Kissed by Christmas Read online

  “Okay. Stay with me, Mr. Hot Paramedic.”

  “I will. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Chapter 2

  The gorgeous man who was sitting by her side as she rode to the hospital had told her that she wasn’t dreaming, but she had a hard time believing it. This had to be a dream. They didn’t make men who looked like him. Big, beefy, chocolate-colored angels with large hands and beautiful smiles. Or if they did, they weren’t walking around like normal people with normal jobs. In fact she was pretty sure she had seen this one on the cover of a fitness magazine. She knew she had seen him before. It was probably the head trauma that made him walk off the pages of a magazine and into her life.

  The paramedic was really probably some short, balding middle-aged man with a potbelly, but it didn’t matter because he was so lovely. He made busting her behind in public kind of nice.

  “You still with me, Hallie?” he asked in his deep, soothing voice as he touched her hand.

  “I am. What’s your name? I’m feeling a little loopy. Did I ask you that already? I’m not sure what I’ve been saying.”

  “You didn’t ask. My name is Asa. Do you know where you are going?”

  Hallie gasped. “Healer.” Now she knew she must be hallucinating. “I’m with a healer on my way to the hospital.”

  He looked truly surprised. “You know the meaning of my name?”

  She nodded but it hurt her head and she shut her eyes. “Your name is healer and you have the body of a god. It’s perfect. Truly perfect. Did you pick your career based on your name?”

  “No, ma’am,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “I was supposed to be a doctor. I made it all the way through medical school and quit in my intern year.”

  “Oh, that must have killed your mother.”

  He laughed. “It did. I think she’s still in mourning. But she forgot about me when my twin sister became a painter.”

  “A painter. Code for starving artist. What was she supposed to be?”

  “A college professor, but she ended up being an interior designer.”

  “That’s funny. My dream was to get my doctorate and become a college professor. It’s not for everyone. Is your sister happy?”

  “She’s very happy.”

  “Oh, I love to hear that. You’re happy too, right? That’s all that matters. That you’re happy. Happiness is the most important thing on the planet.” Hallie wasn’t sure why she couldn’t stop talking or what was making her say the things she was saying, but she couldn’t stop herself. This man was a stranger. He probably thought she was insane and maybe she was, but there was just something about him that made her comfortable.

  His name had been well chosen. Just his calm manner soothed her. She should have been scared out of her mind, going to the hospital in a city she still didn’t know well, about missing work, and not having proper sub plans, but none of that mattered to her at the moment.

  “I like my job very much.”

  “But are you happy, Asa?”

  He was quiet for a long as he looked down at her. “We’re here,” he told her. “They are probably going to do some neurological tests and a CAT scan. Give you something for the pain if you need it. You remember where you live, right?”

  She opened her eyes and looked at him. He was still the same beautiful man that had been there since she had first opened her eyes. “In a fifth floor walkup in the Village that is smaller than my childhood bedroom.”

  “Oh.” He nodded, a strange expression on his face. “Is there anyone for you to call?”

  “No. I’m here all by myself. My family is South.”

  “What about friends from work? Can you call someone to get you home?”

  “I can call a cab.”

  He looked hesitant and for the first time since she had hit her head, Hallie started to worry. “Is something wrong? Do you think I won’t be able to get home without help?”

  He shook his head. “I’m sure you will. I just don’t like the idea of leaving you here all alone.”

  “I have to get used to being alone. I’ll be okay,” she said as the door opened. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” he asked as they rolled her out.

  “For being kind to me.”

  “I wasn’t. I was just doing my job.”

  “You’re very good at it. Thank you for that.”

  * * *

  “What the hell was that?” Miguel asked him as they drove away fifteen minutes later.

  “What?” Asa asked, still distracted by the woman they had just left behind.

  “I’m used to women mooning over you. It makes me feel like I look like dog food, but it is what it is. This time I sensed something weird going on between you two. Granted, the lady was out of it from knocking her head, but you were weird, too.”

  “I’m not weird. She lives in my building. She’s three doors down from me.”

  “And she didn’t recognize you?”

  “I haven’t lived there for that long. Just a few months and you know we work crazy hours. I couldn’t place her at first but I knew I knew her from somewhere and it was bugging me.”

  “And you think she’s cute.”

  “She is cute,” he admitted. She was more than cute. He found himself truly attracted to a patient, which had never happened to him. “A lot of women in New York are cute.”

  “I like the way she handled those kids. She said go and they scattered like roaches.”

  He nodded, smiling at the memory. “She made me think of my sister. I’m glad she’s married now. Before, she moved all around the world alone. Anything could have happened to her. But Hallie said she was all alone in the city. If she’d landed the wrong way or just hit her head a little harder, it would have been another story and her family wouldn’t even be near her.”

  “This kind of stuff never bothered you before. You’ve been a little bit off since the crane collapse.”

  “And you haven’t?” He had taken this job because he loved the excitement, the rush he got when the lights and sirens were going, knowing that he was going to use his skills to save lives. And this one had started out that way, but when they got there it had turned out different. It had been one of the worst scenes he had ever been to. He had been on the scene for fires, helped rescue a man out of an iced-over river, but it looked like a bomb had gone off in the middle of New York City. Dust and debris and pandemonium everywhere. Ten people injured, one died on the scene from massive chest injuries and the other man had died at the hospital later from a heart attack.

  “I try not to think about.” Miguel shrugged. “The nature of a job. There might be something worse just around the corner.”

  Asa had thought about those words all the way home that day. Hallie had asked him if he was happy. He had never thought about it before. He loved his job. He was having fun in New York dating some interesting women. But was he happy? Lately he had been feeling like something was missing in his life. Maybe Miguel was right, maybe the crane collapse had just put him in a weird head space.

  He went home, made himself something to eat and tried to get some rest. He should be exhausted after working back-to-back shifts, but his mind kept going back to Hallie, wondering how she was. If she’d gotten home okay. Part of him wondered if he would have put her out of his mind had he not known she was his neighbor, but a bigger part of him thought that she was just the kind of person that would stay with him.

  He got up and left his apartment. It would be easy enough to check. Then he could just go back to his life.

  He knocked on her door, listening for sounds inside. If she wasn’t home he could check with the hospital. Most of the time they never knew what happened to the people they transported, but Asa could find out, see if she needed help. Perhaps contact a family
member for her. It was what he would have wanted someone to do for his sister.

  He knocked again and this time he heard rustling from inside of the apartment. He waited for a moment and then she opened the door. She wore sweats and fuzzy pink socks on her feet. Her springy curls stood out in every direction. Her eyes widened when she saw him and a guarded look crossed her face immediately.

  “What are you doing here?” It certainly wasn’t the same greeting he had gotten when he’d first approached her that day.

  “I came to see if you got home okay.”

  “I did. How do you know where I live? Did you follow me home? I may have hit my head, but if you think you can abuse your position and try to take advantage of me, you have another think coming.”

  “Whoa.” Asa put his hands up in defense. “Why the hell would you think I would try to take advantage of you?”

  “You showed up at my door. You knew I lived alone. How many women have you followed home before? I bet they let you in because you’re charming and good-looking. But it’s not happening this time. I should call and report you to your supervisor.”

  Asa felt his anger rising, but he tried to tamp it down. What was she supposed to think? It must have been scary for her to see a strange man show up at her door. “I’m your neighbor. I live at the end of the hall in 4D. I sure as hell didn’t follow you home. We bumped into each other once when I was moving in. I’ve seen you at the mailboxes before.”

  She paused for a moment and he could see the pain and sleepiness on her face. “Prove it to me.”

  “You want to see my lease?”

  “That would be nice, but just show me that you can get into your apartment.”

  “Okay.” For a moment he wanted to refuse, but the last thing he needed was for the little schoolteacher calling up the FDNY and complaining that he was stalking her.

  He took a step back and she came out of her apartment with a metal baseball bat.

  “You always answer the door with that?”

  “When I’m not expecting visitors. My mother got it for me when she heard I moved here.”

  “Smart.” He had to give her that. She should bash the head in of any man who tried to mess with her. He stopped in front of his door and pushed it open to reveal his large studio apartment.

  “It’s twice the size of my place!” She stepped inside, her mouth agape, and even though he was annoyed with her he had to admit that she was still mighty cute.

  “Here’s some of my mail. Addressed to me here.” He thrust some envelopes at her. “And here is a picture of me with my parents when I completed my training with the FDNY.” He pointed to the framed black-and-white photo on the wall.

  “Oh.” She placed his mail back on the little side table he had taken it from. “I’m sorry. You do live here. You’re the guy who had all the big, hot guys move him in. You apologized to me for the noise the day you moved in. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.”

  “You hit your head and I keep irregular hours. It took me a little while to place you, too.”

  She placed a hand on her forehead as if she were in pain. “What did I say to you today? Was it crazy? I know I was out of it, but was it as crazy as I think it was?”

  “No.” He started feeling the need to tease her a bit. “It was just something about me being an angel with a perfect body.”

  “Oh, no.” She groaned deeply and walked toward the door. “I’m going to crawl under my bed and die now.”

  “Hey!” He grabbed her arm and turned her around. “I know you were joking, but don’t joke like that, especially after a head injury. What did the hospital say?”

  “That I’m not allowed to go to work and that I need to rest for the next few days because I might have some lingering pain and dizziness. But I’ll be fine. I’m going to go in.”

  “No, you’re not.” He cupped her face in his hands and looked into her large almond eyes. “Your eyes are watery. I can tell that you’re still in pain. You’re not going to work tomorrow. You’re going to follow the doctor’s orders and rest.”

  “How exactly are you going to stop me?” She looked up at him defiantly.

  “I liked you a lot better when you were dazed from a blow to the head.”

  “Listen, I just spent the last five days alone in my apartment due to this stupid freak snowstorm we had. The last thing I want is to spend another week alone in my apartment. Those kids are the only reason I’m still living here. I don’t want to miss a week of work.”

  She was dedicated to her students, and maybe she was lonely being all alone in this big city, but he couldn’t allow her to risk her health.

  “I’ll come by tomorrow.” He hadn’t meant to say it, but it slipped out and he couldn’t take it back. He felt the need to look after her. Like there was a reason that he and Miguel, out of all the EMTs and paramedics, had responded to the call when they were technically off duty. “Just to check on you, and just in case you get any ideas it’s not to stalk you or take advantage of you, or any other twisted thing you thought up.”

  She nodded and it was then he realized he still had her face in his hands. Her face was so small in his hands and her skin was so smooth. He resisted the urge to run his thumbs across her cheeks. He removed his hands from her face and stepped away from her.

  “Get some rest, Hallie.”

  “I will. Good night, Asa.”

  She left then and Asa was sure that he was going to be seeing a lot more of his neighbor.

  Chapter 3

  Hallie could barely move the next morning. She had really thought about defying Asa and going to work anyway, sure she would be feeling a hundred percent better when she woke up, but that wasn’t the case. She felt like she had been hit by a large truck that had backed up and run over her again. The noise from the television hurt her ears. Looking at a computer screen caused a sharp pain to go right through her head, so she just lay in bed and reached for her cell phone.

  Her cousin was on speed dial. She missed her family painfully, but it was her cousin whom she had the hardest time being away from. Derek was the mayor of their small town of Hideaway Island. He had encouraged her to move on after her breakup with Brent. He had given her the courage to step away from everything she had known and live a life that was simply just for her and no one else. But while she was living just for herself, she found herself missing the slow-paced life of her island home and the people that made living there so wonderful.

  Her head throbbed steadily as she placed the phone to her ear, and she wanted to curse her cousin. If it weren’t for his unfailing support, she would have never slipped on the ice in the first place.

  “My favorite cousin!” his deep voice boomed through the phone.

  “Bite me,” she replied.

  “Whoa. I’m pretty sure your mother taught you that you aren’t supposed to greet people like that.”

  “I have a concussion. Spent all day in the hospital after I slipped on the ice heading to work and hit my head in front of a bunch of teenagers, and it’s all your fault. You big dumb jerk.”

  “Did I cause you to fall?” he asked seriously. “I don’t remember flying to New York and giving you a shove. But if I did, I apologize.”

  “You made me move to a terribly cold place.”

  “I didn’t. I encouraged you to get off the island and be away from that pretentious jackass who you were giving up your dreams for. You took the job in New York because it was a great opportunity. I happen to like New York. It’s a great city. I would live there if my heart wasn’t so connected to this place.”

  “I miss home.” She sighed. “I miss you, too.”

  “You must have really hurt your head if you are admitting to missing me. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she said, but could hear the weariness in her
own voice.

  “I’m serious. Are you really okay? I can catch a flight out of Miami this afternoon and be there tonight.”

  “No.” He was protective of her. The big brother she needed. “You don’t have to. I was just calling to ask you to look for flights for me. I have a long winter break this year and really need to be home for Christmas. I would look myself but I’m not supposed to be on the computer.”

  “Does your mother know that you got hurt?” The worry in his voice was clear.

  “Of course not. She would have heart failure if she did.”

  “She worried all Thanksgiving about you. She was sure you were going to starve that day because nothing would be open for the holiday.”

  “That’s one thing I love about New York. There’s always something open.” She suddenly got extremely tired, almost letting the phone slip out of her hand.

  “Hallie? Hallie!”

  “I’m here. I just zoned out for a moment,” she said as she heard the knock on her door. She already suspected she knew who was standing on the other side of the door.

  “I really think I should come up there. You don’t sound like yourself.”

  “I’m fine. My neighbor is here to check on me. He went to med school.”

  “But you didn’t say he’s a doctor.”

  “He’s not.” She eased herself out of bed, feeling every one of her muscles protest. “He’s a paramedic. I’ve got to go, Derek. He’ll probably break down the door if I don’t open.”

  “Who is this guy? I’ve never heard you mention him before.”

  “That’s because I didn’t know him before. Please let me know about the flights.”

  She disconnected before he had the chance to question her any more. The phone call seemed to zap the tiny bit of energy she did have out of her.

  The knocking on her door had turned to full banging by the time she got there. Asa stood there, his beautiful face twisted with concern. It wasn’t fair that he got to walk around looking like that. He wasn’t dressed for work today. She had expected he would be and on the way to a shift but he was in jeans and a T-shirt. Looking just as good in that as he did in his dark blue uniform.