Page 67 of Playing with Fire

His lips lifted into a seductive smirk. “I can never get enough of you.”

“Yeah?” I tilted forward and brushed my lips over his.

I had to admit I’d become just as addicted to the passion that blazed between us. How we couldn’t even wait to get inside to do it again. But it was so much more than sex. The way I felt connected with him, the way his touch felt like it was branding my soul. That was what I craved.

Chapter Thirty-Four

LOGAN

I checked my phone again,waiting for Izzy to text me back. I fucking missed her. We were like two ships passing in the night for the last two days. We spent Tuesday morning together while the girls were at school, but that night started a three-night rotation of night shifts. With her working at the hospital today, I only got to see her for a little bit before I got called in for my shift. Luckily, I only had one more night shift after tonight.

I closed my eyes, attempting to get some sleep, but popped them back open when my phone alerted me to a notification. It was the smoke detector app again.

Damnit. Why would she be baking this late? I clicked on the notification.

What the fuck? The app said it was the apartment above the garage.

The lights came on in the bunk room a second before the alarms blared loudly through the station, and my stomach bottomed out. I jumped up and moved through the space, feeling like a ton of bricks settled in my stomach.

“It’s my house,” I announced to the guys, not even stopping to answer their questions. “Izzy and the girls are there. We need to go.”

I didn’t need the dispatcher to tell me it was my house. I knew. Hearing it through the radio only intensified the fear coursing through my veins. I did this every day—hustle down to the bay and slide into my boots and pants—but today it felt like I couldn’t move fast enough.

“Murray.” Owen held open the door to one of the smaller utility vehicles as he studied me. “You good to drive?”

Was he shitting me? I locked my jaw and nodded.

“Just making sure.”

I climbed up in the driver’s seat, and Jay turned to me once he was seated in the passenger seat.

“Izzy is smart and my dad drilled fire safety into us and what to do in an emergency. She’ll get them out, don’t worry.”

I nodded. I didn’t doubt she’d do what needed to be done to keep everyone safe. The garage was detached, so depending on how bad the fire was, it might not even spread to the house. But the thing I kept getting hung up on was how a fire in the garage apartment could even start. Had to be something electrical. Only thing that kind of made sense was a mouse or something chewing through a wire, leaving it exposed.

All the air left my lungs as I turned the rig down my street and spotted Izzy and the girls standing out by the road, huddled together. As I got closer, I saw Hattie Williams standing with them, too. Honestly, it looked like half the neighborhood was on the street. The main house wasn’t showing signs of fire from what I could see, and I breathed a little easier at that.

I pulled the rig up in front of the house and jumped out just as Dylan’s SUV pulled up too. Izzy and my daughters sprinted toward me, and I wrapped them in a tight hug.

After a few seconds, I gripped Izzy by the shoulders and pulled her back to look down at her. “Gotta help get the fire out.”

She nodded and stepped back, taking the girls with her. I wanted to continue to hold her. Tell her it was all okay. That they were safe and that was all that mattered. But I also had a job to do.

I went through the motions. The steps we always took when putting out a fire. But I was only half there. The other half of me couldn’t stop thinking about how much worse it could have been. What it could have cost me if the fire had spread. This was why I had the smart system for fire protection. Neither Izzy nor myself might have known about the fire until it was too late. That thought sat heavy in my gut.

It didn’t take long to put it out given it was mainly the open space of the living room and kitchen, and once we were sure it was out, I sent Izzy and the girls back inside while we started the overhaul process. I thought Alice and Nikki would be more freaked out, but Izzy exuded calmness and ushered them back inside without an issue. I loved that they trusted her and found comfort with her.

I stood in the middle of the small space with Jay and Owen, looking around for what might have caused the fire. I tried not to assess the value of the damage as the weird burn pattern that indicated multiple points of origin caught my attention.

“Fuck,” Owen muttered seeing the same thing I did.

I didn’t want to believe it when it looked like the door had been jimmied open. But looking at the burn patterns, there was no denying this was arson.

“He’s sending you a message.” Jay glanced over at me. “He must know you’re the one who found the matchbook at that BBQ joint.”

I swallowed, seeing the fear in his eyes that probably matched my own. Was this just a warning? Would the next time put Izzy and the girls in more danger? I couldn’t let that happen. But I couldn’t be with them all the time either, so what else could I do?

I tried not to think about all that as I stepped back inside the house, telling the guys I needed a few minutes to make sure everyone was good.

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