Page 20 of Burn for You

“Hey,” he said. “I’ll drop by the hospital as soon as we’re done here. I’ll bring those donuts I promised, too.”

I managed a weak, hoarse laugh.

“Promise?”

A small smile touched Seth’s lips.

“I just carried you out of a burning building, sweetheart. Wild horses couldn’t keep me away from being with you.”

As Seth stepped back and the medics closed the ambulance’s doors, I was left with the echo of his words ringing in my head. Ithought I could convince myself that this was nothing more than a fling. A temporary thing that would never last.

What if I was wrong? What if I had miscalculated and I was way off the mark?

What if Seth Teagan really did…love…me?

Could I love him back?

I gripped Seth’s coat and tugged it tighter around me. I didn’t know how to answer that. The only reason I allowed myself to explore my feelings for Seth in the first place was because it didn’t mean anything.

That wasn’t the case anymore though.

On top of all this, I shouldn’t even be thinking about him. Not after that arsonist had attempted to murder me. Someone in Romeo wanted me dead. And I couldn’t figure out for the life of me who that could be.

Chapter 7

Seth

I ran into burning buildings all the time. That was part of my job. It didn’t scare me. Didn’t even make me hesitate after doing it for seven years.

When my crew and I pulled up to that house fire, I had no clue Marlee would be inside. When I scoured the hallways, searching for survivors, I never dreamed I was looking for Marlee.

Then I heard the voice, calling for help, barely audible over the flames.

I found the chair wedged beneath the door handle. In the back of my mind, I registered that this was the work of the arsonist—a significant escalation from setting harmless fires in empty houses to trapping someone inside while their home burned down around them.

But that wasn’t my primary concern. Getting that victim out and controlling the fire were my only priorities.

When I opened the door and I saw Marlee there, huddled in the bathtub, soaked and smudged with soot, I felt sick to mystomach. For the first time in my life, I was scared. If my crew had been five minutes slower in getting to that fire, it would have been too late to save Marlee.

I retrieved a bottle of water from the cooler we kept in the firetruck. I dumped the icy liquid over my head, trickling down my face and into the collar of my borrowed coat.

Now that the fire had been put out, the remains of Marlee’s house looked like a charred skeleton. Lieutenant Hardy and Mueller were searching the interior for hot spots along with any evidence of arson.

I leaned back against the truck, bracing my hands on my knees as I fought to get a decent breath. As a firefighter, I was accustomed to being the one that people looked to for support and comfort in a crisis. While their homes burned, they needed someone strong to rely on. They needed to look in my face and see calm, level-headed confidence.

Now that Marlee was at the hospital, and the fire was contained, I felt myself crumbling.

This morning, we’d been texting, planning our day. Less than an hour later, everything went haywire. Pulling Marlee out of that burning house, seeing the fear in her eyes…would haunt me for the rest of my life. I wanted nothing more than to get my hands on that arsonist for what he’d done to her.

In the blink of an eye, everything had changed. From flirty and fun, to disastrous.

I could have lost her.

“How are you holding up?”

I raised my head at the sound of Lieutenant Hardy’s voice as he approached.

“I’ve been better,” I admitted.

---