Page 47 of Through Any Fire (Any x #1)

C al takes a step toward me and pulls me to his chest. “I’m sorry, Bunny.” His voice is soft, and my eyes fall shut on instinct.

Lucas clears his throat, and I peek up from Cal’s hold. “I’m headed back to the house. Everett said we might have some leads on Agapov.”

Peter’s name sparks a rage unlike I’ve ever known.

“Did you just growl?” Cal’s chest shakes with laughter.

I slap a playful hand over his shoulder. “Shut it.”

His lips press together, but the humor still sparks in his gaze.

“We’re right behind you,” Cal tosses over his shoulder to a smirking Lucas. When the door shuts behind him, Cal slips a finger under my chin. Dark brown eyes search mine, but looking for what? “Does it change how you feel?”

A frown tugs at my mouth. “Does what change how I feel?”

Cal sighs, releasing me and walking over to perch on the edge of the desk. My steps are quiet as I follow him, not giving him the space he’s trying to put between us .

“Seeing all this?” He gestures to the warehouse full of cocaine behind the closed office door. “Seeing…me like this?”

His shoulders are rigid under my touch, but I slide my hands over the curve of his neck to cup his jaw and tilt his face toward mine. Without warning, I gently press my lips to his, letting my affection speak for me. The kiss is light, only a few strokes of our tongues before I pull back.

“Cal…” My lips curl into what I hope is a reassuring smile. “It was never a question.”

He smiles, relief wiping the worry from the crinkle of his eyes, hands sliding to the backs of my thighs and squeezing gently.

“One day, you’ll see all of me. I can only pray you can forgive the darkest sides.”

I lean forward, pressing my lips to his once more. I can’t verbalize it, not right now, but I think I already have.

Cal’s hands slide to my ass, gripping my backside as he pulls me tighter against his body. His cock hardens against my belly, and I groan into the kiss.

“Should I have you here? Right on this desk and leave a mess for Luc to find tomorrow morning?”

I nod, a roguish grin sliding onto my face.

Cal’s eyes droop with lust as he licks his lips.

Hands travel under my skirt, one resting on my hip while the other dips inside my tights.

Cal groans when he touches my wet center, and I surge forward to kiss him.

Our tongues tangle, and I can’t help the whimper when he thrusts two solid fingers inside of me.

Cal smiles into our kiss, setting a punishing rhythm as he works me. “Fuck, you’re always so ready for me.”

I huff a laugh but don’t elaborate that I’ve been dreaming about this for years. It’s easy to fall into his touch when I used to pray that one day I’d feel it again.

Heat burns in my lower belly, filling my senses like the sweetest campfire. Shouts ring out from the warehouse, and my nose scrunches. I inhale sharply, my eyes bursting open. Black smoke pours in from the vent above, and I jump backward.

“Cal!”

Cal swears, rushing to the door and yanking it open.

Caleb and the other guard on duty are pulling out fire extinguishers, but it’s not stopping the fire from raging.

Angry orange flames lick up the walls, heating the room to a sweltering degree.

My neck dampens with sweat as I rush toward the door to the outside and tug on the handle.

It burns my hand but doesn’t budge. Fuck, someone barricaded us in.

“Cal, we’re stuck in here.”

His face glistens with sweat as his panicked eyes dart over the warehouse, over me.

Then he digs his phone out of his pocket, dialing someone.

Fuck, in all the excitement, I left my phone in the car.

The heat rises, smoke quickly filling the vaulted ceiling of the warehouse.

Cal hangs up the phone and pulls his white tee off with one hand.

My confusion momentarily stuns me, standing frozen as he dashes over.

“Here!” Cal shouts, ripping his shirt in two and tying a strip around the bottom half of my face, covering my nose and mouth. Then he does the same for himself with his other half. “Stay low.”

The flames grow brighter, hotter with each second, and a similar panic rises in my chest. My knees scream at me from our crouched position, but I don’t dare get any higher.

Caleb and the other guard abandon their extinguishers, the fire too great to be contained by their sprays, instead opting to ram the doors down.

The walls shudder with each slam against the door, but they don’t stop trying.

Acid burns in my stomach as I clench Cal’s hand.

“There must be another exit. You said there’s always another exit.” I cough, cheeks burning from exertion. “A back door…something!”

Cal shakes his head. “It’s not like we have the fire marshal here to make sure we pass inspections.” He swears under his breath.

My hand snakes over to his, lacing our fingers together and squeezing tightly. The heat is thickening, pressing against my lungs as I try to suck in a breath, but all I get is a mouth full of smoke. I cough into the crook of my arm, and Cal’s gaze swings over to me.

“Luc’s on his way back. He was only a few minutes away when I called him. He’s going to get to us.”

Anger flushes, and I fight the urge to cough again. “Cal, if they just set this fire, there’s a chance they’re still here and could stop him from getting to us.”

Black smoke fills the air that the flames don’t reach, making a hazy film cloud my vision. I can barely see Cal in front of me, and god, what I would give for a window.

My spine snaps straight.

Cal notices, his attention swinging to me immediately.

I hold my hand out expectantly. “Give me your gun.”

He opens his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. “Give me your gun. There’s a window in that back office that I’m going to climb through. I’ll circle the warehouse and open the door. But I need your gun in case they’re still here.”

Cal’s head jerks back, but then somber acceptance washes over his face.

He yanks his makeshift mask off his face and rips mine off, slamming his lips to mine.

The kiss is brutal, punishing with every unspoken word he pours into it.

Then he pulls back, a trembling hand unclipping his gun and handing it to me.

“Listen to me,” he rushes, placing his hands on either side of my face, “if there’s more than one, or you can’t get a good shot—run. Get yourself safe. Do you understand me?”

My mouth opens to argue, but a beam from the ceiling comes crashing down, and we flinch, Cal covering my body with his as the embers catch fire around us. When it settles, we straighten.

“Hurry.” He places a chaste kiss on my lips, and I study his face, praying to the gods above that it’s not the last time I see it.

I slide my makeshift mask back over my face and check the barrel of the gun, finding it loaded.

Without looking back, I cross the warehouse, dodging falling debris and flames as I make my way to the last door on the right.

By the time I make it into the room, sweat drips from my temple and under my heavy sweater.

With a hasty untuck of my top, I use the hem to twist the knob and open the door.

Smoke pours out of the office, but there doesn’t appear to be active flames inside.

A thump lands behind me, and I jump, twisting around to find another beam having fallen.

But that’s not all—in my haste to get to the window, I didn’t even notice Callahan trailing behind me.

Flames cast a wall of fire between us, and I can only stagger backward as Cal takes a running leap through the flames.

A scream rips from my throat as his body sails through the fire. At the last second, he tucks into a roll, extinguishing any flames that caught onto his trousers .

“What the fuck , Callahan?”

It distracts me for the briefest moment, but the smoke fills my lungs, and I cough, throwing an elbow to cover my mouth.

Cal hustles over, and we cross into the office.

The window is about six feet off the ground and a square that’s about two feet by one foot.

It’s a sobering realization that I’m glad Cal followed me.

I’m not sure I would’ve been able to push the desk over in time.

Cal doesn’t even ask—he drops into a stance, hands clasped into a stepping point for me to put my weight on. I bounce on my feet for only a moment, and Cal must sense my hesitation.

“Hey,” he says, never moving from his ready stance. “You’ve got this. I’ve seen you shoot. You’ll bust outta here, circle the building, clear whatever is blocking us in, and set us free. Piece of cake.”

I nod, the pressure of the situation threatening to suffocate me, but I refuse to let it.

Instead, I ground myself, locking my emotions down like I did all that time I spent in Father’s closet.

I’d listen to his meetings for hours—the only way he’d let me.

Since I was born female, I wasn’t ever going to be an eligible soldier, but Father wanted me to learn, anyway.

So, he shoved me inside his office closet for eight to twelve hours a day, listening in on his meetings to learn the business.

While I learned too much for any eight-year-old, it also gave me a sickening claustrophobia.

Cal adjusts himself, smoke thickening the air as I finally place my foot into his hold.

“One, two, three—”

On three, he hoists me upward, and my arms grab onto the window ledge.

The plastic lock is stiff under my fingers, but Cal’s hold doesn’t falter as I work on it.

When it finally unlatches, I push open the window and breathe the first breath of clean air in who knows how long.

But I can’t enjoy it for long. Cal heaves me upward, and I scramble, the ledge of the window scraping along my belly as I crawl through.

The smooth shiplap under my palms doesn’t offer much in terms of control on my way down, and I land in a heap on the dirt ground.