Page 8 of Hot Touch
“You good?” the deep voice called from behind me, but neither of us broke eye contact.
I watched him nod. His hands gripped my body tighter, closer to his, as if he wasn’t ready to let me go. I heard faint footsteps near behind me but couldn’t look away from the shockingly blue eyes that felt like they could see right through me and somehow still liked what they saw. Outside, under the darkness of the sky and glow of the moonlight, they almost looked like they were glowing.
“There’s my girl.” I blinked and shook my head.There is no way he said that, right?It had to be wishful thinking. Is that a symptom of smoke inhalation?I’d have to look that up.
“I got her,” the voice behind me called, and I could have sworn the fireman carrying me growled.Actually growled.My eyes widened, and when he noticed, they softened. Almost like he wanted me to know it wasn’t me he was upset with.
“No,” he said in a deep, almost pissed-off tone.
“Nate, you need to get checked out,” the guy said, giving me the name of the fireman who felt like home.Daddy has a name.
“How long were you without a mask?” the guy behind me asked, but the fireman named Nate, or maybe it was short for Nathan, shook his head. Determination shined in his blue eyes.
“Doesn’t matter. Let me take her to your rig,” he muttered.
“Man.” I turned to see the paramedic who was arguing with him. “What is…” The paramedic’s voice drifted, and I watched asa brow rose. Almost knowingly. Like they were somehow silently communicating with one another. The paramedic put his hands up in front of him.
“Okay. Fine.” His hand dropped as the other rose and scratched the back of his neck. “What the hell do I know?” he muttered and waved. “Come on, my rig’s over here.” He turned on his boot and led the way. I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling this wasn’t the protocol of how things were supposed to go.
“Is everything okay?” I asked when I turned my attention back to the fireman.
“Now it is,” he replied gruffly, taking me to the ambulance. Before I knew it, he sat down on the edge of the back of the ambulance and pulled me into his lap instead of setting me on the waiting gurney.
“Can I do my job now?” the medic asked. Nate grunted, and his manly brows bunched before his hand pulled the balaclava off his face. My mouth ran dry as I stared at the most handsome man I’d ever seen. He was beautiful. His eyes, still intense, stared at the medic like he wanted to argue.
“Can’t Kara do it?” he protested almost adorably. I wasn’t sure what was happening.
“She’s kinda helping other people, Nate,” the medic reminded him.
“Fine,” he muttered, obviously not happy with it. When the paramedic went to him, he shook his head. “Not me, Ron. Make sure she’s okay first,” he ordered, and my eyes widened. He’d been the one who had literally walked through smoke and fire without a mask.
“Umm, okay,” Ron sounded slowly, turning his attention towards me. “Since Nathan is being a little weird at the moment, would you mind me checking you out?” I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could make a sound, Nate let out a loud animal-like growl all over again, and Ron simply rolled hiseyes. “First,” he corrected. “Let me check you out first. Come on, man.” He turned his attention the sexy fireman. “You do know I’m married to Evie. You remember her, right?” Nate grunted, and when his eyes connected with mine, those blue eyes darkened almost possessively.
Possessively?Had we stepped into some weird alternative universe when we crossed the threshold of my apartment? Men were never possessive of me. Not even slightly interested.
Ron kneeled, and with an iPad in hand asked me some questions. After that, he took my vitals, and only then did my fireman let him check him out.My fireman.I wanted to shake my head and stop myself from thinking about him that way, but I couldn’t. I simply sat on his lap while the paramedic took his vitals and hooked him up to an oxygen machine to be preventive.
The paramedic recommended I head to the hospital since I’d been inside the smoke-filled building for a long time and I kept coughing. I wanted to tell him no, that I would be fine. But I didn’t get a chance to shake my head before Nathans talked me into it.
“Come on. Let’s go make sure everything is okay, and we can go home from there.”
Home.My eyes drifted to the building. For the most part, it seemed the fire had been extinguished. The old dingy white paint seemed dirtier now, covered in soot. All the tenants were outside, some of them in ambulances heading to the hospital themselves.Home.
What home?
I swallowed and set a thin-lined smile on my face as I agreed. I just had to make sure I was okay, thank the sexy fireman for keeping my head above water, and then I would figure out the million and one things I needed to get done.
Like finding my phone and calling my sisters and securing a new place to live.
THREE
NATHAN
I stretchedmy back and groaned. The chair next to her bed was fucking uncomfortable, but there was nowhere else I wanted to be but with her.Alejandra.
Call me Alex, she’d said with a soft smile and wide eyes once she’d been checked into her room. She’d been admitted for observation, to make sure everything was okay, something I insisted on with the nurses since it seemed Alex wanted to bolt out of there as quickly as possible.
And I’d needed to figure out a way to keep her close.
