Page 4 of Hot Touch (Love To The Rescue #3)

“Let’s get out of here,” he ordered. I nodded. Then he moved in closer as I moved to meet him, and when I was within reach, he stopped. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I nodded and coughed, ready to get out of this place.

He took his mask off, and even though there was something covering his nose and mouth, I was shocked as I stared into the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. And my heart did this funny thing in my chest.

“Here,” he ordered. I looked at what he was offering me. “It’s oxygen,” he shared, and I coughed.

“Shouldn’t you have that?” I asked because he was the one who essentially knew what he was doing and how he was going to get out of us here. I’d be okay holding my breath if I needed to. But he simply shook his head, his gaze never wavering from mine, making me want to trust him.

“We can take turns.” He winked, and I nodded.

I put it over my face and breathed in fresher, cleaner air.

The big fireman’s arms wrapped around my shoulders, and my body stiffened.

Shocked I’d been so distracted by the oxygen I hadn’t noticed he was about to pick me up.

I squeaked, making an embarrassing noise, when he lifted me up.

Not in a fireman hold over his shoulder like you would expect.

Nope. This beautiful blue-eyed hero lifted me up like a groom would his bride.

My arms instinctually wrapped around his shoulders.

“I can walk.” My voice cracked, and I could have sworn he smirked or cracked a smile with the way those beautiful blue eyes brightened. He shook his head.

“You’re not wearing shoes, baby.” He held me like I weighed nothing.

“No, I’m serious,” I argued, seriously self-conscious and worried this man’s back would suddenly give out on him under my weight. “I can get some. They’re just in my closet. You’re going to hurt yourself—“ But he wasn’t listening to me.

He simply started to walk like he could carry me like his very own bride all day, every day. The heat from my living room shocked the breath out of me, and I gasped. It was hot, and the air was thick.

“Tuck your head into my neck, baby,” he ordered, and I nodded. But before I did what he asked, my head popped up and our eyes connected.

“You want your oxygen back?” I asked. He shook his head.

“Keep it, baby.” Baby? Maybe it was just something fireman called people to keep them calm? Growing up, my mom would call all our friends baby and honey when she’d pick us up from school or games, and it always made them feel like they were a part of the family.

“Tuck your face back in.” I nodded at his order and did as he asked. I could have sworn he’d said good girl, but I wasn’t sure. No, it had to be my imagination.

The moment we stepped out of my apartment, I’m not ashamed to admit I shut my eyes and tucked in closer to him.

The material of his uniform was rough, but his body felt good against mine.

Like he was big enough and strong enough to shield me against anything, the world if he needed to.

A daddy , a voice in my head piped up. I pressed my lips together.

A daddy like in some of my favorite romance novels.

I mean, logically, I knew he was just doing his job.

But in that moment, I let my own delusion win.

Letting my own thoughts drift to what it would be like to have a man in my life, a partner who would take care of me with the gentle, tender way the fireman with the beautiful eyes was doing.

Overprotective without being overbearing.

Someone sweet and kind who wouldn’t mind me cuddled up next to him while I read and he watched some game or movie.

I clung to him a little tighter.

If I made it through this, I would join a dating app. I’d go on dates and have one-night stands. I’d experience life, sex, and passion. Maybe get lucky and find love?

Cool, fresh air hit my legs before I felt it along my body, letting me know we’d made it out of the literal inferno I’d woken up to.

The air was a lot colder than I’d expect from a late summer night, or maybe the temperature difference was a lot higher because of the fire we’d literally walked through; I wasn’t sure.

I just knew my skin was covered in gooseflesh and I shivered.

But he didn’t stop and ask me to get down. To be fair, I didn’t stop clinging to him like he was the only thing that made sense.

Without beathing heavily, my blue-eyed fireman kept walking.

Carrying me without panting as he moved farther and farther from the building.

I could feel people around us, hear people talking to one another as well as into walkie talkies, but I didn’t glance up.

For a moment, I could have sworn I felt his nose brush against my temple and breathe into my hairline. I wondered if he thought I smelled.

When he deemed us to be far enough from the building, he stopped walking. “Let me look at you, babe,” he ordered gruffly.

I pulled my head out of his neck and glanced up.

Those bright, beautiful blue eyes bore into me, and it felt like time stopped.

I’d always heard the saying. Read it in books.

But I had never experienced it. Until now.

Now it made sense. I swallowed while trying to make sense of it.

Like somehow, someway, I was looking into the eyes of someone I knew.

Who knew me. Who saw me. Someone who I was in my own world with.

But that was crazy! I knew I’d never met the man, who was still carrying me in his arms like I belonged to him.

I couldn’t make out the features of his face or the color of his hair, but the lines at the outer edges of his eyes crinkled as if he liked to smile.

And something about that made my heart flutter while something warm and squishy washed through me.

“Nate!” a deep voice called out, snapping us out of whatever weird bubble we’d been in. Or more than likely, I had been in. For all I knew, he thought I was some weirdo girl just staring up at him adoringly. Something I was sure a man like him was used to. The voice got closer.

“You good?” the deep voice called from behind me, but neither of us broke eye contact.

I watched him nod. His hands gripped my body tighter, closer to his, as if he wasn’t ready to let me go.

I heard faint footsteps near behind me but couldn’t look away from the shockingly blue eyes that felt like they could see right through me and somehow still liked what they saw.

Outside, under the darkness of the sky and glow of the moonlight, they almost looked like they were glowing.

“There’s my girl.” I blinked and shook my head. There is no way he said that, right? It had to be wishful thinking . Is that a symptom of smoke inhalation? I’d have to look that up.

“I got her,” the voice behind me called, and I could have sworn the fireman carrying me growled. Actually growled. My eyes widened, and when he noticed, they softened. Almost like he wanted me to know it wasn’t me he was upset with.

“No,” he said in a deep, almost pissed-off tone.

“Nate, you need to get checked out,” the guy said, giving me the name of the fireman who felt like home. Daddy has a name.

“How long were you without a mask?” the guy behind me asked, but the fireman named Nate, or maybe it was short for Nathan, shook his head. Determination shined in his blue eyes.

“Doesn’t matter. Let me take her to your rig,” he muttered.

“Man.” I turned to see the paramedic who was arguing with him. “What is…” The paramedic’s voice drifted, and I watched as a brow rose. Almost knowingly. Like they were somehow silently communicating with one another. The paramedic put his hands up in front of him.

“Okay. Fine.” His hand dropped as the other rose and scratched the back of his neck. “What the hell do I know?” he muttered and waved. “Come on, my rig’s over here.” He turned on his boot and led the way. I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling this wasn’t the protocol of how things were supposed to go.

“Is everything okay?” I asked when I turned my attention back to the fireman.

“Now it is,” he replied gruffly, taking me to the ambulance. Before I knew it, he sat down on the edge of the back of the ambulance and pulled me into his lap instead of setting me on the waiting gurney.

“Can I do my job now?” the medic asked. Nate grunted, and his manly brows bunched before his hand pulled the balaclava off his face. My mouth ran dry as I stared at the most handsome man I’d ever seen. He was beautiful. His eyes, still intense, stared at the medic like he wanted to argue.

“Can’t Kara do it?” he protested almost adorably. I wasn’t sure what was happening.

“She’s kinda helping other people, Nate,” the medic reminded him.

“Fine,” he muttered, obviously not happy with it. When the paramedic went to him, he shook his head. “Not me, Ron. Make sure she’s okay first,” he ordered, and my eyes widened. He’d been the one who had literally walked through smoke and fire without a mask.

“Umm, okay,” Ron sounded slowly, turning his attention towards me.

“Since Nathan is being a little weird at the moment, would you mind me checking you out?” I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could make a sound, Nate let out a loud animal-like growl all over again, and Ron simply rolled his eyes.

“First,” he corrected. “Let me check you out first. Come on, man.” He turned his attention the sexy fireman.

“You do know I’m married to Evie. You remember her, right?

” Nate grunted, and when his eyes connected with mine, those blue eyes darkened almost possessively.

Possessively? Had we stepped into some weird alternative universe when we crossed the threshold of my apartment? Men were never possessive of me. Not even slightly interested.

Ron kneeled, and with an iPad in hand asked me some questions.

After that, he took my vitals, and only then did my fireman let him check him out.

My fireman. I wanted to shake my head and stop myself from thinking about him that way, but I couldn’t.

I simply sat on his lap while the paramedic took his vitals and hooked him up to an oxygen machine to be preventive.

The paramedic recommended I head to the hospital since I’d been inside the smoke-filled building for a long time and I kept coughing. I wanted to tell him no, that I would be fine. But I didn’t get a chance to shake my head before Nathans talked me into it.

“Come on. Let’s go make sure everything is okay, and we can go home from there.”

Home. My eyes drifted to the building. For the most part, it seemed the fire had been extinguished. The old dingy white paint seemed dirtier now, covered in soot. All the tenants were outside, some of them in ambulances heading to the hospital themselves. Home.

What home?

I swallowed and set a thin-lined smile on my face as I agreed. I just had to make sure I was okay, thank the sexy fireman for keeping my head above water, and then I would figure out the million and one things I needed to get done.

Like finding my phone and calling my sisters and securing a new place to live.