12-Alarm Cowboys (117 page)

Jax planned on asking the first cop he ran into for a ride to the station when he recognized the officer who’d pointed him and Tory toward the east stairwell earlier. The nametag on his chest read Perry.

“Think you can give me a lift back to the firehouse?” he asked the cop. “I need to get to the hospital to check on someone I pulled from the building.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Thanks to the flashing lights, Perry got him back to Station 58 in less than ten minutes. Jax wished he could grab a quick shower to get the smell of smoke off, but he didn’t want to take the time. So instead, he jumped in his pickup, then sped out of the parking lot and headed for the hospital.

He called Dane on the way, but it went to voicemail. No shock there. It was the frigging middle of the AM. Any rational human would be sleeping like a log. Not wanting to freak Dane out any more than he had to, he kept the message short and optimistic.

“Hey Dane. It’s Jax,” he said. “We just rolled on a hotel fire on Jacobs. Your sister was there and sucked down some smoke, but she’s going to be okay. I’m heading over to see her now at Parkland Emergency. Call me as soon as you get this.”

Luckily, the roads were deserted, so it didn’t take long for Jax to get to the hospital. He found a parking space, then hauled ass for the entrance. As he ran inside, he prayed he was right about Skye being okay. Smoke inhalation was dangerous as hell, and while Skye had seemed fine when he’d carried her out of the fire, that didn’t mean she was fine now.

Jax was all prepared to sweet-talk his way past the nurse on duty to get in to see Skye, but fortunately Emily Cartwright, the gray-haired woman behind the desk, knew him. She was used to seeing him bringing in patients, and seemed surprised he was alone.

“A woman the paramedics brought in a little while ago from that hotel fire on Jacobs is the sister of one of the firefighters I work with. I just wanted to check on her,” he explained. “Her name is Skye Chandler.”

Emily nodded. “I remember them bringing her in. Hang on a minute and I’ll take a look at her chart.”

Picking up the reading glasses dangling from a chain around her neck, she perched them on the bridge of her thin nose and moved closer to her computer. Jax had to force himself not to lean over the counter so he could see the monitor. Instead, he waited impatiently while she tapped at the keys.

“Oh yes, here she is,” Emily said. “She inhaled a lot of smoke and she’s been on oxygen since she came in, but she’s going to be fine. In fact, the doctor will be releasing her in a little while.”

Jax breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God.

“Can I see her?” he asked.

Emily gave him a smile that was all too knowing. “Down the hall. She’s in the fourth bay on the right.”

He thanked her, then made his way past the first three bays. He stopped outside the fourth and peeked around the curtain. Skye was half lying, half sitting back on the exam table, her eyes closed and an oxygen tube under her nose. She was still wearing the soot-smudged jeans and T-shirt she had on when he found her. Her breathing was so slow and steady that for a moment Jax thought she was asleep. He was wondering if he should wait outside when she opened her eyes.

“Jax!”

Skye jumped up and ran over to him, completely forgetting the oxygen line attached to her. She almost choked herself with the tubing as she got stopped short a few feet from him, and he quickly stepped forward to help her get untangled.

She laughed and gave him an embarrassed look, her face coloring. He laughed, too. Her voice was a little scratchy from inhaling all that smoke, but other than that, she really did seem fine.

The moment she was free from the oxygen lines, Skye threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He hugged her right back. What else was a guy supposed to do when a girl he’d known since she was five years old threw herself into your arms?

But being this close to her reminded him again that his best friend’s little sister wasn’t so little anymore. Even though he was six-four, Skye came up to his chin now. She had a lot more curves than he remembered her having, too. And some of those very nice curves were pressed up against his chest, letting him know that Skye hadn’t taken the time to put on a bra before bolting out of her room during the fire. He had to admit her soft breasts felt damn nice through her thin T-shirt.

And if those thoughts weren’t distracting enough, Skye smelled amazing under all the smoke still clinging to her. Like peaches and cream. How the hell was that even possible?

Realizing his cock was starting to harden, he reluctantly took a step back. As happy as he was to see Skye, he had no desire to pitch a boner in front of his best friend’s little sister—even if she wasn’t so little anymore.

*

Skye gave him
a small smile as she pushed her hair behind her ear. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to tackle you like that. I just can’t believe you got me out of that hotel. I thought…”

She couldn’t say it out loud. Knowing how close she’d come to dying in that fire made her feel lightheaded and she almost grabbed onto Jax for support. Not that she’d mind putting her hands all over him again. But she didn’t want him—or the doctor—thinking she needed to spend the night at the hospital.

Jax returned her smile with one that almost made her knees go weak again, for a completely different reason this time.

“Only doing my job,” he said. “Good thing I ran into that older couple you helped downstairs. They said you’d gone back up to look for other people.”

“I don’t even remember falling to the floor up there.” Skye resolutely pushed the image out of her mind, preferring to focus on how amazing it had felt to look up when she’d been sitting on the curb and seen Jax standing there. “But then you came swooping in like a superhero and saved me.”

Another smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I’m not sure about the superhero part. More like just a regular ol’ firefighter.”

She arched a brow. “Strong, heroic, and humble—sounds like superhero material to me.”

Jax chuckled, and Skye decided he had the sexiest laugh she’d ever heard. That made sense since the rest of Jax Malloy was equally sexy.

Skye had never told anyone—well, maybe some of her girlfriends at the time—but she’d had a huge crush on Jax since she was a teenager. Of course, the almost four years in age that separated them meant Jax had never seen her as anything other than his best friend’s kid sister. But she’d thought he was the most perfect guy ever.

And he hadn’t changed one bit. Same whiskey colored eyes; same thick, dark hair; same square jaw with just a trace of stubble that she longed to run her fingers over. Same lean muscles.

She wondered if he still rode broncos and bulls at the local rodeo like he’d done back in high school.

Skye stifled a moan at the memory. Just her luck that when she’d finally gotten old enough for things to get interesting, Jax graduated from high school and left Dallas to work on an oil rig in some other part of the state. He never got a chance to see her mature into a woman she’d like to think would have attracted his attention long enough for him to see her as something more than a friend.

Not that it would have mattered because it wasn’t long after that when her life had taken a hundred-and-eighty-degree-turn in the other direction. A few years later, she was living in New York City working twelve hour days, and Jax was off doing whatever it was that he’d done. She hadn’t even known he was a firefighter until he rescued her tonight. Especially since he and her brother probably worked together.

Then again she and Dane hadn’t talked very much since she’d left.

Yet here she and Jax were nearly ten years later. She was still thinking how her life might have been different if they’d been more than friends back then when she realized he was talking to her.

She reached for the oxygen tube to hide her embarrassment. “What?”

His hands were gentle as he helped her get it repositioned. “I asked why the heck you went back up to the fifth floor looking for people.”

Skye hesitated, pretending to focus on fitting the ends of the tube under nose. The truth was she’d been terrified half to death the moment she woke up and realized the hotel was on fire. She hated fire. So much so that she couldn’t even stand to have candles on her birthday cake. When she’d heard the alarm and smelled the smoke, she barely remembered to get dressed and grab her purse before she ran down the stairs and outside.

When she’d gotten to safety, she was afraid to even look back at the building and the flames engulfing it. That was when she heard the cries for help from the hotel, and something inside her had torn open.

Her parents had died in a fire when she was in high school because they couldn’t get out of the house after it had filled with smoke. The thought that other people were about to die the same way made her realize she couldn’t just leave them in there to burn to death. So she’d somehow swallowed her fear and charged back into the hotel over and over again. She still wasn’t sure how she’d done it, or why she’d gone up to the fifth floor when she knew there was no way anyone left up there could still be alive.

“I know I shouldn’t have gone back up there that last time,” she admitted to Jax with a shrug. “But I couldn’t give up until I checked one more time. I didn’t want to leave anyone behind.”

“That was very brave, and I have no doubt you saved a lot of people’s lives.” He regarded her in silence, his dark eyes thoughtful. “What you were doing in the hotel in the first place? Why not stay at Dane’s place? I know for a fact that he has an extra bedroom. I’ve crashed there myself a time or two.”

Skye stiffened. Running into that burning hotel had been terrifying, but this question scared the hell out of her.

She slowly sank down on the bed. “It’s…well, it’s complicated. But I couldn’t stay with my brother. Actually, he doesn’t even know I’m in town. And I rather keep it that way for now.”

Jax winced. “That might be a bit tough. I just called and left a message telling him what happened. He’s going to know you’re here as soon as he listens to it. Sorry.”

She gave him a small smile. “It’s not your fault. He was bound to find out that I’m back in Dallas sooner or later. I was just hoping to be a bit more settled before I got into everything with him.”

Jax frowned. “Skye, are you in some kind of trouble?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing like that, but it’s kind of a long story. One I’d rather not get into while sitting in a hospital emergency room.”

His mouth tightened, but he didn’t press the issue. “Okay. You’re obviously working through something, and after the night you just had, you don’t need me prying into your business. The nurse said the doctor was ready to release you, so I’ll check on that. Where are you going then?”

Skye chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t know. Another hotel, I guess. Do you mind giving me a ride?”

“You don’t have to stay at another hotel.”

“I’m not staying with Dane, if that’s what you’re going to suggest,” she said.

“I wasn’t,” Jax said. “I was going to say you could stay with me.”

Skye hoped her mouth wasn’t hanging open. It was just that she had never in a million years expected him to invite her to stay at his place.

“With you?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I have an extra bedroom. And unlike Dane, you can stay with me no questions asked.”

His invitation was like a godsend. Besides the fact that she was suddenly extremely interested to see what kind of place he lived in, staying with him meant she wouldn’t have to spend more money on a hotel. It wasn’t like she was destitute, but she didn’t want to spend money she didn’t have to, just in case her new plans didn’t go as smoothly as she hoped.

Okay, no way was she about to look this very attractive gift horse in the mouth. But she also didn’t want to cause trouble for Jax, either.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t mind? I don’t want to get you into hot water with Dane.”

“I wouldn’t have made the offer if I wasn’t sure,” Jax said. “You can stay as long as you like. Let me worry about Dane.”

For some stupid reason, Skye felt like crying. She’d been living on adrenaline and prayers for about the past two weeks. Things had been tough, to say the least. And that was before the fire in the hotel. But for the first time in a while, it seemed like things were finally looking up. Like maybe fate had decided to throw Jax into her path right when she needed a friend.

Not wanting Jax to see her tears—guys always got so freaked out when a woman cried—she jumped to her feet and hugged him again. But as his big, strong arms came around her and pulled her close to all that muscle, she had to remind himself that he was her brother’s best friend. Because right now, the idea of staying at his place had her thinking things she definitely shouldn’t be thinking.

‡