Page 31 of Let It Breathe (The Can’t Have Hearts Club #1)

R eese was still mostly asleep when she patted the mattress beside her and found it empty. She frowned. The sheets were damp, and the room still smelled like sex, but the space next to her felt cold.

She opened her eyes, blinked in the darkness, then closed her eyes again.

She hadn’t expected Clay to still be there, but still. Even in her sleep-addled state, it was tough not to be a little disappointed.

Weren’t you the one who left before he woke up fifteen years ago?

Reese thought about that for a moment, trying to remember the details.

They’d only known each other a few weeks at that point, and she’d felt daring and grownup having her first tipsy fling.

She’d crept out while he was sleeping, that was true.

And they’d really never talked about it after that.

She and Eric had started dating seriously within a few weeks, and the engagement and marriage just sort of snowballed from there.

Eric’s a safe choice , she’d assured herself back then. A good friend and a dependable husband. Not the kind of guy who’d get wasted and walk into chemistry class holding a banana like a gun while pretending to be a Stormtrooper.

So her only night with Clay had remained a secret. They’d never even acknowledged it until a few days ago.

A wailing in the distance jerked Reese’s mind from her memories and back into the present. She sat up in bed, listening.

Sirens?

She craned her neck, trying to peer out the window. The flicker of red-and-white lights pulsed back at her, coming up the gravel driveway with alarming speed.

Shit.

She scrambled out of bed, her feet tangling briefly in her discarded bra. She fumbled in the dark for clothing, coming up with the black dress she’d peeled off earlier when Clay was watching. Her arms tingled at the memory, but she tossed the dress aside and reached for the light switch.

She started grabbing clothes from a pile in the corner.

Yoga pants, dirty T-shirt—where did she throw that bra?

She cursed as she wriggled it on, wishing she were one of those women who could dash out the door without one.

She shoved her feet into her clogs and grabbed a fleece sweatshirt off the hook on the back of her door.

“Reesey?” Larissa’s voice echoed high and panicked from the living room. “Something’s happening.”

“Can you see what it is?”

“I’m trying.”

Reese yanked open her bedroom door and hustled into the living room. Larissa stood in the semi-dark wearing in a pair of Reese’s old gym shorts and a T-shirt that once belonged to Eric.

“Do you smell smoke?” Larissa called over her shoulder as she peered out the front window.

Reese sniffed the air, panic hitting her like a punch in the gut as she threw open the front door. The smoke smell expanded outside. “Shit.”

She could see the flames from her front porch, licking at the side of the winery barn as smoke slithered up into the night sky. The pulse of lights from the fire engines cast an eerie glow on the nearby grapevines, making them look like twisted old men.

“’Riss—go put Leon in his pen and stay with him,” she yelled. “Check on all the other animals and make sure they’re safe. Take your phone and call Mom and Dad.”

“Be careful!”

Reese took off running. Her feet slipped on the damp grass as the smoke stung her nostrils, but she recovered her balance and kept running.

“Honey! Stay back!”

“Dad?” Reese squinted between the darkened rows of grapevines, trying to see him. “What’s going on?”

“The fire department has it, hon,” he called. “They said it looks worse than it probably is. Stay put for now, let them do their jobs.”

“Where are you?”

“Hold on just a sec. Don’t move, I’ll come to you.”

Reese turned back toward the fire, watching through ashy darkness as her eyes adjusted to the haze.

Burning orange streaks slashed the sky, but she could see streams of water gushing from the end of the hose as fire crews attacked the flames.

She watched, horrified, from the safety of her front lawn.

The winery barn still stood, and now that she could see more clearly, she realized the fire was contained to the east end of the building. Not where the wine was stored, not where the expensive equipment was kept.

She felt her father’s hand on her shoulder and turned.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

She glanced down, then wished she hadn’t. “Why are you in your underwear?”

“Your mom and I were making love in the moonlight when?—”

“Never mind,” Reese said, yanking off her fleece and handing it to him. Once it was safely tied around his waist, she continued the conversation. “So you saw the fire and called 911?”

“Not me, Clay.”

“Clay?”

“Your mom texted me a second ago with the details. Guess he was dropping off Larissa at your place when he saw the flames. He tried to get it put out with the hose on the side of the building but called the fire department to be safe.”

Reese bit her lip as she watched the crews hose down the end of the building. “Is he okay?”

“I think he got a little burn on his arm, nothing too bad.”

She sucked in a breath. “Where is he?”

“Down there with the ambulance crew getting checked out.”

Heart pounding, she struggled to know what to do. Rush down there or play it cool? “How did the fire start?”

“No one knows yet. Looks like it’s close to where the de-stemmer was, so maybe some wiring?”

She frowned. “There’s no reason it would even be hooked up this time of year, is there?”

“Probably not. Maybe something overheated?”

Swallowing hard, she pulled in a ragged breath. “I’m going down there to talk to the crew. Where’s Mom?”

“She went back down to the house to get me some replacement pants and make sure Axl was okay.”

“Where are your pants?”

“Mom got carried away and tossed them in Leon’s trough.”

Larissa would pull them out. Reese sighed and headed across the lawn to where the lights from the fire trucks pulsed.

Off to one side, several people from the neighboring cattle ranch stood gawking at the scene.

Beside the winery barn, the crews were coiling up their hoses and speaking in jovial tones.

Reese said a quiet prayer of thanks, realizing the damage didn’t look too bad.

“Excuse me,” she said as she caught the arm of a passing fireman. “I’m Reese Clark—this is my family’s vineyard. Any idea what happened?”

The man nodded and touched the edge of his helmet. “Can’t really say. Looks like the fire started over there, but we won’t know anything for sure ’til the fire marshal gets out here.”

“Can I go look?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. It wasn’t a bad fire, but we can’t say for sure how stable things are.”

“How bad is the damage?”

The guy shrugged. “I don’t really know how much that stuff costs, but I’d say you got lucky.

The fire was pretty contained. Most of the big equipment didn’t get hit.

You’ll probably have a few bucks tied up in building repairs, but it’s mostly just smoke.

You owe a lot to that dude down there in the ambulance. ”

Reese bit her lip. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, sure. A little shook up, maybe. Go see him if you want.”

“Thanks.”

Reese trudged off toward the ambulance, which wasn’t screaming off into the night with sirens blaring. That seemed like a good sign.

“Clay?” she called as she approached.

A medic looked up at her. “Give him a sec, honey. We’ve got him on oxygen right now.”

“Oxygen?” Her pulse ticked up.

“Just a precaution. He’s fine.”

Reese reached the side of the ambulance with her heart in her throat. Clay was sitting up, but a mask covered his nose and mouth. He had some sort of monitor hooked to one finger, and there was a bandage on his right forearm. Other than missing his shirt, he looked normal.

Well, aside from the clearly defined fingernail marks on his right shoulder. She flushed, remembering how they got there.

He looked up at her. She couldn’t see his mouth, but she could see his eyes and they lit with a smile at the sight of her.

“Hey,” she said. “I heard what happened. Thank you. Can you nod if you’re okay?”

Clay nodded, then glanced at the medic.

“Go ahead and take it off,” the guy said. “Just put it back on if you feel dizzy.”

Clay drew the mask back and gave her a small smile.

“Hey.”

Tears filled her eyes, and she knew it wasn’t just the smoke. “You got hurt.”

“I’m fine. The burn is pretty small, and I sucked in some smoke, but I’ll be okay.”

One of the medics laughed. “Someone owes this guy a beer.”

Reese bit her lip. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say, really. If you hadn’t been driving by right then—” She stopped, struck by a realization. “I never thought I’d be so grateful to have a man run out on me after sex.”

Clay grimaced, and the medic gave a choked laugh. “You two want a minute alone?”

Reese shook her head. “No—it’s okay. Just take care of him, please.”

Clay shook his head, his expression somewhere between amusement and embarrassment. “I left a note.”

“I believe you,” she said. “I didn’t see it, what with my barn catching on fire and all, but I’m not mad. Really, it’s okay.”

Clay nodded. “Not quite the exit I envisioned.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you were here.”

“My pleasure.”

“Do you need to put that mask thing back on?”

He gave her a funny little half smile. “I am feeling a bit lightheaded.”

He pulled the plastic mask back over his nose and mouth, and Reese glanced back at the winery barn.

Firefighters had the blaze extinguished at last, and crews were stringing yellow crime-scene tape around the charred outer edge.

She knew it was just to keep people out but couldn’t help feeling violated at the sight of it.

She looked back down at Clay. “I’m going to go see if they’ll let me have a closer look at things. You okay here?”

Clay nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.

“Thanks again,” she said. “For everything.”

Reese turned and took two steps toward the winery barn before her mother’s voice stopped her in her tracks.