Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“I remember making a joke that I didn’t even keep a lighter or matches to light birthday candles upstairs, because if I was going to celebrate, it would be in the restaurant or at my family’s place,” he murmured.
“Mm,” I said. “Or in the back lot with a cake and twenty-something candles.”
He snorted lightly and tucked his head under my chin again to watch the building. “I had to grab a lighter at the checkout counter when I picked up the cake,” he murmured. “I wasn’t about to take my lame-ass birthday cake into the Timber kitchen and have Juni rat me out to my family.”
“It would have ruined your nefarious seduction plans,” I teased softly, keeping my eye on my crew as they went through their process methodically.
Alex’s voice was a whisper. “Judd… will you give me another chance? I promise I’ll try to be braver.”
My heart clenched. “We’ll each give each other another chance. But you’re already plenty brave. I don’t even know what you mean by that.”
His hand came up to fiddle with the collar of my coat. “I thought… I thought if I told myself I hadn’t fallen in love with you, if I didn’t let myself fall, that I’d be able to keep my heart safe. That I wouldn’t have to l-lose you again.” His fingers threaded into the back of my hair and gripped tight, like he’d try to keep me there by force if I attempted to escape him.
Like that would ever happen.
“But that was stupid,” he whispered. “Because when I saw you running in there without any gear, I realized it didn’t matter whether we were in a relationship or not. If you were hurt, I would want to be there for you. If you were killed, I’d want to lie down and die, too. I fell for you a long time ago. First when you were IndexEcho. And then again when you first called me Firebug.” He sniffled. “Letting my fear keep me from being honest about that wouldn’t protect me from having my heart broken; all it would do was prevent us from being happy together right now. I… I don’t want to live afraid anymore.”
God, this man was so fucking strong. So beautiful.
I brushed his messy hair back and kissed him firmly on the forehead. “You were brave enough to move away and follow your dream. I know you’re brave enough to do this with me. If I need to promise you that I will not be as stupid again as I was tonight, I’ll do it. On one condition.” I tilted his chin up until he met my eyes. “That it’s never you in a burning building. Because apparently, I’m shit at the rules when it comes to you, Firebug.”
Alex threw his arms around me again and kissed me again. When I finally pulled away, it was time for us to break out of our little bubble and face reality.
While we may have figured things out between the two of us, we still needed to figure out what the hell happened to his home.
I wasn’t going to rest until I got to the bottom of the damn fire… and made sure the man I loved was safe.
35
ALEX
Alex: You know I’d walk through fire for you, right?
Judd: Like I’d ever let that happen.
_____________________
After watching the man I loved race into a burning building—my burning building—then having him confess that he loved me as much as I loved him, I was an exhausted, emotional mess. My eyes still stung a little from the smoke, and I seemed physically incapable of detaching myself from Judd Kincaid’s person.
And both of us seemed to be okay with that.
When the blaze was mostly out and Judd’s crew confirmed that the fire, smoke, and water damage had been confined to the attics and the rooms in the back on the second floor, I was relieved… and also beyond ready to have the nightmare portion of the day be over so I could enjoy the wonderful bits.
Specifically, I wanted to head back to Judd’s comfortable little cabin, shower the ash off both of us, climb into his warm bed, breathe in his scent into my lungs like oxygen, and then hold him as close to me as physically possible for at least twelve hours.
Possibly twenty-four.
However long it took for a person’s heart rate to return to normal after a night like this one.
Unfortunately, while I might’ve been done with the day, the day wasn’t done with me… which became clear when Sheriff Westland hurried over to us.
“Kincaid—” he began. His expression softened when he saw me doing my human limpet impression as Judd and I stood bundled together, using his truck’s back door as a windbreak.
Judd didn’t move away even a fraction at the sheriff’s approach but kept me curled against his chest as he shook the other man’s hand. “Elias.”