The Magnolia Sisters (Magnolia Sisters #1) - Michelle Major Page 0,19
“My job is rescuing people. I’m good at it.”
“Great.” For the first time since he’d encountered her at the convenience store, Avery sounded defeated.
It bothered him more than he cared to admit.
He began talking her through his plan, mostly making it up as he went along. The floor joists behind her seemed to be structurally sound, but he wasn’t going to risk putting the weight of his entire two hundred pounds on them.
“Can you get her out?” Carrie called from below them. “I climbed over the mess in here and I’ve got pillows to cushion a fall just in case.”
“I’m glad I didn’t wear a skirt today,” Avery said through clenched teeth.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” he reassured her, earning a snort.
She shifted to look over her shoulder at him, and the floor around her heaved.
He heard Avery’s gasp, along with Carrie’s worried cry from the bedroom.
“Stay still,” he commanded, then called to Carrie, “Don’t stand directly underneath her.”
“I don’t want to fall,” Avery said, more to herself than to him.
He answered anyway. “You’re not going to fall.”
She drew in a ragged breath. “I might be starting to panic. I don’t usually panic.”
“No reason to.” He bent to his knees, then crawled forward, stretching out to reach her. The ideal way to handle this would be clearing out the spare bedroom and having some of his crew supporting her from below. But there was no guarantee that more of the floor wouldn’t give way while they waited for backup to arrive. Plus she was in pain, and he wanted her safe on solid ground as soon as he could manage it.
“I’m right behind you,” he said as he got closer. “I’m going to cut the piece of wood that’s got you wedged in here.”
“I feel like a chicken skewer.”
One side of his mouth curved, and he inched forward. Narrating his movements for her, he managed to saw through the splintering section of wood.
Avery let out a sigh when it fell away from her arm. She had a deep cut, but it wasn’t bleeding badly at the moment.
“Now I’m going to lift you back toward me. Use your elbows to brace on the joists on either side of you.”
“I can do three pull-ups in my CrossFit class,” she announced. “Who knew all my upper body strength would come in so handy?”
“Exactly,” he agreed, knowing it was fear driving her seemingly casual chatter. “Do you upend tires, too?”
“Sometimes. Mostly it’s a lot of burpees and suicides.”
“I hate burpees.” He positioned his hands under her arms. “You’re strong, Avery. You’ve done a great job holding steady. Just a few more seconds and...” He half lifted, half dragged her up out of the hole, quickly moving both of them away from the water-damaged section of the attic.
“You did it,” Carrie shouted from the bedroom below.
“You did it,” Avery echoed in a hoarse whisper.
“We did it,” he corrected. He had the crazy urge to wrap his arms around her and pull her close, holding her to him until the tremors he felt rippling through her body subsided. The notion was odd and out of character. He’d rescued plenty of people in his years as a firefighter.
Hell, just last week, he’d come to the aid of Kenneth Masminster when he’d locked himself in his tool shed. But a seventy-five-year-old gardener who smelled like menthol and mothballs hadn’t elicited near the emotional reaction that Avery did. Avery, with her shiny hair and manicured nails, and the scent of expensive perfume on her skin that was at odds with the hot, dusty attic. A scent that should put him off. As appealing as it was, what the scent conveyed about the woman who wore it made her all wrong for him.
“Thank you,” she said into the front of his uniform shirt. She seemed as unwilling to let go as he was.
Carrie’s footsteps sounded on the attic stairs, and Avery pushed away.
“I have the first-aid kit,” Carrie said, holding up