Wildfire - Jo-Anne Joseph Page 0,9

my arms around my chest. “So, where to, Nightingale?”

I snap my head to face him, mumble out the directions, and decide it is too much effort to say anything. I look the other way instead.

“I’m Aidan, by the way,” he tells me.

“I didn’t ask,” I murmur. I can feel his eyes on me, and it makes the skin at the back of my neck stand on end. He puts on some music and hums along to it. He turns it down after a few minutes.

“You don’t talk much, do you?”

I frown at him. “I talk when I want to.”

He smirks at me, then focuses back on the road. This is going to be a long drive. He smells good, though, like fire and wood, and something else, something I can’t quite place. It should put me off. It doesn’t. It makes this badass seem almost human. Almost, I think, as he catches my gaze. There is something in those stormy eyes I recognize. A hint of sadness and fear I know well.

“Ocea,” I tell him.

“Yeah, I got that back in the hospital,” he tells me. “Fire and water.”

“What?”

“Our names, mine means fire, and yours means water.” I let that sit for a bit.

“Explains why I can’t stand you.”

He laughs. It bubbles up from deep inside him, and I can’t help but smile. “A lethal combination.”

4

Aidan

I sit in the emergency unit of the hospital. “How are you feeling, man?”

“Like I could run a marathon.” Kyle grins. I don’t smile back. “Come on, dude, lighten up. We got that family out; they’re safe. You came in and dragged my sorry ass out of there too.”

“What if I waited a few minutes longer?” I growl.

“You didn’t! Come on, Wild. Every man’s safety is not on you.”

This is why becoming friends with Kyle in the first place was so difficult. I don’t need to worry or get attached to people. “Gabriella could have lost you, man.”

“And I get to tell her that she didn’t. That Uncle Aidan saved me.”

I sit on a chair next to him.

“This is what we signed up for, buddy. We knew what the dangers were when we got into this, and we did it anyway.”

“I know, I just . . . I don’t know how some of you guys do this. You have families waiting for you.”

“We do it because there is nothing greater than knowing you’re the reason somebody gets to see another day. It’s not always this crazy, you know that. This is my first injury in what? Three years?”

I know he’s right, but it doesn’t change anything. We’ve lost colleagues along the way. We’ve lost people we were trying to save. Death and destruction walk beside us like old friends. We bear the chains of failure and wear the crown of triumph in much the same way.

“What the fuck is taking them this long? You’ve been here at least an hour.”

“It’s Friday night. It’s like happy hour in this place.”

I’m contemplating biting someone's head off when the smiling face of a woman peeps through the curtains.

“Hello.” She greets cheerfully.

“About bloody time,” I say through gritted teeth. My patience is wearing thin.

“Excuse me?” The pretty little thing cocks a perfect brow.

I give her a hard time all the while Kyle is sizing her up like the womanizer he is. She’s cute in her scrubs, nice ass, and perky breasts. Her dark brown hair is piled on top of her head, her eyes azure blue. She’s got a prominent dimple in her cheek even when she’s not smiling.

“I’m sorry you had to wait, sir.” She completely ignores me. She doesn’t shrink under my gaze but busies herself taking care of Kyle. I stand beside her, and she immediately gets annoyed. She’s got some fire in her.

“You can wait out there,” she instructs.

“I’ll stay. Thank you.” Her sass irks me, and I feel myself tense. I want to push her buttons for some reason, see how far she’ll let me. It’s probably the exhaustion.

The doctor enters, and she is one smokin’ hot woman, like in that runway kind of way. Kyle’s attention has moved from Nightingale to the sexy doctor, who seems unfazed by his obvious interest. I shake my head. He is such a man-whore. It wasn’t even a few hours ago when he was tumbling between the sheets with that crazy fuck-buddy of his. They talk, and I’m barely paying attention. Ocea’s hair slips from the knot on her head, and she pushes it back. I caught her