Trust was everything when lives hung in the balance, especially when your pilot made your heart race faster than any emergency call.

Flight nurse Sloane Winters came to Alaska seeking peace, not passion. But working helicopter rescues with Zach Reeves-a brooding former Special Ops pilot whose rare smiles could melt glaciers-was testing every professional boundary she'd ever set.

Their chemistry in the cockpit was electric. Their banter over late-night coffee was addictive. And the way he looked at her during quiet moments between missions? Pure temptation wrapped in flannel and flight gear.

Zach was everything she shouldn't want: complicated, emotionally guarded, and her direct partner on life-or-death rescues. But beneath his controlled exterior lurked a vulnerability that called to every nurturing instinct she possessed.

The attraction was mutual. She could see it in his heated glances, feel it in the way he found excuses to touch her hand, hear it in the rough edge of his voice when he said her name.

But something was holding him back. Some shadow from his military past that made him believe he wasn't worth fighting for.

He was wrong. And she was about to prove it. †This story was produced using author-directed AI tools.