Chapter Two

Jenny started to run, trotting as fast as she dared in these damned high-heeled pumps. Everyone else had the same idea. People scattered like ants, gathering picnic blankets and baskets and running. Everyone watching the band, as well as the band itself, ran away. People at the booths hurried to take them down. Her mind screamed at her. No, no. Leave it behind. Find shelter!

She dashed toward their booth, ready to warn Manny, but as she ran she didn’t see him anywhere nearby. She didn’t have time to think, because a moment later the wind grew fierce, whipping her hair into her face. Clouds above her turned counter clockwise, and she prayed if a tornado came down right here it wouldn’t land on the park. While tornadoes landing right in Dallas were rare, it wasn’t unheard of, and she didn’t plan to wait around enough to find out. She ran through the booth area, and still seeing no sign of Manny, she continued through the crowd of people. A roaring sound filled the air, but she didn’t take time to see where it came from. Jenny picked up speed, making it just past the gazebo.

“Jenny!” A deep voice roared nearby. She glanced to her left and saw Greg flying toward her. “Get down!”

Greg threw himself at her. Things happened fast, coming in a blur. His arms clamped around her and he bore her to the ground. He rolled to take the maximum force of hitting the dirt. He rolled again and came down on top of her, his body sheltering, hands and arms covering her head. She heard the crack of wood splintering as part of the gazebo tore loose and sailed over their heads. Though Jenny never screamed, she couldn’t be sure she didn’t then, wondering if the tornado would lift them skyward any minute. Greg suddenly lifted off her, grabbing her under the arms and hauling her to her feet. Her right ankle twisted, and she gasped in pain.

“Let’s go!” he grabbed her arm and yanked her forward through the wind which threatened to pull them off their feet. “The rec center!”

Above the ear-splitting scream of the wind, and the terrifying drone of the siren, her heartbeat pounded in her ears, and her breath came in gasps. She ran like her life depended on it, and maybe it did. Others charged in front of them, also running to the rec center. They plunged through the glass doors and hurried. A man in a Texas Ranger uniform guided people toward the basement, and they hurried down the steps. The basement was large and had several chairs, a sofa, pool table, dart board, games area, blackboards and whiteboards.

“Everyone as far away from the door as you can get and take cover,” Greg said.

Most people did as he suggested, and he moved with her to a corner where he drew her down on the floor to huddle. His arms surrounded her at the same time she reached out. Instinct drove her—she grabbed onto his t-shirt and then his shoulders as he pressed her face into his shoulder. Silent, they clung to each other while others talked around them. She shivered and he drew her closer. A roar came from above and some women screamed. She wondered if the entire building would be ripped away, and another shudder wracked her body.

“It’s all right, we’re safe,” he whispered as he kept her close.

She wanted to believe him, and in that moment she felt safer in his arms than she would’ve anywhere else. The sheer strength of him sheltered her. A moment later the roaring stopped. After a few minutes, the noises above stopped. She pulled back enough from Greg’s embrace to see what was happening. The Texas Ranger volunteered to go out first and see if he could give the all clear, but before he could do that, the door to the basement opened and firefighters and two paramedics streamed down the stairs. She heard other sirens in the distance, this time belonging to emergency vehicles.

“Tornado passed over,” Dane announced to the crowd. “It’s over.”

“Thank God,” a woman next to them said. “At least it wasn’t a big tornado.”

Everyone started talking at once as Jax, Dane and the other firefighters filed into the room to check on their status.

Greg cupped her face, his eyes serious and filled with concerned. “You’re bleeding.” Before she could respond, he called out, “I need a paramedic over here!”

Embarrassed by the attention, she said, “Oh, no, I’m fine.”

He smiled slightly. “I saw you limping, too. Did you twist your ankle?”

“Yeah, but it’s not that bad.”

“We’ll get it checked out,” Greg said.

He helped her to her feet and sat her down on a nearby couch where he settled next to her. A male paramedic came over and they quickly assessed her, checking her vitals, pupils and bandaging a small cut on her forehead.

“Your ankle is swelling but I don’t think it’s broken,” the paramedic said to Jenny. “I don’t think you have a concussion, but you should see a doctor and get assessed.”

She winced. “I don’t know…”

“It’s okay.” Greg touched her shoulder. “Better to be safe than sorry.”

She drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”

“I’ll carry her to the ambulance,” Greg said to the paramedic.

“I can walk,” Jenny said.

The paramedic shook his head. “Not recommended on that ankle.”

When Greg lifted her into his arms, she felt instantly girly, something she hadn’t experienced in a long time. He carried her like she weighed nothing, and something primal within her became all fired up. She slipped her arms around his neck and held on, a little in awe of his strength. She couldn’t deny the way his protectiveness made her feel. Safe. Cared for. That wasn’t something she’d experienced often in the last few years. Hell, in many years. As a firefighter held a door open for them, they stepped outside and saw the damage. More fire apparatus and ambulances had converged on the area. Rescue personnel swarmed the area assisting the injured, and there looked to be at least a dozen people on the ground who hadn’t escaped before the twister came through. The grass was littered with debris here and there. Tarps, part of the hot dog stand, and every booth had been torn to bits and strewn about the area.

“Holy crap,” she whispered as Greg carried her across the grassy area toward a waiting ambulance.

“Yeah,” he said as he continued to walk.

She scanned the area. “Do you see Manny?”

“The doctor who was with you?”

“Yes.”

“Once I get you into an ambulance I’ll look for him, okay?”

Reassured, she sighed. “God, what a mess.”

He chuckled softly. “Yeah, but we’re alive.”

Lexi Fletcher was at one ambulance and saw them coming. Greg explained Jenny’s injuries, and they loaded her into Lexi’s bus. She was working with another paramedic Jenny didn’t know. Dane Chandler and Jax Malloy, still in their turnouts, came by the ambulance. Both men, like Greg, were calendar handsome and good men. Jenny had seen them at social gatherings with their spouses, and it was evident to Jenny that Jax loved Skye and Dane loved Lexi very much. That was the kind of love she’d like to experience one day, but she didn’t believe devotion that deep came along often. What were the chances of finding it?

Greg pressed Jenny’s hand in his for a moment. “I gotta help here. I’ll come to the hospital and check on you when I can get away from here, okay?”

A little surprised he’d do that, she nodded and smiled. “Okay.”

With that Lexi climbed in and off they went, her partner driving the ambulance.

“What a mess out there,” Jenny said. “Was anybody….?” She couldn’t say dead.

“Not that I know of. We were really lucky. It was only an EF1.”

Jenny rubbed her forehead next to her bandage. “I was lucky Greg was there. That gazebo just came apart right next to me. He saved my life.”

Lexi smiled, her eyes twinkling. “How long have you known him?”

Jenny’s eyebrows went up. “I just met him today.”

Lexi’s smile stretched wider. “Hmm. I thought maybe you were his girlfriend. I’ve never seen him look that worried about someone before, and I’ve seen him rescue people out of burning buildings.”

Jenny smiled and a question escaped before she could stop herself. “So he’s a good guy?”

“Very. He keeps to himself a lot. He’s more introverted than some of the firefighters I know, but he has a heart of gold.”

Warmth filled Jenny at the thought of getting to know him better, but she also couldn’t afford to get ahead of herself. Greg might already have a girlfriend, or maybe he wouldn’t be interested in her that way. After all, the guy had been doing his job, hadn’t he? Reading more into his solicitousness didn’t make sense. Any firefighter would’ve treated her the same way, right?

She felt guilty for taking up space in the ambulance when there had to be many more injured who needed it worse than she did. Lexi reassured her that a head wound qualified as serious and that her ankle needed an x-ray to make certain she didn’t have a fracture. The trip to Dallas Emergency Hospital took longer than it should’ve with the amount of traffic and disarray on the roads after the tornado. After she was wheeled into the emergency room, it took a while before a doctor examined her. With the amount of injured coming in from the tornado, she understood the delay. After a thorough assessment, including an x-ray for her ankle, she was wheeled back into an area in the emergency room to wait a verdict.

She looked at her watch, and that’s when it hit her. She’d lost her purse in the confusion, and that meant her keys and wallet. Crap. Well, at least she had her cell phone tucked into her blazer.

The curtain around her bed pulled back slowly and the nurse came in followed by Greg. Surprise and genuine pleasure warmed her from the inside out.

“You’ve got a visitor,” the nurse said.

“Hey.” Greg returned Jenny’s enthusiastic smile. He held up her purse and then put it onto the chair next to her blazer. “I’ll bet you’re missing this.”

“Oh, my God. Thank you. I was just wondering what happened to it.”

The nurse cut in with,” Looks like you’re concussion free. Your ankle isn’t broken, but the doctor wants you to keep an elastic bandage on it.”

Jenny pulled a face. “Ugh. But that’s better news than a broken ankle.”

“Absolutely,” the nurse said. “I’ll be back with your discharge paperwork.”

As the nurse left another visitor entered. Jenny’s boss Donna Colton.

Donna barged in as if she owned the place. Typical behavior for Donna. Dressed in jeans and a fashionable boho tunic, the forty-something woman looked far younger. With flowing long blonde hair and a beautiful face, Donna wore her attractiveness like a badge of honor. Men often trailed after her like love-sick puppies. Her clothing, her manner, the way she talked…it all added up to diva status.

“Hello.” Donna nodded at Greg, her beaming smile and the way she looked him over saying she liked what she was seeing. “I’m Donna Colton.”

Greg shook hands and introduced himself, his charming smile emerging. Something a little raw reacted inside Jenny. She recognized the green-eyed monster right away and instantly felt ashamed and ridiculous. She didn’t have a claim on this man.

Jenny shrugged off her topsy-turvy feelings. “Manny is okay? I was worried.”

Greg gestured to her handbag on the chair. “He’s the one who gave me your purse. He was hiding in a closet in the rec center and when he came out, he went straight to where your booth was and found your purse. It was tangled up in the rubble.”

Jenny nodded. “That’s incredible. I’m glad he’s all right. I was just wondering what I was going to do if I didn’t have my wallet and keys.”

“Well,” Dona said, her voice rising a little as she looked at Jenny. “I’m hoping you and Manny can go back to the park tomorrow and make sure all of our equipment is secured.”

Jenny’s gaze bounced off Greg and took in his expression. He looked surprised at the other woman’s request.

“I…uh…” Jenny stammered, a little startled by the woman’s request.

“I’ve got a ton of things to do yet at the house. I’m not coming into the office until I get things sorted there. I need you to take care of things at the park and then man the office the rest of the day.”

Jenny considered telling the woman to go jump in a lake, but figured that wouldn’t be good for her continued employment.

So instead she said, “Okay.”

Donna made a wave and flashed a smile at Greg before opening the curtain. “Call me with progress reports tomorrow.”

With that, the woman left and snapped the curtain back in place.

Greg looked stunned for all of a second, then he walked around the end of Jenny’s bed and peeked between the curtains. He returned to the side of the bed and gripped the railing around the bed. He leaned forward a little and spoke in a hushed voice.

“Is she for real? I mean…” He shrugged. “That’s your boss?”

She sighed. “Yep. She’s the director of public relations. We’re the only two in the office.”

He pulled a face. “Do you guys have a good relationship?”

Jenny couldn’t resist smiling. “We have a reasonable working relationship, which means she gets her way most of the time. I can’t afford to lose this job right now, so while I’m looking for another one, I keep the peace. When the weather started looking threatening, I called her to let her know we wanted to take down the booth. She said no.”

He shook his head. “That’s crazy.”

“Everything about today is crazy. I’m trying to give her some slack because she’s going through a divorce. Her soon-to-be ex-husband is a nurse at another hospital. It’s been an ugly situation.”

“You shouldn’t walk on that ankle tomorrow. I’ll go to the park and see if we can round up the PR stuff.”

The nurse walked in with paperwork before Jenny could object to Greg’s idea. Within minutes Jenny was officially released and while Greg stood beyond the curtain, she put her blouse and blazer back on. She sat in a chair and slipped on one pump, while Greg volunteered to carry the other.

“I hate to ask anymore of you, but can you take me back to my car in the park?” Jenny asked.

“I was going to take you home, then get Jax or Dane to drop me off at the park and bring your car back to your place. If that’s okay with you.”

Jenny felt dumbfounded. Greg had turned on the charm and the uber helpful, firefighter-to-the-rescue personality and frankly it impressed her. If he’d bragged or showed a hint of arrogance she would’ve written him off in a heartbeat.

She gnawed on her bottom lip a second. “I probably couldn’t drive with this ankle anyway. Thank you so much.”

* *

Greg drove the now dark streets of suburban Dallas with Jenny beside him in his SUV, and he didn’t understand the crazy emotions running through him.

Protectiveness. Concern. Flat out attraction. For a woman who was practically a stranger.

He needed to get over it, because he wasn’t in the market for a fling right now. His last girlfriend had broken up with him not long before he’d left Camp Pendleton. After that he preferred being a monk for awhile to a meaningless fuck with a woman who got off on the idea of a Marine between the sheets or a firefighter in their bed. He hadn’t slept with a woman in a year, and maybe that’s why his hormones had kicked in so fiercely when he’d seen Jenny Hannigan sitting in that booth. What else explained the instant lust other than horniness needing a quick fix?

“You don’t live that far from the park,” he said.

“Fifteen minutes in good traffic. Today it looks like twenty-five.”

They’d had to take an alternate route to bypass a traffic wreck and some downed trees.

“Well, thanks again.”

He smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“All this from an EF1 tornado?”

Her voice had a smoky quality that made him wonder what she’d sound like having phone sex.

Oh, Christ.

“We could go to my place. I could put you up.” The words came out of him before he could engage his brain.

He glanced over at her for a second at the same time she looked over at him, and he caught the surprise in her moss green eyes.

“Uh…thanks Greg, but…”

He held up one hand. “It’s okay. Stupid suggestion.”

Yeah, dickhead. What are you thinking? Oh, yeah. With your dick. They hadn’t gone far before another police roadblock meant they had to take yet another different route, but Greg took it in stride.

“I’m really sorry,” she said, “that you got caught up in this.”

“In this what?”

“Driving me around, looking after me. I could’ve called a cab.”

He snorted. “Hell, no. I’m delivering you to your front door.”

She smiled and dropped it, and her genuine concern about inconveniencing him only added to her appeal. But it didn’t matter. Jenny didn’t seem like the type of woman who flirted much less invited a man she barely knew to sleep with her on short notice. Especially not after she’d survived a tornado and had a twisted ankle. No way he’d take advantage of her that way, and he’d never pressure a woman into doing anything she didn’t want.

So much for a relaxing couple of days filled with reading, watching some sports and kicking back with a beer.

Although he had the holiday off this year, he hadn’t planned on seeing the fireworks at the park. He’d forced himself out his place and decided he’d cowboy up for his firehouse, Station 58, with their display booth if they needed the extra help. Jax and Dane had asked him to stop by, too. When he’d spied Jenny at the booth, he’d been drawn to her fiery red hair cascading over her shoulders and her big smile. When she’d lifted her sunglasses and stared at him, he’d made a bee line for her without another thought. Then he’d reminded himself to lay off. He would buy the onesie for the hospital drive, drop it off with the red-head, and move on.

Yeah, like that worked well.

“Turn right at the next light,” she said. After he’d made the turn, she asked, “So do you regularly rescue damsels in distress?”

He laughed. “I was in the right place at the right time.”

Yep, he’d been at the right place at the right time to tackle her when that gazebo had exploded into daggers of wood. He’d done his job as a firefighter to try and keep her safe. Riding along with her in the car right now, he had to admit he could’ve done quite a few things differently and still performed his duties as a firefighter. No, this…whatever this was had snagged him and refused to let go. His gaze dipped down to those long, beautiful legs encased in stockings. When he’d tackled her to the ground near the gazebo, he’d gotten a glimpse of her pale thigh above the top elastic on the stockings. He didn’t think women wore those things anymore—especially not to serious professional events. His cock hardened a little at the thought, and he shifted in the driver’s seat to ease the pressure. Shit, he didn’t need this. Jenny cleared her throat, and for a crazy second he wondered if she had figured out what he was thinking.

He swallowed hard and tried to ignore the thought of what it would be like if her legs were wrapped around his hips while he fucked her.

“This next street turn right,” she said.

He’d been in the neighborhood a couple of times, so he couldn’t say he knew it well. Newer apartments and older homes competed for space. Everything lined up close together, but the streets were clean, the homes looked well taken care of, and the trees and yards appeared well-maintained. He liked it. She directed him to her house, a nice looking bungalow painted green like her eyes. He pulled into the driveway.

“I’ll help you to the front door,” he said.

Her warm, slim hand touched his forearm and he froze. “Greg, you don’t have to.”

He put the car in park and turned off the engine. When he swung toward her, he drew in her scent, something delicious and spicy. It was subtle but drew him like a bee to honey. With dark circles forming under her eyes, and with that small bandage on her right temple, she looked vulnerable as hell. His gaze wandered to her full mouth and an almost impossible to ignore desire to kiss her hit him square in the gut. Her eyes widened a little, and for a second he thought she’d moved closer. The sizzle inside him strengthened, but he wasn’t going to do a damned thing about it. He needed to get his life in order before he dated again, and just because she was pretty, smart, and nice didn’t mean she’d want to date his ugly ass.

“Okay.” He smiled. “No more helping the damsel in distress. I’ll sit here and watch while you juggle those crutches and the steps.”

She glanced over at the porch and laughed softly. “Okay, you’re right. It’s only three steps, but I need your help.”

“Almost forgot. I’ll need your car keys if you want me to bring your car back to you tomorrow.”

“Oh, crap. I almost forgot.” She almost looked as if she’d refuse, then smiled again and wrestled the keys off her key ring. She winced, apology written on her features again. “Donna wants me to turn up tomorrow morning which means if I’m not there at eight and she finds out about it…”

She told him what kind of car she had and where she’d parked it.

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring it back tonight before ten o’clock if that’s not too late?” he asked.

“That would be great.”

He helped her navigate the steps and unlocked her door for her. He handed her the key. “Take care, Jenny.”

She stepped into her house. “Thanks again, Greg.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll go back to the park and see if I can get any of your stuff from the booth. If I find anything, I’ll let you know.”

He went down the steps and to his vehicle without a backward glance, determined to forget her and everything that had happened today. Yet as he drove back to the park, he realized he hadn’t gotten her number. If he found any of the public relations things that had been tossed around in the tornado, he’d need to deliver it to the hospital. Yeah, that’s what he’d do. He’d deliver it to the hospital and wouldn’t have to see Jenny again.