Seducing the Fireman (Risky Business) by Jennifer Bonds

heavy door, his voice was calm, comforting, and completely unfamiliar. Thank God for small favors. No one would ever have to know about the elevator adventure from hell. “Before my guys do anything else, I need you to try a couple of things for me, okay?”
    “Yes.” She’d dowhatever he asked if it got her out of the sweltering box faster. Her T-shirt clung to her back, and the air had gone from stale to suffocating twenty minutes ago.
    “First, why don’t you tell me your name so I know who I’m talking to?”
    “Becca.”
    “Becca? This is—”
    “Becca?” A second voice cut in. One that was too familiar. One that washed over her like a lover’s caress. StupidMercury. Stupid retrograde. Quinn had warned her to expect the worst, and had she listened? Nope. “Becca, this is Jax. Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine,” she returned, ignoring the red-hot flush that burned her cheeks. “I’d be better if you could get me the hell out of here.”
    There was a long pause. Their radios crackled, but it was impossible to make out the words. The last thing she neededwas for Jax to think of her as a damsel in distress. The man already had an ego that exceeded the boundaries of the five boroughs. She so didn’t need his rescuing. It wasn’t her fault the stupid elevator stalled.
    “We’ll get you out,” the other voice finally responded. “Now I need you to press the Door Open button.”
    “Yeah, because I haven’t tried that yet,” she muttered, jabbing thebutton again with zero expectation of movement. There was a laugh from the other side of the door. Evidently she had a voice that carried. “No dice.”
    “Okay. We are going to try and recall the elevator to the lobby now with the Firemen Service Override. Hold onto the safety rail, and I’ll radio down to the team in the lobby.”
    The radio crackled again. Thirty seconds passed, and thecar didn’t so much as budge.
    “Becca.” It was Jax again. “We’ve tried all the usual steps to get the elevator moving again, and the service company can’t get here for another hour. We are going to cut power to the elevator and pull you out, okay?”
    “What? No. No way.” She gripped the handrail like a lifeline, an image of the car crashing to the lobby playing on loop in her head. “Thatsounds like the worst idea ever.”
    “It’s perfectly safe,” he promised. Perfectly safe? Nothing about this felt perfectly safe. Of course, things with Jax rarely did. “The brake will hold the car in place. Removing power is just a safety precaution to ensure there’s no movement during extraction.”
    He seemed to have total confidence in the plan. Of course he did. He wasn’t the one inthe fifty-year-old elevator.
    “We think you’re stuck between three and four, but we need to open the hoistway doors to confirm your exact location,” he explained. “You’re going to hear the exterior doors opening, so don’t panic, okay?”
    “Me?” Becca forced a laugh, her belly churning nervously. “Panic?”
    …
    Once his guys on the roof confirmed they’d locked and tagged the elevatorshut-off switch, Jax inserted the drop key in the hoistway door and released the lock. Anderson put pressure on the door, using extreme caution to avoid slipping into the open shaft. The door slid open inch by painstaking inch to reveal the locked inner doors of the car.
    Anderson whistled. “Luck be a lady.”
    Jax grinned. “Piece of cake.” The car hadn’t quite reached the fourth floor,stalling about four feet short. Still, an extraction from above was preferred to one from below as there was no chance of the occupant—of Becca —slipping into the shaft. He hated the idea of her stuck in that elevator alone and scared—not that she’d ever admit to being afraid—but they’d have her out in no time.
    The key was to remain focused, not let his personal feelings creep in. The ideaof Becca in danger scared the shit out of him. It clawed at his guts, shredding him in a way