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Yeah, there were plenty of those cans.A recipe for disaster.And Naomi had stayed tofight the flames.When the whole thing could have erupted like crazy at any moment.Rage seethed inside of Eb.“Mind if I check the scene?”He wanted back in there to get an up-close look for himself.
“Not safe to go in, not yet.”A pause.“I’d advise finding another place to stay for the night.”
Not like there was a whole lot of night left.Maybe a few hours.But, yeah, not going back into the house that had beenon fireseemed like a good plan to Eb.The home would reek of smoke.Plus, some of the firefighters had been spraying water in the den.In other words…
We aren’t going to be staying in that house for a while.
“We can bring some clothes out for you,” the firefighter offered.“Do you have another place to stay?”
“Yeah, I do.There’s actually a small guesthouse at the edge of the property.”Naomi waved to the right.Past the line of giant oak trees that lined a small trail.“I can, um, bunk in there.”A shiver skated over her body.
He understood the shiver.Because Hudson hadn’t been killedinthe main house.Back then, the place would have been even more of a renovation wreck.Instead, Hudson had taken his bride to the guesthouse.
The first place to be renovated.
The place where he’d died.
“You can go to a hotel,” Naomi told Eb as she squared her delicate shoulders.“You don’t need to stay in the guesthouse with me.”
Oh, he absolutely did need to stay in there with her.He’d been dying to get inside, and, well, Hudson had actuallydiedinside.“My clothes are in the main house, too,” he told the firefighter.“Second level.First room.My bag is at the end of the bed.”
Someone called out for the firefighter.Saul.Not Paul.Definitely Saul.Eb made a mental note of the correct name.
Saul hurried away.
Naomi reached for Eb.Her fingers slid over his abs, then she jerked back, as if she’d been burned.
Oh, sweetheart, it was a very near thing.Those flames had come entirely too close to her precious skin, and he’d come entirely too close to a complete freak-out.
“Take your shirt back,” she whispered.“I do not need it.”
“I could see your nipples.Saul could see your nipples.Trust me on this, you need the shirt.”
She immediately crossed her arms over her chest.“Sorry you have a problem with my sleep attire.When I went to bed, I didn’t exactly plan to entertain the whole fire department tonight.”
“Next time I tell you to get that sweet ass out of a burning building, you do it.”This whole scene bothered him.Especially with her past.
I knew a fire had taken her parents.But he hadn’t known that Naomi had broken her legs when her father tossed her to safety.He hadn’t realized she’d been thrown from a second-story window.
His chest ached.
“This burning building is all I happen to have left!Don’t you get that, Eb?It’s my future.If it goes up in flames, what will I do?”Her chin jutted up.“The fire was still at a level where it could be contained.There was still time.So I tried to save my property.”
“Fires can spread in an instant.”Something she should know.“Don’t play with your life, not ever again.Wood and bricks aren’t worth you dying.”
She edged closer to him.“Aw, Eb.When you talk like that…” Now her hand rose.Curled carefully around his arm.“It seems like you care about me.”
His back teeth had clenched.“Your smoke detectors didn’t go off.”
Her head tilted to the right.Her hair trailed over her shoulder.“What?”
“After a fire took out your family, you expect me to believe you don’t have working smoke detectors?You had a closet withtwofire extinguishers.”
“I have fire extinguishers all over the house.I have one every forty feet.”
One every forty feet.“And no working smoke detectors?”He knew shehadsmoke detectors.He’d seen them on her ceilings.When a chunk of plaster had fallen in the den shortly after his arrival, Eb had looked up.Spotted the first smoke detector.
“They should all work.”Her hand tightened on his shoulder.