Page 23 of The Hotshot's Prize
“Try me.”
I take a deep breath. “Okay, so…I fell into a ditch and twisted my ankle yesterday—don’t give me that look, I’m fine. Ahothotshot firefighter showed up just in time to save me. A storm was looming so we hid out in a cave and—”
Tessa lets out a loud gasp, cutting me off. “Don’t tell me…”
I nod, my cheeks burning with embarrassment. “Yeah.”
“What’s his name? Tell me everything!”
“Zack,” I reply, ignoring the tightening of my chest at the mention of his name. “Tall. Tan. Built like he does shirtless lumberjack calendars on the side. Sweet, protective hot guy with, like, emergency hero energy.”
“No freaking way,” Tessa quips, her eyes growing wide as saucers.
“He pulled me out of the ditch and carried me all the way to the cave like I weighed nothing. He made sure I was warm, fed me, and, um…” I can’t even look at her. “We slept in the cave.”
Tessa’s jaw drops. “You slept in a cave with a strange man?! Were you trying to get murdered?”
“He wasn’t a stranger! He’s a firefighter—well, hotshot.”
“Oh, well that’s different. Continue.”
I groan and cover my face again. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…I slept with him. Like…full-on, movie-scene, steamy-night, sex-in-a-sleeping-bag slept with him.”
Tessa makes a sound that’s somewhere between a squeal and a gasp. “Ella!”
“I know!” I cry, laughing through the remnants of my tears. “I can’t explain it. It just…happened. It felt so real. So intense. He was…gentle. And kind. And God, Tessa, he made me feel things I didn’t even know I could feel.”
She plops onto the couch beside me, eyes wide. “And then what?”
“And then his phone rang.”
The silence thickens.
“Dispatch call. Fire on the ridge. He had to leave immediately.”
“Did you get his number?”
I shake my head.
“Did he ask for yours?”
“No.”
Tessa’s expression softens. “Oh, babe…”
“I know.” I press my fingers to my temples. “He said he’d send a truck. And he did. He made sure I got home safe, which…I guess that counts for something, right?”
She pulls me into a sideways hug. “Of course it does. Doesn’t make it hurt less, though.”
I let out a breath. “Maybe it was just…a moment. One of those things that’s meant to happen and then be over. Like shooting stars. Beautiful, but fleeting.”
Tessa rubs my arm. “Or maybe the call was so urgent he couldn’t think of anything else.”
“You think so?” I ask in a small voice.
Tessa nods. “Of course. Why else would he leave a gorgeous woman like you wondering?” She pauses to look at me with a dramatic smile. “You might have scared him off with your hair all over the place like that, but it’s okay…you still look like a diva!”
That makes me laugh, watery and small. “You always know how to make it worse and better.”
