Page 81 of Too Hot

Chapter Fifteen

Rafe woke with Brianna in his arms. After they showered last night, they made love, called for pizza, and made love again. Today was a new start for both of them. His cell buzzed, and he grabbed it. “Just a second,” he said. He eased Brianna from his arms, climbed out of bed, and made his way into the kitchen.

“What’s up, boss?”

“I know it’s your day off, but would you come by the school? I want to you to go over the scene. The principal is anxious to get a clean-up crew in here.”

“Sure. Can you give me an hour?” It was eight now.

“Meet me there at ten.”

The line went dead. Rafe put on coffee and looked through his fridge. Breakfast would need to be quick this morning.

“Good morning,” a sleepy Brianna said from behind him.

He turned to see her in his robe, hair mussed, looking absolutely delicious. “Morning.” He pulled her in for a kiss, but she held up her hand.

“Morning breath.”

“Who cares.” He gave her a kiss. When he lifted his head, she sighed.

“Who was on the phone?”

“My boss. I need to meet him at the school at ten.”

“Okay, let me get cleaned up and dressed.”

“You don’t have to go with me.” He didn’t want her to relive any element of the fire.

“I want to.”

“You can’t go inside. It’s an active scene.”

“I’m okay with that, but I want to be there.” She walked out of the room. “Don’t worry about breakfast; coffee and toast is fine for me,” she yelled.

Rafe shook his head.

* * * *

“It doesn’t look too bad from the outside,” Brianna said as they pulled up to the school.

“It’s the inside that’s the issue. Plus, we need to check out the building to make sure it’s structurally safe.”

Brianna climbed out of Rafe’s SUV, and together they walked up to the chief and the principal.

“I wasn’t expecting you, Brianna,” the principal said.

“I thought you could use some support while Rafe and the Chief do their job.” That was one of the reasons. The other: she needed to see if she’d really confronted her fear.

“I thank you for that. While they inspect the school, let’s talk over by my vehicle. I have some ideas I’d like to run past you on what we can do until our school is rebuilt.”

Brianna looked at Rafe, who nodded.

For the next hour, Brianna and the principal went over plans of where each class would be housed, and how they could help their students recover from the fire. Parents were already asking what was going to happen.

“Thanks. I think we’ve got a good plan in place,” the principal said.

“I’m glad I could help. Will we start classes on Monday?” It made sense to get the kids back to a normal routine.

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