Rescue After Dark: A Gansett Island Novel

by Marie Force

“Let’s go,” Mallory called to the firefighter driving the rescue.

  The rig took off with lights flashing and siren screaming.

  Jordan was in good hands with Mallory, Libby and Dr. David at the clinic, so Mason turned his attention to the smoking hulk of stone that was Mrs. Hopper’s chimney and the singed roof on the north side of the chimney, wondering what could’ve sparked a fire on the roof. Nikki and Riley had done a ton of work to the house over the winter. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be too much damage inside from the fire that’d been contained mostly to the roof and chimney. They’d need some repairs to both.

  He tried to shake off the jitters that followed the rush of running into a burning building and bringing someone out alive. The amped feeling stayed with him as he supervised his firefighters, inspected the damage and tried to pinpoint the source of the fire.

  The whole time, though, his mind raced while he tried to process a strange occurrence.

  When he’d put his mouth on Jordan’s to blow air into her lungs, something he’d done hundreds of times in the past, the craziest thing had happened. She’d moaned and moved her lips as if to kiss him. That’d certainly never happened before, and it was for damned sure he’d never felt a current of electricity zip through his body while administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to anyone else.

  What the hell was that about?

  Chapter 2

  Everything hurt. That was the only thought in Jordan’s mind as she opened her eyes to a flood of bright light and frantic activity happening around her. Where was she? What’d happened? Then she remembered her fear that something was wrong and felt panicked as she struggled against the mask on her face, wanting it off.

  “Easy. You’re fine.”

  Jordan recognized the female voice, but couldn’t place it. Her eyelids were still too heavy to stay open for more than a second or two.

  The next time she came to, she was in a dark room, the mask still on her face and something beeping next to her. In her hand, she found a device with a button on it that she pushed, recalling the look and feel of the nurse’s call button from too many hospital stays to count while battling asthma as well as the recent one after Brendan.

  No. Don’t. Just don’t go there.

  Jordan didn’t want to think about him now or ever.

  A young woman wearing light blue scrubs came into the room. Her blonde hair was in a ponytail as she quickly checked the monitors and adjusted the IV taped to Jordan’s right hand. “You’re doing great. EMS gave you a nebulizer treatment, and your breathing is much better.”

  The words nebulizer treatment took Jordan back to a childhood filled with asthma attacks and other associated respiratory illnesses.

  Jordan recognized the woman as Katie McCarthy, who was married to Riley’s cousin Shane. She’d met them at the Wayfarer opening. She reached for the mask covering her nose and mouth.

  Katie held it aside for her.

  “Do I have to stay?” Jordan’s tongue felt too big for her mouth, and her throat hurt.

  “Just for the night so we can monitor you.”

  Jordan closed her eyes against a rush of tears. It’d been years since she’d had an attack, and she couldn’t figure out what would’ve caused one out of the blue like this. She tried to put the pieces together, to think about how this could’ve happened, but she was so out of it that the pieces refused to add up. “Someone was there…”

  “Yes, thankfully the Gansett fire chief, Mason Johns, saw the flames and got you out of there. You were barely breathing when he found you.”

  The lips. She remembered the lips. Had they been Mason’s lips?

  “My chest hurts.”

  “I know.” Katie’s eyes and demeanor were kind and caring.

  Jordan wanted to beg her not to leave. “The house…” Nikki would kill her after the time and effort she and Riley had devoted to remodeling it.

  “From what I heard, the fire was contained to the roof and chimney, and the fire department got there quickly. The house should be fine.”

  The flood of relief made it easier to breathe.

  Katie set the mask back in place, over Jordan’s nose and mouth. “Shane called Riley to let them know what happened.”

  Jordan absorbed that info with a sinking feeling. Nik and Riley had been so excited to spend her rare night off on the mainland to shop for their upcoming wedding.

  “Slim is flying them back to the island. They should be here soon.”

  She felt sick knowing she’d caused their getaway to be ruined, not to mention that Nik would be panicked to hear Jordan was in the hospital—again.

  No matter how hard Jordan tried, she couldn’t stay awake, but the noises of the machines kept causing her to jolt awake, as if she’d been dreaming of being chased and came to at the critical moment of being caught.

  One of the times, she awakened to see a large man sitting in the chair next to her bed. In the murky light, she could make out only the shape of him, and at first, she thought she was still dreaming. His arm was in a sling, and a white bandage on his forehead stood out in stark relief against tanned skin.

  “Hey.” He leaned in toward the bed. “I’m Mason Johns from the fire department. Katie asked me to sit with you while she tends to another patient. How’re you doing?”

  She fumbled with the mask over her mouth and managed to remove it. “I’m okay. You were the one who rescued me.” Her chest hurt a little less than it had earlier, which she took as a good sign.

  “That was me.” His deep voice projected warmth, empathy and competence.

  They’d been his lips, then. “Thank you.”

  “No problem.”

  “Your arm and your head. Did that happen when you rescued me?”

  He smiled, the flash of straight white teeth visible from the glow of the monitors. “Nah, that happened before, when I crashed my bike.”

  Jordan was a sucker for a good smile, and his was excellent. “How did you do that?”

  “I like to ride on the paths out by the bluffs, and there’s this one little hill that’s like a ramp. I was on the ramp when I noticed the flames and smoke coming from your place, got distracted, and next thing I knew, I was flat on my back. My elbow took the brunt of the fall and was dislocated.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Hurt like a mother-you-know-what when they put it back where it belongs.”

  “You rescued me with a dislocated elbow.”

  “I did.”

  “That’s very heroic.”

  He laughed. “Not really. It’s kind of my job.”

  She liked the sound of his laugh almost as much as his voice and wanted to hear more of both. “Have you been a firefighter a long time?”

  “About fifteen years now, but you shouldn’t be talking. You need to put the oxygen mask back in place.”

  Jordan made a face that she hoped conveyed her displeasure. “I don’t like it.”

  “No one does, but you need it.”

  “I feel better.”

  He affected a stern expression. “Doctor’s orders.”

  She scowled at him. “And here I thought you were nice.”

  He laughed again. “I am nice, and I want you to get better.”

  Katie came into the room. “How’s the patient?”

  “She doesn’t like the mask.”

  “No one does.” She checked the monitors and said, “Your oxygen saturation is better than it was. I think we can switch to the nasal cannula.”

  “Oh yay,” Jordan said.

  Katie smiled at Jordan’s lack of enthusiasm. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Congrats on the upgrade,” Mason said.

  “I guess it’s better than the mask, but what I really want is to get out of here.”

  “That’s not happening tonight.”

  She stuck her bottom lip out. “I know. I heard.”

  “It’s better to let them monitor you before you leave. You wouldn’t want to have problems when you’re home alone.”r />
  “I won’t be home alone. They called my sister and her fiancé. They’re on their way back to the island now.”

  “You won’t be happy to see them?”

  “I feel bad that their night away got cut short because of me. They were looking forward to it.”

  “I’m sure they’re concerned about you.”

  “And how their house nearly burned down on my watch.”

  “They won’t blame you.”

  “What happened, anyway?”

  “Not sure yet, but if I had to guess, something sparked the roof, which sparked the chimney and forced smoke into the house. My guys are investigating. We should know more in the morning.”

  “You’re the boss, huh?”

  “Yep. I’m the fire chief.”

  “I heard I got saved by the big boss.”

  “That’s right,” he said, smiling. “Some of the guys were jealous because I got to rescue you.”

  “Because they know who I am.” That left her feeling deflated. Of course they’d seen the video. Mason probably had, too.

  “I guess so.”

  She turned her head toward him. “You don’t know who I am?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe, but only because I saw your show a few times.”

  “You did?” Jordan found that shocking. “Seriously?”

  “Yes,” he said, laughing. “It was good. But for the most part, I don’t follow social media or pop culture. I’m told I’m a dinosaur.”

  “I find that rather refreshing.”

  “I don’t get why people have to live their whole lives online. I’d rather be riding my bike or out on a boat or anywhere other than chained to a computer or phone. Although I can’t go far without my phone, especially this time of year.”

  She chose not to mention her ten million Twitter and five million Instagram followers to someone who disdained social media. “The summer is busy for you.” In all the years she’d been coming to Gansett for the summer, she’d never once considered what the season would be like for public safety workers.

  “It’s insane.”

  “Do you hate it?”

  “Nah. Fortunately, it’s only a couple of months. The rest of the year is a cake walk in comparison. What about you? Is there a busy season in your job?”

  Jordan thought about that for a minute. “I’m not really working right now.” Her attorney and best friend, Gabrielle “Gigi” Gibson, was working to try to get Jordan out of the contract for the last season of their show. Jordan and Zane were her biggest clients. She’d also starred as Jordan’s sidekick on the show, which had made Gigi a celebrity in her own right.

  Jordan also had a divorce to contend with, but nothing could happen there until Brendan got out of rehab. “I’m trying to figure out what’s next.”

  “Gansett is a good place to do some thinking. A lot of people come here to regroup.”

  “I guess.”

  Katie returned with the nose prongs, which were a big improvement over the mask, but Jordan had always hated them, too. She’d had far too much experience with medical breathing equipment to like any of it.

  “Better?” Katie asked as she removed the mask and the tubes attached to it.

  “Much. Thank you.”

  “Do you need anything?”

  “I’m actually kind of hungry.”

  “I am, too,” Mason said. “How about I make a run to Mario’s for us?”

  “You don’t have to do that. You must be wanting to go home after working all day, not to mention your elbow has to be killing you.”

  “It’s fine. I don’t have anything else to do tonight, and we’re both hungry.”

  “If you’re sure it’s not a problem.”

  “I’m sure. What do you like?”

  “A house salad with vinaigrette would be great.”

  His brows furrowed comically. “That’s an appetizer. What do you want for a meal?”

  “That is a meal for me.”

  “That’s not enough. I’ll get a pizza. You can have some of that.”

  “I’ll only eat cheese or veggie. I’m a vegetarian.”

  “I can do that. Be right back.” He stood to his considerable height and was gone before Jordan could object to his desire to feed her.

  She couldn’t recall the last time she’d had pizza, but the thought of it had her mouth watering in anticipation. “That is one tall dude,” she said to Katie.

  “I know. I asked him once how tall he is, and he said six-six.”

  “Damn.” That made him more than a foot taller than her five-two.

  “Nicest guy you’ll ever meet. Everyone loves him.”

  Jordan wondered why Katie was telling her that. Was she playing matchmaker? Because the last thing in the universe Jordan was interested in was anything having to do with the male species. She was done with men and all the nonsense that came with them. The last one had nearly killed her, and had ruined her interest in other men.

  She agreed that Mason seemed like a nice guy. He would make some lucky girl very happy someday. That lucky girl was not going to be her.

  While Mason was gone, Jordan dozed and dreamed and woke to the scent of pizza. “You’re back.”

  “I told you I would be.”

  Jordan was conditioned to expect nothing so she wouldn’t be disappointed, which forced her to admit she hadn’t actually expected him to come back. Brendan would’ve gotten sidetracked by a fan or a post or a video or something and forgotten all about her being hungry. That’s what she was used to. She started to push herself up in the bed.

  “Hang on.” Mason found a button on the side of the bed that did the work for her.

  “That’s handy.” Until she’d tried to sit up, she’d had no idea how exhausted she was. Between the asthma attack and the lingering effects of the sleeping pill, she had the coordination of a weak kitten.

  Mason set the food on a tray, dropped the rail on the side of her bed and rolled it in close enough for her to reach.

  “Thank you. It was nice of you to bring me food.”

  “I’m hungry, too, so no problem.”

  While she picked at her salad, he dove into a meat-lover’s pizza, devouring three slices in the time it took her to take five bites of lettuce and cucumber. Mario’s always included shaved parmesan cheese on their house salad, which she loved.

  Mason put a piece of cheese pizza on a paper plate and pushed it in her direction.

  Jordan eyed it with lust in her heart. The days of having to watch everything she ate had ended with her reality TV career, but the habit of denying herself was so ingrained as to be almost impossible to overcome.

  He pushed it another inch closer. “I told them to keep two slices meat-free for you. You’re not going to let me down, are you?”

  “You’re the devil.”

  A smile lit up his warm eyes. “You had a close call tonight, superstar. At this point, I’d be asking myself—if this had been it for me, would I be glad I’d given up pizza for years so I could look a certain way? My answer would’ve been hell no.” He gave the plate another nudge in her direction. “Eat the pizza. Dance in the rain. Live your life. You never know how long you’ve got. Don’t have regrets.”

  He would never know how much she’d needed that reminder or how far she’d strayed from living her best life in the last few years. Jordan picked up the slice of pizza and took a huge bite.

  Mason grinned at her, letting her know he wholeheartedly approved of her decision.

  Jordan had never tasted anything better than that sinful bite of cheese pizza. She took a second and third bite in rapid succession.

  “Don’t choke. I’ve already had to save your ass once tonight.”

  She sputtered with laugher and nearly lost the mouthful of pizza. In addition to being bad for her diet, he was also funny and seriously cute, if a six-and-a-half-foot-tall man could be called “cute.”

  His brown hair was streaked with blond highlights, and even though it was only June, his han
dsome face was already as tanned as most people would be by the end of the summer. He must’ve spent a lot of time outside.

  “Thanks for getting the food. It’s really good. I owe you for my half.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I will worry about it.”

  “Suit yourself. I am not worried about it.”

  “I’ll pay you back.”

  “Have some more pizza and stop fretting about things that don’t matter.”

  “Are you always so blunt and bossy?”

  He paused before attacking his fourth piece of pizza. After chasing the bite with a mouthful of water, he blotted the grease from his lips with a napkin.

  Jordan zeroed in on the lips that had breathed air into her lungs and electrified the rest of her, which was so silly. He’d been saving her life, not trying to kiss her.

  “I guess I’m pretty bossy sometimes, because I have to be. Got a lot of younger people working for me, and they require a certain amount of direction.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, for one thing, they all think they deserve an award for showing up. Blaine, the police chief, says it’s because they were raised in the everyone-gets-a-prize generation in which they got certificates and trophies for ninth place. We got them, too, but they didn’t make us feel like we’re special.”

  Jordan laughed. “I’ve got a few of those on my shelf at home.”

  “What did you play?”

  “I was a cheerleader and dance team member, and I played soccer and lacrosse. Lotta trophies and certificates.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  “What else do your people do that annoys you?”

  “They’re cell phone addicted.”

  “Guilty as charged. I was just wondering if you’d thought to grab my phone when you were rescuing me.”

  He gave her a salty look. “Sorry that I was more concerned with the fact that you didn’t appear to be breathing than I was about your phone.” His tone positively dripped with sarcasm.

  Jordan loved sarcasm. “I’ll let it pass this time, but the next time you rescue me, if you could make it a package deal with my phone, I’d really appreciate that.”

  He rolled his brown eyes dramatically. “I’ll make a note of that.”

  “You won’t make a note, because you don’t get it.”