“And do you have coffee?”
“Yes, I have coffee.”
“Then lead the way.”
Even though the risk of someone noticing how Pete was looking at her was removed when they were alone in her office, Eva was still acutely aware of his eyes on her. It made her feel awkward. Not because anyone could see them, but because she was aware that her heart was racing, being so close to him again. She breathed in his fresh, clean scent, and she remembered how ithad felt to be pressed against him, skin to skin. She looked into his soft blue eyes and saw her desire echoed there.
“You should lead the sandbagging operation,” Eva said briskly, ignoring the way he was looking at her. “An experienced officer should be there. I’ll lead the search and rescue operation.”
“Isn’t that more dangerous? Why don’t I do that?”
“First of all, I don’t need you to protect me from danger. Plus, there’s a strong chance at least a few of the locals will refuse to leave their homes. It will be much better if someone who’s not from the other side of the country tries to encourage them to evacuate.”
“Fair enough. And I wasn’t trying to suggest that you need protecting from danger. It’s just that I owe you one after you hauled me out of the river.”
“Yes, youdoowe me one. But for today, you’re sandbagging.”
“That just sounds wrong.”
Ignoring him, Eva said, “Neither of us will be with the recruits at the rescue center at first, but it’s a calculated risk. There’ll be other services there to direct them.”
“It’s the right decision.”
“I know. We just have to hope that those recruits step up. They can’t let us down.”
“I don’t think they will.”
“I hope not.”
Before she realized what was happening, Eva felt his soft lips on hers. It was a quick kiss, not a lingering one, but she felt a tug deep in her belly nonetheless. “Be careful, Eva.”
“You too, Pete. Good luck, and I’ll see you at the rescue center later.”
Three days later, Eva was back in her office, too tired even to brew a pot of coffee. Her head was on her desk as she tried to work up enough strength to start the paperwork that needed to be completed detailing the events of the past three days. She’d had only a couple of hours of restless sleep the entire time because the work had been relentless. The scale of the storm had been much worse than she’d realized until she got out into the community and saw its devastating effects.
The first twenty-four hours of the search and rescue mission had been particularly challenging for Eva and her small team because the rain pounded down on them as they conducted a house-to-house search, looking for anyone who had been unable to leave their homes or who refused to do so. When anyone refused, Eva and her team spent some time trying to shore up the house — the windows and doors, mainly — so that it was as stormproof as it could possibly be.
Some people refused to leave their homesteads until their livestock were rounded up and moved to higher, or safer, ground, and Eva and her team helped in that way, too. It was backbreaking work and harrowing for some of the recruits, who had never been witness to such large-scale devastation before.
Throughout their rescue efforts, the wind howled and the rain never stopped. Eva’s team assisted several elderly people who were alone and frightened, waiting for someone to come and take them to the rescue center. They rescued pet cats and dogs, gerbils and birds, delivering them safely to the rescue center.
With only a couple of brief breaks at the center for hot drinks and food, the team went back out into the storm, armed with a list of people whose homes were in remote, isolated areas. The jeep they rode in struggled up roads slicked with mud from landslides. At one point, Eva thought they might have to turn back on one near-impassable road when the jeep seemed about to flip backward onto its roof, turtle-like. However, she persisted and they made it up the hill, only to find that there was no one in the remote log cabin.
That was the lowest point for team morale as they stood together in the cold, damp cabin, aware of how close they’d come to danger, knowing that it had all been in vain. Eva felt just as low as everyone else, but she summoned every ounce of energy she had left to tell them that this was what was expected of them in a crisis — to leave no one behind — and that she was proud of them.
Once they’d visited all of the isolated homes, they returned to the rescue center, which was almosttoowarm from the number of people taking shelter there. Not that Eva, or any member of her team, even considered complaining about the temperature after spending so many hours outside in the wind and rain.
Pete and his team had been back at the rescue center for a few hours at that point, and he sat Eva’s team down at the end of a long rectangular table and made sure they were quickly served up a hot meal. Once they’d eaten, he brought them hot drinksand suggested they all bunk down in one corner of the center for a couple hours’ sleep.
“That’s a good idea,” Eva said to her team. “We could be here for days, and you’ve all been on the go since early yesterday.”
“I meant you too, Sergeant Bailey,” Pete said.
Eva shook her head briefly. “If you find my team somewhere to sleep, I’ll draw up a shift schedule for our squads,” she said, holding eye contact to convey the message that he wasn’t to argue with her. Fortunately, he didn’t. In truth, Eva didn’t want any of the new recruits to see how tired she was, so sitting at the table appearing to be busy gave her a much-needed rest.
Soon, she got a second wind, and she and Pete worked tirelessly with their squads and the other volunteers, cooking, bringing in food and medical provisions, and generally making sure that operations in the center ran as smoothly as they possibly could while the storm raged outside. During the rare quiet moments, she covertly watched Pete, who was the very embodiment of grace under pressure. It was quite a sight to behold, and she realized that she had grown to admire him, watching his actions in the center.
Other feelings for him were intensifying, too. During the second night at the shelter, Eva watched as Pete did a puppet show for the young children just before their bedtime. His performance was complete with funny voices and plenty of dramatic action. The children were enthralled and, often, in hysterics laughing. Eva’s heart tugged as she watched, aware that she was falling for this man, and angry with herself for doing so.
