Page 7 of Smokin’ Situation (Masked Men of Sage Springs #3)

“But what about your vehicle?”

“It’ll be fine. I’m sure I can get one of the guys from the station to bring it to me or pick me up. I’m more concerned about you getting rehydrated right now.”

Nodding, I did as he instructed, slowly taking sips of the electrolyte drink until the bottle was empty, waiting patiently until he had another one mixed before I let him help me sit up.

He stayed close, moving a chair in front of me and letting his large thighs bracket my knees while I rested my head against the side of the tent, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths.

The nausea I’d felt earlier had slowly subsided, and as the liquid in the bottle diminished, my headache eased.

Now I was just left with the lingering embarrassment I felt at having fainted in this man’s arms. He spent the morning trying to escape my awkward small talk, but was now having to spend the evening babysitting me because I was too stubborn to take care of myself like a normal human being.

“I’m sorry I derailed your day,” I whispered, trying to avoid his steady gaze .

But he dipped his head, moving into my line of sight as his large hand closed over mine. “Are you kidding? This made me feel useful for the first time in months.”

“Well…thank you. Clearly, your timing was impeccable since you showed up right when I needed you.”

“I should have trusted my instincts and shown up earlier instead of watching you from across the crowd. Maybe if I’d been a little more proactive, I could have helped you out sooner.”

Biting the corner of my lip, I worried the dry skin between my teeth for a moment before I looked up at his gentle smile. “You were watching me?”

“You’re kind of hard not to notice.”

He held my gaze, his fingertips grazing my knee, and my stomach flipped, a wave of something completely opposite of the nausea I’d felt earlier causing my breath to stutter.

“Hey, I—” Baker’s voice cut through the sudden tension, and I averted my gaze as Tripp sat upright, turning toward his coworker with a frown. “Sorry for interrupting.”

“You’re not—”

“It’s not—”

My voice overlapped with Tripp’s, and Baker’s eyes widened as his shoulders shook, clearly entertained by the scene he thought he’d interrupted. It had seemed kind of like a moment, but it’d been so long since I’d had one of those with another guy, I’d almost forgotten what that felt like.

“Anyway, now that most of the crowd has cleared out, I wanted to see if you could come help break things down so we can get out of here before it gets dark. I got one of the EMTs to spare a bag of IV fluids for the patient here.” He motioned to the woman I hadn’t noticed standing behind him.

She stood at the entrance of the tent, a bag of fluids held above her head in one hand and a small bag of supplies in her other.

“Sure thing,” Tripp confirmed, squeezing my knee before he stood. He pinned me with a significant look. “I meant what I said earlier, you’re not in any condition to drive. When I return, you’d better be here.”

“Yes, Sir, I’ll be a good girl,” I joked, and his eyes flared with heat before he nodded and followed Baker out of the tent.

“Hey, I’m Daisy. I’ll get this hooked up and let you rest for a bit.”

Nodding, I held out my arm for her to get the line started, knowing that I needed to go along with it because I couldn’t afford to be out of commission with the fatigue I knew would eventually hit me.

She reached up on her toes to hang a hook from the bar above our heads, going through the motions I’d seen my sister do countless times for our grandmother toward the end of her life. I’d also been Reese’s pin cushion when she was in nursing school and wanted to perfect her IV skills.

“I’ll check back in on you in a bit to take it out. Do you need anything?”

Waving her away, I sat back, closing my eyes and drifting off as I let the IV do its thing.

“Do you need help with her?” Baker’s voice was much quieter than I was used to it sounding as I tried to wake myself up.

Reaching for my arm before I opened my eyes, my fingers met a Band-aid in the crook of my elbow, the fluids clearly long gone. I wondered how long I’d been asleep, but I felt much better than I had the last time I’d awoken in the same tent.

“Nah, I got it. Once I get her keys, I’ll take her back to the Springs. Sounds like she was planning to stay at the apartment above the bar tonight.” Tripp’s voice was a low whisper, but it still had the same effect on me as it had earlier .

“Okay, I’ll drive your truck over there and leave the keys with Hudson if you’re not back by the time I need to head to the station. The Chief is worried about this weekend and wants to make sure the rapid response team is briefed in case something happens that we need to mobilize.”

“Do I need to come back to the station tonight?”

“No,” Baker sighed, his gaze flitting to me briefly as I blinked against the haze of fatigue. “This is just for the salaried squad. Volunteers are back on call as needed. Just keep your cell charged in case they need to call you in.”

Tripp nodded and then turned his attention back to me, a small smile pulling at the corner of his lips while he crouched down and picked up my hand, inspecting the Band-aid with a gentle fingertip. “Looks like they got ya all patched up. You ready to go?”

When I looked over his shoulder, Baker was long gone, presumably to take Tripp’s truck to the bar so he could finally escape the train wreck he’d been stuck with for half the day.

“Yeah, but are you sure it’s not too much trouble? I’m sure you have somewhere else you’d rather be right now than babysitting me.”

“Nah, just headed back to an empty cabin, so you’ve saved me from another long night of boredom.”

“No roommates?” I asked, unable to stifle my curiosity about this man.

“Nope, not unless you count the spiders I’ve been re-homing back in the wilderness all week.” Of course, he would be the type to rescue spiders instead of killing them. I had a feeling the sense of chivalry ran strong in this one.

“You don’t have anything better to do than be my knight in shining armor?”

He shot me an amused look as he stood to his full height, slowly pulling me to my feet. I was not a short woman by any means, but my eyes barely crested his shoulder, my breath stuttering in my chest as his stubble scraped against my temple .

“Nope, unfortunately you’re stuck with me, but we both know you’re not a damsel, even if I did technically rescue you…from yourself.”

“Ha, ha.” Looking up at him, I rolled my eyes, earning a deep chuckle that I could feel since our chests were brushing up against each other.

Bracing my hand on his pec, I tried to fight the urge to squeeze the firm muscle beneath my palm.

“I guess if you insist on continuing to expose yourself to my hot mess, the least I can do is offer you dinner once we get to the bar.”

His palm grazed my side, and I swayed at the contact, gasping when he pulled me firmly against his strong, muscular chest.

“You gonna cook for me?”

Laughing, I shook my head as I looked up into his eyes.

At some point, he’d flipped his hat around backwards, and I was trying to ignore how hot it made him look.

“Not unless you’re into cereal for dinner.

But I can offer you some top-notch chicken fingers and tater tots.

They’re quite popular amongst the college kids. ”

“Do I look like a college kid to you?” he asked, the movement of his thumb against the bare skin on my side making me shudder.

“Nope.” His smile widened at my squeaked response. “Definitely a man. A very, very tall, fully grown man.”

“Glad you noticed.”

“Hard not to,” I whispered, taking a step back, my knee giving out as I backed into the cot behind me. He caught me before I toppled backwards, pulling me back against his chest.

“Careful there. Don’t need you doing anything else to hurt yourself tonight.”

“Guess it’s a good thing I’ve still got you around.”

“Guess so,” he murmured, taking a few steps back to let me pass him, but keeping a hand on my side to steady me.

If it were anyone else, I would have shaken off his touch and insisted I was fine, but I had to admit it was nice to be the center of his attention.

Even if it was to keep me from hurting myself.

Thankfully, as the sun sunk down below the ridge, the temperature had also dropped, a breeze prickling my skin as we walked through the remains of the festival and toward my truck in the parking lot that seemed a lot further away than it had this morning.

Shivering, I crossed my arms, knowing that it was just my body trying to regulate my temperature again. But as Tripp pulled me into his side, rubbing his hand up and down the side of my arm, the chill was the last thing on my mind.