All You'll Ever Need (8 page)

“Zack.” The whisper slipped through her lips before everything went black.

Chapter Six

Zack carried the baskets full of cucumbers into the main building and handed them off, still berating himself about not taking more breaks. Used to working in the field alone, he went hours before stopping. With this being Jada’s first time out there, and she hadn’t eaten, he should’ve known better. She might think she’s fine, but she didn’t look fine.

I should’ve insisted on her eating something before we went out there.

He stuffed two bottles of water into his back pockets and headed back outside to grab a couple of empty baskets. He had to admit he was enjoying Jada’s company. She was down to earth with a witty sense of humor. He also liked the way she went with the flow. Thinking about a couple of the women he had dated over the years, there was no way any of them would be caught dead in a field working.

I knew she was different
.

Zack neared the edge of the field when he saw a few people hurrying to the row where he had left Jada. What he didn’t see was Jada. It wasn’t until the guy who had asked for his autograph started waving his arms frantically did a sinking feeling settle in his gut.

Oh damn
.

Zack dropped the baskets and took off in a sprint, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew something was wrong.

“Move, move!” He pushed his way through the small crowd. “Jada?” She was laying on the ground, a towel under her head. Zack knelt down next to her. “What the hell happened?”

The guy who wanted the autograph spoke up. “When I was over there,” he pointed to the next row, “I noticed she looked a little disoriented, but before I could ask if she was alright, she collapsed.”

“Jada? Sweetheart?” Zack touched her clammy cheek and noticed a small bruise near her hairline. He hadn’t noticed it before and assumed she’d gotten it when she passed out. She moaned, and her eyes fluttered, but she didn’t open them.

“I need to get her out of this sun,” he mumbled more to himself than anyone else. He lifted her into his arms and held her close. “Mrs. Conner, would you find Doc and ask him to meet me in Grady’s office?” She agreed, and Zack rushed toward the main building.

“I’ll grab her things for you,” the autograph guy said of Jada’s sunglasses and gloves.

Zack didn’t give a damn about that stuff. All he wanted was to get Jada inside the air-conditioned building and get some liquids into her. He was pretty sure she was dehydrated but he needed the doctor to confirm his suspicions.

Kicking open the door to the main building, Zack hurried to the back hallway that led to Mr. Grady, the farm owner’s, office. He flew past the kitchen, bathrooms, and a supply closet. “Grady!” he called out when he got closer. “Grady!”

“I can walk,” Jada mumbled. “I don’t need some big, sexy guy…” Her words trailed off, and Zack got more concerned. He felt better hearing her talk, at least then he knew she was okay.

The door at the end of the hall swung open, and Grady stood in the doorway. He snatched off his reading glasses. “What’s going on?” He rushed forward when he saw Zack carrying Jada. “What happened?”

“She fainted. I need to lay her down.” Zack moved around Grady, not waiting for permission to enter the office and went straight to a leather sofa at the back of the small room. He laid her down, placing a pillow under her head. He removed her muddy shoes and shoved a pillow under her feet. “I asked Mrs. Conner to find Doc, can you—”

Jada groaned, and her eyes eased open.

“Jada?” Zack sat on the side of the sofa, his hand cupping her cheek. “Sweetheart, can you hear me?” She swallowed and then tried to sit up. He placed his hand on her shoulder to keep her down. “No, you need to just lay here for a few minutes.”

Staring into each other’s eyes, Zack brushed her hair away from her face, the back of his fingers lingering against her soft cheek.
There is something about this woman
. Each time his gaze met hers, his heart turned over in response.

A noise behind him snapped him out of his trance.

“She needs some water.” He reached for the bottles of water in his back pockets, but they must have fallen out at some point. Before he could turn to Grady, a bottle was in his hands. “Jada, you need to drink something.” Zack snatched the top off, letting it fall to the floor and lifted her head.

“Mmm, no. I’m tired,” she mumbled, her eyes closed. She pulled away from him, swatting at the hand that held the bottle.

“I know, sweetheart, but I need you to drink this.” Zack moved his hand to the back of her head to hold her still and practically poured water into her mouth. She coughed a little, and the moment she stopped, he poured more water into her mouth until she drunk on her own.

“Hey Grady, what happened?” Doc asked when he stepped into the doorway. His long, salt and pepper hair pulled back and bound at the back of his neck was covered with a wide straw hat, which he removed and laid on the table.

“Over here,” Zack said. “She passed out. I think she’s dehydrated, but I want to make sure nothing else is going on.”

“Here, let me take a look.” Doc dropped his gloves on the table near his hat and quickly washed his hands at the small wet bar in the corner of the room. He moved back to where Jada laid, dragged a chair over to the sofa, and asked a series of questions.

Jada mumbled that she didn’t need a doctor. As far as Zack was concerned, the fact that she wasn’t trying to get up spoke volumes.

The doctor checked her vitals, a bruise at the hairline close to her ear, and another on the back of her head.

“Besides the two bruises, there doesn’t seem to be any other injuries,” Doc said to Jada. “You have a slight temperature, but I think it’s from being in the hot sun. You’re definitely dehydrated so try to drink plenty of liquids over the next hour, and you should be fine, maybe a little tired, but fine nonetheless.”

Glad that she was going to be okay, Zack’s heart rate had finally gone back to normal. Finding her lying on the ground scared him to death, and he knew he never wanted to experience anything like that again.

When Doc and Grady left, Zack held Jada’s hand and sighed.
This was one heck of a first date.
Now he just hoped he could talk her into a second one.

“Is she okay?”

Zack jerked his head toward the doorway where the autograph guy was standing.

“She will be. She just got a little dehydrated.” Zack turned back to Jada, who had her eyes closed, and he gently touched her cheek.

“So what about my football, can you still sign it?”

“Not right now,” Zack muttered. Just that fast he’d forgotten that the guy was standing there.

“But you said—”

“Are you fucking kidding me, man?” Zack bolted from his seat and got into the guy’s face. His anger went from zero to sixty in seconds. He couldn’t believe some people. “My girl is sick and you’re asking me about a damn football.”

“Hey, you’re the one who said that you’d give me your autographed. When I saw you leave the field, I figured you were getting ready to leave.”

“Zack.” Jada’s soft voice floated through the air. He left the man standing at the door not giving a damn about an autograph or anything else for that matter, except for Jada.

“Hey.” Zack dropped down next to her. “Want something else to drink?” He grabbed the second bottle of Gatorade that he had received from Grady earlier. Opening the bottle, he helped her sit up and then handed it to Jada.

She shook her head. “I don’t—”

“Nah, you need to drink some more. You’re still a little dehydrated, and this is going to help replenish some of the salt your body lost.”

“Zack…” She started to lay back down, but Zack stopped her.

“I need you to drink some of this so you’ll feel better. Then I’ll take you home.”

The guy at the door cleared his throat. Zack shot daggers at him with his eyes. “I’m not doing that right now. You can either come back some other time or leave the football with Grady, and I’ll sign it when I can.” Zack returned his attention to Jada but heard the man spout out a few curse words before he moved away from the door.

Jada slumped against Zack. “I’m so tired.” He wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss against her temple. It wasn’t until she winced did he remember her bruise.

“Oh, shoot, sorry about that. You must have hit the side of your head when you passed out. Does your head hurt?”

“A little, but I’ve been told – on more than one occasion – I have a hard head.”

Though she said it with a straight face, Zack chuckled, glad to see her sense of humor was still intact.

“You almost gave me a heart attack out there.” He thought about her mumbling when he carried her into the office. “So did you mean it when you said that I was sexy?”

She stared at him and lifted her small hand to his face, her thumb rubbing over his stubble. “Um, I don’t remember,” she said unconvincingly and glanced away. He placed his hand on top of hers, bringing her attention back to him. “Thanks for taking care of me.” Her words spoken so quietly he barely heard her, but he didn’t miss the desire gleaming in her pretty brown eyes.

All it would take is for both of them to move their heads forward a few inches, and their lips would connect. Zack ached to kiss her but debated with himself, not wanting to move too fast and scare her away.

To hell with it.

He eased forward and lowered his head. When her breathing hitched, he froze and met her gaze. Not until she gave a small smile did he go in for what he wanted. He cupped the back of her neck and brushed his lips against hers. All day he’d wanted to taste those sweet lips, and it had definitely been worth the wait. His heart stuttered when her lips parted and he took the small gesture as an invitation, slipping his tongue into her mouth. She clung to his upper arms. Their tongues tangled and it was at that moment Zack knew that this would not be their last date.

Zack could have kissed her for the rest of the day, but when her hands framed his face, she slowly ended their kiss. He wasn’t ready to let her go and rested his forehead against hers.

“I guess by now you’re probably hungry.”

“Yes, I am.”

Placing a chaste kiss against her cheek, he said, “All right then. Let’s get out of here. We’ll stop and get you something to eat before I take you home.”

Zack helped her stand. When she didn’t seem too steady on her feet, he wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Wait. I can’t leave my car here,” Jada said when they stepped outside.

“I’ll take care of it. But right now I’m more concerned about taking care of you.”   

***

As Zack drove, Jada thought about the sweet kiss they had shared. His tenderness was enough to melt her heart and make her yearn for more. But it was good they’d stopped. A little bit more and that kiss would have spun out of control and possibly led to something else.

Now, almost home, she kept thinking about her car being left at the farm. She was too tired to argue about leaving it and too tired to drive. She still couldn’t believe she had fainted, but was glad that Zack hadn’t said, “I told you so.”

“Why aren’t you eating? Do you want something from someplace else?” Zack asked. Even though she had snacked on Trail Mix, he had stopped by Dewey’s, one of her favorite pizza joints, and ordered her a cheese and sausage pizza to go. The enticing aroma coming from the pizza box in the back seat was making her hungrier.

“I figured I’d wait until I got home, less messy.” Jada fiddled with her purse strap. “I’m sorry about all of this and cutting your time short at the farm. I should have listened when you suggested we take a break, but I thought the light-headiness would pass.”

Zack grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed. “Don’t even worry about it. I’m just glad you’re feeling better. I’m sure after you eat something and get some rest, you’ll be back to normal.”

She hoped so. Later that night she had a date with Marcus, the CEO of a bank, who she had met a few months earlier. He had canceled the last two dates because of work, and she was looking forward to getting dressed up and going out.

A short while later, Zack pulled up to Christina’s house. Shutting off the engine, he turned to face her.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t need to go to the hospital?”

Jada shook her head, still feeling a slight ache on the side of her forehead. “I’ll be fine.”

“Thanks for being such a trooper today. I know you were concerned about us not reaching the goal I had set, but we got a lot done. Typically, for every full basket of fruits and vegetables collected, three families will receive enough fresh produce to last a couple of weeks. You did great. There were a lot of volunteers out there today so I have no doubt that many families will receive some assistance.”

Despite having ruined a brand new pair of tennis shoes, broken a nail, and then passing out  from heat exhaustion, Jada felt good in knowing that she helped someone in need. She could see why people did volunteer work. Even without knowing who would receive the boxes of food, she knew a family wouldn’t go hungry because of the work she did that day.

“Thanks for inviting me. It’s been awhile since I’ve done any volunteer work, and I’m glad you suggested we help out today. It wasn’t so bad.” She smiled when his eyebrows shot upward as if he didn’t believe her. “Seriously, it wasn’t. If ever I do something like that again, I’ll make sure I drink plenty of water and eat breakfast.”

“Good. I’m glad to know that I didn’t scare you away.” Jada didn’t have the heart to tell him she had no intention of digging in anyone’s garden no time soon.

He climbed out of the truck and walked around to the passenger side. Grabbing the pizza from the back seat, he opened her door and helped her out.

“If you give me your car keys,” he said walking her to the door, “I’ll have your car delivered as well as another little surprise to you within the hour.”

Her heart sang with delight. She loved surprises and thought it sweet of him to take care of her car. She could have easily gotten one of her cousins to go back out to the farm with her later that day. Yet, she was glad she didn’t have to. As for the surprise he had for her, she just hoped it wasn’t more purple tools.