Page 3 of Burning Love
It was coming from the back and in the kitchen, where clouds of black were billowing out of the oven.
Jace moved over and opened the stove on the wall, black smoke puffing out everywhere. When he pulled the grate out, there was a scorched container of something. No fire, thankfully.
He shut the oven off and instructed his men to open the windows and pulled his phone out so he could have the security company shut the alarms.
His oxygen mask was off and the minute the alarms stopped he heard music playing. Loudly but muffled. It sounded as if it was coming from below them.
Rescue mode kicked in that there was someone in the house unconscious and he turned to find the entrance when he heard, “What the hell is going on here?”
A woman appeared in the doorway—he assumed it led to the basement—but it was hard to focus on anything beyond her. She stood in front of him and his men wrapped in a white towel that clung to her damp skin, barely covering her breasts and the tops of her thighs.
Her long, dirty blonde hair hung in wet strands, dripping onto the floor around her bare feet. His gaze dropped to the flash of bright red polish on her toes catching his attention and refusing to let go.
“Your smoke alarms have been going off,” he said. “How could you not hear them?”
Her head went back to look at the ceiling. “I did hear them. That’s why I came rushing up here.”
“It took you almost ten minutes to hear them?” He couldn’t believe this.
“I was in the shower,” she said. “I have the music going. Between the water and music I didn’t know. Then I thought the sirens were part of the song.”
He couldn’t tell what she was listening to other than it was louder than hell if he could hear it up here.
“You should never put plastic in an oven.”
“There wasn’t anything in the oven,” she argued. She marched over to him and looked at the charred package of whatever he’d tossed in the sink and had run water on. “What’s that?”
“Looks like chicken,” he said. “You didn’t put it in the oven and turn it on?”
“No,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Why would I do something stupid like that? I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies. I turned the oven on to preheat it and went to take a shower.”
Which was just as dumb in his mind. “Guess you didn’t look inside it first.”
“Obviously,” she said sarcastically.
“Why don’t you put some clothes on? We’ll try to air the house out for you.”
Her jaw dropped as if she suddenly realized how she made her entrance. She clutched her towel tighter in front of her, turned, and dashed in the direction she’d appeared.
“You guys can head back,” he said. No reason to have everyone standing around gawking at the young woman. “I’ll catch up.”
The fire trucks didn’t need to stay parked out front gathering a bunch of spectators.
“Where did everyone go?” she asked when she returned a few minutes later. She didn’t look nervous to have it only be him, but her attire was haphazard.
She was in black athletic shorts and a red T-shirt. Looked like she grabbed the first things that she could. Her feet were still bare and her hair hadn’t been touched other than shifted around from a shirt being yanked over her head.
“I sent them back to the firehouse. I wanted to walk you through the windows that are open. I know your air conditioning is on, but you’ll want to keep these open and the fans running. The upstairs needs the windows opened as well. The same with any fans.”
“Great,” she said, letting out a sound resembling a bear coming out of hibernation and seeking their first morsel of food. “That’s a lot of windows. I’m going to kill my mother. She’s the one who stuck it in the oven before she left. I’ve been out of town and just returned after a long flight. All I wanted was a shower and some hot chocolate chip cookies.”
The frustration on her face was almost comical.
Jace wondered if she fully grasped the situation of what could have happened other than her not getting her sweet treat.
“I’m assuming there is no one else in the house?”
“No,” she said, sighing. “I’m Talia. It’s my mother and me. I live in the basement apartment. I could have baked down there, but the ovens are better up here. Bigger and there are two. I could do more at once. God only knows why I’m explaining this all.”
