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“Nope. Did you notice that helicopter? It’s keeping the flames at bay in the back. The fire chief told me your cabin was safe.”
“Thank God.” She covered her eyes with one hand. “Can I go back inside? I’m assuming I can’t stay.”
“You can’t stay and you can’t go back inside.”
“My purse. I left my purse, my phone—” she plucked the wet T-shirt away from her body “—my clothes.”
“It’s not safe, Scarlett. What did the EMT say?”
“I’m fine. They want to have a look at you.” She held out her arms and the blanket slid to the ground. “They put some ointment on my burns, but they’re not serious.”
One of the EMTs came around from the front of his vehicle. “Sir, we’d like to test your lung capacity and treat your burns.”
Jim shrugged out of his leather jacket. “Here, Scarlett. Put this on and wrap that blanket around your waist.”
Not that he didn’t enjoy the view through the wet T-shirt clinging to her body, but the fire had done nothing to heat up the gray skies and cool temps of the early morning.
Jim followed the EMT’s instructions but stopped short of allowing him to dab ointment on his burns. “I can do that.”
The EMT dropped a sample tube of the burn ointment into Jim’s palm. “You two are lucky you got through the fire line, but you probably could’ve waited it out in the cabin until the fire department arrived.”
Jim jumped off the ambulance. “I don’t like leaving my fate in the hands of others. Any follow-up treatment recommended for Scarlett?”
“Just watch those burns for any signs of infection, take some ibuprofen for the pain, if necessary, and report any breathing problems immediately.”
“That sounds easy enough.” Scarlett joined them, hugging his leather jacket around her body.
Looked a lot better on her than it did on him.
Jim held up the ointment. “Did you get one of these?”
She shook her head, and Jim tossed the tube to her. “Stick that in the pocket of the jacket and let’s get out of here.”
“Not many places I can go looking like this.” She spread her arms wide and the jacket opened. He kept his gaze pinned to her face, even though the wet T-shirt molded to her breasts.
“My place. Didn’t I make that clear before? I’ll take you back to my cabin—as long as you’re not expecting some kind of art gallery like you have.”
She dropped the blanket back inside the ambulance. “I’m expecting a quick shower and a warm bed.”
He couldn’t tell if her red cheeks were a result of embarrassment at what she’d just implied or the lights still spinning on top of the emergency vehicles.
“I’ve got both.” He dragged the keys to his bike out of the pocket of his jeans. “I came over here without a helmet, so hold on tight.”
He swung one leg over his motorcycle and cranked on the engine. Then he tipped the bike to the side for Scarlett to climb on.
She placed one bare foot on the footrest and hoisted herself on top of the bike behind him.
From his position, he had no idea what she looked like on the back of his bike wearing nothing but a knee-length T-shirt and a motorcycle jacket, but the vision he conjured in his head made him hard.
Twisting his head over his shoulder, he shouted, “Hang on.”
Then, as she curled her arms around his waist and pressed her body against his back, he got even harder.
This was gonna be the longest mile of his life.
He aimed his bike down the road, taking it slow, assuring himself it was for safety reasons and not to prolong the sensation of Scarlett wrapped around him, cheek against his back, knees digging into his hips.
He rolled up at his cabin and took the bike around the side. Before he parked it, he leaned it to the left. “Can you get off okay?”
“Yeah.”
The leather of his jacket creaked as she peeled herself away from him and then managed a little hop onto the ground. Her T-shirt hiked up, exposing a flash of her shapely thigh.
He parked the motorcycle and jingled the keys in his hand as he walked to the porch of the cabin. “Shower first?”
“Please.” She fluffed her hair with her hands. “I smell like smoke.”
