Page 6 of Her Braun
"You're getting the much better deal, Lieu." Pits gave her a wink. "He gets to talk to the gorgeous woman. And me?" He lifted his arm and then skewered the two at his side with his cutting glare. "They cut my bunker coat, Lieutenant."
Kay gave him a smile. "They did the right thing, Pits. Don't be too hard on them."
He shifted a little, smiling. "Okay. And, uh, call me Hank."
She smiled at the older man. With his silvered temples and his strong form, he surely made many women swoon with that smile. "Okay, Hank. Go with my staff and I'll be in in a moment."
Pits walked on with the other firefighters, and she turned back to their lieutenant.
He was tall.
Tall enough that she had to tip her head back to look up at him because he was standing close to her. And that bunker coat that Pits was talking about? It looked good on the lieutenant. No, it looked amazing on him.
She'd studied anatomy for medical school, but she'd also spent quite a few hours of her life observing people and under his bunker gear, Gibson Braun was an athletic man. He carried himself with an ease that only people in top shape could do.
Someone unlike herself.
"Is there anything I should know about the cause of the injury?"
A muscle tightened in his jaw and while her eyes fixed on it, she was hyper aware of everything about him. The dark glower in his eyes and the way each breath lifted his shoulders and filled his chest. His words were imprinted on her brain.
"Gas cans. The shop owner didn't say a word when we went in to save his business. Apparently, he had a bunch in the back corner behind a pile of throwaway pieces of wood. It was like he'd made his own damn bomb in the back. As soon as the cans blew, the wood went flying. Pits pushed me to the ground and got his arm torn up for his troubles."
Kay reached out a hand and gripped his arm gently. "Hey, you guys do that all the time. Saving other people."
His gaze had dropped to her hand the moment she touched him, but it wasn't until after her words ended that he looked up into her eyes. "We save people all the time, I don't see-"
"Your friend saved you. It's instinct. And we're all so very thankful that you and your whole crew do that on... what's likely an hourly basis. You would have done the same thing for him."
It wasn't a question. She knew it was true.
And given the look in his eyes, he knew it, too.
"So this time, it was Hank who did it for you. Don't worry, Lieutenant. We'll do everything we can to get him fixed up and, on the mend, as fast as we can."
"Thank you." She was taken aback by the depth of his voice. It was deeper than it had been a few moments before when he'd been talking about the job. It was deep enough that she felt like she could feel the vibrations moving through her body.
Smiling at him, she made a conscious effort to lift her hand from his arm.
"Do you want me to call you at the station when we're done?"
The instant she asked the question she knew the answer. She'd seen it all before."
He shook his head and took his helmet off his head, holding it in his hands in front of his chest. "We'll wait."
Her smile deepened and she started to walk away.
She stopped short of the automatic doors and turned back to him, her brow furrowing slightly. "Pits?" She looked at the ground for a moment and then back up at the lieutenant. "Pits Berg?"
The firefighter grinned, one corner of his mouth climbing higher than the other. "Yeah. Pittsburgh. It's where he was born."
Smiling, she rushed off to do just what she promised.
Gibson walked into the ER waiting room and saw his crew standing there trying to stay out of the way of staffers and other visitors alike but still craning their necks to see into the examination bay.
He stopped beside Theo. "Anything?"
Mats looked up at him. "The big oaf is flirting with the nurse."
