“Be right there.” Mr. Movie Star now stood beside Hannah and used his thumb to wipe a tear from her cheek. “You’re a brave little thing, aren’t ya?”
Brave? She blinked up at him in confusion. No. She’d been the opposite of brave. She’d been absolutely terrified.
Opening her mouth, she was poised to admit as much. But Sam cut her off by emphasizing, “Ig-gotit, Fish.”
“Alright. Alright. Message receive.” The man lifted his wide hands in a gesture of surrender as he headed for the door.
After he—had Sam called himFish?—and the woman disappeared into the adjoining bedroom, Sam turned back to tackle the laces of the boot on her right foot.
She didn’t have the strength—or the will—to lift her hands to brush her tears away. Which meant they ran down her face, dripped off her chin, and plopped onto her shirt.
“I’m s-so sorry,” Sam said as he gingerly removed the last boot from the five-toed iceberg that was her foot. His hands were shaking so hard he dropped the boot the instant it came free. And she wondered whyshewasn’t shivering. She was absolutely frozen. Shouldn’t she be quaking like him? “I kn-know you’re hurting, ’cause I feel like s-someone’s shoving f-frozen pokers into me, and you were more exposed than I was. B-but hang on a little bit l-longer, okay?”
“That’s not why I’m crying,” she whispered.
“No?” He cocked his head.
“I’m just…” She sniffed. “Thank you, Sam.” She hiccupped as a new sob shook her entire body. “You saved me.”
“You mostly s-saved yourself. I just d-did the d-driving.”
“No.” She shook her head, wanting to tell him how much she appreciated the risk he’d taken in coming for her. Wanting to explain how much it meant to her. But no matter how hard she tried, the words wouldn’t form. What came out of her mouth was, “I feel like I only have two brain cells functioning, and they seem to be fighting each other for third place.”
One corner of his mouth twitched. “There sh-she is, the funny, flippant H-Hurricane Hannah I know and l-love.”
The instant the wordloveleft his lips, fresh tears welled. She’d waited her whole life to hear him say that. And now he had.
But he hadn’t meant it.
Not the way she wanted him to.
“C-come here.” He gathered her close and she thought he was going to hug her. She was more than a little disappointed when instead he scooped her into his arms so he could quickly transfer her into the tub, T-shirt, pajama bottoms, and all.
“No!” she yelped. Her brain went from slow and sluggish to blaringdanger, Will Robinson! Danger!The water was burning tongues of fire licking over her skin. “It’s too hot!”
He kept her in the tub with a firm hand on her shoulder. “It only f-feels that way ’cause your sk-skin is f-frozen.”
Every instinct told her to jump from the lava bath lest her flesh melt right off her bones. But she trusted him. Gritting her teeth, she stayed put. And then watched, dumbfounded, as he peeled his White Sox sweatshirt over his head before tackling the zipper on his jeans.
Once he was down to black, thermal long johns that hugged his muscular body like a second skin, he stepped into the tub.
“S-scoot forward,” he instructed.
When he lowered himself into the tub behind her, his big body made the water rise. Every new inch of skin it touched burned like blue flames. She only managed to keep from hissing her pain by biting the inside of her cheek.
“Now l-lean b-back.” He patted the place over his heart and she gingerly reclined until her back was pressed against his chest.
His long legs bracketed hers. His bare feet looked huge beside her much smaller ones. And his arms came around her—which was when she could truly appreciate how hard his muscles spasmed in an effort to warm his body.
“T-try to r-relax and let the w-water work,” he told her, but she thought maybe he was really coaching himself.
Any other time, she would’ve been delighted to be in a tub with Sam. But the hot water no longer burned. Now it felt like every inch of her skin was being stabbed by hypodermic needles.
She whimpered.
“It’s okay,” he soothed. “Th-that’s just your body heating b-back up. D-don’t fight it. L-let it happen.”
The running faucet continued to fill the tub higher and higher until she was submerged up to her chin. Some distant part of her brain noticed the ends of her hair floated around them like purple ribbons. And when the water slipped over her chin and licked at her lower lip, Sam used his bare toes to turn the knob and stop the flow.
