Read Online Chasing the Fire (Backdraft, Fully Involved, Flashover) by Kathryn Shay - Free Book Online

well…”
    “So I’m gonna pay you back with a little
advice. I had a relationship once with a guy I was crazy about. He
screwed up and I forced myself to hate him. But in the ten years
since we split, I never found anybody else I could care about as
much. If there’s a chance of making this work with Riley, who’s a
lot better man than this one ever was, go for it.”
    The words made their way into her heart.
    When the fire was finally out, the two ladder
guys approached them. “Hey, Phillips, how you doin’?” one of them
asked.
    “Should we call the ambulance? Go to the
hospital?” the other suggested. “She might have a concussion.”
    She looked at Lisa Beth. “No, I want to go
home.”
    oOo
    RILEY BOUNDED INTO the house, out of
his mind with worry. Jane had been hurt. Hell, Jane could have been
killed. If it wasn’t for that sharp mind of hers and good sense,
all of the Ladder 5 crew would be dead. The notion chilled his
bones. He hadn’t been able to think of anything but getting to her
after Lisa Beth had called to tell him what’d happened.
    “Janie,” he yelled out so he didn’t scare
her. “Janie, it’s me, Riley.” The kitchen and family room were
empty, so he headed to the bedroom.
    He found her resting against pillows, dressed
in a T-shirt and shorts, her hair damp. Doggy was cuddled into her
side, her head against Jane’s breast.
    “Hey,” she said. Her voice was hoarse.
    He rushed to her side. Her cheek was bruised
and her hands covered with gauze. But otherwise she looked
remarkably normal after falling down a ladder. Dropping to his
knees, he ran his hand over her hair before he remembered he didn’t
have the right to do that anymore.
    She took his hand away from her head
and…Jesus Christ, held it.
    “I was so worried,” he told her.
    “I knew you would be.”
    “So it’s okay that I came home?”
    “Always.”
    What did that mean?
    He breathed in deeply. “Want to tell me about
the call?”
    “Yeah, later. But there’s something I want
you to know first.”
    “What, honey?”
    “I named the dog.”
    “Oh.” Why was she bringing this up now?
    “It’s Beeja.”
    “Okay.”
    “Do you know what that means?”
    “No.”
    “I know this is corny, but I don’t care. The
name means new beginnings. I want one with you, Rye.”
    He met her forehead with his. “Oh, baby, me,
too. Can you ever forgive me?”
    “I think I did as I was falling down the
ladder.”
    It killed him to say it, but he’d learned a
few things in the last, brutal weeks. “Maybe that’s not the best
time to decide your future.”
    “It isn’t just that. I miss you so much.
You’ve changed. I can tell and everybody says so. And from what I
hear, you’re on the way to forgiving your father.”
    “I’m not done yet,” he said eagerly.
    “No? I forgive you, anyway.”
    “You mean it?”
    “I do, love.”
    He couldn’t help it. He buried his face in
her lap and cried. She held him until he could contain his
emotions. Finally he was able to straighten up. “Don’t tell anybody
about this,” he said to break the tension.
    “I won’t.” She touched his jaw, cupped her
other hand at his neck. “I’d really like to make love, but I’m so
freakin’ sore, I can’t.”
    “I could run you a bath.”
    “That would be nice. But before you do, climb
on the bed and hold me.”
    “Anything you want, babe.” He circled the
bed, rearranged Beeja, and lay against the pillows. He let Jane
come to him as gently as she could, though she still moaned.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “No more sorries, Rye. Let’s just be
together.”
    “Forever,” he whispered and kissed her
head.
    “Hmm,” she said in a sluggish voice.
“Forever.”

 
     
Fully
Involved
     
     

Prologue End of April
     
    LISA BETH DUNCAN hated humbling
herself. But to have to ask a favor of the man she despised most in
the world pissed her off royally. Still, for her friends, she would
do this. She knocked on the door with a