Ryan guided Tara across the front of the stage as people clapped and stomped to the pounding beat.
Like wolves marking territory, Ryan wanted all males to know that Tara was now his. He chuckled at this, his hand on the small of her back as he steered her to the back of the bar. He could not remember ever feeling this way about a woman.
She was beautiful tonight.
“Hey, Ryno is here!” Gunnar stood from a large table of smokejumpers, beer held high. Angela sat next to him, holding her own with the rowdy group. Gunnar had commented earlier to Ryan how he’d landed the hottest babe of the season.
Ryan smiled. Don’t think so. I’ve landed the hottest. He liked this intelligent, competent woman who could out-do the hotshots.
“Hey Wolf Man, grab a brew and get your puppy ass over here,” yelled Boone over the band. “And bring your new friend.”
Gunnar shoved two chairs at Ryan, and everyone scooted theirs to make room. Ryan placed them together and motioned Tara to sit.
Angela came over and patted Tara’s shoulder. “About time you two got together.” She winked at Ryan and sat next to Tara.
“I’ll get us a brew. Pick your poison.” He leaned sideways, darting a glance down Tara’s luscious tank top. God, she looked good.
“Alaskan Amber,” she said, big green eyes smiling at him. He glimpsed his co-workers, his brothers, nodding subtle approval.
Ryan stood to fetch beers. He moved past a table and someone called his name. He turned to see Silva, Rego, and a few from Aurora Crew, motioning him over.
“Hey, O’Connor, hear how we kicked ass up at Chinook?” yelled Silva.
“Yep, congratulations,” Ryan yelled back.
The guys raised beers in reply with hoots and hollers.
“Aurora Crew is heading to the Shackelford Fire tomorrow morning. Hey man, you did a stellar job with refresher training. Pull up a chair. Take a load off.” Silva pushed one back with his foot.
“Thanks, but I’m with Tara.” Ryan made sure he said it good and loud, while motioning at her across the room.
Tara watched them intently. Ryan shot her a happy smile.
Silva slowly nodded and raised his beer at Tara.
She grinned and waved back at Silva and blew a kiss to Ryan, as if knowing they were discussing her.
Good. Now Silva has the message. Mission accomplished. Stop hitting on her, pal.
The band stopped and they no longer had to shout.
“You’re with Waters now, huh?”
Ryan gave him a close-mouthed smile and nodded.
“Lucky man. I tried, but she evidently had the hots for you. Gave her a squad boss assignment on the fire. She did great. The crew respects her.” Silva took a pull on his beer.
“Good to hear.” Ryan was impatient to get back to Tara.
Tupa laid a King-Kong-sized hand on his shoulder. “Helped Waters to her tent one night and she said, ‘thanks Ryan’. She missed you, bro. She’s a kickass firefighter.”
“I know.” Ryan glanced across the room at Tara talking to Angela.
Tupa grinned. “Word of warning, bro. She has a mean knockout punch. Don’t piss her off.”
Before he could ask why, Tupa wandered off. A knockout punch? He turned to fetch the beers.
“O’Connor,” Silva called after him.
Ryan turned around.
“She’s a fine woman. Don’t hurt her.” Silva pointed his beer bottle at him.
Ryan opened his mouth for a smartass remark but reined himself in. “I don’t plan on it.”
They stared hard at each other, like two bull moose in a standoff. Ryan was the first to look away and he moved to the bar. He couldn’t help liking Silva. He’d been good to work with the past few seasons but Ryan had never competed with him for a woman. He was thankful Tara had resisted Silva’s advances.
Ryan returned to the jumpers’ table with beers and took his seat next to Tara. Gunnar pushed to his feet and stood next to him, as a hoot went up around the bar. Several flat screens on walls around the bar showed the pretty, stilettoed reporter interviewing Ryan as he cradled a wolf pup in each arm.
“Ryan O’Connor is right here!” hollered Gunnar, pointing at him. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the guy who saved the wolf pups!”
People in the bar switched their attention from the flat screens to Ryan. Breathless gasps arose from the females in the crowd. “I want to marry him!” yelled a woman.
“Thanks, Gunns. I so didn’t need that.” Ryan shot a look at Tara. She laughed and rested a hand on his shoulder, watching the rest of the news broadcast with everyone else.
When it ended, Gunnar stood and raised his beer. “Stand up, O’Connor. To Ryno, saver of fire wolves!”
Ryan stood, like a spooked grizzly trapped by a wolf pack.
The jumpers followed suit and stood in a beer salute. “To Ryno, saver of fire-wolves!”
The whole bar went nuts. People whooping, hollering, and whistling. Several women came over to the jump table.
A blonde tugged his arm. “You saved those cute wolf puppies. So adorable,” she purred, with hard-to-miss cleavage he concentrated on not gawking at. Two more women flocked to him, bombarding him with questions. What was it like? How cute. Where did he find them? A woman yelled I love you from across the room.
He didn’t want to be rude, but he didn’t need this on his first date with Tara. Uneasy with all the female attention, he sat back down and slid his arm around her, hoping the women would get the hint he wasn’t up for grabs. He leaned into Tara and spoke in her ear. “This is crazy.”
She nodded, a weird expression on her face.
I shouldn’t have brought her here. In his eagerness to show her off as his, he hadn’t considered her feelings. He scolded himself for his selfish, narcissistic move. If he’d known this would happen, he wouldn’t have talked to the reporter.
Tara leaned in to say she was going to the restroom. She rose and worked her way through the crowd.
The band began playing again and
