Page 15 of Never Alone
He set me down. He turned, looking. Noah was on the grass three feet away, beside another firefighter who was crouched next to him with a hand on his back. Noah saw me. He tried to stand. I went to him on my knees, pulled him into me, and held him there.
The firefighter who'd carried me out pushed his mask up.
"Are you both okay? Anyone else in the house?"
I looked up at him.
I don't know what came over me. I wasn't thinking. There was just a flood of gratitude—thank you, you got him out, you got us out, you are real, I can touch you—and before I'd registered moving, I'd reached up with one hand, taken the side of his face, pulled him down, looked in his eyes, and kissed him.
He didn't push me away. He didn't pull back either. He stayed where I'd pulled him, his mouth against mine, frozen.
It took a few seconds. Long enough for my brain to catch up to my body. Then I realized what I was doing.
I pulled back. I put my hand over my mouth.
"Oh my God."
He was still where I'd pulled him, crouched in front of me, his mouth slightly open.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I?—"
And then I saw him.
I saw the eyes. The jaw. The shoulders under the gear.
The man from the bakery had just carried my son and me out of a burning house. And I had just kissed him.
He didn't move. He was looking at me.
"Ma'am."
His voice was low. Steadier than it had any right to be.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you. I'm so sorry."
He nodded once.
"Stay here. EMS is coming. Don't move."
He stood. He walked away from me, back toward the engine, back to the men still working the fire. I sat on the grass with my arm around Noah and watched him go.
CHAPTER 4
Cole
I turned the water as cold as it would go and stood under it.
Oh my God.
Her voice kept playing in my head.
Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I?—
I kept seeing her face when she realized what she'd done. Her hand over her mouth. Her eyes wide. The pull-back like she'd touched a stove.
I'd worked the rest of the call the way I worked any call. Rolled hose. Stowed the ladder. Walked the structure twice to make sure we hadn't missed anyone. Stood with Sam at the front of the engine while he gave the homeowner the briefing. Rode back to the station with the windows down. None of it had distracted me from how her lips felt on mine.
I stood under the water with my hands on the tile.
