Page 15 of Hearts on Fire

She went in the direction Max was pointing and saw the bottom half of a firefighter poking out of a car. She saw now how steel rods had gotten involved—it looked like they had fallen off the back of the truck just in front of this car and pierced the windshield.

“Hi, I’m here to help. I’m Dr. Crane, a cardiothoracic surgeon.”

The firefighter pulled her head out of the car, and Naomi was surprised to see the tousled blonde hair and intense dark blue eyes beneath the helmet. Of all the firefighters in the world. Of course it had to be Scotti. Of course, she shouldn’t really be surprised; she and Scotti worked in the same city, and they were bound to run into each other on calls every now and then.

“Dr. Crane. Hi.” Scotti stared at her for a moment before pulling herself back to the present moment. “I need your advice here. Take a look and tell me if it’s safe to move him. I’ve cut the rod as close as I can to his chest, but it’ll still be jostled as I get him out.”

She moved back and Naomi took her place. The man was close to unconscious, his pulse thready and weak. He was losing a lot of blood, probably a slash from one of the steel rods.

“We can’t move him yet. I need to get this other wound stitched up or he’ll bleed out before he can make it to the hospital. Hand me my bag?”

Scotti held out the medical bag, and Naomi got to work. The wound had come perilously close to an artery, though thankfully it hadn’t been severed. Naomi had her work cut out for her, working in such a cramped space with a limited selection of tools. Even once she had sorted this wound, she wasn’t sure she rated the patient’s chances given the location of the penetrating steel rod. It was hard to tell exactly what was going on inside.

“Here.” Scotti was suddenly beside her, wiping the sweat off Naomi’s face with a spare bandage. Scotti’s fingers brushed her skin and she liked the touch.

“Thanks.” Naomi had her hands busy and she didn’t think that sweat dripping into the patient’s wound would be particularly helpful, so she was grateful for Scotti’s intervention.

“Pass me more thread, please? It’s in those little packets in the side of the medical bag.”

Scotti handed over the thread and Naomi continued with her work of stitching the wound closed.

“Okay, there. He should be stable to transport now—but watch the end of that rod. If it catches on anything…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Here, move out of the way so I can get in. Looks like I’ll need to make the space a bit bigger if I’m going to get him out without causing any extra movement.”

Naomi stepped back to let Scotti do her work. She watched as Scotti used a huge jaw-like machine to pry the sides of the car further open before crawling in. Even though she was in a bulky uniform, Naomi couldn’t help staring.

Scotti was so hot like this, immersed in her job, her face set in concentration, her pants tightening over her ass as she leaned forward into the car.

Naomi knew it was completely inappropriate to be turned on right now, but Scotti wasn’t helping matters. Did she have to be so damn attractive?

When the patient was pulled out of the car, Naomi thankfully forgot all about her inappropriate feelings as she focused on getting him to the ambulance. His pulse was stuttering worryingly, but the best thing for him was to get him to the hospital as soon as possible so he could get into surgery and they could get to work fixing him.

Scotti helped Naomi load him onto a stretcher and hand him over to the paramedics. As much as Naomi wanted to go with him and perform the surgery herself, she knew that she was needed here. There were doctors at the hospital who would be waiting to do the surgery when he arrived.

“Dr. Crane! This way, come on.”

Scotti gestured Naomi over, distracting her from her contemplation of the retreating ambulance. She hurried after Scotti to a nearby car. They worked together to extract the two people in there, Scotti making room for Naomi to get in and stabilize the patients before pulling them out.

They went from car to car, working until the first responders were the only ones left on the scene. Naomi sat heavily down on an empty stretcher, stretching her aching muscles. She was filthy and desperately needed a shower, but she was too tired to move just now.

“Naomi? Would you like to come back to the fire station and take a shower? Our station is just near here. It looks like all the ambulances are gone.”

That was true. Naomi could call a taxi to take her home or back to the hospital, but it seemed silly when Scotti was offering her a quick route to what she wanted most—to wash off all the blood and grime. She was exhausted.

“Sure. That would be great, thanks.”

Naomi and Scotti got into the fire truck, sitting down next to each other. The seats were close together and their knees were touching. Naomi glanced at Scotti, only to find that Scotti was already looking at her.

They both hastily looked away. Naomi felt heat rising in her cheeks, but before she could dwell on it too much, they arrived at the fire station.

Scotti led Naomi through to the showers. Most of the firefighters were men, with only two other women joining Scotti and Naomi in the female locker room.

Naomi swallowed as she watched Scotti starting to undress, all tan skin and defined muscles.

Maybe this hadn’t been the best idea.

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