Chapter 1
Erin Hudgens wasn’t embracing this form of ‘don’t murder your officers for being dumb’ meditation plan she was trying out. She fell asleep again when they closed their eyes with their legs crossed in lotus pose during yoga class.
Firefighters were supposed to be able to master calm and breathing control. She was a master of controlling her air but not necessarily her temper. There was a big meeting at FD headquarters today because her officers were getting raked over the coals.
She had the pipe dream that meditation would help her refocus. It had helped three years ago in Seattle when she’d almost fallen off a ladder as a probie. At the time, she’d thought being afraid of heights was the worst thing that could happen.
How wrong she’d been.
It was a relief when the teacher asked if anybody would volunteer to get water for the class. Erin’s hand shot up. She unrolled her five feet, nine inches of height and bounced to her feet, ready for anything resembling action.
She wasn’t the only one because a blonde guy in a tight performance shirt and workout shorts jumped up, too. It took more control than Erin typically displayed not to do a doubletake. The man was gorgeous, with blue eyes and gold hair that had a hint of gray.
Erin hoped he wasn’t gay because she was unabashedly checking him out. Based on the planes of his muscles, this man knew his way around a weight room and the cardio machines.
Their eyes held for half a second, and Erin suppressed a shiver.
No, no. Not gay.
The instructor directed them to a storage room in the hall opposite the studio. Erin and the man padded across the hallway in bare feet to the propped open door and didn’t notice it swing closed behind them when they entered. It shut with a loud thunk.
All of Erin’s senses went on high alert. Firefighters do not enjoy being trapped in rooms without an exit. She set down her load of water and tried the handle. “It’s stuck.”
“Stuck?” The man set down his twenty-four-pack of water.
“Yes, stuck.” She tried it again with more force. Definitely stuck. She jiggled it harder, and it still wouldn’t open.
“Maybe together?” He came up behind her and pushed while she struggled with the handle.
“I guess that’s why they leave the door propped.” Erin contemplated her options for opening the door. She could kick it in at the lock or shoulder it. However, her yoga tank and pants were not suited for either of those activities. It was possible, provided she didn’t mind a lot of bruising.
Besides, she would need to find a different yoga studio if she broke down the door.
She checked the room for other options. No tools to work into the frame. Lots of yoga blocks though. Neither of them had their cell phones because yoga clothes didn’t exactly have pockets. “Maybe we should start pounding on the door and call for help.”
“Or in ten seconds someone will let us out,” he suggested. The man was still sizing up the door.
“True. Hopefully, your wife won’t be mad at you for being stuck in here with me.” Erin leaned back against the wall next to the door and laughed slightly at her blatant attempt to gauge his status.
“No wife. Divorced. You?” He faced her, and she was near breathless from the full force of his bright blue eyes.
“No wife or girlfriend,” she said and quickly amended her statement when those azure eyes dropped in disappointment. She couldn’t have that. “Or boyfriend. Girls are cute but not in that way to me.” She tried the handle again to no avail. “In high school, this is where you play Seven Minutes in Heaven. Don’t you think?”
“In high school, I was five-foot three and scared of girls,” he replied wryly.
Considering that he was now six-foot two and ridiculously hot, she doubted that was the case anymore. “That’s the problem with high school boys. I was the center on the basketball team with a mouth full of braces. I was taller than almost all of them, and not one tried anything. If anybody made a move, I’d have been game.”
“Not one?” he asked. “Beautiful woman like you, and no one made a move?”
“See, if one of them had your confidence and had said that, he could have gotten lucky.” Erin had no qualms about getting closer to Blue-Eyes. As a firefighter, she lived or died by her instincts and had learned to follow her impulses. Right now, her instincts told her to flirt harder.
“Confidence?” The man watched her with avid interest now, taking three steps toward her.
“Yeah. A confident guy would try to cop a feel and ask for my phone number.”
“That guy might also be creepy,” he said.
“It’s only creepy when it’s not encouraged.” She was now pretty close to him. Erin also had no qualms about hitting on a hot stranger. “A confident-not-creepy-one would steal a kiss.”
