The other search and rescue crew members had been complimentary when they’d arrived back at the station...particularly Tyler.

He was cute. A little younger than her, but funny and sweet and less...intimidating than Reed. She wouldn’t mind seeing more of him while she was there. And before she’d left the station to head back to the village, he had offered to take her heli-skiing...something she’d been wanting to try. Skiing was the only sport her father had approved of. That and golf. And only because the board organized semiannual retreats and he believed it would somehow reflect badly on their operating skills if they weren’t good at both. Therefore, she’d taken private lessons every winter since she was twelve. Regular slopes held little challenge for her anymore, so she planned to take Tyler up on his offer...

“And feel free to keep that ski suit, it looks way better on you,” Cassie said.

“It’s too tight on her,” Reed said.

Both women’s jaws dropped.

His face turned the same shade as the nose on the Rudolph ornament hanging from the garland above his head. “I just meant, it was...tight.”

“Yeah, you said that. Now’s the part where you apologize for the assholic comment,” Cassie said.

Erika waited, her emotions wavering between pissed off and embarrassed. Her friend was a lot smaller than she was, the suit had been tight, but come on—who said something like that?

“Sorry, that came out wrong...” Reed said through clenched teeth. “I meant that it may get you some unwanted attention while you’re on vacation,” he added as his gaze wandered past them to Tyler entering the bar.

His jaw set in a tight line as the younger guy waved at them.

Erika didn’t get it. The two men worked together on the team. They seemed to get along just fine...until the ride back to the village. The more Erika and Tyler had chatted, the grumpier Reed had gotten. His annoyance had been evident, but was it more than that? Jealousy perhaps? She’d caught him staring at her ass in the too-tight ski suit, and there was a sexually charged tension between them, but they couldn’t stop bickering for five minutes. What did he care if she took Tyler up on his date offer?

Ignoring his scowl, or maybe because of it, she enthusiastically returned Tyler’s wave. “Maybe I’m okay with some attention,” she told Reed.

A hard stare met hers before he moved away to serve several customers at the other end of the bar.

“Man, he’s in a mood,” Cassie said, standing. “I’ll be back, I have to pee.”

“He sure is,” Erika mumbled as her friend walked away. She watched as Reed snapped the lid off several beer bottles, placed them in front of the patrons at the bar, then crossed the room toward Tyler, ignoring a couple of women in a booth who were trying to flag him down.

Tyler stopped in his tracks and his grin faded to a look of annoyance as Reed said something to him. Then a second later, he left the bar.