Sparks Will Fly Read online

  Table of Contents

  Also by Daniel Banner

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Message from the Author

  About the Author

  Sparks Will Fly

  Park City Firefighter Romance: Station 2

  Daniel Banner

  Vorpal Words Publishing

  Copyright © 2017 by Daniel Banner

  Edited by Nancy Felt

  Proofreading by Elizabeth Kenning

  Cover by Steven Novak

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Also by Daniel Banner

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Message from the Author

  About the Author

  Also by Daniel Banner

  Park City Firefighter Romance Series

  Two Hearts Rescue

  A Perfect Rescue

  Rescue and Redemption

  Kisses and Commitment Series

  How to Find a Keeper

  1

  “3, 2, 1 …” When Blue’s team yelled, “Go!” he fell backward off the stone block with his eyes closed, arms crossed in front of his chest.

  If the Chinese tourists they had enlisted to help them with this challenge hadn’t grasped the five-second explanation—and grasped hands firmly with Blue’s teammates—the six-foot drop could end his Questival. With only six hours left in the 24-hour adventure race, Blue’s Bachelors was in the top five out of 712 teams. If they could bump up a few spots, and if Blue survived this trust fall, the crew of Park City Fire Department Station Two would be off to Cuzco, Peru on an all-expense paid trip.

  Man, this was a long way to fall. The challenge didn’t have to be so elaborate or risky. A simple, standing trust fall with one stranger would have sufficed, and Blue’s Bachelors could have walked away with their six points, but extra points were awarded in peer judging for style points. All of the top teams would earn beaucoup points, and in the end the peer judging would decide the competition among the top ten teams.

  It took everything Blue had to not check over his shoulder, and just when he’d decided he was heading for Concussion-ville, a cradle of arms hit him in the back. His fall slowed, but didn’t stop. Blue wasn’t a lightweight—up to about 260 since he’d been bulking up for the annual firefighter charity calendar.

  The catchers collapsed around Blue, everyone falling forward into a pile. Middle-aged Chinese tourists tumbled from the right and Blue’s crew from the left. Everyone laughed as they untangled themselves from the pile. One woman ended up on her backside and sat there chuckling and speaking Chinese.

  Blue jumped up, feeling uninjured, and along with Stone, helped the woman to her feet. “Everyone okay?” he asked, and both groups nodded vigorously.

  “Uploaded,” announced Jeremy, tucking his phone into his pocket. “Six points, that puts us in third, just ahead of the Spiky Hyenas.” Jeremy had been the only one not involved in the trust fall because someone had to document and upload proof of the challenge in order to earn the points. Since he was the youngest and most tech-savvy of the group, he was doing a lot of the uploading.

  “Thank you,” said Blue to the group of amused tourists.

  “Thank you,” they repeated, bowing with their hands together, still highly amused. “Thank you.”

  “That’s it for the Capitol,” said Stone when Blue’s five-member crew was back in the huddle.

  Nikola said, “Next is Ensign Peak, right?”

  “Yeah,” said Blue. “Trade shoes here for the ‘Walk a mile in your teammate’s shoes’ challenge.” It was a perfect day for a quick mile jog—overcast and not too hot for August in Utah.

  The four who had already been set to trade shoes bent to untie them. Jeremy told them, “We do the ‘Pick up 50 pieces of trash on a trail’ along the way.”

  Dax was the one not doing the shoe swap. “Hold up, boys,” he said. “I just spotted our next six points.”

  Coming up the steps in hot pink shirts was another Questival team consisting of four women in their early 20’s. If the matching outfits didn’t give them away, the teal handkerchief-like totem with #DoGood stamped on it did. Of course, two team members were giving piggy-back rides to the other two team members as some random guy followed them, catching the whole thing on video.

  Blue recognized that team, the Red Hot Lobo Llamas. Like Blue’s Bachelors they’d been in the top five pretty much since the starting line.

  The clouds broke right above the ladies like a spotlight, catching the lead piggy-back pair. The bottom half of the pair was a gorgeous brunette with a Latina look to her and huge, bright nearly black eyes. She had her head forward and was huffing as she crested the third staircase. Blue expected her to drop the cute little redhead from her back since the challenge specifically required her to ‘Give a teammate a piggyback ride up three flights of stairs,’ but the beauty kept trucking.

  The pillar of sunlight tracked them across the concrete and Blue couldn’t look away. He watched her cross the long, flat open stretch and start up the last and longest set of stairs. She didn’t slow down! Blue realized he was staring, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Like the rest of the Red Hot Lobo Llamas, she had on black spandex shorts and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen someone make spandex look so good.

  Finally, on the last few steps her pace flagged, but they were still moving at a decent pace as they crested the final step. The raven-haired woman set the other one down and they both jumped up and down in a Rocky-like celebration.

  Sixty-five steps. He knew because another challenge involved counting the number of steps leading to the Utah State Capitol and doing some funky math with the number. It didn’t sound like all that many, but on an 85-degree day, schlepping another person, without resting even on the flat parts of the long trek, that was a heck of a workout.

  The random dude who had been filming handed off the phone to one of the ladies and walked off, but Blue’s eyes were glued to the dark-haired woman.

  “Hey,” said Stone. “Eye on the prize, not the competition.” He gestured at Blue with his phone. To win this thing it would take all five of them consistently keeping an eye out for any and all points they could gather along the route they’d painstakingly mapped out as soon as the challenges had been relea
sed.

  Blue pulled out his phone and unlocked it, but kept one eye at the top of the stairs. Dax was starting up the steps after the second set of pink, piggybacking girls. He motioned to Blue. “Come video this. Fifteen-second hug.”

  Shoot! Why hadn’t Blue thought of that when he’d seen the black-haired beauty? One of the challenges was to hug a complete stranger for fifteen seconds. They’d been waiting for the right time to make it epic.

  Dax, that big flirt, had beaten Blue to the punch, but Blue had just the thing to take it to the next level.

  “Hold up, Dax!” Blue motioned to the rest of his team to run up the stairs with him, then caught up to Dax.

  Used to following Blue’s orders without question on the fireground, they jumped to obey. Blue tried to hide his huge smile as he pumped his arms and legs toward his newfound crush. He was going to get that hug after all.

  2

  As Lucy finished dancing like Rocky at the top of the Capitol steps, she watched as the Blue’s Bachelors ran up toward them. Or Blue’s Clues as her team had taken to calling one of their closest competitors. It was the team that had been leapfrogging the standings with the Red Hot Lobo Llamas since the competition had kicked off last evening. Hopefully they weren’t coming up to taunt them. Red Hot Lobo Llamas didn’t have time for that. But as Lucy watched the man leading the team, all thoughts of points and challenges fled her mind. She’d seen him in a couple of the pics and videos his team had uploaded, but none of those did him justice.

  The guy looked like a Spartan general leading the charge up an enemy hill. Lucy ought to know, she’d competed in a few Spartan Races and other endurance races but she’d never seen anyone as formidable as this modern Spartan. He had the muscles, the demeanor, the respect of his men, and the muscles—oh, she’d already counted the muscles. He just needed the leather skirt and a big ol’ sword instead of the sculpted t-shirt and athletic shorts. No, it was the guy who was sculpted, not the t-shirt.

  Suddenly Lucy felt very scared for the Red Hot Lobo Llamas’ standings and her own chance of winning her dream trip to Cuzco, where her mother was born. How could anyone stand against a force like this guy? Lucy had seen his trust fall from far off but she’d had no idea of the sheer impressiveness of his physique up close.

  One of the other Blue’s Clues ran past the leader and up to Lucy’s teammate Sheila. “Have you hugged a stranger yet?”

  “Yeah, but we can help you out.” Sheila was grinning at the guy, and with reason. He was a good looking man, all dark and mysterious. But he still didn’t compare with the utter manliness of the leader. It was a good thing the guy had asked Sheila because Beth would have told him, ‘Tough luck.’

  “You game?” the guy asked Sheila.

  Lucky for Sheila, she’d ridden up the steps on Beth’s back, so she wasn’t pouring sweat and sucking wind like Lucy.

  “Cap?” said the guy to Lucy’s Spartan hottie, who was now only a few steps down. “You got the video?”

  “No, I have a better idea.” He looked straight at Lucy. “The whole team should do it.”

  Oh boy, he meant her! All sweaty, makeup faded, and hair looking like she’d already run a couple of marathons that day. But it wasn’t like she would ever see him again, and she would be crazy to pass up the chance to get up close and personal with Captain Sparta.

  “Why not!” said Lucy. Why was she in Utah doing this extreme whirlwind adventure service race if she wasn’t open to sweating all over some hot stranger?

  The Blues Clues paired off with each of the Red Hot Lobo Llamas, even Beth, who at this point had been swept into the current of this particular challenge. The buff general guy came even closer. Close enough to smell the twenty hours of sweat Lucy had collected. She couldn’t decide whether it was a blessing or a curse that her face was so flushed from the steps and the piggyback challenge that it hid her blush.

  “You ready?” said Lucy’s hottie in a voice that didn’t sound like a question at all. This guy was used to being in charge.

  Lucy gulped and checked both sides to see if the Red Hot Lobo Llamas were ready. Each member of her team was facing a good-looking Blue’s Clues guy, but none of them had lucked out with her partner like Lucy had.

  Sheila broke away to hand her camera off to the one Blue’s Clue without a partner. Even though the Red Hot Lobo Llamas had already uploaded this challenge and received the points, they could replace it with a cooler, more impressive feat to boost their peer scoring points.

  Lucy looked back at her guy and her mouth watered. Blond, buff, and built like a bunker.

  “Go!” shouted one of the Blue’s Bachelors, and Lucy and the hottie came together as if an irresistible force had suddenly been activated between them.

  “Whew!” said Lucy involuntarily. He was as solid as he looked, like no one she’d ever felt before. Lucy had thought her heart was racing before. He wasn’t shy about the hug, and their bodies were in contact from knee to neck. She could feel his muscular thighs, his firm core, his rock-solid pecs, and maybe even his abs. A guy this cut had to have a six-pack, right? Oh how Lucy wanted to bring her hand down to find out.

  “I’m Blue,” he said.

  “Don’t be blue,” she retorted, a bit surprised she’d found her voice. “Second place isn’t a bad finish.”

  “No,” he said. “My name …” He trailed off as he picked up on her playful tone. “Oh, you knew that.”

  “I’m Lucy,” she said. “I saw your trust fall. Impressive.”

  “Not as impressive as your six flights of steps.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve sweated this much since college, but you gotta make it epic if you want a shot at the title, right?” There were a million questions she wanted to ask, but she just took a second to enjoy the encounter with Hercules.

  Wait, maybe Hercules was Greek, an enemy of the Spartans, but all she cared about were his thick arms and hard body. The hug wasn’t awkward at all, as she’d expected it to be, and she wished it was a fifteen-minute hug. She moved her hand on his back in a rubbing fashion. Blue’s back was as bulging and ripped as the rest of him. Was he some kind of Mr. Universe or something? A blacksmith could use his back as an anvil to pound out swords.

  “You want some real style points?” he asked.

  Lucy blushed all over again. Did he realize she was copping a feel or had he chalked her roving hands up to hug etiquette?

  “I’m always down for style points,” answered Lucy, curious about how he planned on improving the already impressive challenge.

  Suddenly Blue twisted her around and dipped her. Lucy looked up to see the imposing Capitol building for a split second before Blue’s face filled her view. A smirk played on his lips and a mischievous glint sparkled in his eye. His lips pursed and he brought them forward and before Lucy knew it she was being kissed.

  Blue was as confident and firm in the kiss as he had been when leading his Spartans in their charge of the Capitol steps. Whereas she’d been the one to take advantage during the hug, he was the aggressive one now, leading her lips like he was leading her in a dance.

  Lucy gladly followed his lead. He tasted like peppermint and smelled like an athlete. Maybe it was weird of Lucy, but she loved it. Blue guided her mouth with his, making Lucy feel like she was falling at a hundred miles an hour, but falling oh so softly. As if she was skydiving with a fighter jet as a tandem partner.

  Why oh why couldn’t this be a fifteen-minute challenge?

  “You two can stop now! Hello!”

  Lucy opened her eyes and saw both teams standing around them, the Blue’s Clue guy still catching it all on both phones. How long had everyone else been done with the hug?

  Blue brought her back up as if she weighed nothing. Sheila was fanning her face like she was hot and the guys all started back-slapping Blue. For one last moment, Lucy and Blue looked into each other’s eyes.

  Then his team pulled him down the stairs to the south and Lucy’s team pulled her east toward a sta
tue they needed a photo with. Going along, Lucy let Sheila guide her, but kept her head turned, watching her guy retreat and wondering if they’d ever see each other again.

  At the bottom of the first row of steps, Blue stopped. He looked back.

  Lucy knew that somehow they weren’t done with each other.

  3

  “Hurry, dude!” Dax had his hands on Blue’s shoulders as Blue hit submit, then crossed his fingers that they’d gotten the submission in on time.

  The app made a llama-bleat sound and displayed, One point! You made your llama proud.

  “One point,” said Blue.

  “Aaaaand it’s closed,” said Jeremy, looking at his own phone. “Game over. No more submissions.”

  “What place are we in?” Dax leaned over Blue’s shoulder to get a view of his phone.

  “We are in … third,” said Blue. “Right behind Red Hot Lobo Llamas.” He’d been hoping to run into Lucy and her team again, but their paths hadn’t crossed. And since Questival had no official finish line, they wouldn’t be running into each other again.

  Why hadn’t he gotten her number? That kiss was more than just a grab for extra style points. It was the kind of first kiss you tell your kids about.

  “Not bad,” said Stone, and the Blue’s Bachelors high fived and fist bumped each other.

  “It’s in the hands of our fellow adventurers,” said Blue, shaking off thoughts of the woman he might never see again. “Now where did we park?”