Book 22 Rescue After Dark #2
Jordan comes to at the clinic and hears someone telling her to take it easy.
She has had a nebulizer treatment, reminding her again of childhood asthma attacks.
It’s been years since she had an attack, and she can’t figure out what would’ve caused one now.
She tries to put the pieces together, to think about how it could’ve happened, but she’s so out of it that the pieces refuse to add up. “Someone was there…”
“Yes, thankfully, the Gansett Fire Chief, Mason Johns, saw the flames and got you out of there,” her nurse, Katie, says. “You were barely breathing when he found you.”
The lips. She remembers the lips. Mason’s lips?
“My chest hurts.”
“I know.” Katie’s eyes and demeanor are kind and caring.
Jordan wants to beg her not to leave. “The house…” Nikki will kill her after the time and effort she and Riley have devoted to remodeling it.
“From what I heard, the fire was contained to the roof and chimney, and the fire department got there quickly. The house should be fine.”
The flood of relief makes it easier to breathe.
Nikki and Riley are on their way back after hearing about the fire. She’s sad their getaway was cut short. She’s still trying to remember what happened but falls asleep.
She awakens to a large man sitting in the chair next to her bed. In the murky light, she can make out only the shape of him, and at first, she thinks she’s still dreaming. His arm is in a sling, and a white bandage on his forehead stands out in stark relief against tanned skin.
“Hey.” He leans in toward the bed. “I’m Mason Johns from the fire department. Katie asked me to sit with you while she tends to another patient. How’re you doing?”
She fumbles with the mask over her mouth and manages to remove it. “I’m okay. You were the one who rescued me.” Her chest hurts a little less than it had earlier, which she sees as a good sign.
“That was me.” His deep voice projects warmth, empathy and competence.
They had been his lips, then. “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Mason rescued her with a dislocated elbow. He tells her the fire likely started on the roof and then caught in the chimney, which caused all the smoke to fill the house.
“I heard I got saved by the big boss.”
“That’s right,” he says, smiling. “Some of the guys were jealous because I got to rescue you.”
“Because they know who I am.” That leaves her feeling deflated. Of course, they’ve seen the sex video Zane posted online. Mason probably has, too.
“I guess so.”
She turns her head toward him. “You don’t know who I am?”
He shrugs. “Maybe, but only because I saw your show a few times.”
“You did?” Jordan finds that shocking. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” he says, laughing. “It was good. But for the most part, I don’t follow social media or pop culture. I’m told I’m a dinosaur.”
“I find that rather refreshing.”
Jordan is trying to figure out what’s next.
Mason says Gansett is a great place to do some thinking. People come to Gansett to regroup. He goes to Mario’s to get dinner for them and puts a slice of cheese pizza on a paper plate for her.
Jordan eyes it with lust in her heart. The days of having to watch everything she eats had ended with her reality TV career, but the habit of denying herself is so ingrained as to be almost impossible to overcome.
He pushes it another inch closer. “I told them to keep two slices meat-free for you. You’re not going to let me down, are you?”
“You’re the Devil.”
A smile lights up his warm eyes. “You had a close call tonight, superstar. At this point, I’d be asking myself—if this had been it for me, would I be glad I’d given up pizza for years so I could look a certain way?
My answer would’ve been hell, no.” He gives the plate another nudge in her direction.
“Eat the pizza. Dance in the rain. Live your life. You never know how long you’ve got. Don’t have regrets.”
He would never know how much she needs that reminder or how far she’s strayed from living her best life in the last few years. Jordan picks up the slice of pizza and takes a huge bite.
Mason grins at her, wholeheartedly approving of her decision.
Jordan has never tasted anything better than that sinful bite of cheese pizza. She takes second and third bites in rapid succession.
“Don’t choke. I’ve already had to save your ass once tonight.”
She sputters with laughter and nearly loses the mouthful of pizza. In addition to being bad for her diet, he’s also funny and seriously cute, if a six-and-a-half-foot-tall man can be called “cute.”
Mason stays with Jordan until Nikki and Riley come rushing into the room. Nikki hurls herself at her sister, sobbing as she clings to Jordan. “Oh, my God! You scared me to death!”
“I’m so sorry about the fire and the house. I don’t know what happened.”
“Who cares about that? All that matters is that you’re all right. I’ve been shaking for two hours since we got the call.”
“I, um, I’m gonna get going,” Mason says. “I’ll, ah, check in with you tomorrow, and we’ll be by for a look at the roof and chimney in the daylight.”
Jordan nudges Nikki to the side so she can see him. “Thank you so much, Mason, for rescuing me, keeping me company, feeding me and entertaining me. I really appreciate it.”
Nikki surprises him when she gets up from Jordan’s bed and hurls herself at Mason, narrowly missing a hit to his injured arm.
“Whoa,” he says as he absorbs the impact.
“Nikki!” Jordan says. “Watch out. He’s hurt!”
“Thank you so, so, so much for saving my sister, Mason.” Nikki breaks down into tears again. “You saved us both, because there’s no me without her.”
Mason pats her awkwardly on the back and is relieved when Riley rescues him.
“Come here, love. You’re freaking the poor guy out with your hysterics.”
“Sorry, Mason,” Nikki says, sobbing into Riley’s chest.
“No worries. Glad I was in the right place at the right time.” He decides not to mention that Jordan hadn’t had much time left when he’d arrived on the scene.
“We’re eternally grateful, Mason,” Riley says, shaking his hand.
“Just doing my job.” He gives a small wave to Jordan, who looks so small and adorable in the big hospital bed. “Feel better.”
She flashes him a smile that does funny things to his insides, making him wish they’d had more time to talk before her family showed up. “Thanks again, Mason.”
“Sure thing. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Nikki sits on the edge of Jordan’s bed, holding her hand. “What happened? Do you remember?”
“I’d taken a sleeping pill, so I was kind of out of it. I remember my chest hurting and feeling like something was wrong, but I couldn’t do anything about it. Then Mason was there, and he was running me through the house. Apparently, there was smoke from the chimney, and I had an asthma attack.”
“Shit,” Riley says, “I bet I left the flue open the last time we had a fire. I’m so sorry, Jordan.”
“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known what would happen.”
“What did Dr. David say?” Nikki asks.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet. Katie was in earlier and said my lung sounds were much better.”
“We’ll make an appointment with him for as soon as possible,” Nikki says. “If necessary, we’ll find a pulmonologist on the mainland to give you a complete workup. Try not to worry.”
“I should just go back to LA and see my doctors there.”
“No! You promised to hang out for the summer. You can’t leave yet.”
Since her marriage ended in spectacular fashion, she’s put her career in LA on indefinite hold and has agreed to spend the summer with Nikki and Riley.
However, she still feels weird about being at the house when they’re crazy in love and not afraid to show it, making her the awkward third wheel in her sister’s love affair.
“You guys don’t need me underfoot. I’ll come back a couple of weeks before the wedding. ”
“Please, don’t go. I love having you here.
It’s made me so happy to know we were going to do the wedding stuff together.
” Nikki pauses, tilts her head and adds, “Unless it’s too painful for you after what happened with him.
” Nikki has refused to say his name after what he did to Jordan at the hotel in Charlotte.
“God, I’m such an ass. Of course, you don’t want to help plan a wedding when your own marriage just ended. ”
“That’s not it, Nik. I’m super excited for your wedding. I swear. I just feel like you guys need your privacy and—”
“We’re fine,” Nikki says. “We get plenty of privacy, right, Ri?”
“That’s right,” Riley says. “We’re happy to have you spending the summer. You’re family, Jordan. I have my own Jordan, don’t forget. Finn and I aren’t identical twins, but we might as well be.”
“That’s right,” Nikki says. “He practically lived with us all last winter while we were renovating. Riley owes me big for putting up with Finn.”
Riley scowls at her, but his eyes convey amusement. “Finn is a bit of a handful. You’re nothing compared to him.”
David wants to keep Jordan overnight for observation, telling Nikki she can pick her up in the morning. Jordan begs Riley to take Nikki home.
When she’s alone, Jordan thinks about making some changes.
She wishes she knew what changes to make or how to reset her life.
She’ll use this time on Gansett to do some deep thinking and contemplation.
Hopefully, by the time she leaves, she’ll have a plan that gives her sister much less to worry about because neither she nor Nikki can handle so much turmoil for much longer.
Only she can fix that, and she’s determined to.
Mason sleeps fitfully, the pain from his elbow waking him several times during the night, forcing him to take painkillers at two a.m. Due to his injury, he skips his morning workout and goes to the daily AA meeting he attends in town.
His friends, Mallory Vaughn and her fiancé, Dr. Quinn James, are already there when he arrives. “Are you taking time off from work?” Mallory asks.
“Hell, no. That’s not an option this time of year. My arm hurts, but otherwise, I’m fine.”