Page 84 of Fire Fight

“You don’t have to apologize for doing your job,” she said. “I don’t even know why I came looking for you anyway.”

Yet she made no move to pull free and leave, and I found myself holding her tighter.

“I saved your life. You see me as someone who can protect you. I bet you’d feel the same about anyone in my position.”

Not for a second did I believe those words, and they felt like glass scraping my throat on the way out, but I had to put it outthere. Had to see how she’d react to me trying to downplay whatever was happening between us.

I felt more than saw her shake her head. “No, Crew. No, this is…” She placed her hand over my heart, which, despite her proximity, thumped evenly. She was the one who needed comforting, had come to my room in search of it, but I also knewIwas safe here withher. Holding her like this was right where I needed to be. “This is all you.”

I grinned into her hair, then pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Shortly after, her breath evened out as she drifted back to sleep. Not wanting to move and risk waking her again—and because I didn’t want to let her go—I remained where I was.

Thinking.

About all the ways this could go wrong. The danger of us getting close like this, both physically and emotionally.

But I couldn’t deny how badly I wanted her, and the fact that the first place she’d run to when she had a bad dream was the one place in this house where she could feel closest to me told me she felt the same.

If we wanted to be together, we’d find a way to make it happen. Of that, I had no doubt. So with that thought, and a smile on my face, I followed Aspen down into unconsciousness.

I was joltedfrom sleep some hours later at the insistence of some sort of alert blaring from my phone. Damn, my alarm for work already?

Next to me, Aspen grumbled something unintelligible and shifted onto her other side while I rolled toward my nightstand. Slapping my hand down on the device, it instantly silenced…only to start back up again.

Bleary-eyed, I squinted at the vibrant red alert screaming atme from the home screen. Unlocking it, I clicked into my security system app to see what all the fuss was about.

Unnaturally high temperatures detected at garage door.

What the fuck?

Careful not to wake Aspen for the third time, I slid out of bed and padded through the house until I reached the garage. With the press of a button, the door began to lift, and I knew before it opened fully what the problem was as a cloud of smoke greeted me.

Aspen’s car was on fire.

twenty-four

. . .

ASPEN

Caughtin that land between awake and asleep, I was only distantly aware of Crew getting out of bed—then returning in a rush sometime later.

I rose further from unconsciousness when he started speaking with someone on the phone.

I came fully awake when he shouted, “Lane, Aspen’s car is on fucking fire in my driveway! Get your ass out of bed and get herenow.”

Fire.

Aspen.

Car.

As the word coalesced into a coherent thought, I bolted upright, barely registering I was still in Crew’s bed—and that we’d spent all night cuddling.

“My car is on fire?” I croaked.

Crew winced. “Yeah. I’m sorry.” His hand lifted to cup the back of his neck. “But hey, at least you weren’t in it?”

He phrased it as more of a question, and I choked on a laugh. I appreciated the dark humor, actually. If I didn’t laugh, I knew I’d cry, and I was done giving this crazy fucker my tears.