Icebound by Julie Rowe

Author:Julie Rowe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2011-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

The next days passed quietly. Stan and Jack progressed well, enough for both men to begin a modified work schedule. Wally went back to regular duties. Stan adapted quickly to the loss of his fingers without a single complaint. He frequently expressed complete happiness in just being alive.

Sharon and Carol hung out regularly in the clinic when they weren’t working, and Emilie found them fun girls to have around, except for one thing. They took it upon themselves to tell her what Tom was up to, on duty and off. They seemed to delight in informing her that while Tom flirted in public with many of the unattached female crew members, he hadn’t seen any of them in private. No one. Emilie refused to be drawn in by their open-ended discussions.

A month after she arrived, Emilie was in line for dinner, waiting her turn to dish up, when the two guys in front of her, both mechanics, raised their voices and shoved each other.

“Leave my stuff alone,” the first one, a blond, said.

The guy behind him gave Blondie another little shove. “I just want to borrow your wrenches once in a while.”

“Touch my tools again and I’ll break something of yours.” Blondie pushed back so hard, his coworker bumped into her and knocked her off her feet. She landed on her bottom on the floor.

The shouting continued, then they dropped their trays to throw punches. Emilie raised her tray over her head like a shield and crawled out from beneath their feet. Other people rushed in and for a moment she thought she would get trampled.

“Em!”

Large hands grabbed her by the shoulders and guided her out of the crush. Tom’s arms came around her.

“Are you hurt?” Worry creased the skin between his eyebrows and he cradled her close.

“No, I’m okay.” She glanced up and found herself only inches from his mouth. His scent surrounded her, making her mouth water. She swallowed hard and forced herself to look at the chow line where the fighting had spread to several other people. “But things are getting out of hand.”

Tom released her, easing her behind him as he stepped forward.

There were about ten guys involved in the pushing, shoving, yelling and swinging. No one appeared to be really trying to injure anyone else, but they would if it went on for too much longer.

“We need a distraction,” Tom said to her over his shoulder.

She craned her head around him. The melee was escalating quickly. “Like what?”

“One of us needs to take their clothes off.”

She couldn’t have heard that right. “I beg your pardon?”

Tom gave her a hot once-over. “It better be me.”

Emilie’s jaw fell open as Tom climbed onto the nearest table.

No one even glanced in their direction.

Was he really going to do this? “What do you want me to do?”

The smile he aimed at her would have gotten an X rating. “Give me a couple of hoots and hollers.”

He grabbed the hem of his sweater and pulled it up and over his head.

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