2. Hudson

Chapter Two

HUDSON

Stella Lancaster stared back at me. Her big brown eyes were wide and her freckled cheeks flushed pink from the cold and the snow. Her blond curls were damp from the snow with a few singed locks of hair from the fire.

I’d just purposefully thrown her into the snow to put out the flames.

“I’m fine!” She looked annoyed.

“Your hair was on fire along with the back of your coat,” I explained.

I was practically lying on top of her. Even through her winter coat, I could feel her curves. I forced myself to roll away from her and sit up in the snow.

She sat up with me and eyed her heavy fireproof gloves. “My hands aren’t burned,” she said as she slipped the gloves off.

I glanced toward the deck to see there was a crowd watching. “Is Stella okay?” a voice called over.

A moment later, we were both standing. “I’m fine,” Stella insisted again.

“Your jacket is burned in some places on the back,” I pointed out. “Your hair is kind of burned on the ends too.”

Her lips twisted to the side as she let out a heavy sigh. “I’m pretty sure that caught on fire first.” Stella patted her hair and winced slightly.

“Let me see,” I said. I stepped around her and carefully brushed her hair away from the back of her neck. There were a few angry red spots and burns. “Your coat kept you safe, but you have some burns above the collar. It’s actually—” She moved to pull her jacket away from her neck. “Don’t!”

I was too late, and she let out a yelp. Graham, Madison, Tish, and a few others were making their way over through the snow.

“Oh, my God,” Stella muttered under her breath. “How bad is it?”

“We should take you to the hospital to get it cleaned.”

When she peered up at me, there were tears in her eyes. The adrenaline from the rush of what happened was fading.

“You’ll be fine,” I assured her, holding her by the shoulders. “You have a burn on the back of your neck and it just needs to be cleaned. Everything else is fine.”

She blinked. “How’s the turkey?”

Madison reached us. “The turkey looks great.” Her gaze shifted to me. “Take her to the hospital and come back.”

“I don’t want to go to the hospital. It’ll take forever,” Stella said. She blinked rapidly, trying her damnedest not to cry.

Tish curled an arm over her shoulders. “Just go. With burns, you don’t want to worry about infection.”

“We’re going to wait to eat until Holly can get here anyway,” Madison assured her. Stella was keeping it together. Madison hugged her carefully. “I’ll trim your hair tonight if you’d like.”

Stella let out a little sigh. “Okay.”

“I’ll drive,” I said.

Getting through the jumble of everyone checking on her was like walking a gauntlet, but I herded her through. Madison and Maisie promised her they would finish dealing with the turkey.

Once we were in my truck, Stella sat stiffly in the passenger seat, leaning forward a little.

“The turkey looks amazing,” I said.

Stella let out a deep sigh. “I can’t believe that happened.”

I slid my gaze to her as I turned onto the main road. “It’s a story,” I offered with a chuckle.

“I hate this kind of drama, and now I have to cut my hair.”

“How does your neck feel?” I asked a moment later.

I was paying attention to the road, but I heard the tears in Stella’s voice. “It hurts a little.”

I glanced over to see her swiping her fingers over her cheeks.

“Hey, it’ll be okay. They just need to get it cleaned up.”

“I know.” Her swallow was audible. “I just feel so stupid and it stings. I don’t want to take pain medicine either. I hate it.”

“They’ll probably put some numbing gel on it when they clean it. You should be good to go with regular ibuprofen. You can always do that trick where you alternate with acetaminophen if it hurts too much.”

She took a shaky breath and dragged her sleeve across her face when I glanced over again.

I wasn’t thinking when I reached over for her hand. She looked a little startled, but she curled her hand into mine as I gave it a squeeze. “You’ll be fine.”

“I know.” She cast me a small smile and my heart gave an unsteady kick.

A few minutes later, I ushered Stella into the emergency room. Holly Fox, my cousin’s wife, happened to be at the desk. “Hey, what’s going on?” Holly asked instantly.

Stella turned around and lifted her hair up. Holly’s eyes widened. “What happened?”

“I was making trashcan turkey for the party, and the trashcan got too hot and my hair caught on fire,” Stella explained. “Hudson saved me by throwing me in the snow.”

When I met Holly’s face, her lips were twitching at the corners. “Good job, Hudson.”

Stella rolled her eyes. “You can laugh.”

Holly smiled warmly at her. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Your timing is perfect, things are quiet. Let’s get you back there and get that burn cleaned up. You wait,” she ordered me.