“Too close.” Chase came, an explosion that trailed off into languorous aftershocks. When she finally opened her eyes, feeling dazed, Lily was watching her with an intensity she couldn’t read. “What?”

Lily kissed her. “You’re glorious.”

“If you say so.” Before she changed her mind, Chase reached up behind her head and pulled the chain. Lily gave a shout as the water cascaded down over them. Chase took the bar of soap from the wooden ledge next to the water reservoir and glided it over Lily’s chest and breasts and down her belly. Lily returned the favor, and they quickly scrubbed and rinsed their hair, managing to finish before the water ran out.

Dripping, Lily pushed the hair back out of her eyes and shook herself like a dog. She laughed. “That was wonderful.”

“Which part?” Chase pulled a towel from a peg and handed it to Lily.

Lily toweled her hair, then wrapped it around her torso. “I think the shower was my favorite part.”

Chase shook her head. “I’ll have to work on my technique, then.”

As Chase opened the kitchen door, Lily said, “Believe me, there’s nothing wrong—”

The radio crackled to life. “This is District Five Supervisor Natalie Evans. Reported rockslide east face of Big Bear. Hikers trapped above the slide. Emergency services en route. All officers report time to vicinity.”

Chase grabbed the radio. “Fielder. Copy that. Twenty minutes out.” She turned to Lily. “I’m going to have to go.”

“What is it?”

“Could be just a trail washout—but we’ve got people to secure first,” Chase said, already hurrying toward the bedroom.

Lily’s stomach lurched. How many other dangers would Chase face as part of her routine work that had never even occurred to her? “How will I…”

Chase held up a finger and spoke into the radio again. “Fielder, calling Thunder Ridge Lodge. Come in please.”

“This is Thunder Ridge,” Sarah’s voice came back. “Over.”

“I’ve got a callout. Can you come get Lily at the cabin?”

“Be there in thirty.”

“Copy that. Thanks.”

“You’ll be careful,” Lily said.

Chase kissed her. “Always.”

Chase dressed with the same kind of speed Lily was used to when answering an emergency call at the hospital. In less than a minute she was out the door, and gone. Lily dressed in the borrowed clothes Chase had left for her, checked the cabin, and tidied up the coffee cups. The door hadn’t been locked when they’d arrived, and she left it that way.

As she sat on the front steps and waited for Sarah, the kernel of worry that always settled in her stomach when Chase was out on a call returned.

* * *