Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
I make my living running into burning buildings. Saving lives is what I do. And for a lot of years, that’s been enough. The rush I get from putting myself in danger is a high unlike anything else I’ve ever known, and the camaraderie I have with the men in my department has been enough to sustain me. Or so I thought.
After an accident at a fire lands me in the hospital, I find myself face to face with Harlow White, an exquisitely beautiful young woman I’ve known for a while. A gorgeous, young stunner I’ve fantasized about more than I should have over the years. It was always easy to keep myself in check because she was with my son, Micah.
Things have changed since then.
Harlow has shown me sides of myself I didn’t know existed. She’s shown me the empty spots in my heart and soul and that those things I thought sustained me are only masking those things missing from my life. I know if Micah finds out about Harlow and me, it’s not going to go over well, and I feel like I’m caught in a position where I’m being forced to choose between my son and the woman I want with my entire heart and soul.
I run into burning buildings for a living. Fear has never been part of my vocabulary. But thinking about living my life without one of the two most important people in my world has me absolutely fucking terrified.
Harlow
I’ve been so focused on my schooling and my career, I left no room for love and a relationship. Part of that is because of a bad experience with my last boyfriend. It made me a little gun-shy about jumping into another relationship.
But when Hunter Weston was wheeled into the ER one night after being injured at a fire scene, all those teenage fantasies I had came rushing back into my head. My last relationship, terrible an experience as it was, was with Hunter’s son. After we broke up, I secretly fantasized about his father. Fantasies that were entirely innocent and safe because I knew would never come to fruition.
Now, free of Micah and building my own life, things have changed. I have changed. And the more time I spend with Hunter, the more I see just how much I’ve been missing by shutting myself off from the possibility of love. By avoiding emotional entanglements. Hunter has unlocked doors inside of me that I thought I’d sealed shut forever, and the ease with which he’s done it has left me breathless.
But I know that Hunter’s relationship with his son is on fragile ground. I know the slightest blow could bring the entire house of cards crashing down around them. And the last thing I want is to be the wedge between father and son. As much as I want to be with Hunter, I don’t know if I could live with myself if I kept Hunter from having a relationship with Micah.
In a battle between what I want and what I know is right, I feel like I’m going to lose no matter which way I turn.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
HUNTER
“It’s cooking in here,” I shout to be heard over the deafening roar of the fire. “This building isn’t going to stay upright much longer.”
We got a callout to a fire in a warehouse that housed a machine shop. The fire has been fast-moving and aggressive, engulfing the building and trapping all the employees inside. We managed to get everybody we found out, but the way some of the victims talked after we pulled them out, there might be more still inside.
Darnell Evans, my best friend, and number two, looks worried behind the plastic shield of his mask. The churning and roiling flames are reflected in that clear plastic, casting us both in a fiery red glow that looks fucking apocalyptic.
“This zone is clear of civilians,” Darnell says. “The other zones have already checked in and are clear, too. I think we need to get out of here, LT.”
I open my mouth to order Darnell out when a sound catches my ear. But visibility is shit and with the growl of the fire and the swirl of the wind being forced through the building, I can’t get a fix on where the sound is coming from. If there’s even a sound, to begin with.
“What is it?”
“I’m not sure,” I say and strain my ears, listening hard. “Hang on a second.”
“This building’s about to come down, Hunter. We may not have a second.”
Overhead, the fire rolls along the roof, writhing like a serpent, and the beams groan ominously. Sweat slicks my body beneath the heavy turnout gear. Squinting, I try to see through the wall of flames, searching desperately for any other victims who might be trapped in this quadrant. It looks clear. But I know better than most that looking clear isn’t the same as being clear, and I’m not going to pull out before I’m absolutely certain my zone is actually clear. I’m not going to make that mistake and leave somebody behind. Not again.
“Hunter—”
“Shut the fuck up a minute,” I growl. “I thought I heard something.”
“Weston, Evans, that building is about to go. Get the hell out of there!” Captain Arnold Ray, our superior and the incident commander, shouts through our radios.
One of the exposed beams above cracks sharply, raining sparks and flaming splinters down over us. The roof isn’t going to hold much longer. It’s not often that I’m not decisive. That I don’t see a course of action and take it. It’s possible I’m hearing phantoms right now, and if I insist on chasing them, I’m putting Darnell at risk. If I do nothing, though, and it turns out we left somebody to die in this inferno, I know it’s going to fuck me up.
“LT—”
I turn to Darnell. “Get out of here.”
“What?” he asks, his eyes widening.
“Go, man. I want to make one more quick sweep—”
“No way. I’m not leaving you—”
“That’s an order, Darnell. Get the fuck out of here.”
“Weston, get out of there. That’s an order,” Captain Ray’s voice crackles through the radio.
Another beam overhead cracks and pops, sending a spray of sparks and flaming debris down all around us again. The heat is growing more intense, and the sweat is pouring off me in buckets. The fire roars louder. It sounds like a fucking dragon that’s ready to rear back and swallow us whole.
“You heard, Cap,” Darnell says. “It’s time to go.”
“Go. Go,” I shout. “I’m right behind you—”
“I’m not leaving you!”
“You are. Get the fuck out. That’s an order, Darnell,” I shout. “Now, go! I’m right behind you, brother. Go!”
“Hunter!” Captain Ray shouts through the radio. “Get out. Do you copy?”
Darnell hesitates, but when I shoot him a withering glare, he turns and reluctantly trots away, heading for the exit. I know if I survive this, Captain Ray is going to tear my ass up. But I’m not about to leave anybody behind. Not again. I turn back and dart around a wall of flame, searching frantically for the source of the sound I heard. Or thought I heard.
“Fire department,” I shout. “Call out!”
There. It sounded like somebody calling for help. I stop where I am and listen as hard as I can, but the hellish cacophony all around me is muffling any other sound. Closing my eyes, I try to hear over the roar of the fire. It’s almost as if it knows I’m listening. As if it’s a living being that knows I’m trying to save the life of the person it’s trying to consume.
“Fire department, call out!” I shout again.
“Help!”
It’s faint. Weak. And is quickly followed by a hard, racking cough, but it is unmistakably the sound of somebody calling out for help, sending a jolt of adrenaline coursing through me.
“Call out! I need to know where you are!”
I close my eyes and listen as closely as I can, hoping I can figure out where they are in the fiery chaos all around me. I don’t hear them again and fear they might have been overwhelmed by the smoke and fire. There’s somebody in here, but they’re not calling out and all that’s left for me to do is take my best guess and hope I get there in time. I take a step to my left but stop when I hear them call out weakly again. They’re to my right.