by J. H. Croix
Sylvia nodded firmly. “Well, there you go. I can’t promise that will give you all the answers, but at least you know that. We all have baggage, so don’t go worrying about that.”
Janie nodded slowly and swallowed against the tightness in her throat. She felt buffeted by a mix of emotions—relief at being able to know her own heart, fear for Travis’s immediate safety, and this gnawing anxiety that he was hurt and she couldn’t get to him.
“Mom!”
Janie glanced over to see Stella hurrying over to them. She stood up. “Stella, I told you to stay in the car! What…?”
“But you promised to come tell me once you knew what was going on,” Stella countered.
Janie sighed internally. She’d completely forgotten to let Stella know what was going on in the maelstrom of her worry. Stella reached them and silently handed Janie the car keys before crossing her arms and looking between them. “So?”
“Hon, we’re waiting for them to find Travis and Ben,” Sylvia said, her voice calm and clear. “Sit with me.” She patted the table beside her.
Stella’s eyes swung from Sylvia to Janie—wide with concern. Janie met her gaze, a thread of strength holding her together. “Let’s hope for the best.” Her voice sounded confident and hopeful, but it belied the depth of worry pounding in her heart and tying her in knots inside.
Time crept by. Minutes felt like hours. Janie kept checking her watch to find not much time had passed. Finally, there was a call from one of the hotel entrances. One of the emergency responder teams raced over to the entrance with a stretcher. Janie stood and started to move in that direction, only to have Sylvia grip her arm and hold her in place. “You can’t go over there right now. Wait and see. If it’s him, Darren will tell you right away. They don’t need anyone else in the fire zone.”
Janie closed her eyes and forced herself to stay where she was. She didn’t even know if it was Travis. Logically, she knew Sylvia was right. She would be nothing but in the way if she raced over there. She paced back and forth in front of the small table. Ken had left a while ago to work with the crew and had gone into the hotel himself. The crews appeared to have gotten control of the fire. Flames were no longer streaking up into the sky. Smoke billowed from the dampened fire everywhere. The emergency crews had organized shuttles to get the guests to other nearby hotels, so there were vehicles rotating into the parking lot on the far side, out of the way of the fire crews.
Janie waited and waited to have someone come tell her if they’d found Travis. When she couldn’t wait anymore, she looked to Sylvia and Stella. “I’m not going to get in the way, but I’m going over there…” she gestured to one of the ambulances out of the way “…and find out if that’s Travis.”
She didn’t wait for Sylvia’s reply and jogged over there quickly. Her heart sank when the EMT waiting by the ambulance reported the person brought out of the building was Ben. With her arms wrapped around her waist and hot tears rolling down her cheeks, she trudged back toward where Sylvia and Stella were waiting. She stopped before she got too close and tried to gather herself. She didn’t want to cry in front of Stella, not right now. She looked up into the sky and let the icy air dry her tears. Swallowing down her fear, she gave herself a shake and kept walking.
They both looked to her and didn’t say a word. She knew they knew that it clearly wasn’t Travis on the stretcher. While she was relieved to know Ben was safe and sound, the heart crushing worry she felt wouldn’t dissipate until she knew Travis was out of harm’s way. Time kept crawling by. When she heard another call from the wing furthest away, she stood again and watched while another crew raced to the entrance. An ambulance carrying Ben had left already. She didn’t give Sylvia a chance to grab her arm this time. She called over her shoulder as she raced off. “I’ll stay out of the way!”
She kept her word and stopped at a distance by one of the ambulances. All she could see was the cluster of firefighters surrounding whoever was being placed on a stretcher. The three men carrying the stretcher broke free and aimed directly for the ambulance.
“Janie.”
Startled, she jumped and looked to her side to find Darren right there. “Why don’t you ride with me to the hospital?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. I want to see Travis. I’ll ride with him in the ambulance.”
Darren looked away and nodded abruptly. “Fine. He doesn’t look so good, okay? I just want you to be prepared.”
“Will he be okay?” she asked, shaky inside with her heart hammering away.
“As best as I can guess, probably. Sounds like a beam fell and he broke his leg. He sustained some injuries almost everywhere you can see and his face is bloodied.”
On the heels of the rushing relief at hearing Travis might be okay came a crashing wave of concern. With her heart racing, she waited with Darren by the ambulance. Only when the stretcher was close did she break away and race over. Travis was covered in soot, his gear blackened and dark steaks mingling with the blood on his face. His firefighter gear was so heavy that she couldn’t ascertain any injuries other than his face. She reached the stretcher and looked down. His eyes were closed and his forehead furrowed with pain.
The EMT’s, all of whom were unfamiliar to her so she figured they must be one of the crews from out of town, glanced at her and kept moving. They rolled a cart out and lifted the stretcher onto it. She curled her hands on the rail and looked for where she could touch Travis, finally settling to curl her hand over his where it rested on the stretcher. His eyes opened.
“Hey,” she said because that was about all she could manage. She fought against the tears, but one escaped and rolled down her cheek.
He started to shake his head, but grimaced the second he tried to move. She squeezed his hand. He held her eyes. “I’m okay, just a little banged up. Think I might need to borrow Stella’s crutches.” He managed to crack a smile through the soot and blood streaking his face. His attempt at humor sent a wave of emotion cresting inside and she swallowed against the tears.
For a moment, she was jostled out of the way. Darren interjected to let the ambulance crew know she had requested to ride with Travis to the hospital. She released his hand as they got the stretcher into the ambulance. An EMT with an easy-going smile held out a hand and lifted her into the back of the ambulance. Once she was seated beside Travis, the man spoke. “He’s a bit worse for the wear, but he’ll be all right. I’m Evan by the way.”
“You think he’ll be okay?” she asked, too worried about Travis’s state to introduce herself in return.
“Oh, setting that leg break will be hell, but after that, he’ll be okay.”
Travis started to chuckle and grimaced again. “Think I must’ve broken a rib too.”
“Well then, that’ll hurt worse than your leg,” Evan said with a shrug.
Evan got busy hooking Travis up to a monitor and checking his blood pressure. He chatted casually with the driver, leaving Janie to keep her eyes pinned to Travis. Her heart felt cracked open, emotions pouring out inside. She gulped in air, trying to get a handle on herself. Travis asked Evan a few questions, but she didn’t hear a thing he said. When he looked her way again, he gave her hand a squeeze. “Don’t look like that. I’ll be fine. Just a little banged up.”
“I love you,” she blurted out, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to be such an idiot last week. I got all messed up in my head and…”
He squeezed her hand again. “Hey, hey. You didn’t mess up. It’s not like I handled it that great. I showed up and dumped it all on you.” He freed his hand from hers and lifted it to knuckle her tears away. “Love you too.”
His words were raspy from the smoke. She scrambled inside to contain her emotions and tried to stop crying, but the tears kept rolling down her cheeks. He curled his hand over hers and held on through the last few minutes of the ride, which were busy with Evan adjusting a few things hooked up to Travis and checking to make sure his leg was stationary. When they a
rrived at the hospital, Travis was whisked away.
“I’ll be waiting right here,” she said as he was wheeled away.
Chapter 21
Travis slowly came awake. He didn’t remember much from last night after he got to the hospital beyond the doctor telling him he wouldn’t need surgery. He opened his eyes and rolled his head to the side to find he was in Janie’s bedroom. She wasn’t in bed with him, but he could hear the shower running. He carefully moved his leg and was relieved to discover he wasn’t in too much pain. He was sore from head to toe and had a dull pain in his leg. He lifted the covers to see he had a cast up to his knee. He took a deep breath and felt a twinge in his ribs. It was as if he was on an expedition to figure out the extent of his injuries. He had bandaging across his ribs on his right side, along with the cast on his lower right leg. His memories of being inside the hotel were much clearer. He’d just finished escorting a family to the stairwell when he heard something. He’d headed back down the hall, barely able to see through the smoke, and a beam crashed down from the ceiling. He’d managed to roll and get out of the way, but he’d fallen on his right side, likely cracking his ribs and breaking his ankle at once. The beam had pinned his ankle, trapping him in place.
It had been a long wait for the crew to find him. The hotel was sprawling with long hallways. Trying to keep his mind off his precarious situation, his thoughts had circled back to Janie over and over again. By the time he was carried out, the relief he felt at seeing her had been immense. A sense of elation mingled with relief rose inside when he recalled her telling him she loved him. He might not remember much after that, but those words were crystal clear in his mind and heart. The water stopped running, and he pushed himself up, propping the pillows up behind him. He leaned back with a sigh just as Janie stepped out of the bathroom.
She wore a fluffy green robe. Her damp hair hung about her shoulders, and her skin was flushed from her shower. One look at her, no matter his battered state, and a jolt of lust shot through him. She froze where she was, her eyes locking with his. A long week without her and seeing her felt so damn good, he wanted to grab her and yank her into his arms. He held a hand out, beckoning her to his side. As she walked to the bed, the air between them hummed, alive with the current of their connection.
She sat down on the edge of the bed, lacing her fingers into his. “How do you feel?”
“Fine. Don’t remember a damn thing after I got to the hospital, except the doctor saying I wouldn’t need surgery. What happened after that?”
Her eyes skated over him, sending little jolts through him. All he wanted was her. Now. Damn his condition. “Well, they gave you a sedative before they set your leg. They cleaned you up and turned you over to me. I guess you don’t remember me, Stella and my mom hauling you inside, huh?”
He chuckled and shook his head. Her eyes were worried and kept scanning him. “You sure you feel okay?”
“I’m a little sore. I’m sure it won’t be good for me to laugh too hard, or put any weight on my right leg, but all in all, I feel fine. Stop looking at me like that.” He didn’t like seeing her worried, although a part of him soaked it up.
Her eyes narrowed. “You were trapped in a fire and had a beam fall on you! I get to be worried.”
His heart skipped a beat, and he squeezed her hand. “Okay, be worried, but I feel fine. I’ll be sore and my ribs will annoy the hell outta me, but once I’m off the crutches, I’ll be back to normal.”
Her eyes held his, her gaze softening. She squeezed his hand in return. “I know. Last night was…hard. I was so scared and so worried, and it felt like forever.”
He released her hand and reached up to brush a damp lock of hair away from her face. “I know. Let’s not dwell on it. Like I said, I’m a little banged up, but otherwise good.”
He couldn’t resist trailing his fingertip along the soft, flushed skin of her neck. He followed the edge of her robe, tracing her collarbone and into the valley between her breasts. He didn’t much care for anything other than to touch as much of her as he could right now. When he slipped his hand under the edge of her robe to trace her nipple, her breath drew in sharply.
“Stop it! You are in no shape for this…” Her words trailed off on a gasp when he lightly pinched her nipple.
He saw the dark passion flickering in her gaze even as she shook her head and started to move away. He didn’t give her a chance to pull away. He reached for her and pulled her into his lap. He might not have the finesse to do it smoothly at the moment, but she was in his lap. A bundle of soft curves, her skin dewy from the shower and so tempting, he ignored her protests and dipped his head to start a trail of wet kisses into the valley between her breasts. When she shifted in his lap, her robe got caught on her knee and a breast popped out. He glanced up through his lashes before swirling his tongue around her nipple and biting down softly. At her sharp cry, he smiled against her skin before leaning back.
He could feel the wet heat of her against his rock-hard cock. The thin cotton of his briefs was the slightest deterrent. She’d ended up straddling him, which he didn’t think she’d intended when he yanked her into his lap, but it worked for him. She was completely bare under her robe, and damn was he pleased about that. Oblivious to the dull pain in his leg and ignoring the twinges in his ribs, he pushed her robe off her shoulders and cupped her breasts, dragging his thumbs back and forth over her taut nipples.
“Travis…” his name came out on a husky sigh. “We can’t do this.” She started to wiggle away, which only served to create friction between them.
He arched into her and grinned when her lips parted and a low moan escaped. “Sure we can. All we have to do is…” He paused to drag his hand down over her abdomen and sift through her curls to her slick folds. She was hot, wet and ready no matter what she said. “This,” he said as he slid one finger and then another into her channel.
Her eyes fell closed and her hips rolled into his touch. He tangled his free hand in her hair and pulled her down for a kiss. She didn’t resist, her lips coming against his swiftly. He poured himself into their kiss—licks, strokes, nips and kisses. He couldn’t get enough. All the while, he plunged his fingers into her channel again and again and again. She abruptly tore her lips away. Her body nearly vibrated around him. “If we’re doing this, I want to feel you inside of me,” she said, her words breathy.
He wasn’t about to argue. She pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you move. Let me do the work,” she ordered.
Fine by him. She shimmied her hips back, and he regretfully let his fingers slide out of her. She curled her hand over his cock, giving it a rough stroke over his briefs. He was so ready, he almost came right then and there. He latched onto his control and held on as she carefully dragged his briefs down, just far enough for his cock to spring free. He had to fight to hold still. The truth was, even if he wanted to move much, he really couldn’t. Not with his leg and ribs. With her straddling him, he could manage all of this, but anything else and he’d end up on the floor.
She dipped her head and dragged her tongue along each side of his cock before taking him fully into her mouth. Holy hell. Her mouth worked him like magic until he was so close to the edge, he cried her name hoarsely. She lifted her head and rose up over him. He suddenly recalled he had no idea where his clothes were and had no clue if there was a condom anywhere in the vicinity. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “Wait.”
Opening his eyes, he found hers on him, dark with passion and need. It took all of his discipline to speak. “I don’t even know if I have a condom here,” he choked out.
“It’s okay. I started the pill a while ago. I didn’t want to have to worry, so…” She flushed and lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “If it’s okay…”
“Oh, it’s more than okay,” he said with alacrity.
She reached between them and guided him to her entrance. She held still for a long moment, teasing him with her wet heat, before she sank down deeply, seating herself aga
inst him and bringing him fully inside of her. His eyes fell closed and he groaned, nearly drunk at how good it was to feel her without any barriers between them.
Travis stroked a palm up her spine, bringing her closer to him as she started to slowly rock her hips against his. Already verging on a climax, Janie bit her lip and tried to corral the wild pleasure tearing through her. It felt so good—so, so good—to have his hot length filling and stretching her. She hadn’t realized how desperate she was to be this close to him until he touched her. It was as if she’d been parched of thirst and a drop of water fell. Now, she couldn’t get enough and soaked in every subtle touch—where their skin slid together as they rocked, the heat of his hand on her back, his lips trailing kisses along her neck, and him rocking deeper and deeper into her with each moment.
“Janie.”
She opened her eyes and collided with the blur of his blue gaze. He reached between them and barely dragged his thumb across her clit, right where they were joined. That was it. Pleasure burst through her with such force, tremors wracked her. His cry joined hers as his body tightened. She felt his release inside. His hand slid down her back and his head fell forward, resting between her breasts. She resisted the urge to collapse against him, mindful that she might’ve lost her mind and allowed this with him injured, but she wasn’t going to make matters worse.
She stroked a hand through his hair, a wave of emotion rolling through her. She was so relieved he was safe, so relieved to know he just needed some time to heal, and so relieved to be this close to him again—right where she belonged. He lifted his head. “I love you,” he said, his voice gruff.