Storm Watch Read online

  But he couldn’t catch it in time. The boat hit the pole and people went flying.

  Jason shoved Lizzy the rest of the way across the street, then headed for the closest two splashes, managing to snag a woman in his right hand and a teenage boy in his left before they were washed downstream. “You okay?”

  They both stood up, gasping and coughing but nodding. Jason waited until they had their feet beneath them to let go, then turned to the others.

  The guy doing the yelling had caught the boat. Everyone else scrambled back into it, still griping at one another.

  Jason helped them hold it steady while the woman and her son got back in. “Take it easy on the steering,” he said.

  “We will, thank you.” The woman reached out to squeeze his hand. “You’re an angel.”

  No. He wasn’t. Because he didn’t catch them all…And as he thought of Matt, and all the people he hadn’t managed to save over the years, he locked eyes with Lizzy, who was holding on to a sidewalk parking post, watching him as if he was a superhero.

  Too bad he was nothing close.

  Yeah, he had training in survival and rescue, but that was pretty much his only claim to fame. The rest of life—the emotions, the heart, the real stuff…ever since Matt’s death, it’d all eluded him.

  Lizzy sent him a half smile, clearly worried, leaving him no doubt that she felt real affection for him. And when he touched and kissed her, that affection smoked and burst into a heat neither of them seemed able to resist. Just looking at her caught something deep in his chest.

  Yeah. Most definitely feeling again, which was something he could think about later, after he’d figured out what the hell he was going to do with himself. Leave…or stay. Leaving was easy. But for the first time in recent memory he wanted to stay right where he was. Wanted to fit in right here….

  He headed toward her and her expression warmed further, and hell if that didn’t do something to his insides, as well, telling him that leaving might not be the easy thing after all. “You okay?”

  “Yes, I—Jason, watch out—”

  That’s the last thing he heard before he was plowed over by something hard and unforgiving. Before he could process anything except maybe “fuck” and then “ouch,” he was underwater and down for the count.

  8

  “JASON.” HEART in her throat, Lizzy leaped into the water toward where the fishing boat had run him over. “Jason!”

  The occupants of the boat were an elderly couple who had no more control of the vessel than they had of the weather. The woman was staring at the water where Jason had gone down. “Oh, dear!” she cried, slapping her hands to her cheeks.

  Jason didn’t surface. Lizzy swam like hell toward where she’d seen him go down.

  “So sorry, honey. I can’t seem to steer like I used to,” the man called out, dropping his oar and leaning over the edge to look for Jason.

  Which was little to no help as his boat kept floating away. “Do you see him?” he called back. “Anywhere?”

  “No, I—”

  Just then, Jason surged out of the water, shook his head and whipped around to look at the boat that had just hit him. “What the hell?”

  “They can’t steer like they used to,” Lizzy repeated, swallowing her half-hysterical laugh as she grabbed him. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” His eyes narrowed on the boat as it continued its merry path down Third, mostly because neither of the occupants could stop it. “They’re going to kill someone.”

  It hadn’t been him. That’s all Lizzy could think. It hadn’t been him. “You’re not okay.” Her heart took a hard hit at the gash on his forehead. She slipped her arms around him to hold him upright, even though he was as steady as a rock. It was her legs shaking like a bowl of Jell-O. “Come on, come here.”

  They waded through the water to the far side of the street. On the corner was a park. Or had been. With the rain battering the virtual sea around them, they headed straight to what looked like a wooden lean-to.

  It was really a playground set, half-covered by water. They sat on what turned out to be the middle level of the jungle gym, using it as a shelter to get out of the driving rain for a minute.

  Lizzy looked around the three-foot-by-three-foot area. She’d give her last penny for a space heater and dry clothes.

  “You must be cooked,” Jason said. “No sleep last night, literally running in this storm all day…”

  “I’m okay.” She slipped her backpack off and opened it, pulling out her first-aid kit.

  “I’m fine, Lizzy.”

  “I know it.” She lifted the gauze she’d opened and scooted closer. He was sitting, leaning against the back wall, one leg straight out in front of him, the other bent, his elbow propped on it, hand holding his head, eyes closed.

  “Let me see,” she said.

  He dropped his hand and set his head back. She kneeled at his side and pressed the gauze to his cut, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

  He sucked in a breath but said nothing.

  “I don’t think you need stitches,” she murmured.

  “No, I don’t.”

  She looked at his face. His eyes were still closed and he looked pale to her. A muscle in his jaw ticked, and her heart sank. He was in great pain. “Open your eyes.”

  He did, flashing the gray depths at her.

  “Not concussed, I don’t think,” she decided, relieved to find his pupils normal and reactive. “But we should get an X-ray just in case.”

  “Your nurse is showing.”

  It wasn’t pain getting to him, she realized. He was pissed, and she stared at him as it sank in. “You’re upset that you got taken down by that boat.”

  “Hell, yeah. They were older than dirt and couldn’t get out of their own way.”

  She let out a low laugh. “Big enough ego?”

  He stared at her in disbelief. “Ego?”

  “Yes. You’re being such a…guy.”

  “News flash. I am a guy.”

  “Uh-huh. Look, I’m sure you’ve taken a hell of a lot worse hits than this. I’m figuring if you’re okay enough to be insulted, then you’re okay enough to continue. So if you’re done sulking, we should go.”

  He looked at her for a long moment. “Your bedside manner could use a little work.”

  “Oh, sorry.” She let her smile slip out. “Would you like to be fawned over?”

  “No. Hell, no.” But he paused, and then looked at her curiously. “What would the fawning consist of?”

  “Funny. Let’s go, big guy. Oh, and it’s two-one now.”

  “What?”

  “Before we crossed the new river running down Third, we were even, one-one. I saved you, you saved me. But now we’re two-one, big guy. You owe me.”

  He narrowed his eyes, then hissed out a breath at the movement.

  “Careful. You’re still bleeding.”

  “Yeah, and how exactly did you save me this second time?”

  “It’s all in the gauze work.” She cupped the back of his head and pressed on the gauze with her other hand. “Are you going to go all alpha on me and get upset that I’m winning?”

  “I didn’t realize we were keeping score.” He turned his head a fraction and she watched his eyes go from alert and sharp to…heated?

  She looked down and realized their positions—him sitting, her kneeling—left him at eye level with, not to mention less than an inch from, her breasts.

  He licked his lower lip.

  And just like that, her nipples hardened.

  Not that he could see her reaction. She wore his thick sweatshirt and a rain poncho, and was soaked to the skin, but it didn’t seem to matter.

  Her breathing changed.

  And so did his.

  Trying to act normal when her body was so hyper aware of his that it was quivering, she pulled the gauze away from his cut, bent over the first-aid kit and located Steri-Strips, which she put on the gash. She worked in silence, and he didn’t s