A Dangerous Leap Read Free Page B

hard-earned muscle, she wasn’t an Amazon—nor would her rather pathetic showing in the chest department qualify…except didn’t Amazons have one breast removed to improve their skill with arrows or some such nonsense? God, she was truly pathetic. The name he’d mentioned finally sunk in.
    “Joe? As in Joe Peterson, the hoist operator?” The jerk who’d made it clear he didn’t want her hanging from his cable?
    “Yeah, he’s excellent at his job. And takes it very seriously.”
    Kelly snorted. “Does he resent all women in the military, or just me?” She’d talk about darn near anything to keep Ian here with her. Between his rich voice, and eyes she could dive into—oh, yeah, she was
way
past pathetic.
    He shook his head. “Nah, not really. See, he wanted to be a rescue swimmer but washed out of training a couple years back. Knowing a woman made it, especially one who’s almost a foot shorter and more than a hundred pounds lighter, will probably take him a while to get over. Don’t pay him any mind. After he gets to know you, he’ll recognize your competence and value you as part of the team.”
    Kelly tried to ignore the warmth that came from his praise. The guy was a natural flirt—he didn’t have a clue how competent she was, or wasn’t. But that was okay, she’d take whatever friendship he had to offer.
    His dark hair looked wind-whipped, his smile quick and easy, and even in her drunken stupor last night, he’d looked real fine in faded jeans and white polo shirt. She allowed her gaze to wander. For that matter, he looked more than fine in his flight suit. Broad shoulders, trim waist, and if she were to guess at his height, she’d put him right at six feet. A little taller than she liked, but she’d make do; after all, she could do anything she wanted with her fantasy. That’s all he’d ever be.
    “Back off Razz, this bitch is all mine,” another voice interrupted them.
    * * *
    Ian watched Kelly’s eyes go wide at Lieutenant Caitlyn Stone’s outrageous claim. The helicopter pilot flipped a custom patch with BITCH emblazoned in bright red onto the table and perched on the chair next to Kelly.
    “I heard through the grapevine you took charge and kicked butt when you got that girl on board their helo,” she said with a gesture toward Ian and a wide grin of apparent approval.
    Ian chuckled at Kelly’s still-shocked expression. “Cait, you might want to explain what BITCH means so Kelly doesn’t feel insulted.”
    Caitlyn sat back, her brows arched high. “What, you’ve been here all day and you haven’t heard about my invitation-only-all-girls-no-boys-allowed club?”
    She tapped the matching embroidered patch on her ball cap and explained her informal sisterhood while Ian watched emotions flit across Kelly’s expressive face. Those soft brown eyes had him thinking crazy stuff. Like what would it take to make her laugh more? Or where she’d want him to touch her… Yeah, right, that made a lot of sense.
    He wanted tall, blonde and ready to settle down. Someone didn’t become a rescue swimmer to simply walk away from it a few years later. All the ones he knew were certified adrenaline junkies—after all, when you signed up for training that had a better than fifty percent attrition rate, the guys who made it were committed to the job for as long as they could perform. A woman taking that on had to be even more committed to tough out the training in the first place, what with a natural lack of upper body strength working against her.
    Caitlyn leaned forward. “You’re going to be on my crew for the next sixty days. That means you get to help us win the ACE award again this year.” She smiled at Ian and patted his hand. “Sorry, Razz, since you’re not an assigned air crew member, you don’t qualify. But you,” she said, turning her bright blue eyes on Kelly, “you’re an integral part of our team.”
    Kelly sat up straight, looking eager as a drill sergeant with a busload of