Page 27 of Annika's Aurora

Annika gasped. “Is your dog a small white fluffy thing?”

“Yes, that’s Fred. You’ve seen my Fred before?”

“Yesterday when I freed him from the bushes by the bluff. He ran off without saying goodbye. I’m glad he made it home.”

“It was Letty’s dog you freed before you fell from the bluff?” Jolene asked. “Imagine that.”

Miss Letty gasped. “You fell off the bluff?”

“More like the bluff fell out from under me,” she joked.

“Oh, how horrifying for you. And after you saved my Fred. You’re my hero. I don’t know what I would have done without my Fred.” She reached over and gave her a big hug. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, though. I hope you weren’t hurt.”

“No, not really. Logan got me out.”

“Of course, he did. Another hero.”

“Miss Letty, you don’t know how true that is.” Annika reached over and squeezed Logan’s hand.

“Okay,” called Jolene. “In honor of Logan introducing us to his lovely Annika, who has a good story to share about the man?”

Annika watched as the team of men looked at each other, sly smiles on their faces. After some mysterious telepathic communication, they all nodded then concluded together, “The Germans.”

Logan groaned and dropped his head into his hand.

“The Germans?” Annika asked, curious about Logan’s reaction.

Finch started the story. “We got a call about a couple of climbers who were experiencing some trouble in the Upper Peninsula. So, we pile into the helicopter and head out. It was decided that Logan would go down to help the climbers.”

“Tin Man was there too,” Logan complained. “It wasn’t just me.”

“But they only had eyes for you,” a man with the cutest dimple she had ever seen replied. Annika assumed he was Tin Man.

“Especially after that protective move you pulled on them,” teased Finch.

“What happened?” Jolene asked, fully involved in the story.

Tin Man smiled at Logan, obviously ready to throw him under the bus. “Logan and I rappelled down to them. Turns out they were German and spoke very little English.”

“You’re forgetting that they were also drop-dead gorgeous,” Finch announced.

“And very um … shapely,” a brown-haired teammate with gorgeous blue eyes intoned with a dry wit. Annika recalled his name was Evan.

“Dude, they were stacked,” extolled Finch. He held up both hands suggestively in front of himself to illustrate just how well-endowed the Germans were. Logan groaned, shaking his head at Finch’s antics.

“Fuck, Finch. With the refined manners you like to shame us all with, you’d think you’d show a little more respect,” criticized Graham’s brother, David.

“Oh, I have plenty of respect for the female form,” Finch replied, sending a wink at the women.

“So, anyway,” continued Tin Man. “Our path to them was hampered by a lot of loose rock from recent heavy rains. Logan reached them first, and I, unfortunately, knocked more rocks loose on my way to them. One particularly large rock was falling directly for them. Logan threw himself over them, taking the brunt of the hit.”

“Hurt like hell, and I had a giant bruise on my back for weeks,” grumbled Logan. Annika squeezed his hand in sympathy.

“Oh, poor baby,” Finch goaded. “Those two ladies were only too happy to ease your pain despite the language barrier.”

“They were so grateful to Logan they fawned all over him, flaunting their … assets.”

“They were very enthusiastic,” Evan said dryly.

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