Saved by Love (Willow Valley Book 3)(2)

Abby couldn't control the bubble of laughter that escaped her lips at the man's ridiculous performance, but she clapped a hand over her mouth when the delivery man turned to find that not only was he the butt of a joke, but he had an audience. The fireman caught her eye and grinned again, and Abby felt a flush blaze its way up her neck to her cheeks, her stomach jumping up into her throat like she was riding the first drop of a roller coaster.

It had been a good long while since she was affected by a simple smile from a man. He did look like he could be a model in one of those firemen calendars, though. Still, it took her by surprise. She'd almost doubted she would ever feel anything like it again.

Lissa noticed her sudden embarrassment and elbowed her in the ribs, shooting her a wicked smile.

"What?"

"Ethan Barnes, that's what." Lissa eyed her closely. "Not that I can blame you. I may have been known to have harbored a crush on him once upon a time. Of course, he was a few years older than me, and the only reason I ever saw him was when he was hanging out at Cassie's with her older sister's friends."

Abby shook her head. "I thought you were in love with my brother for as long as you could remember," she teased.

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't aware of other guys. I mean, how could you not be? Just look at him."

Oh, she was. It was kind of hard not to with the way his Willow Valley Fire Department t-shirt stretched tightly across his insanely broad shoulders, showing off ridiculous biceps that bunched and rippled as he went about his work. Standing up when he finished testing the hydrant, he flicked a dark wave of hair from his forehead and met her eyes again. Even from that distance she could see the bright blue-green irises that reminded her of the beach back in Cali.

"Oh my God, Abby!" Lissa gripped her arm so tightly it caused her to let out a little yelp.

Thinking she was about to be teased for mooning over Mr. January—or whatever month of the year the calendar saved for the hottest of fireman—she forced herself to tear her eyes away from Ethan. But Lissa wasn't looking at her. She was staring past her with a horrified look on her face.

"He just dumped your mattress on the ground and is taking off."

Sure enough, they'd been so distracted by watching the men at work that she hadn't even noticed the furniture delivery guy pull the mattress from his truck and leave it on the side of the road, precariously close to where the water from the hydrant was making its way into the gutter.

"You've got to be kidding me." Abby took off down the stairs at full speed. The guy was just now shutting the door to his truck. She may have time to catch him. And she had to, because if not, it looked like she'd be hauling the thing up the stairs herself. It wasn't like she would let Lissa help her when she was five months pregnant with twins.

"Hey!" she screamed at the guy as he revved the engine. "What do you think you're doing?" She reached the driver's side door just as he started to pull away.

He didn't even stop as he rolled his window down. "Sorry, lady. I don't have time to wait around."

"What am I supposed to do about that mattress?"

He shrugged. "Not my problem anymore." Then he was gone, leaving Abby standing in the middle of the street looking after him with her mouth agape.

Lissa reached the edge of the sidewalk just as Abby turned back around. "I can't believe this. I hope you plan on calling the company he works for."

They'd be hearing from her, that much was certain. But more pressing at the moment was how in the heck she was going to get a king-size mattress that probably weighed more than she did up that flight of stairs.

***

Ethan was just about as shocked as Lissa Winters and her friend looked as he watched the scene unfold before him. He'd been pretty irritated that the guy was so impatient in the first place. Yeah, he had a job to do, but so did Ethan. So the fact that he may have taken a little longer to get his own job done in the face of the other dude's rudeness weighed on him now that the poor woman had effectively had her mattress dumped in the gutter.

"Now what?" he heard her grumble as she moved toward the mattress and sat herself right down on top of it, propping an elbow on her knee and cradling her chin in her hand.

Without a second thought he made his way to her and knelt down in front of her.

"I am so sorry. If I had any idea that he would do that, I never would have provoked him." That was just who he was. Always joking and making light of a situation. This time it had gone wrong, and now she was suffering for it. "Here, let me help you up and I'll get this moved for you before it gets wet." He held out a hand to her.

The woman raised wary eyes to his and he was struck for a minute by the dark depths of them, nearly as dark as her hair that was piled in a messy bun atop her head, stray strands cascading down here and there. He had a sudden urge to reach out and brush one from her cheek.

He restrained himself, pretty sure that would be a bad move considering the way she lifted her brow and pursed her lips at him. She stood, ignoring the hand he offered her.

"I can handle it." She turned and stared at the mattress, frowning, then cut speculating eyes back to him, her gaze lingering on his arms.

He laughed. "Seriously, it's no problem. Braden, come give me a hand, will you?" he called over his shoulder, not bothering to look back at him. "I'm Ethan."