Pieces of Us - Carrie Elks Page 0,89

to be sure she wasn’t there.

It had taken all of Lucas’s strength to hold him back.

Then, when he saw her running along the beach, her body orange from the reflected flames, a sense of relief had washed over him. So strong he’d almost laughed out loud from it. All he’d wanted to do was scoop her up and take her far away from the danger.

But that wasn’t Autumn. She didn’t run away from things, she confronted them. He could learn a thing or two from that.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to keep her in there much longer,” one of the paramedics told him as they climbed down from the ambulance. “And she refuses to come to the hospital to get checked out. Do you have somewhere you can take her and keep her warm?”

“Yeah.” Griff nodded. “I’ll take her home.”

“Good. Her temperature’s almost back to normal, and there are no other signs of distress. She needs to get some sleep, but it’ll be better if you’re there in case of any trouble. If she gets cold again, call nine-one-one right away.”

“I will.” He nodded. “Thank you.” Taking care of her was all he wanted to do.

Tonight and forever.

He’d lost her once today. He wasn’t planning on doing it again.

Autumn sat up suddenly, panic taking over her body. There’d been a fire! She tried to scramble out of bed only to find a strong, warm hand restraining her.

“It’s okay. You’re okay,” Griff murmured as he leaned over the bed from where he was sitting on a wooden dining chair. Had he been sitting there all night? It looked uncomfortable as hell. He must have knots in the knots of his muscles.

“What’s happening with the fire?” she asked him, looking down at her body. She was wearing one of his t-shirts and a thick pair of leggings.

“It’s out. Lucas called about a half an hour ago.”

She let out a sigh of relief. “Did he say what the damage is?”

“The restaurant and the office are gone, but the front part of the pier is unharmed. They’ll inspect it later this morning. We should know more then.”

Autumn nodded, feeling her eyes well with tears. “And your boat?”

“It’s damaged. I don’t know how badly.”

“Oh god. I’m so sorry.” The tears spilled over as she reached out to touch his arm.

He covered her hand with his own. “It’s okay. Nobody was hurt, and that’s all I care about right now. Insurance can sort out the rest.”

“I’ll need to call mine first thing. I should probably make a list.” She looked around. Why had Griff brought her here instead of taking her home? “Oh damn, I left my purse at home.” Another thought occurred to her, and her mouth dropped open. “Lydia,” she whispered. “I left the door open. She’s still there.” She tried to scramble to her knees. “I need to get back.”

“Lydia’s here.” Griff inclined his head to the bedroom door. “She’s sleeping on the sofa. And… uh, somebody else is here to check on you, too.”

Autumn frowned. “Who?”

He cleared his throat. “Your dad. He came as soon as Lydia called him.”

“Dad’s here?” She glanced at the door, not sure how to feel about that.

“He’s worried about you,” Griff said. “We all are.”

“Don’t tell me Josh is here, too.”

He gave a little laugh. “I think he knew better. Or your dad did. Whatever. He’s leaving first thing for New York.”

Autumn felt the tears welling again. Where the hell were they all coming from? She didn’t cry. She hadn’t even shed a single tear when her divorce came through. Yet here she was, a snivelling mess.

If she wasn’t so exhausted, she’d be embarrassed.

“You probably think this is payback for me buying the pier when I was drunk.”

“I don’t,” he murmured. “I think it’s crap and it never should’ve happened to you. You’ve been through enough.” He looked at his hands. “There’s so much I want to tell you, but it’s about an hour until dawn and you should get some sleep. We have a hell of a lot to do once the sun is up.”

She raised her eyebrow at his use of ‘we’, but didn’t comment. Now wasn’t the time. There was one thing she wanted to know, though. “These clothes. How did I get into them?”

“You want to know if I stripped you and took advantage?” Griff raised an eyebrow. He sat back on the chair and she missed the warmth of his hand against her hip.

“I’m sorry. I was just wondering…”

He