Page 61 of Saving Jared

And then she was in his arms, being lifted up—turnout gear and all—against his body, as his mouth took hers in a breathtaking kiss. Her face mask and helmet clattered to the street before she threw her arms around his neck, but she didn’t care. This kiss was everything she needed, and one that sent a different kind of heat racing through her, while bringing a new sense of clarity. Because she’d been mistaken before when she’d thought laughter had meant she was alive. That wasn’t the case at all.

It was this.

Jared.

Their bodies straining against each other.

Their lips meeting, then parting enough his whispered, "I thought I’d lost you," brushed over them before he swallowed anything she might have said in another eating kiss. She moaned and met his searching tongue.

"I don’t think that’s what the captain meant by getting checked out."

She groaned at the scoffing words, reluctantly leaving the haven of Jared’s mouth to grimace and glare over her shoulder. And she’d just started having nice feelings toward him again. "Look, Cord—"

"Cord?" Jared’s arms tightened before he let her go and pushed her to his side—nearly behind him.

She frowned at his tense profile. "What are you—"

Jared’s almost menacing, "Are you injured? At all?" at Cord struck her as curious as her gaze went between the two of them.

"No, I’m—"

That’s all Cord got out before Jared’s arm quickly reared back, then flew forward. It happened so fast, Willa had no time to try and stop him as his fist made bone-crunching, direct contact with Cord’s mouth and nose, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Jared!"

Jared shook out his hand, sparing her a quick, unapologetic glance, before squatting down beside the fallen man struggling to sit up. Cord wiped over his face, then stared in disbelief at the blood that came away, before his uneasy, pained gaze lifted toward the man who had just laid him out.

"Now, listen closely." The chilling tone in Jared’s voice was unmistakable. "If I ever hear of you saying one word—one lie—about the woman I love again—"

"Jared…" She couldn’t have him beating up her coworker. Even if she kind of secretly took some small pleasure from it. But then the one part of what he’d said finally registered as she took hold of his shoulder. "You, you love—"

"Yes," he growled, without looking at her, while his body tensed under her fingers and he leaned closer to Cord. "If you ever dare fucking touch her again, you’ll find yourself just like this. And I can promise you, you won’t be getting up. Do I make myself clear?"

Cord slowly nodded while she spied her captain, several men from their station, and two of the deputies rushing toward them. Jared stood and stuck his hand toward Cord, saying, "Good. As long as we understand each other."

Cord hesitantly reached up and took Jared’s hand and was pulled to his feet just as Captain Walters got to them. His loud "What’s going on here" competed with Deputy Young’s breathless, "What the hell, McComb?"

"Would someone care to explain?" Her captain’s scowl went from Cord to her then to Jared.

"Please tell me I’m not going to have to arrest you," Deputy Young added.

"No," Cord quickly spoke up, his wincing gaze going around him. "It was just a misunderstanding. But it’s cleared up now."

"You’re sure?" Deputy DeLong sounded almost relieved.

Cord nodded. After a couple of calculating looks going back and forth between Cord and Jared from the two deputies, Deputy Young nudged his partner. "Let’s go." With that, they headed back to the crowd.

But nothing was over yet.

Willa met her captain’s gaze, as he pursed his lips and nodded, before turning his attention to Cord. "See that it’s not a misunderstanding that has to be cleared up again."

"No more misunderstandings, sir." Cord gave her a quick, decidedly apologetic, look, then lowered his eyes and headed toward one of the ambulances.

The captain eyed the other firefighters still gathered around them who surprisingly hadn’t said a word, though they shared what she thought resembled satisfied looks amongst themselves. "Everyone back to work." Then his gaze landed on Willa. "Except you."

"Nice punch," Kevin murmured as he patted Jared’s back, then shrugged when their captain gave a loud harumph and pointed toward the ambulances.

"Go," he ordered.

Kevin gave Willa a grin and headed toward the ambulances too. Several others from her station patted Jared on the back too, before returning to their duties.

"That wasn’t exactly the way I was going to handle things with Posey," the captain said, his gaze following after Cord. Did the whole station know what Cord had been up to? "But," he said, meeting her gaze, "it doesn’t mean it wasn’t exactly how I would have liked to have. Now…" He went all captainy again. "I meant what I said about getting checked out."

Then he was gone too.

"You shouldn’t have hit him," Willa said, squeezing Jared’s shoulder.

Jared slowly turned toward her and pulled her back into his arms. His gaze roamed over her face before meeting her eyes again.

"I’m sorry."

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