Turtle Bay (21 page)

"For one thing, there's no way I'm jeopardizing your safety like that. And two, I wouldn't want to compromise my position here."

Of course he was right. Even though it sucked. "I wouldn't ask you to risk your job," I said, brushing away the lock of hair that had escaped my ponytail. I winced when my fingers grazed my sore eye.

Josh reached over and gently lifted the lock of hair, tucking it behind my ear without touching my injured face. "See. You can't even handle your hair right now," he teased. "Kidding," he added when I glared at him from my one good eye. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay. I kinda want to slug Evan for giving me this," I said, pointing to my eye.

"Get in line. As a matter of fact, I'll do it for you so you don't bruise your knuckles," he said, lifting my hand. I held my breath as he softly grazed my knuckles with his lips. It was the lightest of touches, but made my insides practically liquefy.

I struggled to remember what we were talking about, but my mind seemed distracted by one thought—Josh's lips. "Hey, wait, you can't hit him," I finally said as he leaned in close toward my mouth.

"Why not? Have you seen what he did to my girl?"

My hand moved to his bicep, holding on as he slid his knee between my legs. "Your girl? I like to hear you say that," I said breathlessly.

"Good." He stroked my bottom lip with his thumb. It tickled a bit, but I liked it. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, seeing the way he had made me tingle. "Hey, you know what? As soon as things calm down here, I need to take you out on an actual date." It was funny to think we hadn't been on an official first date yet considering how much time we had spent together.

Mitch entered the room before I could comment. "You ready to go out again?" he asked Josh.

"Absolutely. What do you got?" Josh said, standing up to throw away our paper plates.

"We got a report of some old-timer stranded in his home. It's just up the road in the Basin, so we can get there quickly. Take one of the super-duty trucks. We don't know what type of conditions he's sitting in."

"Basin?" I asked.

"It's a low-lying area at the tip of the county. Why they decided to build houses there is beyond me. Most of the newer homes there are built up higher, but there are some older houses that are at risk for flooding," Mitch answered as the lights flickered before going out. "I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did," he said as the emergency lights illuminated. "Start unplugging anything that doesn't need juice to ease the burden on the generators," he barked out as everyone scrambled.

With the sky covered in dark clouds, it felt like the evening in the station even though it was only mid-afternoon. We rounded up flashlights for bathroom visits and I kept one on hand for my back-and-forth trips to Mitch's office.

I walked Josh to the back door, along with Butch, who decided to tag along for the trip into the Basin. Butch wasn't the type of person who could sit and do nothing. He liked helping people. I was glad to see him back to his normal self. Quiet and brooding Butch was discerning. "Stay safe," I told them.

"Not an issue. Your young man here is more responsible than me," Butch said, slinging an arm around Josh's shoulders.

"Um, that's not saying much," I quipped, making Josh laugh.

"Okay, he's more responsible than you," Butch clarified.

"Much better," I said, waving as they ran out in the torrential downpour. I stood in the doorway even after they drove off, watching the rain roll down the drive in a never-ending stream. It was like a fast-moving river, which was kind of scary since the rain wasn't letting up anytime soon.

I closed the door and headed back to the front room to help Vanessa.

I was more anxious this time as I thought about Butch and Josh out in the storm, fighting the rising water. It was abundantly clear now why these storms should be taken seriously.

"Is this normal?" I asked Vanessa in between calls.

She laughed. "Honey, I've been doing this eighteen years and every storm seems to be different. We always have precautions in place, but you never know what kinds of problems you will encounter, like losing power."

"Yeah, and no air," I said, tugging off my sweatshirt. The power had only been off for a few minutes, but the temperature in the building was noticeably warmer. Probably from all the people running in and out.

A sudden gust of wind blew hard against the building, shaking and rattling the shutter protecting the window. We heard a loud snapping noise from outside, followed by a crash and breaking glass.

Vanessa and I rushed around her desk and toward the door, followed by Mitch and Larry who had been down the hall. We struggled slightly against the wind to get the door open, but once we did all we could do was gasp at the sight in front of us.

"Oh, shit," Larry whistled. "Is that your parents' van?" he asked, slinging an arm across my shoulders.

"It was," I croaked out. A large palm tree that bordered the sidewalk had somehow been uprooted and fell directly across the top of our van. If I didn't know any better, I would think the wind placed the tree there deliberately since none of the cars around our van sustained any damage.

Another gust of wind yanked the awning from the scooter rental shop across the street, sending it blowing madly in our direction. Mitch pulled the door closed before it could strike us. "We'll have to deal with that once the storm passes," he said as Vanessa mopped up the fresh puddles of water.

"I better go tell Buttercup." I brushed the rain off my arms as I walked. I didn't mind getting a little wet since it had become so warm in the station. Buttercup was in the break room cleaning up when I found her.

"What's up, Rain? Boy, your name fits now, doesn't it?" she laughed, taking in my somewhat soggy appearance.

"Bad news. The van has a new hood ornament. Unfortunately, it's on the large scale."

"Oh no. How bad?"

I shook my head mournfully. "Pancake," I said, clapping my hands together.

"Butch is going to be crushed."

"He'll match the van," I said, giggling. I couldn't help it. "Do you want me to break it to him when he returns?"

She shot me a relieved look. "Do you mind? You know how I hate to give him bad news. I never like seeing that disappointed look on either of your faces."

I gave her a one-armed hug. "I know. Maybe he can get one of those jeeps he was eyeing the other day."

"Maybe," she said, shaking her head. "He's going to be heartbroken though. That van was his baby."

Chapter 13

A couple hours later, Josh staggered in looking like a drowned rat. He was followed by a cranky elderly gentleman who seemed to be on some kind of rant.

"I don't see why you can't drive me to my kin's house," he complained.

"Because my men aren't running a taxi service," Mitch answered, coming out of his office. "Perhaps you should have thought about joining your family during the mandatory evacuation for low-lying areas two days ago."

"Do you know how many damn times them newscasters get their storm coverage wrong? If I jumped every time they said boo, I'd be a damn kangaroo."

"That may be, but by Thursday we knew this storm was for sure coming," Mitch said dryly. "You're going to have to hunker down here for the night with the rest of my patrol. There are cots in the back two rooms. The room with the three cots is for the ladies. The rest of us will have to sleep in shifts," he said, leaving no room for Mr. Cranky to complain, though he tried.

"That must have been fun," I told Josh as we stood against the wall. "Where's Butch?"

"He's outside," Josh laughed. "Just put it this way, rescuing a feral cat out of an enclosed space would have been more fun," he said, making me giggle. "Seriously, I thought he was going to chomp down on my hand at one point. Not to mention the fact that he tried to con Butch into packing a suitcase for him."

"Oh god, I bet that went well."

"Actually, your dad showed a lot of patience until William Banks hit him with his cane. Then he all but dragged the old guy outta there. I would have cracked up even more if we didn't need to get the hell outta Dodge."

"William Banks?"

"That's another funny part. The old guy insisted we call him by his formal name."

"And now he's here. How fun," I said as Buttercup and William Banks got into an argument over the coffee she was preparing for the patrolmen.

"Never a dull moment," Josh said, laughing.

"Did you see our van, by the way? A palm tree decided to get up close and personal with it."

He winced. "No, we came in through the back. How bad?"

"Like I told Buttercup, pancake time," I said. We slid down the wall and sat on the cool tile floor. "Hmm, this is nice." We only had a few fans running throughout the building, which had left all of us feeling sticky from the humidity.

"Man, with all the bodies in here, it almost feels better outside. At least my damp clothes help a little," he said.

"Yeah, I am a little envious about that. I was tempted to step outside for a quick shower just to cool off," I said in the wistful tone I'd used earlier.

"That I can do," he said, pulling me to my feet.

"You mean it?" I asked, barely able to contain my excitement.

"Heck yeah. Mitch didn't want you to go out on any of the calls, but we can step out the back door for a minute. Just stay close to the building," he said, leading me down the hall.

We passed several patrol officers who all smiled as we headed for the door. I laughed with glee as Josh pulled me outside and we became soaked immediately, but I didn't care. I tilted up my battered face, twirling around as the rain cascaded down me, rinsing the stickiness from my skin. It felt so good to be out of the stifling building. Opening my one good eye, I saw that Josh was watching me intently.

"What?" I asked self-consciously, feeling like I should cover the half of my face that was swollen.

"You're so damn beautiful."

"I'm a mess," I said, ducking my head.

"Beautiful," he repeated, reaching a hand out to stroke my cheek
.

I
shivered as goose bumps that had nothing to do with the rain popped up on my arms
.
We were crazy to be standing out in the middle of a hurricane, but it felt exhilarating. "You're not too shabby yourself," I said, watching with hooded eyes as he lowered his mouth to mine. The wind continued to howl around us and the rain poured down in buckets, but we were lost in our own world as his tongue gently teased its way past my lips.

I lost track of how long we stood there. Maybe it was only a moment or it could have been an hour. Only when the sound of wood being split snagged our attention, did we finally come up for air. Another tree had snapped, not thirty feet from where we stood.

"I think that's a sign that we better go in," Josh said, tucking me protectively under his arm. The wind was so strong that it felt like it could have lifted me off the ground if not for Josh holding on to me. I huddled against him, suddenly anxious to get inside. I didn't realize we'd stepped so far from the safety of the building. A palm frond blew into us, slapping my bare legs painfully. Josh picked up our pace, sidestepping more debris. The wind and rain seemed to be working against us, making the journey treacherous. Water sloshed up past our ankles, soaking our shoes.

I let out a sigh of relief as Josh pulled the door open and ushered me inside. "That wasn't my best idea," he said sheepishly, pushing a wet lock of hair off his forehead.

"At least I'm not hot anymore though," I giggled. Now that I had gotten the hurricane experience out of my system, I preferred the security of being inside. "I can't believe you guys have been out there all day," I added, stepping into the supply room to grab two towels for us.

"It wasn't quite this intense an hour ago. I won't be surprised if it's shifted more toward us," he said, drying his hair.

"You're right, it did. The governor has already declared a state of emergency for the coastal area, and Mitch already announced that no other crews will be sent out. It's time to hunker down and ride out the storm," Vanessa said from her perch behind the reception counter.

I shivered even though I really wasn't cold despite my wet clothes. It was more to do with nerves. At least none of the guys would be going out in the horrible conditions again, but I was concerned about what the newest update would mean. The way Vanessa said we had to "ride it out," scared me. Suddenly, the building that just moments ago had seemed secure and solid felt as flimsy as the house of straw in the
Three Little Pigs
story. "I'm going to change into something dry," I said, needing a moment to get my inner freak-out under control. I grabbed my backpack and a flashlight and headed for the dark bathroom in the back.

The bathroom had a spooky feel with my flashlight casting shadows on the walls. I locked the door behind me and leaned against it. A kaleidoscope of feelings ran through my head as mushy butterfly thoughts about Josh mixed with my fears over our current circumstances.