Excerpt: 'Full Blaze' by M.L. Buchman

M.L. Buchman joins us to share an excerpt from his Dec. 2 release, Full Blaze, book three in his Firehawks romantic suspense series, which is a spin-off of his Night Stalkers series.

First, here's the blurb about Full Blaze:

These wilderness firefighters battle more than flames. The elite fire experts of Mount Hood Aviation fly into places even the CIA can't penetrate.

She's just jumped square into the heart of the blaze.

When Australian helicopter pilot Jeannie Clark rescues wildfire photographer Cal Jackson from a raging burnover, she doesn't know she's bringing aboard a firebrand. Cal is quickly recruited for MHA's covert operations that reach far beyond the flames. Together Jeannie and Cal are assigned to an overseas operation with a lot more at risk than burning trees. And they'll need all the skill, love, and trust they can muster if they're going to survive the heat of this jungle battle.

M.L. sets up the excerpt: When helicopter pilots fly to fight forest fires, they encounter many challenges. One challenge that Jeannie Clark didn't count on? Cal Jackson, wildfire photographer and former firefighter. When she rescues him from a cliff edge moments before it is burned over, she brings aboard a whole new kind of trouble. Trouble for her heart.

Here's the excerpt …

Someone kicked Cal. Hard.

He grunted and rolled away. It was dark, predawn maybe.

Cal had been in enough fights as he bounced between foster homes that there was no hesitation. Pivoting on an elbow tucked against his side, he swung out his feet in a wide arc.

A high cry and his attacker fell to the ground with a grunt.

Cal rose to get the position advantage and banged his head hard against the underside of the truck he'd been sleeping beside. That dropped him back to the ground and filled his eyes with blazing splotches of light.

He knew he wouldn't be stable if he tried to stand after that hard a blow to his head, so this had become a ground war.

Finding his attacker by their gasping breath, he rolled right on top of…

"Ow! What the hell?" Jeannie!

"Jeannie?" He had her pinned beneath him in the darkness.

"Cal?"

"Why the hell did you kick me?" His head was really starting to spin now.

"I tripped on you. Why did you kick me?"

"I was sleeping." He slowly became aware of her body warm against his. He'd slept under his jacket, which had been fine until the morning dew settled damp and chilly. Jeannie wasn't damp and chilly. Everywhere they touched, a warmth radiated out of her.

"You slept here? In front of Steve's truck?" He could feel her breath brushing against his cheek.

"As good as anywhere." He breathed in deeply. The morning was quiet, just the two of them wrapped in a breathless cocoon of dark and silence.

"You smell incredible." He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled again. "Really incredible."

"You're slaying me with your poetry." She shoved against him. "And your body weight."

"Oh, sorry." He sat up slowly, unsure of the whereabouts of the truck bumper. There, close behind him. He reached out a hand and helped her sit up, making sure she didn't clip the heavy steel. His legs were across hers, and he was sort of sitting in her lap. They were so close that they were practically in each other's arms… They were in each other's arms. The back of her leather jacket lay against one of his palms as he held her upright, the thin T-shirt material covering her rib cage beneath his other.

***

Jeannie knew it was dumb, but she let herself stay in Cal's arms a moment. It felt so good to be held. She'd lost half the night to nightmares of her family cattle station in flames. Seeing generations of history and hard work burning, as if she'd actually seen it consumed by the flames rather than being fifty kilometers away dropping a load of foam while it happened. One of many reasons she'd left Australia to fight wildfires in the States.

Cal's hands on her felt good, strong, safe. She could feel her pulse against his palm. Reaching out into the dark, she found his chest. Like any wildland firefighter, apparently even one who wielded a camera, he was immensely fit.

Safe.

That word circled back again, washing off the blackened layers of last night's fearful sleep. Then she had an evil thought. If simply being held by Cal Jackson felt this good, what would it be like to kiss him? Maybe if she were a morning person, her common sense would have awoken by now. But she wasn't. She was a night owl with an early alarm clock.

So, with her common sense having hit the snooze button, Jeannie leaned in the last few inches and kissed him.

Cal actually hesitated. Actually had the decency to pull back, to make sure it was something she meant to do.

But the first brief meeting of lips was enough. It told her what she needed to know. Jeannie left one hand on the center of his chest. She ran the other up his shoulder, into his ever-so-soft hair, and pulled him back to her.

This time he didn't hesitate.

Bonus from M.L.: His foodie thriller One Chef! is on sale in an eight-book thriller bundle by eight award-winning and bestselling authors (starts as low as $3). Sale goes until Nov. 27 at storybundle.com.

Find out more about M.L. and his books at www.mlbuchman.com.