“Actually, that’s the police. I’m a firefighter-paramedic. We’re much better,” he answered with a charming laugh. Charming was not what she needed right now. What she needed was discretion.
Well, she’d played opposite the most charming leading men in the industry. This simple Alaskan paramedic was no match for her. Now she just needed to convince him to keep her secret.
“But you won’t take pictures or talk to the press about this,” she said it as a statement, hoping the extra conviction in her voice would help bring about the desired response on his part.
He shook his head and patted the stretcher that stood between them in the tight space. “Hop up and let me take a look at that ankle.”
“You didn’t answer me,” she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance and practically losing her balance again when she did.
“We can talk while I examine you. After all, that’s why you called for an ambulance. Right?”
“I didn’t call,” she reminded him. “But fine.”
He helped her onto the stretcher and delicately removed her boot. Now that he was so close to her, she took a better look at this stranger who’d learned her poorly kept secret. He had dark hair and blue eyes, a bit of a tan, and incredibly skilled and quick hands. Before she knew it, he’d already removed her boot and sock and pushed her pants leg up her calf.
“It’s not broken,” he said. “Just a good twist.” He turned toward a cabinet of supplies secured to the side of the truck and extracted a cloth bandage and clips. “And, no, I won’t.”
“You won’t what?” she asked, grateful that her injury wasn’t serious but still worried about the spectacle she’d caused right in the middle of downtown.
“Take your picture or sell your story. I mean, who does that?”
“Lots of people do that,” she said with a dour expression.
“Not me. And probably not most people you’ll meet up here. Do you know what they say about Anchorage?” A sudden smile transformed his entire face, and for a moment, Josephine forgot to breathe.
Too awestruck by this sudden burst of attraction, she simply shook her head.
His smile widened even more and—wow—was there something so intoxicating about an honest, hardworking man with looks that could kill. “They call Anchorage the biggest small town in the world,” he informed her. “While we’re happy to have you and your production here, most of us won’t really make a fuss about it. We’ve got other things on our mind.”
“Is that why no one recognized me until you?”
He studied her for a moment. “I’m sure many folks did, but again, fame doesn’t matter quite as much up here. In fact, it’s probably a mark against you.”
“So people don’t like me in Alaska?” She was hurt by this despite her desperate craving for privacy.
“It’s not about you. We’re still a little sore about one of our hometown kids, a singer who got real famous and then forgot where she came from. Can you believe that?”
“No,” she said as he finished bandaging her ankle. “I honestly can’t. Where you’re from is such an important part of who you are.”
“Where are you from, Josephine? You know, before Hollywood?”
Her insides melted when he said her name. He wasn’t saying the name of her character, but rather her name. She was having a real-life romantic moment right here in Alaska, only she could never tell the other party how she felt. It was hard enough dating celebrities, throw an average joe like this guy into the mix and their relationship was doomed before it would ever even get the chance to start.
“I’m from a small town in upstate New York,” she told him. “I don’t get to visit as often as I’d like.”
“You must have quite the adventurous life, what with all the places you travel for your job. I hope this ankle won’t slow you down too much.”
Job. She liked that he called it that. It made her seem like a regular girl.
“I’ll be okay,” she promised. “Thank you for the help. Is there any way you can help get me back to my car so I can try to escape with at least some of my dignity intact?”
“I could do that.” He turned toward the front of the ambulance, but before he slipped into the front seat, he glanced back at her once more with another disarming smile. “It sure was nice to meet you, Josephine. I’m looking forward to your next movie, especially since it was shot right here in the city that I’ve called home my entire life.”
“It was nice to meet you, too,” she said, realizing then that she didn’t have his name. Oh well. It would be better that way.
With any luck, she could put this whole embarrassing debacle behind her unscathed, but somehow she doubted she’d be able to forget that smile.
Dan’s stomach lurched as he looped a pair of handcuffs on his belt. Three weeks ago, he’d thought it would be hilarious to attend his cousin’s Halloween charity ball as a police officer, but now it felt almost as if he was betraying his own uniform in the process.
Leave it to Oscar and his country music star wife, Lolly, to throw the biggest bash of the season and give him no way out of attending. Sure, it was for a good cause. The ticket prices and cash bar went to fund the Sled Dog Rescue Organization, which protected, rescued, and rehomed arctic breeds all across the country. They’d even expanded into the lower forty eight with an office on each coast as well as in Florida.
Still, other than that one run-in with Jo-Han when she twisted her ankle last month, Dan had never been enamored of fame. He preferred regular people, ones where what you saw was what you got one hundred percent of the time. Maybe that was another reason he didn’t much care for Halloween.
He arrived at the banquet hall early, hoping that it would mean he could also leave early. But already the large space was packed with partygoers. It also became immediately apparent that—for one—he was underdressed and—two—everyone seemed to think he was a real cop.
Revelers of questionable age shot him sly glances as they sidled up to the bar. Others, who had already taken quite a few trips to it, saluted him or made jokes at his expense.
Why couldn’t he have just written a check for the organization and stayed home to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids instead of having to take part in this ridiculous charade?
“Did you hear about the celery that got arrested?” his cousin, Sebastian, said, coming up behind Dan and slinging an arm around his shoulder.
“Yeah, it was accused of stalking!” Sebastian’s new wife, Riley, finished for him with a giant laugh.
These two were always joking. Even their wedding vows to each other had elicited more than a few laughs from those in attendance. Sometimes Dan wished he had something like that, but other times he worried about all the boring couple things he’d be roped into doing then, too.
Then again, here he was now with no partner in crime to help him get through the night.
“See you guys later,” he told his cluster of cousins who were standing in a semi-circle catching each other up on their lives. The crowd around the bar had cleared out, so he headed over to see if a cold Coke might help to soothe his discomfort.
While he waited, a woman wearing a glittering ball gown, feathered mask, and what he presumed was a finely curled blonde wig came up beside him. He felt her eyes settle on his profile, then snap away just as quickly.
That could only mean one thing: she knew him. And if she knew him…
“Here you go, sir.” The bartender pressed a lime wedge onto the edge of Dan’s drink and pushed it over to him.
The woman asked for a bottle of water in a voice that didn’t sound like the one he knew, but convinced Dan that he was right about her identity. Despite the mask and the wig, she had the same cute nose and heart-shaped face he’d thought about more than once since bandaging up her ankle in the back of his ambulance.
After sticking a $20 in the tip jar, Dan turned toward her, leaned in close, and whispered, “Another disguise, Josephine? You’re going to ha
ve to do better than that if you want to fool me.”
Chapter 3
Josephine had met the country music star Lolly Winston on the set of her production earlier that week. The singer, who was an up-and-comer like herself, had a minor role in the film and was also slated to perform the main romantic ballad for the soundtrack.
Of course, the two had become fast friends, and Lolly had insisted Jo attend her Halloween ball. When Josephine learned it would be a masquerade, she had zero reason to protest. A party would be a fun way to blow off some steam at the end of another rigorous week of filming.
She’d planned to meet a few of Lolly’s friend, do a little dancing, write a big check to the Sled Dog Rescue Organization, and head home early. What she hadn’t planned on was running into that dreamy paramedic again.
And yet here they were. Despite her careful disguise, he recognized her without hesitation. Her knees felt weak when he said her name, and she wished in earnest that she’d ordered a cocktail instead of a simple water. Unfortunately, alcohol was absolutely out of the question while she was on the job—even when she wasn’t being filmed. It made her puffy and forgetful, and the last thing she needed was to put on a poor performance in what her agent insisted would be her biggest role to date.
She swallowed hard, wishing the bartender would hurry up with her water and smiled sweetly at the paramedic. “I thought you said you weren’t a cop.”
“Well, last time we met, I wasn’t.” He laughed and took a sip of his drink—a soda from the looks of it. “Tomorrow I’ll be back to fighting fires and saving lives. Don’t you worry.”
“I wasn’t,” she said. “Worried, I mean.” Why had no one written her a script for what to say to charming everyday men she met about town? She felt so uncouth struggling to flirt or not flirt or… she honestly had no idea what she was doing here.
“My name’s Dan Rockwell,” he said, extending his free hand in her direction. “And that promise I made before still applies now. Your secret identity is safe with me, Super Girl.”
Josephine’s heart dropped to her belly. “Rockwell? You’re not related to Lolly, are you?” She remembered talking to the singer about her runaway romance with a local veterinarian named Oscar. When they got married a short while later, she took his last name legally but continued to use her maiden name when performing.
“Just by marriage,” Dan said with a wink. “How do you know Lolly?”
Jo opened her mouth to speak, but Dan cut her off with, “Oh, that’s right! She’s really excited about working with you, by the way.”
“We’re excited to have her,” Josephine said as the bartender finally delivered her water. She took a long appreciative gulp, draining half of it in one go.
“Slow down,” he joked. “I promise we won’t run out of water anytime soon.”
She lowered her drink and flushed with embarrassment. Hopefully her mask did a good job of covering the red she was sure had crept to the apples of her cheeks.
He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her toward one of the tables that lined the dance floor. After pulling out a chair for her, he asked, “So, what are you doing at this big press thing? I thought you didn’t like to be recognized when you were off the clock.”
“I don’t,” she said, endeared that he had remembered and hadn’t tried to force her into a dance. She was still traumatized from all the years her parents had forced her to pursue ballet as a child. If she never saw another tutu again, it would still be too soon. “But I do believe in supporting a good cause.”
“Same here,” he said, sitting down into the chair beside her. The air between them heated by a few degrees, and Jo wondered if that was their attraction at work. She was great at faking it with her co-stars, but she so seldom felt that zinging electric charge in real life.
And she had to admit, Dan looked quite handsome in a uniform, both the one he’d warn on the day of their first meeting and in the costume he donned for the party.
“I’m not sure what to say to you,” Dan admitted, looking up at her from beneath long, dark lashes and offering a nervous smile. “But that doesn’t mean I want to stop talking.”
“Because I’m famous?” she guessed, though she found it odd he would have a hard time talking to her when he had an equally well known musician in his family.
He shook his head and placed a hand on the table. “Not because of that. Because I don’t want you to think my interest in you is all about that. Actually, it has nothing to do with it at all. I like you because you’re beautiful and mysterious and… this sounds like the worst pick-up line in the world. Doesn’t it?”
They both laughed, and Josephine realized then how much more interesting life could be when it wasn’t scripted.
Dan watched in amusement as Josephine blushed beneath her bejeweled mask. He’d actually made Josephine Hannah blush! Did that mean he might truly stand a chance with her, after all?
“I like that your pick-up line is bad,” she said with a coy smile. “That way, I know it’s real.”
“Yeah, I don’t stand a chance competing with those professional Hollywood writers you’re used to hearing from, but I promise my compliments are sincere.” He wanted to hold her hand or kiss her cheek or something, but they hardly knew each other—and the last thing Dan wanted to do was to scare this shrinking violet away.
“Thank you,” she answered simply before glancing across the room toward the entryway. Her smile dropped in an instant when she spotted a small group of men headed her way with cameras flashing.
“Ugh, the mosquitos. I have to go!” She kicked back her chair so fast it fell over, bringing even more eyes to settle on her. The photographers had already cleared half of the room and would be upon them in seconds.
Dan needed to act fast if he was going to help. “Wait!” he cried, chasing after Josephine as she hurried toward the building’s back exit.
“I can help,” he said putting a hand on her shoulder when at last he caught up.
Josephine studied him for a moment. Was she deciding whether or not she could trust him? Whether she’d be better on her own or with his help?
A second later, she nodded. “Lead the way,” she said as she grabbed his hand.
Dan pulled her through the crowd and out into the dark night. Even though his ambulance would have made a better getaway car, he still had his trusty truck parked nearby.
He clicked the key fob to unlock the doors, and the tail lights flashed across the parking lot. “Get in,” he told her.
Josephine didn’t hesitate for a second. She slipped into the seat beside him just as the group of paparazzi burst outside.
“I’m not usually an action star, but I think I’m supposed to say step on it, and quick!” Josephine placed both of her hands on the dashboard to brace herself as Dan peeled away from the dance hall.
The roads were mostly clear, but the many one-way streets limited the paths available to them. In no time at all, an old sedan had pulled up behind them to wait out a stoplight.
“Usually I’m rushing toward something, not away from it,” Dan told her, shifting back into drive the second the light turned green and stomping on the accelerator.
“You’ve never been chased before?”
“This is definitely a first.”
“And this is almost every day of my life,” she said with a sigh. “I wish they would just leave me alone.”
The car caught back up to them, bringing a second along with it.
Josephine groaned. “They’re so crafty. It’s like they know your moves before you do.”
Dan adjusted his hands on the steering wheel and steeled himself for what came next. “Not in my city,” he said, jerking the truck to the side in a hard right turn.
“Please don’t do anything crazy on my account,” she begged. “I don’t want you to wreck your truck because of these jerks.”
“Are you kidding?” Dan asked, short of breath as the adrenaline flooded through his body. “Th
is is awesome! It’s my job to know these streets like the back of my hand, to be able to get to anywhere in the city from anywhere in the city in record time. These guys? They don’t stand a chance.”
Something shifted between them then as Jo let out a huge breath of air followed by an honest-to-goodness laugh. “Awesome,” she said, mimicking his intonation from earlier. “So where are we going once we lose the tail?”
Dan wished he could look over to her, certain he’d find a huge and genuine smile waiting for him—but he needed to keep both hands and eyes on the road to ensure he delivered them safely.
“I know just the place,” he said, refusing to give away the surprise even if she begged. “You’re going to love it.”
And somehow he knew that he was right, and that he was about to have one of the best nights of his life.
Chapter 4
Josephine hopped out of the truck and onto the rocky lot beneath. Everything was dark except for the phone screens which she and Dan used as little flashlights. “Where are we?” she asked in a loud whisper.
Dan gestured for her to proceed with a big swoop of his arms. “We’re away from the party. Away from the guys who were chasing us. Away from it all.”
Perhaps Jo should have been afraid then. A man she hardly knew had driven her to the middle of nowhere at night on Halloween. She was completely at his mercy. And yet, she felt safer stranded with Dan Rockwell than she did amidst the pulsing throngs of the charity ball they’d only just escaped.
“What now?” she asked, risking this question at full volume when no mosquitos had appeared from the blackness.
“Flattop Mountain,” he told her with a smile. The white of his teeth looked extra bright in the glare of the flashlight. “I’ve never climbed it at night, so this is a first for me, too.”
The Alaska Sunrise Romances: A 9-Book Sweet Romance Collection Page 58
