The Re-Enlisted Groom. Amy Fetzer J.

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      Two

      In the rescue station, Kyle stared at the men and women relaxing in the worn leather sofas and chairs arranged around a couple of coffee tables.

      “Okay, so what are you guys not telling me?” he said after another crew member refused to trade sleeping arrangements with him. He was willing to sleep anywhere if it meant he didn’t have to look at Maxie before coffee. Unfortunately no one was cooperating.

      “Parrish is a lousy cook,” a man finally admitted, sinking back into the body-molding leather chair.

      “You know this for a fact?” The idea that half of these men knew Maxie’s cooking soured his mood even further.

      A few exchanged knowing glances. “Reputations have a way of escalating.”

      “So don’t eat at her place.”

      “I could say the same to you, Hayden,” his temporary boss, Jackson Temple, said on a laugh as he passed the cluster of personnel.

      Kyle made a frustrated sound. “Look, I’ll make switching worth it.” He reached into his back pocket for his wallet.

      Hoots and whistles sounded seconds later. Kyle didn’t have the sense to be embarrassed. Seeing Maxie on a regular basis was too unpleasant to even consider.

      “Watch out, folks, he’s desperate,” someone said.

      A black-haired man frowned curiously. “How much we talking here, Hayden?”

      “A hundred?” Good Lord, he sounded pathetic, Kyle thought.

      “Food mean that much to you, flyboy?” came from another team member.

      “No,” he muttered, fisting cash. His sanity did.

      “Then why?”

      Jackson Temple cleared his throat, then nodded slightly at the doors.

      The conversation died a quick, painful death as Kyle looked up, his gaze colliding with a pair of green eyes so aloof he couldn’t begin to speculate on what she was thinking. He only knew that she’d heard. Everything.

      Then she crossed to the office and murmured smugly, “Bet the back seat of that chopper’s looking real good right now,” as she passed him.

      Kyle closed his eyes briefly, feeling like a heel. He didn’t know if it was the smirk on her face she tried to pass off as a smile or the way she brushed aside the discussion he was a jackass for even starting with people he’d just met, but these were her friends. He didn’t want to embarrass her. What went on between them had nothing to do with the life she’d made for herself here.

      Kyle jammed his cash into his pocket and waved off a crewman who looked guilty enough to concede. He looked up as she shut the office door, closing Jackson in with her. Through the glass, she met his gaze, her expression unreadable. It was hard to believe she was the same woman who’d turned to liquid heat in his arms a couple hours ago, and just the memory, the taste of her still on his lips, made his body tighten. Then she closed the blinds, shutting him out. Nothing new there, he thought, moving to a soda machine and dropping change into the slot, nearly knocking the thing over when he punched his selection. He had to get out of this somehow, he thought, pulling the tab and tipping it to his lips. He drained the soda, trying not to look at the office door, to the room where she was hiding from him. Again.

      Inside the office, Maxie paced, not even bothering to take off her parka. On the way over, she’d radioed Jackson and without revealing why, she’d told him she didn’t want Kyle at her place. Jackson wasn’t cooperating.

      “I thought you were my friend, Jackson. Move him to a hotel.”

      The team chief chuckled, his chair creaking as he leaned back and watched her eat the carpet with her strides. “You’ve had boarders before, Parrish, what’s the deal?” She paused and leveled him a dark look, and the older man cringed dramatically, throwing his hands up. “Okay, okay, I won’t pry. Not that you’d ever give details.”

      “You made the assignment.” She slapped her hands down on the desk and loomed. “Change it.”

      “I can’t. There was no other choice.” He waved to the charts.

      “There has to be.” Maxie already recognized the danger of being in the same state with Kyle, let alone seeing him every day, all day until his contract with the rescue team was finished.

      “Not for a chopper. Fuel is too expensive to have him land anywhere else. Your ranch is the best place to set one down. Close. Low wind, lots of unobstructed area. You know that.” Her expression pleaded for a little understanding, and Jackson frowned. СКАЧАТЬ