They shouted orders, made hand gestures, then shot up the stairs to the third floor.
“Jesus.” My heart cracked open as I prayed everyone else was okay.
As if reading my mind, he spoke. “You’re the last one, sweetheart. Guys said they pounded on your door once already, assumed no one was home.”
I withered at his words. “But, Jinx…”
“Right. The cat.” He took the stairs two at a time, cradling me in his firm embrace. An odd sense of relief washed over me for the first time in my life. I was so strong and resilient on my own, but giving up the reins and being taken care of felt surprisingly good, even if it was by a stranger for exactly two point five minutes while he whisked me away from a fire.
“You’re lucky I saved your cute little ass.” He pushed through the creaky front doors of the apartment complex, the night air crisp on my bare skin. A shiver pulsed through me, one he must have felt. “We need to get you covered up. Have that gash looked at. You may need stitches.”
I groaned, shuttering my eyes closed, thinking that was exactly the kind of luck I had.
Rescued by a hot firefighter, check. Scarred by an angry cat while trying to save the little bastard’s life? Check.
And then it dawned on me that I’d have no bed to sleep in tonight.
No money to rent a hotel room.
No family or friends to crash with. Maybe I could call one of the girls at the coffee shop where I worked, sleep on someone’s couch for a few days… And then what?
I groaned again, louder.
“You don’t sound like a girl whose life was just saved from a blazing inferno.”
I frowned. Was sarcasm a trait among firefighters? I glanced up at him, too weak and suddenly too exhausted for anything but honesty. “I don’t have anywhere to stay tonight.”
Or ever.
His eyes narrowed as we reached the nearest ambulance. He shifted me out of his arms, sitting me on the edge. He took the cat from my hands while a paramedic wrapped me in a blanket. His eyes tore up and down my body, as if searching for more wounds that might need tending. I didn’t know if it was the heat of his gaze on my skin, or the black smoke clogging the parking lot, but something about the way he tended to me made something sweet and comforting unfurl deep inside me.
I’d never been tended to in my life, but all of a sudden, the idea of being without his attention felt like more than I was willing to bear.
“Check her leg. She’s got a deep cut.” His voice was authoritative and throaty, sending new waves of arousal spinning through me. He stood at my side, watching with a close eye as the paramedic inspected the gash, cleaned it with antiseptic, and then bandaged it tightly. I’d never felt more loved.
I was so consumed with the feelings waging a cage fight behind my ribs that I hardly felt her fingers on me.
A tall, broad, sinfully sexy firefighter dominated my thoughts.
The one holding my kitty.
TWO
Blaise
She didn’t have a place to go.
Shit.
I’d seen a lot in my twenty years fighting fires but never a situation like this. Everyone had family that came rushing to their side. Usually, there were too many damn people gathered on the lawn and mingling at the street, watching and praying and getting in the way.
Of everyone in that crowd, no one had run up and screamed to find their friend, their daughter, their anything.
No one would have missed this girl had she disappeared tonight.
I’d seen it happen far too often, a life snuffed out.
I pushed a hand through my hair, cradling the cat in my arm as my heart thundered with one word.
Help. Help. Help.
Her.
I couldn’t just leave her, couldn't just walk away tonight knowing she had nowhere to sleep and probably not a dime to spare on a hotel room for one night, much less very many. And I had more than enough rooms at my place.
There was no way in hell this was the professional thing, but I was a saver. When I saw something broken and needing tending, I liked to take care of it. That’s what had driven me to put on the turnout gear to begin with, and hell if I would stop now. Save this girl’s life and then send her on her merry, destitute way.
“You’re all set, dear. Don’t hesitate to go to the emergency room if you feel any signs of smoke inhalation. Wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, that sort of thing. But I think you'll be fine, you were on the second floor, right?”
“Yes.” She nodded, head hanging low.
“Fire started on the third from the looks of it.” The paramedic’s eyes swung to the third-floor window that still billowed dark smoke.
“You got someone to stay with?” The woman turned back to my girl.
My girl.
What the hell was I thinking?