Page 10 of Smokin' Situation

“I can handle a stick just fine. Your larger than usual equipment doesn’t scare me.”

“On that note, I’m gonna go and let everyone know you’re awake. If you’re making dick jokes, then I think I can tell them you’re gonna be fine,” Hazel said, backing up slowly.

She left the tent, and an awkward silence suddenly loomed, the sounds of the dwindling festival muted through the heavy tarp sides.

“You don’t have to drive me. I’m sure I can…”

Tripp scoffed, returning the cool cloth to my forehead, droplets of water trailing down the side of my face. I watched as one landed on his leg, absorbing into the navy-blue material of his tactical pants. “You don’t let people take care of you very often, do you?” He didn’t sound mad, just curious.

“No. I don’t like people telling me what to do. I like to be the one in control.”

“You don’t say,” he chuckled, holding the opening of the water bottle to my lips and encouraging me to take another drink. “I never would have been able to tell the woman—who literally made herself sick because she didn’t want to ask for help—liked to be in charge.”

“I can do that.” My hand closed over his on the bottle, and I tried to ignore the sensation I felt suddenly rushing up my arm. I wanted to blame it on the heat exhaustion, but I had a feeling it was just my body’s reaction to him.

“I know you can. But you don’t need to. Just drink. Me holding a water bottle for you isn’t going to compromise your independence.”

After taking a few more sips, I settled back down, my headache still making it hard to keep my eyes open, but I felt better than I had when the dehydration had caught up with me earlier. Typically, I was pretty good at drinking water during events, especially since we were at a higher elevation, but I’d been a little more distracted than usual this morning. And while I’d warned him about the day being hotter than usual, clearly, I hadn’t heeded my own warnings.

“You don’t have to stay here with me. I’m sure you have better things to do right now.”

He leaned forward, waiting until my eyes made contact with his. “My job today was to help and keep people safe, so I think I’m right where I need to be. Now let’s finish this bottle and work on getting you to sit up. Once I get another one of these in you, you can direct me to where I’m taking you.”

“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. Ithadseemed 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 saidearlier, 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.

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