A quick glance in the mirror, a dash of fingers through her hair. Shecould put on lipstick in a minute. She opened the door and there he stood, looking so good she wanted to lap him up. She reached for him, thenclenched her fists and stepped back. “We don’t have time.”Nick stepped inside her room and kicked the door shut behind him.“You keep looking at me like that, saying things like that, dinner can wait.” He slipped his arms around her and brought his mouth to hers, and she melted against him. “Oh, yeah,” he mumbled against her lips. “It can wait a long, long time.”She kissed him back and reveled in the feel of his heart poundingagainst hers. One of them needed to be sensible, yet when he spread his hand on her backside and flexed his fingers, she doubted it would be her.Then again, he didn’t seem inclined to stop.She tore her lips free of his and swore. “Why do I have to be the sensible one?”“Who says you have to be?” He nibbled along the side of her neck. “Cut that out.

Oh, how she wanted a crowbar so she could pry those balled up emotions out of him.Through their talk and her musings, Nick had kept visual tabs on that one fireman, the one by the fire truck. Every so often, the man looked back.“Who is that?” she asked. “Who is who?“Would you stop that? You know exactly who I mean. You’ve been watching that one fireman since we got here like you expect him to burst into flames. Who is he?”“I’ve never met him.”“Oh, come on. In a town this size?”“No, really. I guess he’s the new fire chief they hired a couple of weeks ago.”“Hired? I thought all the firefighters here were volunteers.”“All but the chief. Somebody got smart about thirty years ago during the oil boom and established several different trust funds with city money. One of the funds was for the fire department. They can pay for a fire chief with experience, thanks to that fund. Everyone else is a volunteer.”“Why didn’t they hire you? You’ve certainly got the experience, and there are n

Then he took one nipple into his mouth and suckled, and Shannon’s back arched off the bed. A cry of sheer pleasure escaped her throat and shot straight to his loins.He’d had in mind to go slowly, make it last. Next time. Maybe.He fumbled for his wallet, but when he pulled out the condom, she took it from him. “Let me,” she said breathlessly.Nick nearly groaned. He didn’t know if he could take it, but he gritted his teeth and let her push him over onto his back.Shannon moved his hands so they rested beside his head, then tore open the packet and straddled his thighs. Looking down and seeing him totally at her mercy gave her a rush of power that was heady in its intensity. Odd that she would feel it so much. She usually didn’t feel a lack of power. But then, she didn’t usually have a naked man beneath her, hers to do with as shewould.Slowly, one fraction of an inch at a time, she rolled the condom down onto his erection.“You’re about to kill me,” he said through clenched teeth. S

Did that mean she was trying to impress Nick?Of course she was, she admitted, working a dab of styling gel into her shoulder-length hair. She wanted him to like her work so he would let her interview him, so he would want to be included in the project and have a chapter about himself.Frankly, she just flat out wanted him to like her. Nothing wrong with that, was there?Then there was the other. The sharp physical attraction.Call it what it is, Shannon—red-hot sex.She couldn’t deny their attraction, but what made her nervous was that she greatly feared she had overestimated her ability to keep business and pleasure separate. They weren’t separate when the man was the same for both. She wanted to interview Nick, and she wanted sex with him. Ifsomewhere in the back of her mind she wanted more than that—if she wanted to be close to him and let their togetherness chase away herloneliness—well, that was her problem, not his. If she wanted more timewith him—weeks, months—it wasn’t goi

She smiled, and it spoke of sadness and perhaps empathy. She placed a hand on his arm. “You really have been stung by the media, haven’t you?” She gave his arm a warm squeeze. “The tape is just for me, to use as a backup for my notes and my memory. If it makes you uncomfortable, Iwon’t use it.” She picked up the recorder and made as if to put it away.Nick stopped her. “No, go ahead. Just do this the way you usually do.”She gave a small bark of laughter. “It was too late for that several days ago. However, we’ll start with basics. I’m going to ask you all sorts of things that might not end up in the book. But they’re things I need to know to get a better picture of who you are, where you were in your life on 9/11, how that affected you and brought you to where you are today. I have your vitals, date of birth, immediate family members, your education. I’d like to start with you telling me why you wanted to become a fireman, and whenand where you first knew that was what you wanted.