by J. H. Croix
“Perfect,” I called to him.
I looked over at Lucy. “How about…”
She stepped to the side of the bucket and started to climb in herself.
“Hey, slow down,” I said quickly. “Let me…”
The second I spoke, she lost her balance and reflexively reached to grab the scaffolding with her injured arm. She cried out and lurched, tumbling off the side of the scaffolding. In a flash, I caught her by her other arm.
For a few seconds, the nearly impenetrable get-the-hell-away-from-me expression fell from her face. Her sky blue eyes were wide, fear reflected in them. I might’ve been calm—because staying calm in the midst of any kind of emergency was what years of training and working as a hotshot firefighter had taught me—but my heart clenched and worry roared through me.
“I’ve got you, Lucy,” I said calmly.
I did. I had a firm grip on her arm. She didn’t weigh much. At all. Her attitude belied her size. She was quiet, her eyes locked to my face, before she nodded sharply.
I didn’t let myself look away from her. I knew Cade had a clear view of what was happening from below, and likely Amelia too.
I adjusted my stance and slowly leaned over, hooking my other hand under Lucy’s armpit. I lifted her up and into the bucket in one swift move. I cradled her against me when I drew her all the way over the side. Once I knew she was safe, I took a slow breath and glanced to her.
“You okay?”
Her eyes flicked away, and she looked at the scaffolding and back to me.
“I guess I should thank you,” she said, only the slightest hint of begrudging in her tone.
Leave it to Lucy to be annoyed I’d saved her from falling two stories and possibly killing herself in the process.
“No need to thank me. It's my job,” I replied with a wink.
Her eyes narrowed. I didn't know what it was about her, but damn she got to me. It didn't matter that she’d just had a pretty serious brush with danger. Now that her safety was certain, I couldn't help but try to tease her. She kicked her legs, her feet bumping against my thigh.
“Okay, you can put me down now. Consider me rescued,” she said with a little laugh.
I hesitated. This was the closest I'd ever gotten to her, and I didn’t want to give it up just yet. She thumped her feet against my thigh again.
“Seriously Levi, you can put me down,” she insisted, her tone flustered.
I reluctantly eased her down, taking care not to jostle her arm that was quite obviously injured whether she’d admit it or not. Once she was on her feet, I looked over at her as I stepped back.
“No sense in lying. How’s your arm?” I asked.
Amelia called up at that moment. “Is Lucy okay?
Lucy sighed and rolled her eyes. “Oh my God. I can talk, you know. I’m fine!”
“Well, don’t get all pissy with me,” Amelia retorted. “You almost fell from up there. We get to be worried.”
I leaned over the side. “She’s safe and sound,” I called, giving Amelia a thumbs up. “Cade, you wanna bring this thing down now?”
I looked back to Lucy. The bucket jostled slightly as Cade started to lower us.
“So? Your arm?”
She met my eyes with an elaborate sigh. “I think I broke it.”
For a moment, I forgot this was Lucy and she was the living, breathing definition of touchy. I stepped to her side and slid my hands down her upper arm, carefully unfolding it. I was moving on reflex. As a hotshot firefighter, I was trained to handle anything and everything, including medical emergencies from minor to major. As my touch traveled along her forearm, I felt the break. She was so petite. She barely reached my chin. I could wrap one hand around her wrist with room to spare.
“Feels like a minor break along your radius,” I murmured.
When I glanced up, her gorgeous blue eyes were inches away. My gaze coasted over her face, taking in her fine-boned features—the slight tilt of her nose, her high cheekbones, the delicate arch of her brow, and her full, perfectly bow-shaped, pink lips, complete with a dimple in the center of her bottom lip. A streak of dirt on her cheek was endearing, if only because it was so out of place on her face.
My gaze landed on the rapid flutter of her pulse in her neck. My cock twitched, my body tightening in response.
I whipped my eyes back up. This was definitely not the time or place for me to be getting hot over Lucy.
I expected her to shove me away, not that there was much space if she did. Yet, she didn’t.
Her mouth twisted with a sigh. “That’s what I figured.”
I’d completely lost track of what I’d said for a moment. The feel of her arm resting in my hands nudged me back on track.
“Amelia mentioned she thought a two-by-four hit you.”
Lucy nodded. “Yeah, the beam fell and hit the two-by-four on the way down. It whacked me good when it flipped over.”
She gave her arm a little tug. “Can I have my arm back?”
I reluctantly let go. This urge to protect her washed over me, an entirely unfamiliar feeling. Up to these last few moments, Lucy had been a challenge I wanted to beat. Always quick to argue, always turning me down, rarely smiling…and beautiful, so fucking beautiful, she took my breath away.
Conveniently, or not, depending on how you looked at it, the bucket we were in jostled again as Cade brought it to the ground, nudging my attention off of Lucy. Amelia rushed over, just as Lucy started to climb out.
“Are you okay? Oh my God, I can’t believe…”
“I’m fine. Can’t you see…”
Their words crossed over each other. Meanwhile, I wrapped my hand around Lucy’s good arm. “Easy. Let’s get you out without jostling that break.”
Lucy spun in my direction, her eyes snapping. “I…”
Amelia cut her off. “Don’t be silly. Let Levi help you,” she ordered.
Amelia was the only woman I knew who might be bossier than Lucy. She was also close to six feet tall and tough as nails. Gorgeous too with her amber hair and eyes, and leggy, curvy build. She was like a sister to me. Good thing because Cade would probably kill any man who took a fancy to her.
He must’ve gotten out of the truck because he materialized at Amelia’s side. I didn’t wait to give Lucy any more time to debate how she was getting out. I climbed out swiftly and reached over, lifting her against me.
Her eyes collided with mine. For a flash, it was as if we were alone. Her body bundled up in my arms, she was warm and relaxed against me. The temptation to drag my tongue along the delicate skin on the side of her neck was so great, I had to grit my teeth.
Reality intruded in the form of Amelia demanding to know if Lucy’s arm was okay. I reluctantly eased Lucy down and stepped back.
“We need to get that break set,” I said, my voice coming out gruff.
Lucy’s eyes flicked to mine again. It felt as if there was an electric current between us.
“That’s it,” Amelia announced. “Let’s go.”
She all but dragged Lucy with her, calling over her shoulder at the last minute.
“Tell your dad I’m driving as fast as I want to the hospital.”
Cade chuckled, his eyes catching mine. “Only Amelia would think she could get advance permission to speed like a madwoman.”
“Well, your dad is the police chief.”
We returned to the rescue truck and headed back to the station. I was unsettled and bothered I hadn’t been the one to take Lucy to the hospital. Which was completely ridiculous.
On the drive back, we got a call to a fire on the outskirts of town. There went the rest of my day.
Chapter 2
Levi
Hours later, going on one in the morning, I stripped down at the station and took a hot shower. I was the last one of our crew at the station. After showering, I made sure everything was locked up in the back and was about to leave when I heard a voice from the reception area.
I walked to the front
and found Lucy sitting in the waiting room. She’d obviously showered since I’d seen her a few hours ago. Her blonde hair was damp, and she was wearing yet another loose T-shirt and a pair of swingy cotton pants. A removable foam cast was on her forearm.
It was rare to see Lucy in anything other than her construction gear. Lucy might almost look like a fairy, but she was one of the toughest women I knew. I’d had a thing for her ever since she moved to Willow Brook when we were in high school together. She'd ignored me then, and she mostly ignored me now. Those moments today when I helped get her off the roof were probably the longest amount of time I’d spent with her alone.
I pushed through the door into the waiting area. “Hey Lucy, what's up?”
She glanced toward me. “Maisie let me in a little while ago and said I could wait,” she said, referring to our call dispatcher. “I just wanted to thank you. Seriously.” Maisie didn’t usually work late, but her fiancée, Beck, had been on duty with us at the fire tonight.
I was surprised. Lucy tended to treat men like they were gum on her shoe, myself included. She stood up as I walked toward her. My body tightened. The way it always did when she was around. She was quiet, two red spots appearing on her fair cheeks. She was usually ignoring me, arguing with me, or glaring at me. It was so rare to not have her doing that, I had to soak it in for a minute.
She couldn't be much over five feet tall, if that. She was slender, but curvy. No matter how hard she tried hide her curves under baggy clothes and her battered construction outfits, it was impossible not to notice. At least not for me.
Every since the first time I met Lucy, I’d been drawn to the bundle of contradictions she was. She was an electrician and a kick ass builder. She could probably hold her own on any construction crew given her skill, yet she’d joined Amelia’s small business and bought into it. They were one of the most sought after construction companies in town due to Amelia’s high-end architectural designs, their solid work and the fact they refused to expand. They took only a few projects every summer and turned down far more than they accepted. Lucy looked at home in her usually worn jeans and t-shirts paired with leather work boots.
With her fair skin, blonde hair and sky blue eyes, her looks belied her personality. At a glance, if you didn't know, you would think she was sweet based on her angelic appearance. Her nose was pert and tipped up. She had fine cheekbones, her brows arched delicately, and she had thick blonde lashes framing her wide blue eyes. To top it all off, she had those perfect lips. Fuck. Not the best idea for me to stare at her. My cock twitched.
She looked apprehensive as she stared back at me. She swallowed, the sound audible in the quiet room.
“Well, that was all,” she said.
“What was all?”
“That,” she said, circling her hand in the air. “I just came to say thanks.”
She shifted on her feet and adjusted her shoulders, her eyes flicking away from me and back again. A wave of protectiveness rolled through me. What the hell was it about her? She just got to me. It wasn't simply that I wanted her—because holy fuck did I want her. When I saw her like this, I wanted to protect her from what I didn’t know. It was so rare for her not to be ignoring me or arguing with me, I didn’t quite know what to do with the feelings welling up inside.
“You don't have to thank me, Lucy. It’s my job,” I finally said.
She nodded, fiddling with a ring on her hand. “I know, but still.”
She went quiet, snagging her bottom lip and her teeth and worrying it. My cock did more than twitch now. I took a breath, willing my cock down. It ignored me. As long as Lucy kept chewing her bottom lip, I was going to have to get a handle on myself.
I nodded again, trying to stay laser focused on the moment. “No problem.” I gestured to her arm in its bright blue cast. “How’s your arm?”
“Oh, it’s good. Just a hairline fracture. They didn’t even put a real cast on it. Just this thing. It’ll be a pain in the ass for work, but I’ll make do.”
“Glad you’re okay.”
She started to turn away.
“Don’t go out that way,” I said quickly. “I don't have the key to bolt this door from inside. I've only got the one for the back. Follow me.”
She swung to face me again, and it occurred to me this was one of the rare times I'd seen her with her hair down. It was almost always stuffed up under a baseball hat or pulled back in a ponytail. I’d had no idea how long it was. The damp golden locks fell in tumbled waves around her shoulders and halfway down her back. She was breathtaking.
She nodded, her cheeks still flushed and followed me as I led the way into the back area. We reached the main door to the crew parking area, and I held it open for her. She unintentionally brushed against me. A jolt of electricity hit me at the brief point of contact. I took a breath and shackled my need, quietly letting her pass before closing and locking the door behind her.
I glanced around the parking lot, expecting to see the little blue truck she drove. When I didn’t, I looked to her. “Where’s your truck?”
She shrugged. “In the shop.”
“Need a ride?”
She took a deep breath and let it out before looking to me and away. She shrugged. When she looked back to me, her cheeks were flushed.
“No thanks.” She paused before continuing. “I told off my landlord,” she said bluntly, a little laugh following.
That came out of left field, but I burst out laughing. Leave it to Lucy to tell off her landlord.
“What the hell did do you do that for?”
She was actually laughing, a rare sight for me. She had a husky, throaty laugh, which didn't help the state of my body. With another sigh, she shrugged.
“He's a fucking asshole, and he wanted to almost double the rent for the summer. It's not that I can't afford it because I probably could, but he just pissed me off. I told him to fuck off. Until I find another place, I was planning to do some serious couch surfing. I'm trying to figure out what to do until a find a new place.”
I wasn’t sure how we got from her truck to this. “I think you might’ve missed the deadline for couch surfing tonight.”
One of her small shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “I’ll call Amelia.”
I couldn't quite believe the next thing I said.
“You can stay with me.”
I swear, I wasn't offering to be selfish. The words slipped out. It’s what I would offer any friend. As soon as I spoke, the implications became clear in my mind. Any proximity with Lucy was probably not a good idea not for me.
I must've startled her because her mouth actually dropped open. She snapped it shut, her eyes narrowing.
“I don't need anywhere to stay,” she said quickly. “I figured I would call Amelia and see if I could crash there tonight. She’ll pick me up.”
I looked down at my watch. It was past one in the morning.
“Have you called her yet?” I asked.
Lucy shook her head. Either she didn't even think about her conundrum until it was too late to ask, or she was being stubborn. No matter what, it was too late to call Amelia. Not to mention she and Cade lived a good twenty minutes outside of town.
“Lucy, at least stay at my place for tonight okay?”
She eyed me skeptically. After a beat, she nodded.
Chapter 3
Lucy
I fidgeted in the passenger seat of Levi Phillips’ truck. I didn't know what the hell I was thinking when I agreed to crash at his place. The only reason I said yes was because it was late, or rather insanely early in the morning. I didn’t want to bother Amelia at this hour and try to find a way to get out to her and Cade’s place when it was a twenty-minute drive. I hadn’t thought to call Amelia sooner, which annoyed me to no end. All in all, I was having a shitty week. I’d swallowed my pride—big time—before stopping by the fire station to thank Levi.
I stayed quiet and tried to calm the restless energy I felt. I hated needing help, but the truth was
I had no great plan for a place to stay on short notice unless I really inconvenienced Amelia. I looked out the window as we drove along. The moon was bright, casting a silvery glow on the mountain ridge in the distance. Swan Lake, a massive lake that served as the centerpiece of Willow Brook, was visible to one side of the road. The town’s namesake was a brook that meandered down from the mountains and fed into Swan Lake. The town’s founders had followed the brook to the lake, hence the town’s name.
The lake glimmered under the moon with the lights of various fishing and hunting lodges reflected in its still, dark waters. Levi turned onto the highway leading out of downtown Willow Brook. He seemed content with the quiet, which was a relief.
I was curious to see where Levi lived. I had a vague idea, but I'd never seen it. Willow Brook, Alaska was a small town with a massive summer population. Tourists poured through town all summer long to hunt, fish, hike, bike, and more. With the town’s proximity to Anchorage, roughly thirty minutes away, it was slightly inland with all the benefits of the mountains and an amazing view of Denali in the distance. We were within proximity to the ocean as well, so visitors could get their ocean fix too. Downtown was quite cutesy. It was an old mining town and had spruced up with lots of cute shopping and restaurants to keep the travelers happy. We got the benefits of a small town with the money of a bigger town.
Aside from the tourism, the town was small enough for the locals that everybody had an idea of who was who and who lived where. All I knew was Levi lived on the west side of town. As he drove through the moonlit night, I wondered to myself what the hell I’d been thinking. Just being this close to him made me jumpy, restless, and hot and prickly all over. Levi had been on a kick a few months back to try to get me to go out to dinner with him. He annoyed the hell out of me, but he’d finally dropped it. I suppose the reason he annoyed me was because he was sexy as sin. My body sure thought so. My mind might not be in agreement with my body, but I couldn't seem to curb the sweet heat that rolled through me whenever I was near him.