* * *

  Oh...man...

  Seeing Jodie Sinclair encased in that skin-tight black wetsuit, that didn’t leave very much at all to the imagination with regard to every curve of her body, had to be the sexiest thing Eddie had ever seen. He found himself needing to take a deep breath and stop himself taking yet another glance. He followed Alex’s example instead, and watched the sea beneath them as they became airborne and headed straight offshore.

  It was a brief period of time between their preparations and arriving at the designated area for the training exercise and staring at a relatively smooth patch of the North Sea wasn’t enough to stop Eddie’s mind from going where it was determined to go.

  Back to that kiss...

  Yet again...

  He knew it wasn’t going to be repeated. It shouldn’t have happened in the first place, and the last thing Eddie wanted was to even suggest breaking rules that could end up with disciplinary action against Jodie and, worse, him being transferred to another crew or even fired but...but knowing all that didn’t seem to be enough to let him just forget about it.

  On the contrary, the idea of a secret, illicit liaison with Jodie was taking that level of desire to a whole new, unbelievable notch. Which, in a way, was a good thing because Eddie knew that reality could never live up to an expectation like that, except in fantasies. And sexual fantasies would never encroach on his mind during working hours. Ever.

  He knew it wouldn’t be at all surprising if he found himself thinking about Jodie in that wetsuit when he was alone in his bed in that tiny basement flat later tonight, mind you...

  Spotting the bright orange paintwork of the coastguard vessel below them made it easy to flick any personal thoughts from his mind. He raised his hand to point it out to the others but they’d already seen the boat.

  ‘Target sighted,’ Alex said. ‘One o’clock.’

  ‘Roger that.’ Gus was establishing contact with the boat crew as he got the helicopter into a position and speed that would keep them at a steady distance behind the vessel. The boat crew were well trained in this exercise but Gus still went through every step with them again.

  ‘The Hi-Line will be lowered. Take hold of the weighted end and take in the slack, coiling the line onto the deck. Do not attach the Hi-Line to any part of the vessel, is that understood?’

  ‘Loud and clear,’ came the response.

  Alex was leaning out of the open door of the helicopter, his hand on the line as it was lowered towards the boat, and Eddie was also watching it carefully. This type of boat didn’t present as many problems as a yacht with its mast and rigging would but they still had to be sure the ‘heaving in’ or Hi-Line didn’t snag on anything.

  They paid the line out again as Gus dropped the helicopter’s position further behind the boat and then it was Jodie’s turn to be winched down first. The line that the two deck crew on the coastguard boat were holding was still attached to the winch hook and, as she was lowered, Eddie was watching the Hi-Line even more carefully now. The crew on the boat had to haul the line in to keep the correct tension that would stop Jodie being spun by the rotor wash or the lines dropping into the sea or getting caught on anything. He was holding his breath as he watched her getting close enough to get pulled onboard the boat, detach the winch hook and signal to have it raised.

  The process was reversed to take Jodie off the boat and lift her back into the helicopter and then crew members both in the air and on board the boat swapped places so that others could get the hands-on experience that exercises like this provided so well. It was Eddie’s turn to be winched down and it went as smoothly as he had expected. Too easy. He’d done some pretty hairy rescue missions in the dark, in much bigger seas than this in Australia but it was always good to refresh the skills, especially when working with a new crew.

  Gus moved the helicopter a little further away from the coastguard vessel for the second part of their refresher training. Both Jodie and Eddie needed flippers, masks and snorkels in addition to the lifejackets over their wetsuits for this part of the exercise.

  ‘Who’s going to be our victim for the first run?’ he asked. ‘Jodie?’

  ‘Fine by me.’ She pushed her foot into the second, bright orange flipper. ‘Could do with a dip.’

  * * *

  The sea conditions might be ideal, with a rescue boat not far away, but there was still something a bit scary about being dropped into the ocean.

  Well...not dropped, exactly. Jodie couldn’t say anything around the mouthpiece of her snorkel. She couldn’t hear anything either, because she couldn’t wear her usual helmet with its inbuilt sound technology in the water, but she could see Alex’s lips moving and knew exactly what his calm voice would sound like as he went through his own protocol and patter with Gus after being cleared to open the door and then attach the winch hook to Jodie’s harness.

  ‘Moving Jodie to door. Clear skids.’

  ‘Clear skids,’ Gus would say if he was happy for the winch to proceed in these conditions.

  ‘Clear to winch out?’

  ‘Clear to winch.’

  Jodie could see the skids passing her line of sight as she dropped beneath the helicopter. She could see the grey swells of sea water coming rapidly closer.

  Alex would let the others know what was happening by counting down the metres as she got closer to entering the water.

  Jodie didn’t look up but she knew Alex would be leaning out, safely anchored by his own strop, watching her every move. She couldn’t look up, anyway, because she was busy opening the carabiner that had kept her attached to the winch hook. She took it off and then held it out and up so that Alex could see it clearly and know that it was safe to retrieve the hook back onboard.

  She glanced up to see the hook swinging as it was quickly wound back up. Eddie would be getting ready to be winched down now and he would be carrying an extra harness for her. Jodie’s job was simply to float in the water, being the patient. Someone who’d been caught in a rip and swept out to sea, perhaps. Or a survivor from a yacht that had caught fire or been sunk by a collision or bad weather. She always welcomed the opportunity to see what she did for a job from the point of view of the person who was being rescued but, as she rode the swell in the chill of the ocean water around her, she could sense something more this time.

  Because it was Eddie that she could see waiting on the skid of the hovering helicopter for the okay to be winched down to rescue her.

  Jodie was someone who was firmly anchored in reality and never willingly conjured up any kind of fantasy situation unless it was a patient scenario or some other kind of simulation that could improve her skills—like learning to escape from a helicopter when it had crashed into water, for example, so it was more than a little disconcerting to find herself suddenly imagining what it would be like to be in real danger. To have Edward Grisham swooping in like a knight in shining armour, albeit dressed in a wetsuit and unrecognisable with his head covering, mask and snorkel on. To feel him holding her and keeping her safe as they were both lifted out of that danger.

  Oh, my...

  Jodie could see that Eddie was entering the water now, not far away from her. She raised both her arms in a signal for help and was ready to get the harness in place and be hooked onto the winch hook still attached to Eddie. He held his arm straight up to let Alex know they were ready to be winched up and Jodie could feel the drag of the water as she was pulled clear.

  Now she could really feel what it was like to be this close to this man’s body and it was, quite literally, stealing her breath away. Because she already knew what it was like to be kissed by him? Because there was genuinely an element of danger in what they were doing so her senses were already maxed out? Maybe it had something to do with the rush of external air pressure from the helicopter’s rotors or it might have been the combination of all those factors. It was no time at all, really, before she was safely back inside the cabin and could breathe again but...something had changed, hadn’t it?

  Something had escaped from the place it had been so very carefully confined for a very long time.

  And Jodie wasn’t at all sure what she should do about that.

  * * *

  Everything that had been in touch with, soaked in or splashed by salt water had to be thoroughly cleaned after the training exercises were finished. Gus and Alex took care of helicopter surfaces and winch gear like harnesses and strops but Eddie and Jodie were responsible for all the items they’d used themselves. Rinsing the likes of masks and snorkels was an easy enough task but the most time-consuming chore was getting out of their wetsuits, having a hot shower to warm up properly and then washing the suits.

  There was a tub plumbed onto the outside of the hangar near the storeroom and a line to hang the suits on after they were washed. Eddie was opening all the zips on the suits and turning them inside out as Jodie filled the large tub with cool water and added the liquid cleaning product.

  Alex appeared around the side of the hangar. ‘We’re done with the chopper and putting it away. Do you guys need a hand?’

  ‘Nah...we’re good, thanks,’ Eddie responded. ‘Thanks for today, mate. Reckon it’s my turn to shout you and Gus a round at the Pig and Thistle this time if you don’t mind waiting a wee while so that we can finish our housework here.’

  But Alex shook his head. ‘Gus is taking his family out to dinner tonight for a birthday celebration and... I’ve got a date.’ The way the young crewman ducked his head suggested that this was both a new relationship and potentially promising.

  ‘Ooh...’ Jodie was grinning. ‘Bring her along. I’ll let you know her suitability rating later.’

  ‘I’m not sure she’s ready to meet you lot yet, but if she’s brave enough we’ll drop in. Not that I’m going to take any notice whatsoever of your suitability score.’ Alex might be grinning back at her but he shook his head even more firmly as he turned to walk away. ‘You might want to take a look at your own love life before you start offering advice to others, my friend.’

  ‘I’m perfectly happy with my love life exactly the way it is, thank you.’ Jodie took the wetsuits from Eddie and plunged them into the water. ‘Can you get the masks and snorkels dry and put them away while I do this? And did you find where the flippers ended up?’

  ‘Yeah... Alex had already put them away.’ Eddie picked up the masks. ‘Do you think he’ll bring his date to the pub?’

  ‘Doubt it.’ Jodie laughed. ‘We’re probably far too intimidating.’

  ‘Do you still want to go?’

  Jodie seemed to be focused on kneading the wetsuit fabric to make sure the cleaner was doing its job. ‘Sure...why not? I think we’ve earned a bit of down time, don’t you? And the Pig and Thistle does some amazing potato skins. Don’t know about you, but I’m starving after all that exercise and sea air.’

  Jodie’s casual question was still hanging in the air as Eddie headed for the cupboard where the wetsuits would hang once dry again. There was a rack for flippers of various sizes and the other accessories needed for sea missions.

  Why not, indeed?

  Because if nobody else turned up, it might feel like a date?

  No. He pushed that unhelpful thought aside. This was, in fact, a perfect opportunity to do what colleagues should be able to do without even blinking—share a drink after a good day of working or training together.

  It might even be a step closer to friendship?

  * * *

  Oh, help...what had she been thinking?

  She’d had the chance to get out of this when they’d discovered Gus was busy and Alex unlikely to bring his new girlfriend for a drink with his workmates but she’d been the one to say she’d like to go anyway. Because they’d earned it and because she liked the crispy, deep-fried potato skins that arrived too hot to pick up instantly, covered with a generous sprinkling of sea salt crystals and grated Parmesan cheese.

  So, here they were with a basket of potato skins in front of them, along with tall glasses of her favourite lager and... Eddie looked gorgeous in his faded old jeans and a ribbed black fisherman’s jumper with the sleeves pushed up and his hair all rumpled and even more of a five o’clock shadow than he’d had this morning and...

  And it suddenly felt like a date...

  What was even worse was that that occasional pleasant buzz of sexual attraction had become a steady hum that was increasing in intensity and impossible to ignore. Maybe talking about work would help?

  ‘So...have you ever done a sea rescue for real?’

  Eddie nodded. ‘Quite a few,’ he added, before taking a big bite of the crunchy potato snack. ‘I worked on the coast of Australia. There’s a lot that happens at sea.’

  Jodie picked up a potato skin for herself, which was as delicious as they always were, but she was watching Eddie from the corner of her eye as he finished his and then sucked some grains of salt and cheese fragments from his fingertips. That hum of sensation in her belly was split in half by a spear of what could only be deemed sheer lust.

  Thank goodness he started speaking then, because Jodie would have been incapable of saying anything.

  ‘Had three guys in a lifeboat once. Big seas. The mast on their yacht had snapped and it overturned. The swells were big enough for the inflatable lifeboat to disappear between them and it was in the middle of the night and raining. The wind was enough to have me swinging like a pendulum.’

  Jodie’s jaw was dropping, her food forgotten. ‘Sounds terrifying.’

  Eddie could have made himself sound like a real hero by denying that but, instead, his face sobered as he held her gaze.

  ‘It was,’ he said quietly. ‘I was in the water and swam to the boat and the two guys that were still conscious insisted I take their mate first because he was the worst off, but I could see they were all in trouble. I was supposed to swap with my crew partner for the next retrieval but it was going to take too long so I just went down again myself. Twice. Getting them on board ASAP was the best we could do for them. They were dangerously hypothermic.’

  ‘And the first guy?’

  ‘I kind of knew I was winching a body by the time I had him in the harness.’ Eddie shook his head. ‘But I could have been wrong and, in the end, I was glad we took him home. His family were very grateful to get him back. They came to see me, after the funeral. To tell me how much it meant to them. To thank us.’

  Jodie could see the muscles in his jaw and throat moving as he swallowed hard. As if he was holding back tears?

  ‘Sometimes,’ he added softly, ‘there are moments in this job that make you feel very humble, aren’t there?’

  There were. But some people never felt like that because it took a level of compassion and humanity that wasn’t a given, even in a profession that was all about helping other people. It was also rare to find a man who was okay with not only feeling but sharing something that emotional.

  Jodie couldn’t look away from Eddie.

  He wasn’t looking away from her either.

  And it was like that moment in the storeroom, before that kiss, only it was ten times more intense.

  It was Eddie who broke the bubble of silence they were in, in the middle of a crowded, noisy pub. His words were so quiet Jodie shouldn’t have been able to hear them as clearly as she could.

  ‘I think I want to kiss you again,’ he murmured.

  It was Jodie’s turn to swallow hard.

  ‘I think I want you to,’ she said.

  ‘We work together. We can’t do that.’

  ‘No...’ Jodie felt the need to dampen her lips with the tip of her tongue and she could actually feel the intensity go up a big notch as Eddie’s gaze dropped from her eyes to watch her mouth. ‘But...have you ever...?’

  ‘Yeah...’

  ‘Did anyone find out?’

  ‘No...’

  The quirk of Eddie’s eyebrow suggested that an encounter could be all the more desirable because it was against the rules. She could believe that. Jodie dragged her gaze away from his face. She could see the basket of potato skins sitting there, getting rapidly colder, but she wasn’t hungry any longer. Not for food, anyway.

  ‘I don’t do relationships,’ she told Eddie without looking at him. She would never lead anyone on, nor allow them to expect something she was not prepared to give.

  ‘Neither do I,’ he said.

  Aye...she could believe that too. Someone like Eddie would have any number of women throwing themselves at him. Living a life of casual encounters or a series of ‘friendships with benefits’ certainly fitted the initial impression of him as being a maverick. She might have been wrong about that on a professional basis but it could still well apply to his personal life.

  And if there were none of the expectations that came with a relationship, wouldn’t that mean the possibility of conflict would also be non-existent? That was why the Mark and Zoe incident had been such an issue, wasn’t it? Why it was understandable that Dion had made it so clear it was not to happen again on the Aberdeen Air Ambulance base.

  But what she and Eddie were—sort of—discussing was no more than a hook-up. A mutual decision as adults who wouldn’t be hurting anyone else by giving in to a sexual chemistry they happened to have discovered with each other.

  Jodie released her bottom lip from where it had been caught between her teeth. Somehow, she managed to keep her tone perfectly casual. Matter-of-fact, even.