Taking the Heat (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 3)

He’d been intrigued enough to check it out. And he’d liked it enough to take a class. And then he’d loved it. And hell, a degree in library science might not be the perfect tool for running a chain of restaurants, but he’d already had all those skills. He’d been free to get whatever degree he wanted.

It had been a perfect fit. His first love hadn’t betrayed him. He loved words and books and being around people. Hell, he even liked the organization of it all.

“That Dog in the Night-Time book’s pretty good,” Benton said. “Maybe I will come by the library sometime and try something else.”

“Sure,” Gabe said. “I’ll do some research. See what else I can find for you.”

“Thanks.”

Everyone was quiet the rest of the way. It was nearly forty-five minutes to the site, and it felt so long for Gabe that he couldn’t imagine what it was like for the people trapped on the rocks below.

The SUV finally pulled into a rocky clearing that sat between pine trees and a steep drop-off. As soon as the vehicle stopped, they all jumped out. Captain Davis had been in the truck in front of them, and he was ready.

“We’ve got two casualties. One man with an ankle that’s likely broken and another with a crushed hand. The female rafter is uninjured. None of the injuries are life threatening, but the paramedics are concerned about shock, so let’s not waste any time. Gabe, you head down with the four experienced rescuers.” He tipped his head toward William and Benton, who were already conferring at the edge of the cliff. Gabe could hear water below.

“Follow their lead,” Jake said. “The rest of us will stay up here and provide muscle and backup.”

Gabe got a harness and a helmet on, then waited as one of the team strapped rescue gear to his back. Lines were being anchored and strung. Everybody was ready within ten minutes.

Gabe watched William go down first, then Benton, and then he hooked into the line and headed down toward the small group of people huddled on the boulders below.

His heart was beating almost as hard as it had for Veronica the night before. Almost, but not quite.

* * *

VERONICA HAD KNOWN that her long-awaited sexual afterglow couldn’t last forever, but she hadn’t expected it to end quite so abruptly. First Gabe had texted to say he wouldn’t be able to see her tonight. He’d been called up to help with a white-water canyon rescue, which was really hot, but not as hot as a night with him would have been.

She’d felt guilty for her immediate flash of disappointment. After all, saving people from dying was more important than giving her another orgasm, but...water rescues weren’t even his area of expertise, and her sex life had been a long-term natural disaster for so many years.

She’d nearly slapped her own hand at that. What a selfish thought. She’d decided right then and there to make an anonymous donation to the rescue squad to make up for her awfulness. She wasn’t a terrible person; she was just monstrously horny all of a sudden.

Finally experiencing good sex had changed her brain-wave patterns, it seemed. Everything made her think of it. Stretching under her sheets this morning, she’d noticed how smooth and soft her body was. When she’d gone to the bathr

oom, she’d smiled in secret delight at being tender from sex. Making her breakfast, she’d imagined making it for Gabe and then joining him back in the bedroom. Hell, even sitting at her laptop made her want to look up dirty ideas or at least type a few more sex-positive messages to herself. And then there was the bed right behind her, practically pulsing with memories of getting well and truly fucked.

“Aw, man,” she breathed, squeezing her thighs together.

It had been really hard not to drop any hints in response to Lauren’s texts. You have a lot of explaining to do! Lauren had written that morning.

Lauren’s second text had confirmed Veronica’s suspicions on the subject. About Gabe!

Veronica had laughed in delight and sent a smiley face back to her friend. Lauren’s next text had made Veronica clap a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

The firefighters are gossiping. I heard about it from Jake. ARE YOU DOING GABE? You’d better call me later.

“I don’t kiss and tell,” Veronica had said aloud as she’d typed the same to Lauren, but God, she wanted to. She stared at the rumpled sheets of her bed and thought of all the things she wished she could tell someone.

Veronica paged through her emails, looking for a cheerful Dear Veronica letter to answer. She didn’t want to deal with questions about body odor or infidelity today. She wanted something happy.

Or maybe something obnoxiously fun. Something about yet another man who hated going down. Man, she could really go to town about that now.

Two more Dear Veronica emails arrived, and she immediately rejected the first one. It was a rant about American women and how they didn’t seem to appreciate “real men” anymore. Not an uncommon complaint, and one that always made her shudder.

But it was the second letter that stopped her cold. As soon as she saw it, she realized she’d been waiting. Dreading. Knowing it had to come someday. Her body hummed with a terrible prickling anxiety, a combination of alarm and self-loathing and fear. The email was titled “I Don’t Know How to Keep Going” and just that made Veronica break out in a sweat that chilled her whole body.

Dear Veronica,

I feel totally alone. Nobody in my school likes me and when I try to talk to my parents about it, they tell me to try harder to fit in. But you can’t TRY your way to fitting in, especially when nobody wants you around.