3. Hallie

3

HALLIE

" L et's go, go, go! Time is lives, people!"

Hallie's barked orders echo through the burn building as she ushers the rookie class into position. Thick plumes of machine-generated smoke billow around them, the harsh tang of acridity coating the back of her throat.

"Scenario is this: We have multiple civilians trapped on the upper floors. Entry team will advance the hose line while rescue teams move to extract. Maintain your spacing and communication at all times. First team, ready?"

A ragged chorus of "Ready, Lieutenant!" responds and Hallie gives a curt nod to the observation instructor running the drill. With a deafening blast of the electronic fire simulations, chaos erupts around them.

"Go, go, go!" Hallie shouts over the roar as the first squad charge in. She watches with a critical eye as they fumble their way into a sloppy line advancement, the hose team already breaking formation.

"Too wide, Cochran! You'll never get that hose around the corner! Nguyen, verbal all clear before you?—"

A fresh cloud of smoke erupts, swallowing the stumbling recruits in a churning maelstrom. Hallie grits her teeth, fighting the urge to jump in and correct their piss-poor form herself, when she catches a flicker of movement through the haze.

Of course. Montgomery, breaching way too far ahead of her team. Again.

"Montgomery!" Hallie's bellow cuts through the cacophony like a whipcrack. "Get back, now! You don't leave until I give the order!"

She can barely make out Kaia's silhouette pausing, that stubborn streak already shining through in her body language. A few tense seconds tick by...and then, finally, the reckless recruit falls back into line with her squad.

"Goddammit," Hallie snarls under her breath. How many times will she have to drill this into Kaia's overeager head? You never, ever leave your team behind. Rookie arrogance like that is gonna get someone killed one of these days. She watches the rest of the drill beneath furrowed brows, a dull headache quickly forming from the strain.

"Montgomery, front and center! Now!"

Hallie barely waits until the smoke has cleared from the burn room before unleashing her fury. The rest of the recruits are still catching their breath, rips and soot stains marring their turnouts. All except for Kaia Montgomery, of course. She strides right up with that stupidly confident gait, not a single flicker of shame on her effortlessly beautiful features.

"The hell was that in there?" Hallie demands, crowding into Kaia's space until they are practically nose-to-nose. She can feel the heat radiating off the younger woman's skin in waves. "You disobeying direct orders just for kicks? Or are you actually trying to get this whole unit killed?"

Up close, Hallie can see the bead of sweat tracing an irresistible path along Kaia's sculpted cheekbone. The slight hitch in her chest as Hallie's breath mingles with her own. For a defiant moment, their heated gazes remain locked in a battle of wills.

Then Kaia's full lips part with a soft huff of air. "I had it handled," she murmurs, seemingly unaffected by Hallie looming over her.

A little thrill sparks in Hallie's gut at that blatant insubordination. She bites back the desire to grab Kaia by the collar of that sweat-damp uniform and really let her have it. Instead, she leans even closer until their noses are nearly brushing.

"You arrogant jackass," Hallie growls in a tone that dares Kaia to so much as blink first. "Next time I say stay in formation, you stay in formation. Or so help me, Montgomery, you'll be running drill cones until your legs give out from under you. Are we clear?"

Kaia stares right back at her, those rich brown eyes swirling with a storm of rebelliousness and something else Hallie can't quite put her finger on. Hallie feels her heart kick up another beat, drowning out the sounds of the other recruits shuffling awkwardly around them.

Then, slowly, Kaia gives a minute nod. "Crystal, Lieutenant."

For a suspended moment, they are the only two people in the world.

"Hit the showers, all of you. Come back better tomorrow or there will be hell to pay."

Hallie marches back to her office without sparing the rest of the recruits a second glance. She couldn't bear to read on any of their faces what they made of the heated exchange. Most likely they enjoyed seeing Kaia receive a dressing down, and that makes Hallie sick to her stomach. She wants nothing more than for them to respect Kaia Montgomery as a fellow crewmate, to acknowledge her abilities instead of writing her off just for being female. But Kaia isn't doing herself any favors insisting on striking out alone. They're all as bad as each other, and Hallie has to somehow forge an indestructible machine out of their resistant parts.

She blows out a harsh breath as she sags back in her desk chair, suddenly feeling every one of her thirty-nine years. She squeezes her eyes shut and tries to block out the memory of Kaia's face mere inches from her own. Those impossibly full lips so close she could have leaned in to?—

No. Absolutely not.

Hallie snaps her lids open with a sharp shake of her head. Getting carried away with inappropriate bullshit like that would be career-ending faster than she could blink. Sure, Kaia's dogged determination is impressive as hell, and that fearless swagger of hers is even more captivating up close. But none of that gives Hallie any excuse to be undressing the cock-sure little rookie with her eyes.

"Keep it professional, Hunter," she berates herself in a fierce mutter. "Montgomery's just another pain-in-the-ass kid who still hasn't learned how to follow a goddamn order around here."

Hallie forces herself to review the rest of the recruits' sloppy performances from the last drill, anything to scrub Kaia's teasing glare from her mind's eye. The open defiance and that maddening spark of want she could have sworn she'd seen flickering there for an instant. It had to have been her tired, over-worked brain playing tricks, nothing more.

Just an arrogant ass who needs to be bent over your knee.

The unbidden thought whispers through Hallie's subconscious. Her traitorous libido helpfully painting a vivid fantasy of doing just that—stripping away that smoky uniform until Kaia is bare, then pulling those lean, muscular limbs over her lap to?—

"Jesus!" Hallie hisses through her teeth. Her whole body pulsing with an electric jolt of pure need, shocking her out of that wildly inappropriate train of thought. "Get it together," she orders herself firmly. "That girl is completely off limits. End of story."

Through the days that follow, Hallie dials up the intensity for their outdoor training session, pushing the recruits through a merciless rotation of skills and drills. Hose bundling, hose line advancement, Rescue Randy carries, ladder raises—she cycles them through it all relentlessly with only a few minutes' break between each fresh hell. Anything to keep their bodies moving and minds occupied rather than dwelling on the simmering tension in the air.

Because no matter where Hallie positioned herself on the training grounds, she could feel the heated energy rolling off of Kaia in thick, intoxicating currents. Even surrounded by her grumbling, stumbling squad mates, the strutting young firefighter moves with the same primal, effortless power as a panther slinking through the underbrush.

"C'mon, Cochran, are you serious right now?" Hallie can't resist sneering as the winded recruit struggles to heft his bundled hose over his shoulder. "If a woman half your size can kick your ass that easily..."

She jerks her head to where Kaia is casually flipping her lead-filled bundle into the air and back down again with each prowling step she takes. A thin sheen of sweat glistens on her skin and Hallie has to force herself to quickly look away.

"Then it's just embarrassing for the rest of you," she finishes, allowing the barest hint of a smirk to twist her lips as she can't fight the temptation to meet Kaia's molten gaze. The glistening recruit gives an infinitesimal nod of acknowledgement, like they are two alpha predators communicating in some silent, ancient language. Then she lurches back into her steady advancing, pausing by Cochran to swipe his hose from his sagging shoulders, and continuing across the yard with double the load.

That alone makes Hallie's gut clench and body thrum with awareness. God, she really needs this relentless onslaught of drills to come to an end soon. The front row seat to Kaia's brazen performance is becoming too distracting. Hallie lets herself believe for a moment that it might be more for her than the band of grumbling males. But the venomous muttering of snide remarks from Cochran and his crewmates snaps Hallie's awareness back to the task at hand. As much as Kaia's power lures her in, she needs the rookies to be a team. All of them.

"Montgomery, you're gonna run three full laps for that little show-pony stunt! Let's move!"

There. Hallie swallows hard as she watches Kaia respond instantly to the barked order, dropping her effortless rhythm to toe the line and take off at a ground-eating lope. If she has to keep piling on the discipline, no matter how arbitrary, to keep that sizzling current of attraction from growing into a raging fire...so be it.

Finally done with the hours of brutal training, Hallie stands under the lukewarm stream of water in her locker room shower, letting it sluice over her aching muscles. She rolls her shoulders, trying to release some of the knots of tension that had taken up permanent residence there. For today's training session she had been ruthless, even more so than usual. But it seemed to be the only way to keep her raging thoughts from spiraling out into the wildly inappropriate whenever a certain cocky rookie was around.

"Lieutenant?"

The single, softly spoken word very nearly makes Hallie jump out of her skin. She spins with a violent splatter of water, mouth dropping open in surprise. There stands Kaia in just a sports bra and compression shorts, filling the doorway to the showers with her powerful frame.

"Montgomery!" Hallie sputters, instinctively crossing her arms over her bare breasts even as her eyes drank in those glistening ab muscles. "What are you—what do you want?"

Rather than looking chastised, Kaia merely arches an eyebrow in clear amusement. The smug little grin playing over those full lips makes the thundering of Hallie's pulse echo in her ears.

"Well, you made me run so many extra laps today," Kaia drawls, "obviously I need a nice, long shower."

Hallie feels a creeping blush mar her cheeks as she grabs her towel to cover her dripping skin. So accustomed to having this locker room to herself, she'd completely forgotten that, of course, Kaia would be using the women's showers. Hallie's mouth goes impossibly dry as Kaia's dark eyes roam overtly over her barely concealed body. The younger woman doesn't even try to make her open appraisal a secret as she starts to slowly close the distance between them.

"Wh-what in the hell do you think you're doing, Montgomery?" Hallie's voice comes out a strangled rasp. She can't seem to decide whether she wants to maintain her glare or keep drinking in Kaia's own exposed curves that draw her gaze like a magnet.

"I just wanted to thank you for hyping me up in front of the guys today. I appreciate the support more than you know," Kaia murmurs silkily. She is nearly within arm's reach now, close enough for Hallie's skin to prickle with apprehension. The rookie lifts her chin in that stubborn, challenging way, pinning Hallie with that signature smoldering stare she was coming to crave.

Hallie's throat bobs as she swallows hard. She can actually smell the warm, earthy aroma of Kaia's skin overpowering the chemical tang of the locker room now. Feel the exquisite tension thrumming between their bodies in the humid air like a live current sparking at her nerve endings.

The truth is, Hallie wanted nothing more than to grab Kaia and slam her against those steamy tiles.

"Don't even think about it."

The sudden razor's edge in Hallie's tone makes Kaia freeze in place, tantalizingly close but not yet breaching the lieutenant's personal space. Hallie can see that playful glint in her dark, hooded eyes shutter instantly at the blatant warning.

Hallie marshals every ounce of her authority and willpower into a tone that would allow zero space for misinterpretation.

"We're going to go our separate ways. You're going to shower off, then report for equipment inspection before the end of day notes. And we'll both pretend like you didn't just barge in here looking for...whatever fresh hell that was supposed to be, understood?"

Kaia's jaw tightens, that stubborn line forming between her eyebrows like she's gearing up to argue. But Hallie has been pushed entirely too far already. She closes what little space remains between them with an authoritative step, putting them nose-to-nose as she glares up into those churning, brown depths.

"I'm serious, Montgomery," Hallie growls. "You do not want to fuck around and find out. This shit? Stops here and now before we both end up regretting it for the rest of our careers. Are we crystal-goddamn-clear?"

For an endless moment, they stay locked in that heated stand-off, the air between them practically sizzling with unreleased tension. Hallie watches a series of flickering micro-expressions chase themselves across Kaia's breathtaking features. Surprise. Hurt. Indignation. And something rawer that Hallie won't dare let herself name, for both their sakes.

Then Kaia lets out a soft huff through her nose, her dark eyes glinting with obvious disappointment. She takes one slow step back, re-establishing the appropriate space between her scantily clad chest and Hallie's own racing heart.

"Understood," she mutters, her deep voice gone husky. They hold each other's stare for another few fraught seconds. Then Kaia turns on her heel and marches from the showers with powerful, ground-eating strides.

Hallie closes her eyes, letting out the harsh breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. That was one bullet successfully dodged...for now.