Page 80 of Burnin' For You
She longed to lean over, rest her head against his arm. Okay, so she supposed teammates did that, sometimes.
His thumb caressed her shoulder, an almost absent move that sent tingles racing down her arm, through her body in another very non-teammate-like response.
No, no—If Reuben started to baby her, to act like she needed help…
This wouldn’t work. She shrugged out of his embrace then moved his arm off of her, sitting up straight in the middle.
She couldn’t look at him, would hate the confusion on his face. But she had a reputation to keep.
“Hopefully Pete and the guys will locate the others soon,” Conner said. “Then we can chopper them out. We’ll deal with the fire after that.”
Gilly let her head fall back and closed her eyes as she listened to Reuben give Conner the lowdown on the events. He started with the low fuel tanks, explained the crash, their determination to the hike out, how they ended up at Brownie’s cabin, the cabin fire, then Reuben’s race to the lookout, and finally her miraculous escape from the flames.
He left out, much to her relief, the kissing parts.
The very delicious, delectable, dangerous kissing parts.
Darkness descended around her, and it wasn’t until the change in road texture when they pulled onto the gravel of the Ember Fire Base that she woke up.
Her cheek pressed against Reuben’s shoulder. She might have even drooled, because her mouth hung open. Reuben didn’t say anything as she pushed herself up. But he did look down at her and smile.
A curl of warmth started in her belly.
“Let’s check in and see if they’ve found the team,” Reuben said.
Good man, had his priorities straight.
Maybe thiscouldwork out.
He waited for her as she slid out of the truck but didn’t make a move to pick her up. Instead, he offered his arm, and she leaned on it, limping into the office.
Miles stood over the giant relief map in the center of the room, running his finger along the edge of Black Top, down into the ravine, then further out toward Pete Creek. He held his radio, in contact with the rescue team. “Roger, Pete. PEAK Rescue is headed toward your position.”
“I can see the smoke from here,” Pete was saying. “I’m concerned their position is in the path of the fire.”
Gilly came up to the table with Reuben and Conner, and Miles glanced at them. “Pete, Reuben and Gilly are here. Stand by.”
Then he holstered the radio and came over to them. “We were worried.” He gave Gilly a quick hug, nothing but a perfunctory affection in it, but enough for her to confirm that Reuben’s embraces were, well, not this.
Miles shook Reuben’s hand, and they met in a man-hug.
“What’s the sit rep?” Reuben asked.
Conner pocketed his sunglasses and leaned over the map. He touched the road where he’d picked them up. “You guys were here,” he said.
“We hiked out along this ridge.” Reuben trailed his finger along the south edge of Mushroom Mountain. “We crossed Pete Creek here, then hit the forest service road.” He kept moving his finger north. “Brownie’s cabin was about here.” He pointed to a spot northwest of Garver Mountain Lookout Tower.
“What’s your best guess as to where the plane might be?”
Before Reuben could answer, Gilly touched the thin blue creek line on the map. “I think they’re here, at Beetle Creek, although it’s dry now. Tell the PEAK team to fly up the creek bed at the base of the mountain.”
Miles looked at her, his face grim. “They’re covering that basin, looking. But the smoke from the Davis fire is really thick, the air currents rough.”
She stared at Miles. “Are you saying the fire is too close—that they can’t get in?”
“I’m advising they put down south of here, on this forest service road and hike in on foot—”
“But what if the fire finds the team first?” This from Reuben, who had walked over to the Doppler radar, reading the wind speed, the satellite images of the fire.