High Risk (34 page)

This was home.

Sweat slicked the curve of his biceps as his arms flexed above her. He hung there
for a moment, beautifully suspended, before lowering an inch at a time, total control
in his every move.

Alisha Bailey licked her suddenly dry lips. She attempted to tear her gaze away, but
she’d been mesmerized. Spellbound by the pounding beat of the music surrounding them
and the ambience—overwhelmingly masculine, perhaps, but as if she were going to complain.
He exhaled, and she breathed with him. Unconsciously their bodies moved in sync.

A lock of his blond hair fell over his forehead, and she was tempted to reach out
and push it away. To drag her fingers over his shoulders and caress the ridges of
muscle. To tug him closer until he wrapped all that leashed power and passion around
her.

A metallic crash rang from their left and broke her fixation on Devon’s half-naked
body.

Reality set in far too quickly. She was on the treadmill, the belt flying underfoot
as she secretly ogled Devon hanging five feet in front of her while he cranked out
pull-ups on the horizontal bar.

People interrupted their workouts to eye the bodybuilder who’d lost his grip. Devon
dropped lightly to his feet, pulled a towel from the crossbar, and wiped sweat from
his face and neck as the weight lifter in question shrugged sheepishly and replaced
the plate.

The low-level testosterone hovering in the air of the hard-core gym, a mix of dust
and perspiration, made Alisha wrinkle her nose. With every gasp she took, the odor
flooded her senses, and those breaths were coming far quicker than usual.

She wanted to blame her accelerated panting on the steep incline of the treadmill
and her rate of turnover, but it probably had more to do with the eye candy than she
wanted to admit. No matter how annoying Devon Leblanc was, how exasperating he was
to work with, the entire aggravating package was a mighty fine one.

Not that she’d ever let him know it. He had a big enough ego as it was. He didn’t
need her stroking it. As much fun as
stroking
might seem some days.

The machine under her beeped a warning before powering up yet another notch. Alisha
focused on keeping her balance at the near all-out-sprint pace. After a full summer
of climbing rescues and spending all her spare time off hiking in the Banff area,
she was in peak condition. Working to stay that way was now a way of life.

When the treadmill finally shifted to a slower speed she gulped a mouthful of water,
forcing herself to finish the run strong. Follow through, all the way. No shortcuts,
no sympathy.

As the smallest person in her business, and often the only woman, Alisha didn’t allow
anyone to cut her slack, especially not herself. That attitude had gotten her through
training that had left older and larger men puddles on the floor of the search-and-rescue
school. Her work ethic had gotten her to the top of the list by graduation and gotten
her an invitation to join the top SAR team in the Canadian Rockies.

Maddening how her gaze automatically darted to Devon, who’d been her only real competition
back in the day. The fact that the two of them had been hired straight out of school
onto Lifeline still made a few tongues wag and bitter comments fly.

As if she cared what the gossips said.

She cleaned the treadmill before dragging herself to the stretching mats. The noise
in the oversized arena was a lovely distraction from the throbbing lactic acid in
her limbs. One of the reasons she enjoyed using the local gym instead of the weight
room at the Lifeline building or the school.

She enjoyed her job, but didn’t need to live in her teammates’ pockets 24/7.

Once again Devon came into view, and she debated throwing something at him. The one
person she wouldn’t mind getting away from, and yet he constantly showed up. Damn
him for being her tagalong shadow.

Probably did it to piss her off.

“Alisha.”

She scrambled to her feet, pulling her blonde hair back tighter into her ponytail
in prep for hitting the weight room floor. The three guys headed in her direction
might know her name, but she wasn’t sure who they were. “You looking for me?”

The two slightly behind their leader smirked and made some low comments, and Alisha’s
heart fell.

Oh goody. Another muscle-bound Neanderthal looking to impress her. The signs were
everywhere as the one in front swaggered his way into her personal space. “I hear
you’re pretty good at climbing things.”

“You heard right.” She tilted her head back to maintain eye contact, refusing to look
away while he took a leisurely gawk at her body. It was like clockwork, in a way.
The scum always came out this time of year as new people filled the resort town in
prep for the seasonal winter work.

This? This was the reason working out at the public gym wasn’t fun. What was it with
guys thinking she’d make a good trophy?

Mr. Annoying leered. “You want to have something of substance to climb?”

Good grief. This one was stupider than usual. Alisha’s watch went off, reminding her
she had two hours to make it to her staff meeting. “You know, it’s been fun and all,
but I really have things I need to do. So, if you’ll excuse me.”

She shifted her body to one side, but he leaned with her, blocking her path. “I was
thinking we could get together. I want to find some of the tougher climbing routes
in the area.”

“Buy a book.” Of all the things she hated, guys who acted as if they had some kind
of privileged right to access her time and knowledge pissed her off the most.

He didn’t take the hint, remaining in her path. “You’re not being very friendly.”

Fuck. This.

She glanced up to make sure she had the ceiling height to play with overhead. Other
than that, Alisha didn’t bother to see who was around. No way would any of the locals
condemn her for what she was about to do. She bent her knees slightly to get some
momentum, grabbed a handful of his shirt material and leapt upward.

He swore, scrambling backward as she basically walked over him. One foot landed on
his thigh, one somewhere in his groin area—she didn’t worry about exact placement.
She pushed her hands down on his head to get the final height she needed to place
one foot on his shoulder and dive for the chin-up bar Devon had been using moments
earlier. A gentle swing turned her momentum and she landed on the path between the
stretching area and the exercise machines, now on the opposite side of the guy who’d
gotten in her way.

The asshole cursed at her, but she didn’t care, simply strode forward like he wasn’t
there.

Devon eyed her from where he’d been holding up the wall, sipping from his water bottle
as if watching a circus performance. He straightened to vertical, clapping softly
as he gestured her into the main weight room.

“Having a good day, Alisha?”

“Bloody idiot.” Wrapping her fingers around a set of barbells and heading for the
mirrors gave her a physical outlet for her frustration.

Devon chuckled. “Him or me?”

She paused for a moment. If Devon was going to hang around and drive her crazy with
unanswerable longings, maybe he could actually help her for once. She looked into
his laughing eyes. “Do me a favour and keep him from bothering me?”

Devon raised a brow.

She paused. “Please?”

“This your boyfriend?”

Alisha tensed as she realized the brute squad had moved in behind Devon. Only he didn’t
seem concerned. He winked at her, in fact, before he turned to face the jerk who’d
interrupted her.

Devon checked out the three men. “I’m her friend.”

The ass in front shifted his weight. “So, you’re gonna keep me from bothering her?”

The last thing she expected was for Devon to burst out laughing. Full-out laughing.
When he stopped, he was still shaking his head.

“You think this is funny?” The asshole stepped in closer.

“You have no idea how hysterical it is.” Devon moved aside, opening a path to Alisha.
“You want to mess with her, you go right ahead. I have paramedics on speed dial. I’ll
deal with your two friends if need be. She doesn’t need my help.”

Whoa. That was a vote of confidence she’d never expected to hear from Devon. Ever.

It was enough to make her grin.

Maybe she looked scarier than she thought, because Mr. Annoying faded away, his buddies
with him.

“That simple, huh?” Alisha caught Devon by the arm and squeezed. “Wish they’d gone
away the first time I told them to.”

“Yeah.” He glanced at his watch. “Finish your workout. We have a meeting to make.”

He turned his back, once again becoming a barrier between her and the rest of the
room. For a moment she stood motionless, wondering at the compliment Devon had paid
her.

Wondering why exactly he was there,
again
, underfoot.

She sat and struggled to focus on the motions of her arm workout. It was far too tempting
to use the mirrors to track the location of Devon and the creep she’d crawled on instead
of checking her form on each lift.

Maybe her response to the newcomer had been, well, over the top, but she was tired
of having to fight for every damn inch of respect she got. You’d think it would get
easier over time, acting as if she didn’t care. Pulling on a fuck-it-all attitude
like armor.

She loved her job with something close to obsession. Why people couldn’t recognize
that and respect her for it was beyond her understanding.

The noise calmed as athletes settled back into their routines. The newcomers vanished,
and Devon took an unobtrusive spot at the edge of her peripheral vision.

Alisha put her irritation aside and focused on her body. On making it strong enough
to handle anything tossed her way.

If only she could train her heart and soul as easily.

* * *

Devon watched.

He’d been watching forever, it seemed.

Across the room from him, Alisha sipped from an oversized water bottle as she visited
with the Lifeline pilot, Erin Tate. Alisha looked like a tiny blonde doll beside the
powerfully built black woman, but he knew they were both forces of nature, and that
made Devon smile more than the disparity in their sizes.

The team winch man, Anders, lay sprawled over two-thirds of the couch discussing the
latest mountain film he’d seen with Xavier and Tripp, their paramedic and avalanche
specialist, respectively. The three guys were about as far apart in physical appearance
as possible, but together they were a hell of a team.

Together they saved lives.

Whatever things made them stand apart didn’t matter to Devon, as long as they worked
together when it counted.

The door opened and their boss entered the room. Marcus Landers was a legend in his
own way. Not that Devon would ever say that to the man—Marcus would tie him up and
leave him dangling from a rope for mentioning how much he’d inspired Devon early in
his career. And working for the man?

His level of hero worship at first was a trifle embarrassing to remember. Only Devon
had put that reverence into what he considered good use. He’d joined Lifeline and
committed to making a difference.

Marcus glanced around the room. “Damn. You’re all here.”

“Ha.” Erin raised her middle finger in salute. “You’re late. We should make
you
do circuits of the training field to make up for keeping us waiting.”

Marcus grinned. The man was notorious for his creative training methods. And his creative
punishments. “Just keeping you all at the top of your game.”

“You enjoy it too much,” Tripp pointed out. “We know better than to be late without
a note from the hospital or visible stitches.”

Everyone shuffled into position around the massive boardroom table. Alisha curled
herself in a chair across from Devon, ignoring him and speaking to Marcus. “This must
be an important meeting. You didn’t bring us any Tim Horton doughnuts.”

“Doughnuts before lunch? Ugh.” Erin leaned forward and picked up the roll of paper
Marcus had dropped on the table. “But you brought us a treasure map.”

Marcus folded himself into the chair at the head of the table. “Treasure beyond your
wildest dreams, Erin.”

She raised a brow. “I can dream pretty big.”

“Hey,” Anders interrupted. “Before you get started on the official part of the meeting,
what’s happening at the Banff training school? I bumped into your brother the other
day, and he was grinning far too hard.”

“Probably still gloating over having Becki James as a head coordinator,” Devon said.

Marcus’s smile deepened at the mention of his lover. “The school is damn lucky to
have her on full time. The grin, though? He got a new sponsor who set the school up
with a couple of scholarships plus enough cash to revamp the entire training centre.”

Tripp whistled softly. “Sweet. Unnamed benefactor?”

“Some Toronto bigwig with more money than God. Said he wanted to help support
the ongoing development of excellence
.”

“Should see if he wants to pour some cash this direction,” Xavier suggested. “Because
you know this place could use a little sprucing up, and we are excellent ourselves.”

Across from Devon, Alisha had stiffened, watching the banter, but no longer participating.
There was a tightness to her body that hadn’t been there moments before.

Conversation continued around them about what they’d do to fix up the staff quarters
of Lifeline if they had a spare million to play with. Devon ignored them and instead
thought through all the reasons he could for Alisha’s strange tension. She’d grown
up in Toronto. That was the only connection he could come up with without doing more
research.

Marcus tapped his hand on the table to get their attention. “Okay, speculation about
the Banff SAR school aside. I have news.”

“Raises?” Erin teased.

“Actually, yes.” Marcus waited until the hoots and hollering died down. “You’re a
horde of wild animals this morning. What the hell did you have for breakfast?”