Chapter 2
ANGEL
“You don’t remember?” Ronan asks, the worry lines across his forehead growing deeper.
“Um.” I feel discombobulated, like I was just yanked from the clothes dryer on the high-spin setting.
It’s still an effort to take a full breath.
Cold is seeping into my body. The last thing I remember clearly was trying to get that stupid staple gun to work and hoping I wouldn’t have to climb back down to get the staples unstuck again.
But clearly something else happened, or I wouldn’t be lying in the snow with Ronan Davies leaning over me.
A very concerned-looking Ronan, with cheeks pink with cold and his hazel eyes more brown than green and a few flakes of snow collecting on his days-old stubble.
And his hand wouldn’t be on my cheek, shockingly warm against my skin and—
Wait. He’s touching my cheek?
Why is Ronan touching my cheek?
And why is his gaze moving across my body like he’s scanning for—
Oh.
In a flash, it comes back to me—the odd, metallic snap while I was reaching up to staple the lights and the stomach-dropping sensation as the ladder collapsed beneath me. Then I was falling, my only fully formed thought being, I can’t get hurt. Haley needs me.
Craning my head, I notice the offending ladder lying in the snow several feet away. But I’m certain it landed on top of me, considering I already have the sore spots to prove it.
“Don’t move,” Ronan orders. “Especially not your neck.” He rocks back on his heels. His hand leaves my cheek. His gaze sweeps across my body, starting at my feet and working up.
It doesn’t take long for me to regain my bearings. This isn’t the first time I’ve had the wind knocked out of me—that was when I fell out of my bunk during freshman year of college. And it’s not the first time I’ve hurt myself trying to take care of something around the house.
However, it is the first time I’ve fallen off a ladder and been discovered by a very intense and handsome man who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
On the heels of that thought, another, more practical one follows. “What time is it?”
Ronan pauses with his hands midway up my arm. Presumably, he’s checking to see if I broke anything, which I could tell him I haven’t.
Well, aside from my pride, but that’s more bruised than broken.
“The time,” I repeat. “Haley gets home from school around four-forty-five. I don’t want her to come home to see me lying in the snow like this. It’ll scare her.”
I start to push myself up, but Ronan places one hand on my shoulder and gently but firmly holds me still. “Angel. You fell off a ladder. You could have broken bones. Internal—”
“I don’t. I would know.”
“You might not know,” he retorts. “If you’d seen what I’ve seen… Adrenaline can mask a lot. So can shock. It’s important that I check you out. Make sure—”
“But, Haley.” I know I’m probably coming across as unreasonably stubborn.
But Haley’s been through enough in her life already.
If she comes home and sees me like this, she’ll be terrified.
It might even trigger the nightmares she used to have about my mom after she passed away, and I really don’t want that.
“It’s four-thirty,” Ronan says. “So we’ve got a little time. Although.” He frowns. “I’d really rather call an ambulance. Make absolutely sure—”
“No!” I have health insurance through work, for which I’m unbelievably thankful—not many restaurants offer full benefits like that—but I also know how much the co-pay for an ambulance ride would be, and it’s definitely not in my budget.
Especially not a month and a half before Christmas.
I don’t tell Ronan that, though. I just say, “I’m really okay, Ronan.
The wind was knocked out of me, that’s all. The snow cushioned my fall.”
Mostly, at least. I have a suspicion I’ll be finding bruises in random places for days. But it’s nothing I can’t deal with.
“How about this,” he suggests. “I’m a trained medic. It was my specialty in the Army, and I’ve kept up my training for the Green Mountain Guardians. Plus, I work as a medic at Stowe.”
“I know.” Because everyone in Bliss knows about GMG, the private security company staffed by five Spec Ops veterans.
And being friends with Hazel, I know more than the average person, like the specialties of the five men—Ronan was a medic, Gage flew helicopters, Enzo and Knox were snipers, and Alec was the communications guy.
Ronan blinks. A beat later, he gives me a sheepish smile. “Right. Of course you would. Hazel.”
“Hazel,” I affirm. “She talks about you guys a lot.”
“So you know I’m trained,” he replies. “And”—the corner of his mouth twitches up—“the longer we talk about this, the sooner Haley will get home.”
He has a point. Sighing, I sag back against the snow. “Okay. Do what you need to do. But I really do need to get up. And start working on the lights again.”
His half-smile fades. While he continues checking me over, he says, “I don’t think you’ll be working on the lights anymore today. Not just because you nearly broke your neck falling off the ladder. But it’s clearly not safe to use.”
I try to ignore the little frissons of heat that come from his hands gently touching my neck. “I don’t know what happened to it. I used the ladder last summer to fix some shingles on the roof, and it was fine.”
Ronan’s hands still. “You fixed shingles on the roof?”
“Just a few loose ones. And I watched videos online. It was a lot cheaper than calling someone to come and fix them.”
“What about Alec?” he asks. “Or someone at work?”
“It’s not their job to fix my house,” I reply, my tone slightly defensive. “It’s my house. My responsibility. And if it’s something I can fix on my own…”
After a beat, he nods. “I can understand that. My house needed a ton of work when I bought it. If I’d called in a contractor for every little thing, it would have cost a fortune.”
“But you’re friends with Knox,” I point out.
Not only is Knox part of Green Mountain Guardians, he also owns a construction company in town.
Hazel’s constantly telling me she can have Knox come over to fix things, but I always tell her no, I wouldn’t feel right having him do work for me without paying him.
“Knox helps with some things,” Ronan replies. “But I like taking care of things myself. Keeps me busy.” Sitting back, he gives me an approving nod. “Everything seems good.” His gaze meets mine. “Are you feeling dizzy? Nauseous? Seeing double?”
“Nope.” I push myself to a seated position. “Thankfully, the snow we got last weekend served as good padding.”
A tiny frown flickers across his face before he extends his hand to me. I hesitate for a second before taking it. I’m not sure why.
Then his big hand wraps around mine, and my heart jumps.
“Let’s go inside,” he says. “You should sit down at least. I bet you’ve got some bruises from the ladder falling on top of you. It would be a good idea to get some ice on them.”
Before I can argue, his arm comes around my waist, drawing me to his side.
My lungs stop working again, but this time it’s not from falling off a ladder.
What is this? I ask myself while he leads me into the house. Why am I reacting like this? I mean, I’ve always thought Ronan was handsome—any woman would—but I’ve never thought about him in a romantic way.
Liar, says the silent voice that likes to pipe up at the most inopportune moments. When Ronan was running that half marathon last summer and you saw him without his shirt on, are you really going to pretend you didn’t think about him in the shower that night? When you were touching yourself, and—
“Stop it,” I blurt.
Ronan looks down at me, confused. “Stop what? Am I hurting you? Are you feeling dizzy? Sick?”
My cheeks fill with heat. Great. Now he’s going to think I have a brain injury.
“Just thinking out loud,” I mutter. Glad for the reprieve of the living room, I pull free of his arm and hurry into it. “I should get Haley’s dinner started. She has art club on Tuesdays; that’s why she takes the late bus. By the time she gets home, she’s usually starving.”
“Angel.” Ronan grasps my hand and tugs me to a stop. “Just take a few minutes. Sit down. Breathe. I know you think you’re fine, but you’re shaking.”
I glance down at the gloved hand not engulfed in his. And he’s right. It’s trembling.
“Come on.” He guides me over to the couch and guides me onto it. Then he looks at his watch. “It’s four-forty. Give yourself five minutes at least.”
“Okay.” I lean back against the couch cushions, already feeling my body protesting the new aches and bruises. As Ronan looks at me, I add, “I really don’t know what happened up there. I know I set the ladder up properly. Put it on level ground, made sure those locking things were secure…”
“The locking things?”
“You know.” I make a little motion with my hand. “The things that keep the top of the ladder from sliding down.”
“The rung locks. Which, I have to say, looked like they didn’t work.”
I shake my head. “Apparently not. I never thought about a ladder as something that needed to be replaced. But it is pretty old. So I guess they broke.”
Ronan frowns. “I suppose they could. Do you keep the ladder in the garage?”
“Behind the house. I know it’s probably better to keep it in the garage, but I could never seem to find a good spot for it. There are hooks on the wall, but I can’t reach them.”
He glances around the room before replying.
All at once, I’m glad I had a whirlwind cleaning session last night after Haley went to sleep.
It’s not immaculate in here by any means, but most of the clutter is tucked away and all the surfaces are freshly dusted.
“You should get a new ladder before you try—” He stops.
“Are you going to insist on putting up the rest of the lights? Even now?”