Page 4 of Stranded with the Mountain Man

He was staring right at me, which told me he’d seen this coming. He’d probably been watching the two of us talk and groaned when he saw her following me.

But if he minded, he didn’t show it. He gave a shrug and said, “We’re just heading back to the station. There’s nothing going on that I know of.”

“You never know when a call could come in, though,” I said.

He nodded. “Tell her to come on up.”

I stepped up into the cab, then turned and lowered my hand to give her a lift. Mostly, I just wanted to feel her hand in mine again. She slid it inside and stepped up. I gave her the passenger seat while I took the jump seat behind Frank.

“I’d rather ride back there,” Ella said. “You know, really be an observer. Like a fly on the wall. Just forget I’m here.”

And that was how we ended up rearranging, which briefly put me in close proximity to her. Her body passed within inches of mine.

It was then that I knew this was not just lust. No, this attraction to her was fierce. And the feeling was something that wouldn’t go away with a quick roll in the hay.

This was the real deal.

“Get back to the station,” my boss’s voice blasted over the radio.

We were halfway there, laughing over a story Frank had just told from his younger years. At the request, the lighthearted mood in the cab immediately changed. Emergencies were rare in this town, but when they happened, it hit the volunteers hard. We all loved this town.

“Looks like you’re stuck with us now,” I said to Ella.

“I’m along for the ride.”

I looked back over my shoulder at her, and my breath caught. I’d never seen anything more beautiful than that face. Her long, dark lashes that framed soulful brown eyes. Her prominent cheekbones and slightly upturned nose. And when she smiled, there was a faint hint of a dimple on one side that made it tough to look away.

And that was just her face.

I remembered her body as she stood on the sidewalk outside the school, staring down at her phone. She wore black dress pants that hugged her curves and an orange blouse that signaled autumn was coming. That image could fuel my fantasies for the rest of my life.

But hopefully, I could make her more than just a fantasy.

“They’re waiting outside for us,” Frank announced as we neared the fire station.

Sure enough, four uniformed volunteer firefighters stood in the parking lot, helmets in hand, ready to hop on this truck assoon as it pulled up. Four. That meant at least one of us would have to go, and I was betting it would be our ride-along, which would leave her stranded at the station.

“She’s a reporter,” I told the chief, Tyler, as soon as I hopped off the fire truck. I wanted to get ahead of any comments he might make about us having a woman in the truck with us.

“You stay here,” the chief said. “We need our top guys for this one.”

That comment was a punch in the gut. Normally, I’d just hop in my truck and head to the construction site. The boss had given me the morning off to help out with the fire drill. He wasn’t a volunteer firefighter, but he believed in the work we were doing, so he gave us time off whenever something came up at the fire station.

The biggest punch in the gut had been Tyler’s comment, which came around the same time that a woman I was trying to impress was coming off that fire truck. Had she heard? Maybe, but I took the chance that she’d been out of earshot when he said those words.

I gestured for her to follow me. “Come on. I’ll show you around the fire hall.”

Without waiting to see if she followed, I headed inside, feeling like the last kid to be picked for teams in high school gym class. That had never been me, but since joining this fire department, I’d come to relate to how those kids felt.

The sound of shoes on the floor behind me told me Ella was following. That meant I’d gotten the best prize of all. I had the whole fire hall to myself with the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

As the siren fired up and the truck pulled away, my spirits lifted. Yes, this could definitely be the best morning of my life.

3

ELLA

There was something naughty about the warmth that had spread through my body as I followed Zane through the empty fire hall.

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