Page 11 of Hot Response
“I would have said yes.”
“Baby—“
“You saved me,” I cut him off, but by the way his brows bunched up, I could tell he didn’t agree. “You got to the scene fast. Faster than anyone else. And you got me out of there. But even without today happening, I know you.”
“Baby.” His forehead dropped and connected with mine. “Let me take you home.” I wasn’t sure if he was offering or telling me, but I was all too eager to agree.
Without another word spoken between us, he finished helping me get dressed, slipping socks on me as well as the gym shorts that hit mid-calf. I probably looked ridiculous, but there was something about the way he looked at me, like I was themost beautiful thing he’d ever seen, almost like I left him in awe, that made me relax.
The nurse insisted on wheeling me out in a wheelchair, and I didn’t really complain because I had no idea what had happened to my shoes. Nor did I want to think where they might have ended up. The moment we stepped out of the front of the hospital, Ron bent and lifted me up to carry me to his truck, where he carefully sat me in the passenger seat and even buckled the seat belt for me before kissing the top of my head and rounding the truck. I looked out the window. The nurses were waving and smiling at me before they turned and made their way back in.
I had no idea how hard their jobs were. Or Ron’s. I couldn’t imagine the things they saw on a daily basis. Freak accidents to stomach aches to so much more.
“You okay?” he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts and breaking the silence once his own seat belt was on. When I looked at him, it felt like a light bulb turned on in my head. His comment about life reminding him how things could change in the blink of an eye had to be about his job, right?
Or is it about something else?
“I’m good. Thanks for the ride,” I said and then shut my eyes.Thanks for the ride?Why did everything I said suddenly sound sexual? “Umm…” I licked my lips.
“Anytime,” he said with a promise in his voice. “So, where am I going?”
“Oh yeah!” My shoulders relaxed. I felt like such a nerd. He didn’t know where I lived. I gave him directions to my place and sat back.
He was a great driver.
I was oddly relaxed as I snuck glances at him while the small city we lived in passed by us in a blur. I tried to rack my brain of something to say, but between everything that had happenedand the drop in adrenaline that left me a little more than exhausted, I had no energy left to come up with anything. Before I knew it, he was pulling into the driveway of the duplex I lived in.
“Umm… this is me.”
“The right side?” he guessed, and my head tilted.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Seems like you.” He shrugged, and I giggled.
“Just wait till you see the inside,” I warned, and his hand stroked my face.
“I can’t wait.” There was a promise in his words. “Wait here for me.”
“Wait?” I repeated, but he was out of the car already, his door shutting behind him. Mine opened, and he was there, bending over my body to unclick my seat belt.
“I could have done that, you know?” I chewed my bottom lip, somehow slightly swaying closer to him.
“You could have, but you don’t need to. Not when I’m here.”
“Oh, wow.” I swallowed.
“Keys,” he said, and without thinking, I handed them over.
“Why do you need my keys?”
“You don’t have shoes on, sweetheart,” he said as if I had forgotten. But before I could respond, I was in his arms. Oh my god, the sexy paramedic I had been crushing on, the one who had saved me today, was carrying me out like a groom ready to take his bride over the threshold.
“Ron!” I gasped, pressing my hand to his strong, muscular, extremely warm chest. “You’re going to hurt yourself!”
“Nonsense.” He rolled his eyes with a sexy twitch to his lips.
“Handsome, I weigh way too—“ I didn’t finish my sentence because he shot me a look just as we reached the front door. Without missing a beat, he unlocked the door, and we steppedinside before he quietly closed it behind us. The lock set in place made me very aware of the fact we were alone.
