Let It Snow (Snow Creek Book 1) Page 2
Thankfully the Jeep’s driver had stopped an inch short of her and Mitten. But she—fuzzy white slippers, red plaid pajamas, and all—fell on her ass and took a knock to the head, clutching Mitten the entire time.
"Is she going to be okay?" The teenager who had been driving the Jeep shuffled from foot to foot like he was barefoot on hot coals. "I didn't even hit her. I swear. Is the sheriff coming?"
"Maybe," Daniel said by way of answering all the teenager’s questions. He ran his fingers along the ridges of her spine and sides of her body, checking for broken bones, cracked ribs or anything out of place.
"Aw, man." The kid's faced scrunched up like he was going to crap his pants.
"Don't worry about it. You did good."
"My mom's going to kill me."
"Better than taking your ride away, right?"
"She'll do that, too," he mumbled.
Daniel made out other voices in the crowd forming around them.
"She left the door wide open—look at that!”
"David says she won't even open the door more than a few inches when he brings her dinner because she’s so worried about that PI taking the store. I don't know why not—David's such a goliath no PI would dare go past him."
"What a damn fool dog."
While he usually would have defended Mitten to the death, this time Daniel was inclined to agree. Her behavior could have gotten Jessica killed, and now that he was satisfied Mitten’s savior hadn’t broken any bones, he was feeling guilty because she was going to wake up with one hell of a headache and maybe even one hell of a concussion.
He stood and lifted her in his arms. Her body was surprisingly light, and when her head fell against his chest, he impulsively hugged her tight. She felt soft and snuggly, despite the dampness at her back from where she’d fallen into the snow. Her fuzzy slippers dangled off her toes and she shivered as a biting wind whipped against them.
"You waiting for someone to take a picture and stick you on the cover of a romance novel?" someone asked from behind.
Daniel shook himself out of his thoughts. How long had he just been standing here holding her? He needed to keep her warm. Usually he transported people with the help of his partner, but Jessica was light enough that he could manage alone. Carefully, to avoid jostling her neck or bumping the contusion on her head, he carried her to the back of the paramedic van, opened it up, hoisted her onto the gurney, and strapped on the C-spine. She still hadn't opened her eyes, but was mumbling something about fists and the sky, obviously still at an altered level of consciousness. Luckily, she wasn't bleeding—but who could tell what internal injuries she had?
Daniel stared into the heart-shaped face he’d known forever. He rarely saw her at school since they had different classes, but when he was younger, he went to the Books and Crannies story hour for kids just like every other kid in Snow Creek. Jessica had been a know-it-all, always talking about the things she read in books and all these places none of them had ever been. She scolded him when he bent back the spines or put the books away in the wrong place. But there was something about her that had actually made him want to sit down and listen to her tell a story.
He’d been in the bookstore a few times since but she never seemed to be around, and he’d seen her in the hallways at school but she was always turning a corner and on her way somewhere else. She was elusive, mysterious and—while he was normally the kind of guy to go after what he wanted—something about her had said keep away, and he’d felt the need to respect his instinct.
Her parents’ accident, and the closing of the store, had made him tight and achy in ways he hated to think about.
Shit—the store. He closed up the back of the ambulance and glanced across the street at Books and Crannies. It's door was wide open and the wreath that he’d hung on it last week had been flung to the snowy ground but luckily, the detective parked across the street hadn’t noticed yet.
“Kid,” he said, crooking his finger at the Jeep driver. “Can you hold the fort in her store until I get back? I'm taking her to the hospital."
“Uh….”
“Don’t let me down,” he said sternly. If she had a concussion, he couldn’t let her sleep it off. He gave her a gentle shake in his arms. Jessica inhaled sharply and her eyes flew open. They were a dark, inviting velvety brown.
"How’s your head?" he asked.
Jessica broke out in a wide smile. “Oh wow. I must be dreaming,”
Daniel grinned back at her without even thinking. Her voice was husky in a way that made him think of other things she could say to him. Then her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled his head down for a kiss.
Daniel was known for being quick on his feet, sharp in a crisis—that's what made him such a good paramedic. But the moment their lips met, that all flew out his head.
Her mouth was insistent, exploring. Urgent.
He’d had his share of great first kisses, but this was like no other, waking something in him so his hands wanted to roam everywhere in a tear-off-her-clothes frenzy. He staggered back, their lips still joined.
She pulled away first, her brow furrowed and confusion in her eyes. Her hands traced the planes of his face, as if she couldn’t believe he were really there. Shit, he didn’t know if he was really here or asleep and having a hot dream.
"You’re so real.” Her gaze lifted up to his eyes, and in an instant, the confusion on her face transformed to mortification. “Oh my God.” She struggled to get out of the cot, and before he could restrain her she’d flipped the cart and fallen, her head striking the van floor.
Shit.
Jessica groaned and clutched her scalp. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Damn. A second syncopal episode was never a good thing. Possible diagnoses ran through his head: concussion, stroke, aneurysm. Even at her young age, something like a heart attack, disguised as a simple fall, could drop a person.
He got her strapped back in, leapt out of the back of the van, grabbed Mitten, and jumped into the driver's seat. He kept a close eye on her vitals as he rang the North Star Hospital and let them know they were on the way in, Code Three. Snow Creek had modest facilities, dealing mostly with ski injuries, but they were equipped to deal with even the most serious knock to the head.
His dog yelped from the passenger seat over and over like a siren. He stepped on the gas and soon was pulling into the emergency room driveway. By the time the two charge nurses came out with a cart, he had Jessica rolled out of the back.
"Aren't you supposed to be off?" the nurse asked.
"Yeah, but I ran into this situation before I could hand over the van to my coverage. Jessica Mendez," he said, throwing down her vitals.
One of the nurses gasped. “Was it the developers?”
“Impact to the head.” He recapped the situation. God, he hoped that kid was still at the store.
The nurses wheeled her away. He didn’t want to turn her over. What if they didn’t prioritize her or take care of her the right way? No, that was dumb. He’d been working in this town for a year and had seen their skills first hand. Still, he couldn't get rid of the sick feeling in his gut as he watched them cart her away.
He fought the urge to follow her past the sliding glass doors. As a paramedic, his job ended at those doors. He turned and ran his hands through his hair. Only Mitten's yapping from the van brought him back to his senses. He narrowed his eyes at the dog.
"This doesn’t change anything. You're still going to the kennel, crate or no crate. But first, we gotta check on something.” He headed back to the store, and even though it was against protocol, he flipped on the sirens.
One thing Daniel had was good instincts. And right now they were telling him he was too late.
Chapter Two
Jessica woke with a groan and stretched her arms overhead. What a nightmare! Mitten had been there–she'd gone outside and…oh my God, she'd kissed Daniel. It hadn't been like their other dream kisses. This one had felt real and warm and—
She was in a strange twin bed shoved into the corner of a small hospital room with soft light streaming in from the corner window.
What the...?
"Welcome back—again."
Her gaze shot across the room. Daniel Hennessey sat in a frayed loveseat. He was wearing a black knit shirt and jeans, just like those he'd been wearing in that dream-not-dream-kiss. Mouth molestation was more like it. His St. Christopher's medallion hung around his neck and rested against his sternum. He always wore that medal—patron saint to ward against accidental deaths or bad travel and all that—but she rarely saw him in jeans, since he almost always wore the tightly woven nylon pants of his paramedic uniform. His dark hair was tousled like he'd run his hands through it too many times, and his green eyes were fiery under the angry slash of his eyebrows.
“You almost got yourself killed.”
Jessica’s jaw dropped. In all her daydreams, their first conversation had never gone like this. Her mind raced through earlier events and she felt indignation roiling inside her. “Is that how you thank me for saving your dog?” she asked. “Because it sucks.”
He had the decency to look properly chastised. “Thank you for saving Mitten. I love that furball. But your safety is more important than my dog—and God, Jessica, I don’t know how to tell you this but—”
“You know my name?”
“Uh, yeah.” He looked confused. “We’ve known each other since we were kids.”
“Oh,” she repeated. He remembered her.
“You don’t know me?” he asked, with a confused furrow of his brow.
She wanted to laugh wildly but swallowed it down. Daniel Hennessey believed in a universe where she didn’t know him. It was hysterical.
“My name is Daniel Hennessey,” he said. “We went to school together.”
Oh God, was he really introducing himself?
“I know about your situation with your parents’ store.”
She groaned and clutched her head, effectively silencing him. As much as she wanted to lock the hospital room door and trap herself with him, she had to get back. “You’re welcome. For Mitten. Now I gotta run.” She swung her legs off the bed but winced as her head throbbed again. What was she even doing here? She vaguely recalled slipping, falling. How long had she been out?
“Hey, take it easy.” Daniel stood and walked to her. Then his hands dove into her hair. "Do you feel any tenderness?” He reached to her bedside and pressed a call button, then returned his fingers to her head.
Her body sparked as his fingers massaged her scalp. The reality of him was so much better than she’d imagined. First, there was how he smelled, like leather and spice and a hint of soap. Then there were the details she'd missed from behind the door of the store. An L-shaped scar the size of her fingernail winked out from the stubble of his chin. Blue rims circled his emerald green irises.
She winced as his thumb passed over a tender spot by her right ear. He withdrew his hand and tucked her hair behind her ear with a sigh, then nodded with satisfaction. "You'll live for now, but you’ve got to take it easy.”
“I will totally take it easy.” Life as a hermit was not exactly taxing. “As soon as I get back to the store.”
“Jessica…there’s no easy way to say this.”
She loved the way he said his name but…wait. “No easy way to say what?”
He licked his lips. “The buyers took possession already. I left someone in charge, but he’s just a kid, and he freaked out when they threatened to have him arrested. It’s my fault.”
Daniel was still talking, but Jessica couldn’t hear him above the roaring in her ears. She fisted the sheets at her waist, trying to sort through the sounds he was making. "I was only out for a second.” She’d lost the store—she’d lost everything that mattered to her family. It was too much, too sudden.
"You’ve been out for a while. You blacked out twice, and they had to make sure you were okay with an MRI and—”
She doubled over like she’d been punched. He strode into the hall and returned with a lady with a white coat.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Jessica asserted, putting up her hands, but the doctor insisted she sit still. Jessica waited numbly as the doctor shined a light in her eyes and checked her body.
“You’ve got a goose egg,” the doctor said. “But no signs of a concussion. Still, your fainting really concerns me. Do you have a history of low blood pressure?”
“No,” Jessica said.
“Could there have been something else—perhaps a stressful event—that preceded the fainting?”
Jessica thought back to the kiss and found she couldn’t look at Daniel.
“She hit her head again,” he chimed in.
“Ahh.” The doctor sighed as if that explained it. “I’d like to keep you overnight if—”
“No,” Jessica said firmly. “I need to go.”
The doctor fixed her with an authoritative look. “I’m willing to discharge you if you promise someone will keep an eye on you over the next twenty-four hours, in case we’ve missed something.”
“Sure, whatever.” Jessica numbly thanked the doctor and signed a release form, going through the motions as the unthinkable went through her brain. The doctor finally told her she was free to go and left her alone with Daniel, but Jessica couldn’t make herself get out of bed.
She’d lost the bookstore. She’d lost her family’s legacy. Still, it was barely dinner time. The sheriff would have delayed the developers, as long as he could. Maybe she still had a chance.
Daniel cleared his throat, as if she’d forgotten he was there. "If you need to call your lawyer—"
"My lawyer?” When had her life become a sad comedy? “Yes, let me telephone her straightaway and then after that I’ll call the President." Jessica slipped off the bed but realized her thin hospital gown gaped at the back, so instead, she pulled the sheets tighter around her. "What happened to my clothes?”
“They had to cut them off—and there’s no need to be sarcastic. I’m trying to help you.”
What did Daniel think he could do to help? She’d lost the bookstore. Her worst fear had come true. She’d lost her concentration for a moment and lost…everything. "My computer and my clothes and my phone—”
"The owners claimed they have rights to the bookstore inventory but they are transferring your personal belongings to a storage facility off Park. I'll drive you there. Where can you stay tonight? We need to get you in before the blizzard hits."
She covered her face with her hands and let out a moan. After all this time and sacrifice—she’d lost the bookstore anyway. What was she going to do? Where would she go? How was it that in all the daydreaming she’d done over the past few months, she’d never considered a scenario where she lost the bookstore?
His voice broke through her thoughts. "So…you said you had someone? A friend?” He paused. “Boyfriend?”
She winced and opened one eye. "Your compassion is overwhelming. Does this make you popular with the people you save?"
"No." His lips hinted at a smile. "Saving people's lives makes me popular with the people I save. Come on, I’ll drive you wherever you need to go."
"I want to see it. My store.”
Daniel studied her through squinted eyes, like he was trying to figure something out. Then he picked a plastic bag off the floor and handed it to her. "Put these on."
She rifled through the bag, which bore the gift store logo: a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and serviceable loafers.
"Thanks."
She’d always hoped his first gift to her would be flowers.
***
Daniel Hennessey was cruising down Main Street with Jessica Mendez, his childhood crush who was connected to him in ways he wasn’t even sure she remembered. One of the things he liked about life was how it could knock you on your ass, lift you up, and then smack you back down in a matter of second
s. It was always a surprise.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure she’d see it that way. He kept glancing at her and had to remind himself to keep his eyes on the road, but his gaze strayed anyway. She was easy on the eyes. But beneath the sultry, warm eyes, the tangle of hair that practically invited a guy to run his hands through it, and those bowed lips—why hadn’t he taken advantage of those when he had the chance?—there was something else. A sense of peace she made him feel even amidst her own chaos, and buried beneath, that wanting-to-rip-her-clothes-off urge.
He remembered wanting to cozy up next to her when he was a kid, and it appeared that old habits died hard. They’d stopped at the storage place for her to pick up her belongings first. Even the way her hands had run over her laptop and phone had reminded him of how she used to draw her fingers down the spines of those cloth-bound books.
“My life is a box,” she’d muttered as she placed the laptop, camera, fold-up tripod, microphone, and a handful of clothes and her wallet into a box which he’d carried out to the van for her.
She’d been silent ever since.
“Stop—we’re here,” she said, nearly clawing the door.
He pulled over and expected her to run across the street. Instead she went entirely still and stared at the bookstore through the van window. He could tell by looking through the window that the store’s contents had already been emptied, and the front door was boarded up. The wreath was long gone. She pressed her knuckles tight against her lower lip and swallowed.
Daniel was the saving type. He had always known that about himself, and it was why he loved this job. Now, he wanted to save her. He wanted to make every bad feeling she’d ever felt disappear.
She opened the door and walked quickly across the street to Rosie’s Bakery, where the sheriff was coming out with a cup of coffee. As she and the sheriff talked, Daniel had an urge to run out and offer his help, but it wasn’t his place. After a few moments the sheriff put his arms around Jessica’s shaking shoulders. But by the time she walked back to him, she’d dried her eyes.