2. Kaia

2

KAIA

K aia Montgomery smooths her navy-blue uniform one last time before walking through the automatic doors of Fire Station 3. Her heart is pounding as she takes in the spacious garage bay to her left, already bustling with activity. Firefighters in turnout gear are doing equipment checks, while others come and go through a door labelled WATCH ROOM . The enormous red engines lined up before the garage doors spark an excitement in her she hasn't felt since she snuck into her first R-rated movie.

This is really happening.

After twelve months spent qualifying as an EMT, and a further three at the Fire Academy, Kaia is more than ready to get stuck into the action. Taking a moment to breathe it all in, she exhales all the doubts that have been piled on her since she first declared she wanted to become a firefighter. She's doing this for herself, and nothing and no one will get in her way.

"Montgomery! Over here, let's go!" a gruff voice calls out.

Kaia straightens her spine and strides toward the assembly room, where seven other recruits in matching uniforms are lounging against rows of desks. She can't stop the small smirk from playing on her lips as she realizes she's the only woman in the group. Just like she was often the only girl getting detained back in high school for pulling stunts like climbing up the roof to spray-paint profanities, Kaia is no stranger to running with the guys. She only wonders if they'll embrace her like her two older brothers and their schoolyard gangs or if they'll sneer at her, the weak chick in the testosterone chain.

The door bangs open and a striking, muscular woman strides into the room, chin held high, eyes alight with an intensity that makes Kaia's breath catch. She cuts an impressive figure in her immaculately creased uniform, short blonde hair curling wildly atop her head but shaved at the back and sides. Kaia resists the urge to bite her lip, surrounded on all sides by stacked dudes in their mid- to late-twenties, there's only one person commanding her attention.

Well, hello there, Muscle Mommy.

"Recruits, welcome to Fire Station 3," she says, her authoritative tone slicing through the dwindling conversations throughout the room. "I'm Lieutenant Hunter, your commanding officer for Probationary Field Training over the next eighteen months."

Her piercing blue stare sweeps over each of them appraisingly before settling on Kaia with a hint of surprise. Kaia holds the lieutenant's gaze, a spark of challenge flickering behind her own brown eyes.

Hunter's jaw tightens almost imperceptibly before she continues. "I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed at this ongoing gender inequity in our ranks. You'd think by 2024 we'd have more than just one female recruit."

She lets out a soft, disappointed scoff, shaking her head. Kaia feels her cheeks flush, immediately feeling the eyes of every other recruit burning into the side of her face. At the sound of a few barely contained sniggers, she squares her shoulders and sits up a little straighter. She's used to being underestimated and dismissed by men—their fragile egos always threatened by a confident woman who won't be cowed. But locking eyes with the woman she's decided will be her ally, her champion in this old boys' club... the muttered remarks that she should go make a sandwich only stoke Kaia's smoldering determination.

"If you want to last a minute in this station, you can shut your traps. I can assure you; I have zero tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind," Hunter goes on, fixing them all with a stern glare. "We're firefighters first, entrusted with protecting lives regardless of race, gender, or identity. If any of you can't check your egos and treat Montgomery with the same respect as her male counterparts, you'll find yourself out of this program before you can say backdraft ."

She punctuates her declaration by assessing each of the men in turn, her icy eyes daring them to so much as cough. Kaia swallows hard, terribly aware of their dismissive sidelong glances in response to the lieutenant's warning.

This is going to be one hell of an uphill battle.

What else is new? Kaia is no stranger to having to prove herself. If she hadn't learned to rough and tumble with the best of them, her older brothers would no doubt have left her in the dust growing up while throwing out insults about Barbie dolls and tea parties. But they couldn't help their prejudices, they were drilled into them from birth. If her parents hadn't divorced before she'd finished kindergarten, Kaia is sure her father would have crushed her bold spirit with his archaic views on how a girl should behave.

Sure, he loved her, but he'd probably love her more if she were quieter, more respectful, more interested in settling down and learning to cook something other than scrambled eggs. The grumpy ex-cop still firmly believes she should leave the dangerous jobs to the men. He certainly never recruited any women in his own department all those years. Well, she'll show these arrogant pricks the same thing she intends to show her dad—that she's stronger, smarter, and more fearless than any of them.

Kaia lifts her chin and matches Hallie's piercing stare with one of grim determination. Screw fragile male egos. She's got this. And she'll have the last laugh when she emerges at the top of this graduating class, showing this fiery lieutenant she can be a worthy contender for Head Bitch in Charge. With every sentence of Hunter's ongoing speech, Kaia feels more and more sure that this fearsome woman is going to shape her into the best version of herself she can be.

"Let's get one thing straight. I have been a firefighter for nearly twenty years. Embedded with the LAFD during their worst wildfire season, rappelled off a crumbling skyscraper in Vegas, even joined extrication teams for rescue missions in our very own Desert Valley. You'd be hard pressed to find another lieutenant in this district with my record, and I did it all without a penis dangling between my legs."

Kaia's breath catches in her throat as Hallie starts stalking slowly down the line of men, heels clacking against the scuffed assembly room floor. Hunter's full lips are curved in the faintest hint of a sneer, daring any of them to challenge her position as their trainer.

"I have earned every single one of my accolades, medals, and promotions by being the most capable, quick-thinking firefighter on every scene I've worked," Hallie growls. "If any of you Runt Recruits has a problem taking orders from a woman with ten times the experience and credentials as your entire class combined… well, I'd suggest picking a new career field. Because I'll burn you so fast your matchstick dicks will be ash before you can even bitch about it."

A ringing silence falls over the assembly room. Kaia can almost hear her own thundering heartbeat as Hunter stops right in front of her, those scorching blue flame eyes dancing over Kaia's face as if daring her , right alongside the rest of them, to doubt a woman's worth in this line of work. Despite herself, Kaia feels her lips twitching with the urge to smirk, to push this lioness of a woman even further to parade her strength.

Hunter's eyes narrow to mere slits as she holds Kaia's gaze in a heated standoff. The tension stretches so taut, Kaia is certain someone could strike a match off it. Then, just as abruptly as the heated silence descended, the lieutenant tears her eyes away with a contemptuous snort.

"Change into your PT gear and report to the training yard. We'll start weeding out which of you sad sacks actually has what it takes." With that final command launched, she spins on her heel and stalks toward the door.

Kaia is the last to break from her stupor, the cottony scent of Hunter's crisp uniform mixed with a faint, musky cologne seeming to linger in the air. She has to gulp down a harsh breath, cracking her neck just to snap herself into movement, as a sudden throbbing ache blossoms between her thighs.

Sweet Jesus, am I turned on right now? Were we just checking each other out?

No, that can't be it. Kaia has just never encountered a woman quite like Lieutenant Hunter before in her life. That whirlwind of blistering confidence and intense prowess and complete control over every person and situation surrounding her. That sense of powerful dominance cloaking Hunter's every movement and utterance like a rich, intoxicating perfume...

Kaia shakes her head sharply, trying to dislodge the dizzying fog of attraction. She needs to focus, to keep her head in the game if she hopes to have any chance at proving herself here. Wrangling her raging hormones and this alarming hunger to impress their fiery lieutenant is simply not an option right now.

Even so, she can't quite stifle the tingling thrill skating up her spine as she follows her fellow rookies out to the training yard, the rest of them parting like schoolboys to allow their imposing commander space. Yeah, this dynamic is unlike anything Kaia has ever had the pleasure of witnessing. But as she watches the lithe, powerful lines of Hunter's body flow through some warm-up stretches, she can't deny that she's already becoming an absolute addict for it.

"Recruits! Line it up!" Hunter's commanding bark slices through the humid morning air.

The eight of them quickly scramble into formation, Kaia wincing as the buckles on her gear dig into her skin. The lieutenant stalks down the line again, that scorching appraisal seeming to sear right through each of them.

"We start conditioning with sprints in full turnout gear plus breathing apparatus packs," she announces curtly. "Anything less than your full effort will be immediately obvious to me and repaid with extra repetitions after. Am I making myself unmistakably clear?"

A ragged chorus of "Yes, Lieutenant!" answers her. Kaia focuses on the tiny bead of sweat trailing slowly down the firmly lean column of Hunter's throat, forcing her mind to remain laser-sharp rather than wandering elsewhere.

"Then what are you mouth-breathers still standing around for? Let's move!"

With that, they're off. Kaia's calves and lungs are already burning within a few dozen yards, the unforgiving Nevada sun beating down from above. She can hear the rasping breaths of the men around her, taste the sour tang of their struggle and exertion. A small, vicious thrill races through her veins.

This is her element—pushing her physical limits while chasing that euphoric edge of pain and pure power. Ignoring the protesting aches in her limbs, Kaia digs deeper and starts pumping her arms with renewed vigor. One by one, she tears past the floundering recruits until she's dead even with the lead man.

Risking a sidelong glance, Kaia's lips curl in a silent snarl as she catches his shocked, narrowed eyes. He's likely not used to having a woman shove past and outpace him so easily. Good. Kaia lives for cracking that fragile male ego wide open.

At the end of the first lap, Hunter's sharp whistle pierces the air. As the recruits trip over themselves grinding to a gasping halt, Kaia keeps her longer stride going right past the starting line. She can practically feel the weight of Hunter's laser-focused stare singeing the back of her sweaty shirt.

Only once she's put an extra fifteen yards between herself and the men does Kaia finally spin and rejoin the lineup. Chest heaving, she throws her arms over her head and stretches lazily, very aware of the venomous looks being thrown her way.

"Just getting a little head start, Lieutenant," she rasps with a cheeky wink.

Rather than the scathing reprimand Kaia expects, Hunter's full lips twitch in what might actually be amusement. A teasing glint dances in those arctic irises for the barest hint of a second.

"How generous of you to do extra credit from the jump, Montgomery," she drawls. Her gaze rakes over Kaia from head to toe in a scorching appraisal. "Though surviving my training program relies on staying upright until I'm satisfied you've shown me everything you've got. Is that a challenge you think you can meet?"

Kaia's pulse hammers in her ears as realization sparks—this intense drill, with its impossible demands—it's a freaking mind game Hunter is playing. Trying to weed out who will be the first to crack under the strain, whether through physical failing or mental weakness. A delicious shiver races up Kaia's spine at the thought of squaring off against such a merciless adversary.

There's only one possible response.

"Always, Lieutenant," Kaia husks, holding Hunter's expectant stare as a bead of sweat trails slowly between her breasts. "I never disappoint."

This time, Hunter's slight smirk is unmistakable before she blows a shrill burst on her whistle to signal another lap.

From there, the morning fitness circuit becomes a blistering gauntlet of one-upmanship. Whenever one of the other recruits starts to fade or let their form slip, Kaia seizes the moment to surge ahead with obnoxious showboating—adding extra overhead presses to her fireman carries, doing diving push-up burpees between laps. Her muscles sing with every confident repetition, squashing any doubts she can't pack on the protein like the rest of them.

More than once, one of the winded men hurls a nasty insult or profane slur at her preening efforts. But Kaia only drinks in their frothing rage with a smug grin, spurred on by the electric tingle of Hunter's approving gaze tracking her every arrogant move.

It's towards the end of an especially grueling set—weighted lunges combined with high knees—that Kaia's distracted performance finally earns her a rebuke.

"Montgomery! What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Hunter's sharp yell cuts through Kaia's panting exertion like a slap. "Are you actually attempting those tire jumps with your laces untied? Do you have a death wish?"

Kaia halts mid stride, chest heaving as she follows Hunter's incredulous scowl down to her flopping bootlaces. Shit, she hadn't even realized.

"There's no excuse to get sloppy," Hunter growls, suddenly right in Kaia's face with those blazing blues boring into her. Kaia's mouth goes unbearably dry as the heat of Hunter's words gusts across her slick skin. "If you were to trip face-first at a live scene, your untied hazard could cost a life—be it yours, a civilian's, or one of your own crewmate's who has to compensate for your reckless mistake."

The naked disappointment and accusation in Hunter's tone hits Kaia like a bucket of icy water, extinguishing the giddy high of her gratuitous antics. The lieutenant steps back, eyes flaying Kaia where she stands, before she addresses the group.

"You may call me a stickler for presentation and protocol, but this job demands absolute focus and discipline at all times, not just when it's convenient for your swollen egos," Hunter's scathing rebuke slices through the tense silence. "If you aren't prepared to make that commitment, you have no business calling yourselves firefighters. We'll pick this up again after lunch with some team-building exercises to remind you of what this uniform represents."

With that, she turns on her heel and stalks off, seemingly oblivious to the way Kaia remains rooted in place.

Who is this woman? And why do I want her so much?