lifeless figure. Then she remembered the blankets. She ran to the car and scooped up a quilt from the trunk, then ran toward the woman.
She elbowed her way through the crowd. “Here,” she said, reaching out to the man who was giving the woman mouth-to-mouth.
He motioned for Olivia. “Tuck it around her.”
Olivia sprang into action. She wrapped the blanket around the woman and tucked it under her cold, wet legs, not unlike the way Jesse had tucked the towel around her weeks back when they’d first met.
Screams nearby drew some of the onlookers’ attention, but Olivia stayed planted, staring down at the lifeless woman. With a great choking sound, the woman jerked. The man rolled her onto her side where she spewed water, coughed, and made a strange gurgling sound deep in her throat. The woman began to shake.
“She’s in shock. Get another blanket.” The man pointed at Olivia, and she hurried back to the car.
“You have others?” someone asked as she returned.
She nodded.
He threw a hand toward the marina. “Go. Help as many as you can.”
Olivia took her charge and sprinted to the car. She searched left, then right to see where she could do the most good. Several people were standing out on the pier and even from her distance, she could see a few with the slimy sheen of fresh seawater. With her arms loaded, she made her way toward them.
A woman approached Olivia as she swung a packing quilt around the shoulders of a shivering man. Olivia opened her mouth to inquire if he’d been on one of the fishing boats. She was interrupted.
“Thank you!” The woman reached around her and pulled the quilt securely around the man. Her pale skin showed through her white cotton blouse where water spots stained her shoulder and arms. She must have helped drag people from the water. “We’re gonna need more blankets.”
“I have two more. I’ll get them.” Olivia went to the car again, her heart beating with the cadence of her footfalls. She was desperate to know if Jesse was okay, but immediate needs kept stealing her focus. She was helping save people’s lives. She jogged toward the pier, her arms aching from the weight of the heavy packing blankets. A set of strong hands clamped around her arms causing her to stop cold. It was such a shock, Olivia nearly screamed.
Her captor spun her around so fast her hair whipped her face. Before she could focus, his hands tightened.
“Olivia?” It was part question and part command.
“Jesse.” Her head stopped spinning, and she peered at him. His eyes reflected fear and questions.
Words rushed out of him in a flurry. “You weren’t on the ferry, were you?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “You—you couldn’t have been. You’re mostly dry.”
“No. I came to help.”
He exhaled a long breath and dragged her into his arms, crushing the blankets between them. He was warm, his body pressed against hers. She pulled away, discarded the blankets, and immediately returned to the circle of his arms where she held him with every ounce of her strength. Adrenaline waned, leaving her limp and shaken.
He tucked her head beneath his chin. “Thank God you’re okay.”
“Me? What about you? I heard your family’s boat might have been in the accident.”
His arms tightened their grip and he made a sound, almost a sob. She felt the rock-hard abs of his stomach tighten against her. Olivia knew this nightmare had only begun. She drew in his scent, dragging strength from it, from him. But she would need to be the strong one tonight. Olivia gathered her moxie. She could do this. She wasn’t a child.
Jesse smelled like a mixture of motor oil and the intoxicating aftershave he used. His thighs shifted, and Olivia moved a margin as if she were strong enough to shore him up. He held her, his fingers threading through her hair. Olivia didn’t understand everything that was happening, but what she did know was that Jesse needed her and she wasn’t about to let him down. “Your family?” Olivia tried to pry herself from him to look into his eyes.
Jesse only tightened his grip on her. “My uncle. They’ve taken him to the hospital. He’s badly burned.”
Olivia squeezed him hard, trying to hold him together, trying to shield him from the pain. “Oh, Jesse. Were you on the boat?” Tears welled in her eyes.
“No. We’d just finished working on the motor, and he decided to take it out for a test run before fishing tomorrow.