Slow Hands

before he could land a punch, another man had pushed between his fist and Oliver’s face.
    Dad.
    “Young man, you are the most rude, disgusting, foul little rodent I’ve ever met,” Jason Turner yelled, his face reddening, spittle flying off his lips. “How dare you say such things about my daughter?”
    “Maybe because they’re true? Just ask her. Ask if she’s not standing beside the male whore your own wife tried to nail not three weeks ago.”
    Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no!
    Everything had spun out of control so quickly, Maddy hadn’t even had time to process it. Her father’s face was beet-red, his breath coming in hoarse gasps. Jake dived for Oliver, sending them both rolling to the floor, fists flying. Deborah came running, screaming at Bitsy, who cowered away. Tabby came, too, looking ready to kick Oliver’s face in if Jake botched the job. Fat chance that. The groom grabbed the bride, hissing at her that she was embarrassing him, and his parents hurried over to watch in offended horror.
    But Maddy had eyes only for her father, oh God , her father .
    “Dad?” she whispered, reaching for him, watching his breaths grow choppier, his face grow redder.
    Jason waved her off with a weak gesture, then his left arm fell to his side, his fingers spasming as his shoulder slumped. He lifted his other hand toward his chest, bending over double at the waist, audibly struggling to breathe.
    “Daddy!” she yelled, grabbing for him as he began to fall.
    Those not paying attention to the brawl began to whisper in worry as Maddy collapsed with her gray-haired father to the floor. She knelt beside him, touching his flushed face…suddenly realizing he was no longer gasping for breath.
    No breath at all.
    “No…Tabby!”
    Her sister spun around, finally realizing what had happened. She threw off her fiancé’s restraining hand and sprinted over. Deborah, too, her eyes widened in shock, her mouth hanging open in horror, knelt by her husband’s side, oblivious to her designer dress and their audience. “Somebody do something. Call an ambulance, hurry,” she wailed.
    Maddy jerked her head up, tears coursing down her cheeks as the image of her father’s breathless, lifeless form imprinted itself on her brain. Her eyes found Jake’s, locked on him, not needing to say a word.
    He didn’t hesitate. “Everyone get out of the way,” he shouted, shoving his way over and dropping to his knees.
    “Don’t touch him,” Deborah said. “You’ll make it worse.”
    Jake ignored her, ripping Maddy’s father’s shirt open, straight down the front, leaning down to listen to his chest.
    “Does he know what he’s doing?”
    “Yes,” Maddy assured the other woman. “This is what he does. His real job. He knows exactly what he’s doing.” Then she looked at Jake, already tilting her father’s head back, blowing puffs of air into his mouth, then fisting his hands to administer compressions to the older man’s chest.
    “Please…” she whispered, for his ears alone.
    She couldn’t form any more words, nor did she need to. Jake understood, it went without saying.
    There was absolutely nothing he wouldn’t do to save her father’s life.

12
    K NOWING HOSPITAL procedures by rote, as well as being friendly with one of the guys on the rescue crew, Jake knew he would be able to keep Jason Turner’s loved ones a lot more informed than the average family. So there was no way he was leaving them. No way he was leaving her .
    Not when she so obviously needed him.
    He drove all three Turner women to the hospital, in Mr. Turner’s car. He’d expected to drive Maddy and her stepmother—but he’d been genuinely surprised by Tabby’s decision to ride with them, as well.
    If she were his fiancée, he wouldn’t have let her leave his side. He’d have been holding her, reassuring her that everything would be all right—exactly as he’d been doing for Maddy since the on-duty rescuers had arrived and taken over. Instead, from what he’d heard, Tabby’s fiancé had been anything but supportive. He had, in fact, ordered her to calm down. The frowning man had actually scolded her for her hysterical behavior toward the asshole who’d caused all of this—Oliver—who she’d lunged at after the ambulance crew had wheeled her father out of the restaurant.
    Jake understood Tabitha’s actions.
    He did not understand the groom’s reaction.
    In the same position, Maddy might have retreated behind her icy, self-protective wall,