Chistmas In Manhattan Collection. Alison Roberts
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neighbor didn’t budge. “I told you, I promised Keeley I wouldn’t leave her and I’m not going to.”
His tone said they’d have to call Security to have him forcibly removed. He’d let go of the girl’s arm when Sarah had inspected her burns, had been holding onto one of the few areas on the girl’s arms that hadn’t had burns, but he’d quickly taken hold again, as if he needed to be touching the child to let her know he was still there. Was the child someone he knew?
Sarah didn’t want to deal with a commotion that might slow down Keeley’s care. Plus, the thought of her neighbor being dragged out of her emergency department didn’t sit well.
“I may need to ask him something about her injuries.” Doubtful, but it sounded better than admitting she didn’t want him forced to leave. “Let him stay.”
Which was when Jude turned that blue gaze to her, really noticing her for the first time since entering the emergency room. Recognition immediately shone in his red-rimmed eyes.
Sarah’s heart slammed against her ribcage like a ball bouncing around in a pinball machine, lights and bells going off all through her insides.
The absolute difference in Jude’s appearance from the carefree, towel-wrapped sex god standing in his apartment doorway early that morning to this concerned, dirty, smelly firefighter determined to stay by a child’s side messed with her mind. Could she have been so wrong? Was it even possible there was more to her sexy neighbor than met the eye?
Had recognition not lit in those amazing blue eyes of his she’d have sworn he must be a twin.
Part of her felt she should say something, to acknowledge him in some way during that millisecond moment of recognition. Instead, she returned her attention to where it belonged, on the unconscious girl.
The weird flutter in her stomach was back and on high speed.
Indigestion, she told herself. It’s just indigestion.
* * *
Although she’d lived next to his apartment for several months, Jude hadn’t paid a lot of attention to his next-door neighbor.
She kept to herself and barely acknowledged him, even when he’d tried talking to her a couple of times when she’d first moved in.
Honestly, until that morning, when he’d really looked at her for the first time, he’d have guessed her to be a lot older than the thirty or so she was.
She dressed much older, acted much older, and had never even glanced his way, much less made eye contact before today.
Not that she necessarily was dressed older now, more just dressed to hide whatever was beneath.
She wore hospital-issue scrubs in a faded gray color that hung on her body much as sackcloth would, leaving her shapeless, plain, and, at first look, a bit drab.
Interesting, because, as he’d noticed that morning, she had really great eyes behind those hideous monstrosities posing as glasses. She should seriously consider investing in contact lenses.
She had good skin and amazing cheekbones, too. He’d dated models who’d gone under the knife for cheekbones that weren’t nearly as impressive.
Not that his neighbor did a thing to accent them. Mainly, it seemed her goal was to hide every God-given physical attribute she’d been blessed with. Why? Why would a young, healthy woman underplay herself?
Because she was a doctor and wanted to be taken seriously? Or had something happened in her past that had made her not want men to notice her physically?
Why did it even matter how she dressed and what had made her choose to do so?
All that flashed through his mind in the half-second his gaze connected with hers and recognition hit.
Some other emotion punched him in the gut, too, but he figured that was exhaustion, worry, and adrenaline battling around for dominance.
“Thank you,” he told her for giving him the okay to stay, not that he’d been going to leave.
Short of interfering with Keeley’s care, he’d have stuck by her side.
Just as he had after he’d made it out of the building and back to the ground, Jude had ignored the exhaustion in his own body, ignored his boss’s insistence that he get himself checked out and tended to, and had stayed with the child.
Just as he’d stayed with her in the ambulance.
Had Paul not been the paramedic in charge that might not have flown, but fortunately his friend had been.
If only he could have found Keeley a few minutes quicker.
Thank God they’d gotten out when they had because his instincts hadn’t been wrong.
Within seconds of their clearing the building, one of the outer walls and the remainder of the roof had caved in.
Had they not already been outside the inferno, they wouldn’t ever have been.
A sobering thought.
“Jude, man, step back,” Paul said, grabbing Jude’s arm. “Let the doctor check her patient.”
“Seriously, he can stay,” his neighbor repeated, then began examining Keeley while the paramedic gave her further run-down on what had happened and the girl’s objective findings and care while in the ambulance.
Without pausing in her examination, his neighbor gave the nurse more orders. Then, without turning to Jude, she asked him, “You are who saved her from a burning building?”
He tried not to let her incredulousness as she’d said “you”, as if she didn’t believe him capable of anything of the sort, get to him.
Watching as she parted Keeley’s eyelids and shone a light into her eyes, checking her pupil reflexes, he shrugged. “Just did my job.”
Although not as well as he should have because he should have found her sooner. If he had, her little body might not be marred from burns from who knew what she’d done prior to hiding underneath her mother’s bed. She wouldn’t be unconscious, wouldn’t have needed the trip to the emergency room by ambulance. If only they could have gotten her out when they’d gotten the other tenants of the building, when they’d gotten her mother and sister out.
“Ha, don’t let him fool you.” Paul spoke up, gesturing to Jude and not stopping, despite Jude’s shake of his head in hopes of silencing his friend.
“He should have been wearing a cape today, because everyone had already been ordered out of the building. He just didn’t listen. Never does.” Paul shook his head. “First one in, last one out.”
“An adrenaline junkie, eh?” his neighbor asked, still not looking his way. She checked Keeley’s gag reflex and continued with her assessment.
The weight of his uniform suddenly pulled at his shoulders as he went to shrug again, making the movement require a lot more effort than it should have. He was tired. So tired.
“Or someone who couldn’t live with himself if he left a kid in a burning building,” he heard himself admit.
Besides, there was no one waiting on him to come home to prevent him from taking risks. He purposely kept his relationships simple. Had never been tempted to do otherwise.
Not since Nina.
His neighbor’s gaze lifted to his and something shifted in her blue-green eyes, giving them the effect of shimmering sea water behind her glasses.
Oh, hell.
Maybe he’d inhaled too many fumes, too.
Or maybe it was because he’d just thought of Nina.
Whatever the cause, his head spun and he felt off kilter.
Way off kilter.
Like he might have