They stepped outside, and he slipped his fingers through hers.
“How was your day off?” she asked.
“Good. After coffee, I went to the station with Jesse.”
She glanced up at him. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. There have been a few fires lately.”
She almost tripped on the sidewalk. “Fires?”
“Jesse’s on it. He’ll figure out who’s been setting them. Me and the other firefighters just need to be on guard until he does.”
Figure out who’ssettingthem? So it was arson. Someone in the small town of Amber Ridge was setting fires.
That was a big coincidence, wasn’t it? That’s she’d left Cheyenne after a fire at her work,thenher home, and now fires were being set in her hometown?
Her pulse picked up speed, and she was so caught up in her head that she didn’t see the step down to the road in front of her. She stumbled and would have fallen flat on her face if Becket hadn’t caught her. Although, her bag wasn’t so lucky. She dropped it, and its contents scattered everywhere.
“Whoa, Peaches, are you okay?”
She swallowed. “Yeah. Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was walking.”
His brows drew in, but he nodded. Together, they gathered up everything from the street. She was standing when she saw her lip balm near the center of the road. She started toward it just as a car raced around the corner.
She opened her mouth to scream as a body hit hers, throwing her out of the way. She hit the asphalt hard but ignored the ache to her backside, looking up just in time to see Becket get sideswiped by the car, his body flying and hitting the asphalt.
Everything in her stopped. Every movement. Every breath. Even her heart felt like it had halted in her chest.
Then reality hit, panic rushing through her system, and she pushed to her feet and ran.
Other cars stopped around them. People climbing out, a couple of them pulling out phones and making calls.
But she could only focus on Becket.
Sky dropped beside him. “Becket! Are you okay?”
He growled as he pushed up. “I’m fine. Are you?” He scanned her body, looking for injuries.
“I wasn’t hit by acar.” Her voice broke on the last word.
When red started to seep through his shirt, she reached out and tugged up the material to see a large scrape across his stomach, bleeding.
He wasn’t okay. He’d thrown her out of the way of a speeding car, and in the process had been hit.
She’d been right to be scared. It was happening again. The accidents…those around her getting hurt.
* * *
The hustleof footsteps and the smell of antiseptic surrounded Becket as the nurse busied herself wrapping his wound. He should be focused on her. On what she was saying about caring for the patch of road rash.
He’d barely heard a word she’d said. It was a scratch, and he’d had far worse injuries in his life.
Sky took all his attention. She stood a few steps away, arms wrapped around her body, nails digging into her waist. Her skin was too pale. Her eyes too worried. And she was staring at his wound.Frowningat it.
What was going on in her mind? She’d barely said two words to him since the incident.
Incident…no. It wasn’t a fucking incident. Someone had sped around the corner and almost hit Sky. Rage tightened his throat. Sky had come so damn close to being hit. Too close. And with the speed that car had been driving, she might not have made it out alive.
