Chapter Three
Luke stood outside Greer’s town house door and knocked for the third time.
Music came from inside, and her Jeep was out front. Knowing her, she was locked inside her spare room, painting, oblivious to the rest of the world. Dragging out his cell phone, he threw her a text.
A minute later, she threw the front door open with a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”
“About damn time,” he teased. He was about to step inside but paused. She must have thought she didn’t open the door wide enough, so she pulled it back some more. But that wasn’t it. He couldn’t stop staring.
Stretchy black shorts clung to her hips, and a pink tank top left little to the imagination. A few streaks of paint marred the fabric across her chest, drawing his attention even though he shouldn’t look. He glanced down to avoid her breasts and was met with long, silky bare legs and bare feet with purple-painted nails.
He swept her with a gaze he couldn’t control. Holy shit, he’d never forgotten how pretty she was but this…this wasn’t the reminder he was expecting. His mouth went dry, the tips of his fingers tingled, and it took all his will not to pull her into his arms.
“Uh, what brings you by?” The hesitation in her voice snapped him out of his daze. She’d obviously noticed him checking her out. What was he thinking, ogling her like that?
Sex. Messy, dirty, hot sex.
“Food.” He tried to recover. “You’re coming to dinner with me.”
Amusement lit her face. “Food? Okay, if you’re sure you’re not having a stroke or something.”
She waved him in and turned to shut the door. He watched—he couldn’t help it—and groaned quietly to see how those shorts smoothed over her full, round ass. She looked down at herself, and he felt a pang of chagrin that she’d caught him staring again. How many neighborhood boys had he beat bloody for staring at her the way he was right now?
Too damn many to count. He took his role as her self-appointed bodyguard seriously back then.
Her cheeks flushed pink. “I should change.”
No way. Luke almost blurted the words. He scratched the back of his neck and gave himself a pinch. He needed to turn this around, quick.
“What are you painting?”
Maybe the topic change would put his libido back in its place. She had always been a natural artist. It impressed him how she was technical enough to be a lawyer, yet creative enough to give any contemporary painter a run for the money.
“Just dabbling with something new.”
He followed her down the short hall to the living room, where he plopped down on her white couch. Instinctively, he flipped over his palms and checked the fabric to see if he’d left a grease mark, a silly habit considering he hadn’t been a grease monkey in forever. The television was on and angled so she could see it from the doorway of the room where she painted.
“Dabbling with what?”
Her voice came from the bathroom behind him. “I’m not really sure what it’s going to turn out to be yet.”
Absently, he looked at the television and did a double take. A thin young woman was lying back on a table, her small breasts bare and peaked with dusky nipples. A shirtless man held a tie or belt or something in his hands as he moved between her legs.
Luke’s eyebrows shot up, and he gave a casual look over his shoulder, half expecting Greer to be standing there. Just what the fuck was this? She couldn’t watch an onscreen kiss without looking away or covering her face with a pillow.
His cock twitched, and he adjusted himself with a sly hand. Satisfied that she wasn’t behind him, he whipped back to the TV just in time to see the woman hold her arms out for the man to tie her wrists together. He whispered her name, Anastasia or some shit like that, and leaned down to kiss her.
He shifted his weight on the couch. Greer was addicted to the Lifetime channel, where at most, you might get a flash of tongue. He was pretty sure the guy on screen had just showed a side of dick.
The on-screen woman turned her head, her breasts rising and falling with the heaving of her chest as the man leaned in to kiss her neck. He paused and raised one eyebrow, his face taking on a slightly twisted expression, like he had something more painful or tortured in mind than a simple kiss. But then he started working his mouth down her body, and the chick moaned. His face went hot. Jesus Christ. If he hadn’t shown up, Greer would be watching this all alone.
By herself.
Naughty Greer, getting all worked up. Maybe lying here on the couch while she watched. Maybe sliding her hand inside those tight little black shorts…
“I didn’t know you were a Fifty Shades fan.”
Luke burst off the couch with a hushed curse. Fifty shades of creepy soft porn, or what? Fuck. She snatched a shirt off the back of the couch before going back into the other room. He tempered his breathing—and fuck, his dick needed to behave—while grabbing the remote and flicking the television off.
She’d left the bathroom door open while she dressed. There was a rush of fabric as if she were sliding her legs into her jeans and yanking them up, then the clink of a belt that did nothing for his heated imagination.
She came out with her hair in a messy bun and a V-neck blue tee replacing the little pink tank. It showed the same amount of cleavage, and he wanted to die. He didn’t dare look any lower.
“Did you hear anything about my new shift assignment?”
Tension crept into his shoulders. He’d gotten a copy of her new schedule after his interview for the director position this morning, and contemplated how to talk to her about it on the drive over here. He was her training officer, but he was also her friend, and both sides of him were unhappy with her new schedule. He’d imagined her reaction over and over in his mind and couldn’t think of a single thing that might soften what was coming her way.
“I did. I figured we talk about it over bacon cheeseburgers and fries.” He expected her to protest over the food choice, but she breezed by him, leaving a whiff of coconut perfume in her wake, and checked her lipstick in the hallway mirror.
“Okay.” Her eyes strayed to him in the glass. “You look tense.”
He didn’t want to be obvious about it, but yeah, unpleasant disappointment and anger were churning around in his gut, and it was hard to hide. Putting a hand on her back, he guided her to the door.
“I’ll tell you about it over a beer.”
They were going to need a drink or two.
They drove to Score, the local sports bar. He’d purposely waited until one in the afternoon, hoping the normally huge lunch crowd would be gone so they could talk in relative quiet. He snuck way too many peeks at how the seat belt crossed over her breasts in that damn shirt.
That was it. He was getting her a muumuu for her birthday.
“Hey,” she said softly. “I’m sorry about yesterday. The car accident. I should have used my head more.”
He reached over and clasped his hand over hers. She looked at him, and a tingle raced over his body. She needed his acceptance. As tough as she could be, she’d always had a soft center that craved stability and approval.
“Everything turned out fine. And you learned from your mistake. That’s what’s important.”
“Make a decision and stick to it.”
“Right. Even if it’s hard. Even if it sucks. And trust me, most of the decisions you make in EMS will suck in one way or another. You’ll feel like you haven’t done enough, like you should have done more. Better get used to that, or it will tear you up.”
“Noted.”
She looked disappointed. Probably beating herself up. Always hard on herself, that one. With a cry, she gripped the dash and gasped.
“Watch out!”
A black truck sped past them on the right, nearly swerving into Luke’s vehicle before it veered in front of them. He slammed on the brakes, and the truck kept going, bursting into traffic as it crossed the center lane and headed for the sidewalk.
Letting out a breath, he glanced around to see traffic had mostly stopped all around him. The truck didn’t slow as it jumped the curb, took out the barricade, and crashed into a crumbling brick building on the corner.
“Oh my God!” Greer cried. She waved Luke in the direction of the truck. He was already moving, weaving through the cars in front of him to make the turn lane. She scrambled behind her for a bright yellow safety vest he kept stashed in his truck. Luke made the turn and headed toward the crash.
His heart jumped to his throat.
This block had three connected brick buildings in various stages of demolition to make way for a new strip mall. The truck had nosed into an ancient shoe factory where the top levels were in the process of being taken down. Chunks of brick and large blocks of stone were falling from above, slamming into the cab of the truck.
“I don’t see any movement,” she whispered. Flipping on his flashers, he dug out his cell phone and dialed 911. People had already gathered on the street to gawk.
Luke gave dispatch the location and met Greer on the sidewalk. A large section of brick toppled off the exposed wall, teetering for a moment. The truck had plowed a hole through the wall and the impact must have loosened the already crumbling bricks on the exposed top level.
“Stand back!” he shouted to a handful of people who were getting too close.
Turning to Greer, he grabbed her shoulder. “The building is too unstable. We’re not going any closer.”
She whipped him a look. “We need to see if he’s alive.”
Uncertainty crossed her face as if she realized the danger in what she was proposing. They didn’t have any protective equipment.Getting any closer was suicide. Someone on the sidewalk shouted, drawing their attention to the truck’s driver-side door. It swung open, but their position made it impossible for Luke to see if anyone tried to get out.
With a curse, he headed down the sidewalk, picking his way around a barricade to try and get a better visual. The top of someone’s head was barely visible by the door.
“Luke!” She’d spotted the victim at the same time. She moved to rush ahead, but he grabbed her.
“No!”
“We need to get him out.”
Bricks fell one after another, landing on the truck like gunfire. Then…silence. For a bare second, he considered doing what his friend asked and seeing if they could somehow grab the victim and pull him free. She’d already moved closer—too close for his liking.
“I can see him. He’s bleeding! If I cut his seat belt, we can get him out.” She dug a pair of trauma sheers from the pocket of her vest.
“Get back, Greer.”
“Luke—”
He snagged her vest and held tight. Right now, her newbie instinct to help was in overdrive. It made her a good caregiver, but it was dangerous. Experience and time would temper some of that urgent need and allow common sense to do its job, but until then, she was at risk of putting herself in harm’s way. She needed to be guided—like all new medics did—sometimes with a firm hand.
“I’m telling you not to get any damn closer. If you can’t listen to me, you’re going to go wait in the truck.”
She tried to protest, but he didn’t hear her words. There was a scream from somewhere in the crowd and a mad rush of people fleeing down the sidewalk. He caught the blast of smoky dust from the corner of his eye before a section of wall the length of the building snapped free.
He grabbed Greer around the chest and drove her back into the street as the wall collapsed onto the truck.
Her nails dug into his forearm, her throat moving as if sound was trapped within. He held her in stunned silence, watching as a debris cloud began to clear, revealing the devastation.
The hood and cab of the truck were completely flattened.
It looked like a movie scene, but with the very real smell of dust and vehicle fluids. He clenched his eyes and tightened his hold. The victim…
She struggled against the restraint and turned to him, her eyes wide and disbelieving. The building wasn’t the only thing threatening to crumble.
Her face was sickly white, shock causing tense lines around her eyes. Luke pulled her to him and cradled her face against his chest as if he could protect her from the horror. She stood stiff and hard in his arms.
It was too late.