe be careful with that one?” Sophie pivoted on her stool. “I’ve always found it good practice to check in with the tribal council office in Bella Bella before sending a team offsite. That way we’re not trampling up a sensitive wetland or other meaningful place.”

“Absolutely we should coordinate with them,” Logan agreed. “But let’s not be dicks. We can’t put it on them to rescue our guests.”

“I’ll touch base with them, see how they want to handle it,” Trystan said.

“Handle what?” Reid asked as he came in on the tail of Trystan’s statement.

Logan caught him up.

“I actually had a reminder in my calendar to run a fire drill before the cruise. It fell off my radar, but it’s top priority now.” Reid looked around. “I forgot what a dim little place this is. Why don’t you wash that window?”

“I’ve hosed it down four times since I’ve been here. It doesn’t stay clean,” Logan said.

“There’s an exhaust from the repair shop below,” Sophie pointed out. “It kicks up dust off the embankment.”

“Move the exhaust,” Reid said with a shrug that said, Problem solved.

“Is that the best use of your money?” Sophie asked. “Because I can exhaust it to the other side of the island if money is no object, but the view out that window is a muddy hillside. I sit with my back to it. Fresh air is nice when I want it, but what do I care whether I can see out the glass?”

Reid looked to Logan.

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