Page 51 of Hot For You

“They’re just doing their job,” Clint said. “You remember how that goes?”

“It’s true that doctors make the worst patients,” Ella said. “I think that goes for firefighters and paramedics, too.”

Cody scowled. “We don’t have time for this. That bastard is out there.”

Carilyn reached out and touched his hand. “We’ll find him.” She gave him a determined look. “I’ll track him down once I get another laptop.”

“Bastard,” Cody muttered again as the paramedics helped him to the ambulance where he sat and let them attend to his injuries. In the darkness, Carilyn hadn’t noticed all of the cuts and splinters in his skin from the explosion.

Like Carilyn had, Cody refused to go to the hospital, insisting it was just a mild concussion and a bump on the head.

“You were out for a while,” Clint said.

“A good ten minutes.” Carilyn wiped a smudge of dirt from his cheek. “Now we have matching concussions and head wounds.”

Cody put his palm on her back and gently rubbed it as he looked into her eyes. “Thank God the explosives didn’t go off when you were in the house. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

“I feel that way about you, too.” She swallowed. “We were both fortunate.”

He leaned forward and kissed her, a gentle kiss, before he drew away again. For a long moment they looked into each other’s eyes, neither of them saying a word.

Ella drew their attention. “You can both stay with Clint and me.”

Cody shook his head. “I’m not going to put you into danger like that. As long as that arsonist is out there, he could come after us again.”

Ella frowned as Clint came up to her side. “What will you do?”

“We’ll check into a hotel.” Cody dragged his hand down his face.

“That would cost a fortune over the long term,” Ella said.

“Not if we find him soon.” He had a determined expression. “And we will find him.”

Reese joined the group gathered around Cody. Reese looked angry. “How are you doing?” He cut his gaze from Cody to Carilyn.

“Fine.” Cody got up from his seat and swayed.

Clint pushed Cody back down. “Isn’t this the sheriff department’s jurisdiction, not Prescott PD’s, cousin?” Clint asked Reese.

“We’ll be working together on this one,” Reese said. “I’m going to put this bastard behind bars.”

Carilyn looked around them. The ground was muddy—the firefighters had apparently used hoses from the stock tanks and they’d managed to keep the fire from spreading to the one nearby structure, a storage shed. The other structures, including the barn and corrals, were a good distance away.

Her throat worked and she swallowed down a lump as she stared at the fire that was still raging. It looked eerie in the night, like some great, fiery beast.

She and Cody could have been in there. The thought that they could have died kept whirling through her mind.

Her knees wobbled and the next thing she knew Cody was drawing her onto his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head against his chest. He held her close and all she knew was that she never wanted to let go.

Chapter 19

By the time Cody and Carilyn had checked into a hotel, it was early morning and they hadn’t had any sleep. They collapsed on the bed after undressing and taking showers.

Carilyn passed out from exhaustion. She hadn’t planned to sleep because someone needed to check on Cody every hour and she was that person.

When she woke, she blinked and stared around the darkened room in confusion. Where she was gradually eased into her consciousness as she noticed a sliver of light peeking through a gap in the hotel room’s blackout shades.

Horror drained the blood from her body as the memory of last night slammed into her. The explosion, fire, Cody.

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