She could feel the tension ease in his grip and then he wrapped his arms around her, smothering her with his bunker coat. “Seeing you... I don’t know. Even though you were on your feet, it scared me.”
She was aware of the other guys moving around the accident scene, checking on the drivers. Another siren in the distance meant the ambulance was on its way, but Grant didn’t seem to be in a hurry to let her go.
“She okay?” Wren heard one of the guys ask. She thought it was Chris, though she couldn’t see because her face was against Grant’s coat.
“Yeah, she’s a bystander.” He let her go, then, and took a step back.
She was about to speak when he looked at something over her shoulder and his expression changed. Not quite a frown, but more like an instant of intense concentration. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” He looked back at her and then shook his head. “I don’t know. Some guy was looking at me and I feel like I’ve seen him before, but I can’t remember where.”
She turned, but there were a lot of people standing around, watching the goings-on. “Where?”
“He walked away. It’s probably nothing. I see a lot of people in this job, plus there are always people fascinated by accident scenes. It’s a little gruesome, but whatever. You should go sit in your car while we clear the scene. It’s freaking cold out here.”
She didn’t want to. Now that she knew everybody was okay and help had arrived, she was having a bit of a delayed reaction and she wanted to stay with Grant. But he had a job to do, so she nodded and backed away.
The ambulance finally managed to pick its way through the cars and Wren stopped when she realized it was Cait and her partner, Tony. She’d never actually gotten to see Grant or any of their friends in action, and she took the opportunity to watch them.
Cait did a double take when she saw Wren, but she waved to let her friend know she was okay. And then she saw Grant talking to her as the firefighters stood by. They hadn’t tried to open the doors or get the driver out, and when she saw Cait putting a collar around the man’s neck, Wren realized why.
The police were there, too, and they slowly managed to get cars moving through the intersection, weaving around the accident with some guidance from the officers. After filling out a quick police report, Wren got back in her car and turned off onto a side street when they waved her through, but when she found a parking spot, she took it and walked back to the scene.
They were loading the driver of the car into the back of the ambulance, which she hoped was just precautionary. And the driver of the truck was standing next to his vehicle, his hands waving in the air as he tried to explain to the police officers what had happened.
It looked as if the firefighters were getting ready to leave, but she spotted Grant. He was standing near the crumpled car, looking at something or somebody in the distance, that same look on his face as before.
She tried to follow his gaze, but he turned and saw her before she could pinpoint where in the crowd of onlookers he’d been staring.
Smiling, he started toward her, at a walk this time. “You came back?”
“It didn’t feel right to just drive off. I felt like I should wave goodbye, at least, but you were busy. Did you see that guy again?”
“I’m not sure. But it doesn’t matter. Sometimes people get a little too interested in watching us work and they listen on the scanner and show up where we do. I don’t really get it, but there’s nothing we can do about it.” He tugged at the strings of her hood, drawing the fake fur trim around her face. “Are you warm enough?”
“I’m okay. Are you guys leaving?”
“Yeah, and it won’t be long before we get toned out for another MVA. How far away is your car?”
“Just around the corner.” She smiled up at him. “Since nobody got badly injured, I guess it’s okay to tell you it was really cool getting to see you guys work.”
He laughed. “I opened a car door. I don’t know about cool.”
Grasping the front of his coat, she pulled him closer. “I thought it was sexy.”
“Really?” Amusement sparkled in his eyes. “Just me, though, right? None of the other guys were sexy.”
“Just you.” She tilted her face up for a quick kiss and then let go of his coat. “You should go. And I’m on my way home since they told me not to bother going into the market.”
“Stay inside, out of the weather,” he said. “And think of me.”
“Oh, I’ll definitely think of you.” She laughed when he made a sexy growling sound and then gave him a little shove. “Go. Do your job.”
“I’ll call you later.”
Once she was back in her car and very carefully finishing her drive home, Wren couldn’t help smiling at the memory of him running to her. He’d been scared, which wasn’t a good thing, but his need to get to her was going to keep her thinking of him until he called and she could hear his voice again.
Chapter Fourteen
