Page 1 of High Seduction
CHAPTER1
A low buzz of propellers settled in his ears, then inched down his spine like an eerie warning. Timothy Dextor planted his feet a little more firmly on the gravel. He leaned on his truck door and stared upward, waiting for the first glimpse of the chopper to break through the low December cloud cover.
The deep-toned buzz in the distance increased in volume briefly before stuttering. The noise smoothed momentarily, then choked again, leaving a far quieter pulse accompanied by the thin whistle of the north wind.
His heartbeat skipped, then changed to a rapid pulse as the bright red body of a chopper burst from the clouds. A red top, twirling as it fell, the side-to-side motion barely balanced by the spin.
The rapid descent could mean disaster within the next thirty seconds. That is, if someone other than who he expected was flying.
Sure enough, the next move was not a continued free fall toward certain death, but the reignition of the tail rotor. With a smooth swoop toward the clearing on the north, the helicopter leveled then hovered over the treetops with scant meters to spare.
Tim grinned. Good to know some things hadn’t changed. The entire time it took for the chopper to circle then land neatly beside the large industrial-looking building, he was busy thinking about the things that had changed. Like him. Like his priorities.
Changes that meant the meeting that was now inevitable would be fiery and exciting and, hopefully, far more satisfying than the last time they’d been involved. Him and Erin.
The passenger door on the chopper opened. A slim man eased himself to the ground, pausing to rest his hands on his knees. His head hung low, and his body language screamed his discomfort as he fought to stay vertical. By the time the main propellers slowed their rotation, the man had finally found his feet and made his way none too steadily toward the building.
Such a typical Erin tactic.
Tim was too far away to see details, but he could picture her perfectly. The thick mass of hair she kept drawn back into a ponytail most of the time. Her smooth dark skin, soft under his fingers. Her long, lean body, firm under his demanding touch. Her dark eyes that would glitter at him in amusement. In passion. Flash all too often in anger.
All those images were crystal clear in his memory.
It was definitely Erin who exited the pilot’s door a minute later. Confident body position, head held high. Damn near cocky in her circle around the chopper and subsequent strut to headquarters.
Yeah, that was something that hadn’t changed one bit, and Tim was glad. Of course, it also meant his chances of getting kicked in the nuts sometime in the next hour were at an all-time high.
The thought of the coming storm shouldn’t have made him grin so hard.
***
It had taken five minutes longer than Erin Tate expected to break the most recent applicant. Five minutes, and a spiraling descent wild enough that if she’d been a passenger and not behind the controls of the chopper, even she might have questioned their chances of survival.
Only she was the one handling the stick and adjusting controls, and that made all the difference. It was why she’d avoided the fate of the newest member wannabe to the Lifeline team who was in the change room attempting to pull himself together after his abrupt and explosive episode of nausea.
She squared her shoulders, stared at the wall, and determinedly hid the smirk that wanted to escape.
Across the room, her boss tossed her a dirty look. “You realize I’m on to you, right?”
“Of course, you are. Sir.”
Marcus Landers snorted his disbelief. “And don’t try to hand me that ultra-politesirshit. Not now. Not after you’ve convinced all the candidates I’d shortlisted that they’d rather be stationed on Kodiak Island than join the insane crew based in Banff. What are we supposed to do on the next call-out? Go without a paramedic?”
“I have no objection to a competent search-and-rescuer joining the team,” Erin insisted.
“Sure looks that way to me.” Marcus tossed five files onto his desk, the papers spreading like fall leaves tossed in the wind. “All qualified, all eager to move here, and the longest any of them lasted is three weeks. I deserve an explanation. What is your goddamn problem?”
Erin eased back on her flippant mind-set a notch. It wasn’t Marcus’s fault, but he needed to understand she wasn’t deliberately being a troublemaker. “I didn’t like their attitudes,” she shared honestly.
“Their attitudes?” Marcus’s brows were near the ceiling. “This from the woman who tells me to fuck off on a regular basis, and you had a problem with theirattitudes?”
Erin twisted to face him.
Marcus had established their elite search-and-rescue team years ago with the reputation of hiring only the best. They went into remote areas and hauled people out of danger at the risk of their own lives. Climbers, avalanche specialists—people not only skilled in what they did, but who craved the adrenaline rush that came from staring death in the face and snatching people from the edge of disaster.
He leaned back in his chair and waited expectantly, and a frustrated sigh escaped her. Marcus supported their team through thick and thin. His experience in the field before he’d lost his arm and been grounded meant he knew what they were up against.
Trouble was, he occasionally focused too hard on the job skills rather than the weakest link in the people themselves. Erin almost hated to do it, but her boss needed to be schooled in one harsh reality. “I’ve never suggested you drop to your knees and service me, though, have I?”
