Page 48 of Sheltered By Love

Chapter Nine

Zane

When we return to shore, Levi and Jax look spent, Noah is shivering less and I’m starving.

With the news we were on our way back, the crowd has grown a little, and as I jump onto the jetty and help Noah out of the boat, I’m surprised to see Felicity among them.

I find her sitting on a bench with a large empty platter beside her, a Thermos flask, and empty cups and it looks like she’s been handing cookies out.

As I hand Noah off to his grateful but annoyed mother, May, I take Felicity to one side. “You made cookies?”

“I had some emergency cookie dough in the freezer,” she says.

Emergencycookie dough?

A cup of something warm is shoved into my hands by Nelly, a SAR volunteer. “Hope to see you again, Felicity,” she says.

Felicity smiles demurely as Nelly strides off, offering the Thermos to Levi and Jax.

“I was worried so I called Nicki and asked her what I could bring,” Felicity says.

Given the admiring glances she’s getting from a few of the men gathered, she’s given them more than cookies to take their minds off Ethan’s son.

“He’s fine.”

She swallows and looks over my shoulder. “Does this sort of thing happen a lot?”

Now the adrenaline surge has worn off, and Noah is back with his family, I just want to go home.

Not only that but we’re gaining a lot of looks from a few of the busy bodies who’d love to see all the Reid boys settle down.

Nicki is casting me side glances and giggling with a few girls we went to school with, most of who are married and have kids of their own now.

I cradle my drink and take a sip. “More than we’d like,” I say.

She gestures to the dozen or so people still outside the newly built surf club. “They’re all volunteers?”

She collects her platter and picks up stray cups as I walk her back to my car. “We don’t have the resources of a big city. Ethan will have to foot the bill for the fuel. We rely on volunteers.”

Her eyes search my face as though searching for answers. “And the same is for the fire service?”

“Ayuh.”

She seems so stunned, it gives me another clue. “Guess things are pretty different in Arizona?”

She rewards me with a coy smile. “Very.”

As much as I’d love to ask her more questions, the wind is getting stronger, and now the danger is over, the volunteers are packing up before the weather really turns.

I finish my drink. “If you’re ready to go, I’ll drive you back.”

Her lips curl upward. “I was expecting you to be angry at me for coming.”

“Why would I be angry?”

“Because I wasn’t safely locked away at home and watching the monitors?”

Dammit. She’s right. That would have been a good idea. I didn’t get any notifications of intruders while I was out, but out past the head, coverage can be patchy.

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