Fireman Daddy (Crescent Cove 8.50)

Her face went slack with shock. “Really?”

“Pretty sure you have a good reference.”

She grabbed my hands. “I do. And not just Jake.”

I grinned. “Good, because I’m pretty sure I’m going to go kick your brother’s ass.” I stalked off the elevator and down the hall.

Ben was talking to a doctor near a cracked open door. I walked right past them into the room, the younger EMT sputtering for me to wait.

Nope. There was no way I was taking another minute to wonder and stress over what Jake looked like.

Or just how hurt he was.

A curtain shrouded the bed, and I recognized the boots set on top of a chair. Definitely Jake’s. I swung the curtain wide open before I stopped to think that I didn’t have a right to do this.

It didn’t even occur to me. He was just mine.

“How dare you.”

He wore a hospital smock and still had his work pants on. His uniform shirt was nowhere to be seen. His deep dark eyes opened, tired and sooty where the crinkles dug deep into his face from being outdoors all the time. An oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth. His arm was in a sling, but otherwise, he looked okay.

A few bruises maybe.

Relief jacked up my anger. “You didn’t think I’d come here for you?”

Surprise dented the exhaustion. He tried to pull the oxygen mask down. “Freckles—”

I pushed the mask back up on his face. “No. I get to talk right now. You just keep that thing on. You scared me, dammit. Walking away with that smile on your face like you’re going to be mine for all time. Then you don’t want me here. That is not going to happen, buster.”

His hand flexed, and anger sparked in his eyes. He pulled the mask down. “You’re the one who talked to Maitland. What was I supposed to think?”

I gripped the edge of his bed. “Your firefighters told on me? Like I was doing something wrong?”

“What was I supposed to think?” His voice was rusty, as if he’d been coughing for days. “You keep telling me you’re leaving.”

I shut my eyes against the threatening flood of tears. “You’re right. Then again, I’m new at all this stuff. I don’t move at the speed of light like you do. I’m a normal person who needs to think things through a little.”

“Yeah? So, why are you coming in here—” He started coughing and lifted the mask to suck in a few lungfuls of straight oxygen.

I pushed the hospital table out of my way. “Jake.”

“I’m fine.”

I pushed the mask over his mouth again. “You sit there, Jake Mills, and let me do the talking this time.”

He grinned behind the mask and gestured for me to continue.

I shook my hair back. I could see the streaks of white paint in my wild curls from my periphery. God only knew what I looked like right now, but I didn’t care. “I told Maitland to keep driving—not to even park his big fancy car. I told him Sharkey’s was mine. I’m not going anywhere.”

Jake’s eyes were wary.

“I love you, Jake. I’ve always loved you.”

He tried to sit up, but I pressed him back.

He shoved the mask away. “You can’t say that to me and think I’m going to be laying down the first time you fucking say it.”

He pulled me down with his good arm and covered my mouth with his own. He smelled like smoke and wet ash. I tunneled my fingers through his hair and held on to him.