Page 84 of Crash and Burn

They were good and stuck now. According to the display they were now between floors and not moving at all. It was only then that she realized she hadn’t even looked at the person she was now stuck in the elevator with.

He was large—both tall and broad shouldered—dark skinned andverygood looking. On any other day, she would have appreciated the smile that came far too easily for the statement he’d just uttered. The smile was clearly trying to reassure her. It didn’t work.

She felt her lips press flat. She tried to be a happy and cheerful person. But for all her forced positive thoughts, she was still stuck in an elevator with a stranger. And she was already running late to the most important meeting of the year!

She looked at the man again, suddenly wondering why he was already in the elevator when she was getting on at the top floor … Then her stomach dropped as she saw the radio clipped to his waist … and suspenders hanging down from thick pants.

She was stuck with a firefighter. Not that the elevator had caught on fire, but he was clearly here for a reason and the way her day was going it just might …

He pulled the radio out and spoke into it as he pressed a button. “Guys. Come back. You're not going to believe this.”

That was good, she thought. At least he had some communication. She’d gotten that ominous message from Maggie and then her cell had gone signal-dead when she entered the elevator shaft.

She heard another voice crackle back.

“Can they pry the doors open?” she tried the sweetest tone she could muster. If she was stuck, she might as well ask.

He put the radio back and only said, “They're coming.”

“More firefighters?” she asked, hating that she sounded as irritated as she was. She needed an elevator repair person. Not a firefighter.

His head tilted at her accent. She'd been trying to minimize it since she’d first come to America as a teenager. It hadn't gone completely away. In times of stress, it leached even further into her words. It was almost too thick for her to be understood now.

“French?” he asked.

“Oui,” she replied, then asked again, “Who is coming?”

“Oh!” he said, as though he'd forgotten the original three-word question. “Lincoln FD and Redemption FD.”

She felt herself blink at the admission. She was from Redemption … what were her local firefighters doing here? And what was so wrong with this building that it requiredtwoteams of firefighters?

“We pulled someone out of one of the elevators about two hours ago,” he volunteered on a heavy sigh. “We just completed our inspection.”

Though she still faced the front of the elevators, she flicked her eyes sideways at him. “It did not work.”

Thankfully, he laughed.

But right then, the elevator dropped out beneath them again. They hurled downward, and Seline grabbed on for dear life.

* * *

Can Kalan become more than Seline's guard when the Blue River Killer decides to make her a target? He may have fallen hard for the smart blonde, but neither of them have any idea what they are up against...

One click CATCHING FIRE now

Chapter 1

Seline Marchand was punching her finger at her phone, irritated and running late, when the floor dropped out from below her.

Her mouth opened to scream, but the screeching sound wasn’t her own voice, but the squeal of brakes on metal, grinding the falling box to a stop.

Her ankle turned as her heels didn’t take the sudden drop and jolt very well, and she dropped her phone as her heartrate cranked up high enough to make her think it would burst out of her chest. Her breathing was heavy from being startled and her hand had instinctually grasped at the handrail, even though it was basically useless.

“Are you okay?” The tall, dark-skinned man beside her was reaching out, but she waved him away.

With two steadying breaths, she assured herself the elevator had come to a stop. She reached down to scoop up her phone, grateful the face hadn’t cracked and that it appeared intact.

She tapped at the screen.

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