Of course, what had she been thinking? Jacey nodded. Kneeling carefully on the ground, she peered in the driver’s window. “It looks like a woman. She’s not moving.”
“Here, let me have a look.”
She glanced back to find him crouching beside her, a flashlight in his hand. Where had he gotten that?
“I had it in the boot of my car.” He had a slight English accent. Sexy. Jacey shifted away and he aimed the flashlight into the car.
“Looks like there is just the driver. A woman. Can’t really see how badly she’s hurt.”
There was another moan from the driver.
“At least she’s alive,” Jacey said. “What happens if the car catches on fire?”
Derrick glanced around the car. “I can’t see any sparks. If you smell any burning, let me know. An ambulance should be here, soon. We’d better wait.”
“It feels wrong to just stand here and do nothing for her,” Jacey said frantic with worry.
“I know,” he said. “Tell you what, there’s a blanket in the boot of my car, why don’t you go get it while I try to open this door. We can try to keep her warm.”
Jacey nodded and jumped up, grateful to have something to do. She rushed toward the high end, luxury car parked behind the accident scene. Moving around to the still open trunk, or boot as he kept calling it, she quickly grabbed the blanket.
Hurrying back, she saw that he’d manage to get the door open. She was trying to cover the woman without jostling her, and securing it so it didn’t fall off when she heard sirens.
***
Derrick slipped off his jacket and swung it over the shoulders of the shivering woman standing next to him. The temperature had dropped, but he suspected her tremors were due to adrenaline more than anything. One of the cops had asked them to stand on the sidewalk near Derrick’s car until he could take their statements.
“Oh, I’m okay,” she said, trying to pull the jacket off to hand it back.
Derrick laid his hands over hers, stopping her. “Keep it on, you’re shivering.”
“But you’ll get cold,” she protested.
He raised a brow. “Your comfort comes first.”
Her forehead twisted into a frown. “Why?”
Derrick had only just met her and already she stirred his protective instincts. There was something about having a woman lean on him that filled an empty placeinside him, that made him want to be stronger, a better person.
Slightly built, she seemed delicate and yet he could see the strength in her. She hadn’t panicked when she’d come across the accident.
He studied her with a frown. The street light they were standing under pierced the darkness, allowing him a better view. Large eyes stared up from a thin, pale face. Dark, curly hair surrounded her head, giving her an almost pixie-like appearance. She was so tiny, she barely reached the middle of his chest.
How to answer her without sounding like a complete Neanderthal? Had she been Holly or one of the submissives from Decadence, he wouldn’t have had to explain himself; they’d have understood his need to look out for them.
“Just part of the good manners my mum drummed into me, love. You wouldn’t have her ashamed of me by handing my jacket back, would you?” His explanation seemed to work as she snuggled deeper into his jacket. He liked the idea that his scent surrounded her, marking her.
Bloody hell, what was he thinking? He didn’t even know her name.
“I’m Jacey, by the way,” she said, holding out one hand while trying to keep the jacket on her with the other.
He took her hand in his, holding it for a long moment. “Derrick. It’s nice to meet you, Jacey.”
“You too.” She gave him a puzzled smile as she tugged her hand free.
Derrick glanced around, trying to find something to distract himself from his growing attraction to Jacey. The EMTs were loading the driver into the ambulance.
The same policeman who had asked them to wait broke away from his colleagues and walked toward them.