Page 84 of Catching Fire

Her snippets of memory included Kalan holding her hand in the ambulance. And then again in the hospital. She’d passed in and out of consciousness, but the one thing that remained the same was his soft voice whispering, “I love you.”

He returned with a glass of milk and a bowl of cocoa puffs. He knew better than to bring her Cheerios and had, in fact, thrown out the box that she'd had in the pantry. He set the junk food in front of her before he returned with his own bowl.

Her cereal was going to get soggy, but this was definitely more important.

He'd said nothing about his feelings in any of the time she’d been truly awake. Now she was healthy enough that she could get around her house by herself if she needed to. So she said, “I remember some things you said in the ambulance and in between my surgeries.”

Though he'd already managed to get two bites into his mouth, the spoon stopped at her words. He set it down and looked at her carefully as if knowing where she was headed. His words were cautious. “What do you remember?”

Taking a deep breath for fortitude, Seline regretting it immediately as she felt a pull from her side.Nope. Not quite ready for that yet. But she still needed to do this. “You said you loved me.”

He nodded, not denying any of it. She would have breathed a sigh of relief, if not for the wound she was still healing from. But he didn’t deny it.

Well, it hadn't been her imagination then.Next step. “Did you mean it?”

He didn't respond right away and she rushed to fill in the empty space. “It's okay. I understand if it was a spur of the moment thing.”

“It wasn't. It did mean it.”

“But you haven't said it again …” She let the words trail off, so he could fill in the blanks.

“Once we knew you were going to make it, my feelings didn't seem like the kind of thing to burden you with. You need to heal. This could wait.”

She nodded. “Well, I’m out of the woods now.” They'd had so many interesting conversations.

He told her that he’d known the second the report came in about the house blowing up, that it was her. She’d told him that that had been her plan. That she believed no one could find her unless there was something to draw them. Her goal had been to be seen, but Sanders had survived the blast and she’d run so far she hadn’t expected to be found.

They’d talked about her job. He’d contacted Dr. Morales with the updates, and her boss had even visited her in the hospital, reassuring her that her job was safe whenever she was ready to come back. She hadn’t even pushed her back on her tenure track and Seline had held it together until the department chair left the room. Then Kalan had found her crying. She’d told him all of it.

The job was her safety net. She’d told him about leaving her home to search for an opportunity like this. And he’d told her about another case of arson they’d had in town. How his fellow firefighter, Luke Hernandez, was getting squirrely about it.

Then he’d told her about how the department was getting a new firefighter—each shift got an extra person. A-shift was getting some guy named Joe. They’d all been stunned when Jo had turned out to be Joely. Seline had laughed at him, but it made her side hurt.

They’d talked about everything and anything … except this.

“If you’re ready to hear it,” he said, softly reaching out to take her hand, “then you should know that I'm head over heels in love with you. And I think I have been since that day we got stuck in the elevator.”

Seline smiled. At least that didn't hurt. She’d doubted him along the way, wondered if all of his feelings had been based in the heady trouble swirling around her. He was such a hero, but she hadn't wanted to be the woman he rescued.

Now, with everything behind them, her doubts fled.

She turned his hand over and laced her fingers through his, dark and light making a perfect pattern. She looked him in the eyes to leave no doubt and said, “I love you, too.”

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Jo Huston shut the door of her BMW and her heart sank. She’d screwed up. Again.

She’d parked in the firefighters lot behind the department the last time she was here, to meet the crew. Then, she’d been too nervous to notice. She’d gone inside, met the guys on A-shift—who were open-mouth stunned that Jo wasn’t a male—and left.

But this time, she wasn’t as nervous. This time she was staying to work her first shift and as she looked around the lot, she saw her silver BMW stuck out like a sore thumb. Aside from one nice sports car, hers was the only one that said ‘money.’ And of course it was.What was she thinking?

She had too many strikes against her; she couldn’t afford to not fit in here. She was a woman, she came from a wealthy family, and … she had that history. If she was smart, she would have bought herself a Camry or something.

If she was lucky, no one would notice and she would have two days to get something else.

“Nice M-series there, JoJo!”

Crap.She let out an aggravated sigh as she hit the lock. It beeped loud enough to make sure that every head turned her direction. Shift change—everyone was here.

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