Hotshots (Wildfires Book 1) (5 page)

He speared another forkful of pancake and chewed it before bothering to answer her question. Damn it, she was right and he knew it. What the fuck was he supposed to say, ‘yeah, I am having issues with you. Your father was one of the best pilots out there but he fucked up, and even though I seriously want to know what kind of pilot you are, I want in your pants even more. So yeah, I glared at you, and I will keep glaring at you until I can feel that sweet little body beneath me so I can fuck you out of my system.’ Instead, he said.

“It’s not that I don’t like you, Jez, and yes I know who your father was.” He sat back and downed the last swallow of coffee in the mug. He forced himself to smile, “I like you just fine.” His smile disappeared, and his jaw felt tight, but she’d asked for his reasons and he wouldn’t skirt the issue, well, he didn’t skirt part of the issue.

“My concern is not with your flying ability, I have no doubt you can land that chopper on a tree top if that’s where you need to set it. My concern is how you do the job, not the stunt, not the fancy flying, not the heroic shit. Can you take orders and follow them, can you put your ego aside and actually work at being part of a team.” He stood, picking up his empty plate and mug to take to the sink, and finished his answer to her question.

“To my way of thinking, the only way we will know for certain is by doing the job, it’s not personal, like I said before,” he let his eyes roam her now standing figure, then looked up again to catch her eyes with his. “I like you just fine and if we were anywhere but the job, I’d be more than happy to show you just how much I could like you.”

What the hell? She watched as he rinsed his plate and cup before putting them in the dishwasher, and leaving the room. She shook her head and stomped back to the stove to finish cooking breakfast. The man had nerve, she’d give him credit for that. He was attracted to her physically, but he didn’t trust her to do her job for some strange reason, and that made her determined to prove to him that she could “do the job” as he put it.
The arrogant ass
. Knowing her panties needed to be changed before she left this morning pissed her off at her body’s response to that smoldering look and sexy smile.

Keely did a fancy fist pump when she walked into the room and saw that Jez had breakfast under control. The gesture made the replacement cook laugh. “Don’t get to feeling too froggy, woman, I was up and I was hungry, you still have the rest of the week to get through. You’d better hope they are satisfied with just pancakes and coffee, because that is what’s cooked and ready.”

Keely grinned, “Are you kidding me? The last crew I was with ate cereal for breakfast when it was my turn to cook. One guy even made this whacked out version of lumpy oatmeal with raisins and nuts in it. Pancakes are the bomb, and if they don’t like it, they can go without as far as I’m concerned.”

Ten minutes later, the room was filling up with grunted “good mornings” and praises for her cooking efforts. She sat with Trystan and Grayson, and they kept her laughing throughout the meal. When she asked what happened to the woman with the broken fingernails, the entire side of the table burst into laughter.

Trystan wiped his fingers on the paper napkin and admired his nails, holding his hand up for his companions to admire. “I think I need a sick day to get my nails done, yesterday was hell on my manicure.”

There was more laughter from his clowning, and Jez happened to look up right into the eyes of the man that all but told her he didn’t trust her. She couldn’t help herself, “Uh oh, boys, he’s giving us that look again, I guess it’s time to roll.”

He knew Trys would have a thing or two to say to him later, and Grayson was giving him dark looks, but he ignored them and turned to look for Jeb or Corbin. He needed to do something physical to work the mad out of his system. He’d felt like a real bastard this morning after he talked to Jez, but she asked him, and he wasn’t the kind of man to mollycoddle anyone. Even an attractive blonde who brought the sunshine to mind whenever she smiled.

Jeb was standing by the conference room door when Nix finally saw him. He made his way to his mentor. “Good morning,” he grinned at the older man. “Did you get the privilege of taking Barbie to town last night or did Corbin get the honor?”

Jeb was in a good mood and let the dig about Barbie go by for now. “Corbin got that chore, he had to get something from the lumber company this morning, so he stayed the night in town. I have today under control. Did you notice it started sprinkling a few minutes ago?” Now it was his turn to grin, and he enjoyed telling the team’s leader, “You are gonna enjoy today, man, tell your team to gear up, we got climbing ropes and chopping upright logs down, you all get to practice your beaver skills with an ax.” He laughed at the younger man. “I can see the prospect delights you,” he slapped Nix on the shoulder, looked at his watch, and said, “training yard at O six hundred. That gives you twenty to get the girls ready.”

Nix wasted no time warning the trainees that it was time to gear up. He set their ears to a new standard of ringing by whistling between his first two fingers up against his lips, and got their attention faster than if he’d yelled at them. “Gear up, training yard in fifteen.”

It wasn’t taking out brush as he’d thought, oh no, today would be much worse. Negotiating the obstacle course in full gear and a one hundred pound pack on your back would certainly separate the men from the boys for sure. He watched the women who had somehow gotten to the head of the pack going through the front doors, and he could have kicked something because of the wary look Jez gave him as she passed close by on her way out.

The three men watched Jez struggle to pull herself up the rope ladder, admiring her determination.

Trystan grinned at Nix and speculated aloud, “I bet she would be real appreciative from a good massage after her shower tonight. Her muscles will be screaming and sleep will be hard to come by, if I remember my first time on that ladder correctly. Her glutes would be a pleasure to massage between my hands, but then there’s those nicely developed pec’s to consider too. The thing is, I might be tempted to lay my dick on those fuck me lips and see if she needed to thank me for my skills in loosening up her muscles. I wonder if she’d take me up on an offer to ease her pain?”

Gray had been watching her climbing, and he didn’t see the grins that Trys and Nix exchanged. His eyes stayed focused on her body as he commented, “You are an asshole, when I pulled a hamstring last year you laughed at my pain and told me to suck it up. Although I have to say, I’d like to do more than give her a massage, and if I ever get my hands on the cheeks of her ass, the massage I give her will be more internal than external, and mine won’t put her to sleep right away.” He turned to look at the two best friends a man could have. “I want this one, she is strong and smart. She is also sexy as hell and makes my cock stay semi-hard whenever I see her or hear her voice. My vote is that we work on bringing her into the fold.”

Trystan put his hand on Gray’s shoulder and they both looked at Nix. “Now, you see here before you a man with a serious case of conflict. If you look closely at his face, you see the stoic evil bastard who would walk through a wall of flames to save a rabbit. If you look closer, you see a man that has plans for that rabbit. Do you see the way his eyes are narrowed, and the set to his jaw? Now if he wasn’t wearing these stylish pants like we all were issued, you’d see a man with a cock that is so hard he could hammer nails with it. I bet that sucker makes it painful for him to walk, let alone go through this obstacle course.”

“He’s also suffering from the same damn thing all three of us are. We all actually like this one more than any of the others before her. This one is sweet and has staying power. Like you said she is smart too. That means we’re going to have to actually turn on the charm and get her used to the idea of having three horny men to give her pleasure and love.”

Nix cut his eyes away from watching the woman that he was planning to fuck in the not so distant future. She strained every muscle in her body to climb the ropes and reach the top. He heard everything they said and wanted to add a few more coarse observations, like how good her pussy would glove his cock, and how sweet he anticipated her pink flesh would taste on his tongue. He said neither of those things because Trys was correct. His cock was already hard from watching her go through the paces they were all put through, and he wanted her. She didn’t know that, not yet, but she would very soon. If his worst fears came true, and she turned out to play the daredevil with her life, his hand would fit nice across her ass for daring to worry them about her safety. He spoke in a low voice to them as he watched her finally reach the top of the ladder.

“Let’s do this, and try not to fuck it up. Most women have fantasized about two men loving on them, very few would admit to loving the idea of three men at the same time. Face it, guys, if she was the run of the mill good time girl, it wouldn’t be a big deal. This one could ruin us for any others, and believe it or not, I’m looking forward to it.” He looked toward her and said, “Burn me, beautiful, the hotter the flame the better I like it.”

Trystan doubled over with laughter and Gray shook his head, and smiled. “Yeah, what he said.”

Yes, she admitted that every chop she made she was thinking about her superior’s head. Why she let it bother her so much she didn’t know. For years, she had battled men thinking she wasn’t good enough, and never once did she actually give a shit about what they said. She would laugh and then prove them wrong. But knowing Nix had a trust issue with her, burned her ass.

What the fuck was she supposed to do though? Shit, she needed to concentrate and not get her ass booted out of the program, with Barbie being tossed out already, she knew they were just waiting to see who was next. All the guys thought it would be Keely or her, she knew it, and she was going to prove them wrong.

Tomorrow she would get the bird up in the air; she was more than ready to get back up where she belonged. Jez understood she needed to be in physical shape, especially if she was needed to help on the ground, or if something happened to her bird, but damn, she was itching to get this shit going.

Taking a deep breath, and to make matters worse, fucking Nix was her spotter. She ground her teeth as she thought about his watching her every move. With a growl, Jez struck the tree again fiercely. She heard a chuckle in the tree across from her and she turned. Grayson was there and Trystan was below spotting him. She frowned and shook her head as the man winked at her.

“Come on, Jez, let’s make this interesting,” Grayson called.

She paused and looked at him warily. “Oh yeah, how we gonna do that?”

Trystan called up from below. “Yeah, how we gonna do that?”

She heard Nix say something but Trystan just laughed and then Grayson said, “Well, how about this. If you finish your tree before I finish mine, we take over cooking duty for Keely. If I finish before you, then you go out to dinner this weekend with us.”

Jez frowned and looked at Grayson. “Us?”

Grayson laughed and wiggled his eyebrows. “Hell yeah, us. Trystan, Nixon, and me, it is called a devil’s four-way.”

She heard a faint growl from below and she looked down. Nix was frowning at the two men who were grinning at her and she shook her head. “Maybe you should be talking to everyone first, and maybe see a shrink.” She snorted.

Jez went back to chopping her tree and tried to ignore the men who were all staring at her intently, after only a few chops she turned and glared, “WHAT?”