CHAPTER 1
Are there flames coming from under my hood?
No. That has to be my imagination. Only the smell ishorrific.
I’m on fire.
Gravel explodes around my tires, hitting the fender wells when I skid to a stop at the edge of the road.
Oh my god.This is bad.
The inferno is growing by the second. Flames are all around the hood and side fenders now. My new Dodge dually burning like a marshmallow that’s reached the combustion point.
Panicked, I pull my shirt over my nose and leap from the truck cursing the fact that I got out of bed today. “Dammit! Why me?!”
My mind sifts through all the fire education I have storedin the recesses of my brain as I race around the back of the truck.
Never throw water on a grease fire. Smother the fire when it’s on a person. Smoke rises so you crawl on the floor to the exit.
None of that applies. I don’t even have a fire extinguisher with me because it’s in my old truck.
As if this isn’t bad enough, the sole of my boot slips out as I reach the passenger-side back door.
Gravel and dirt bite into my skin, but I’m so jacked on adrenaline, I barely register the fall and leap up, grabbing the scorching hot door handle. Ouch. Ouch.Ouch.
Get the saddle.
Get the clothing.
A coughing fit hits me as I’m dragging my favorite trick saddle from the back seat of the truck.
Jesus.It’s hot.
Too hot to be close to the truck at all.
I step back to catch my breath, sweat pouring down from my hairline, so grateful I wasn’t towing my horse trailer when this happened.
Okay, this has to be fast. If I’m going to save anything else, it has to be now.
I grit my teeth and lunge for the truck again. But a second later I’m in the air, hurtling backward.
What—
My mind tries to blame this on an explosion. But there’s no boom, unless you count the yelling in my ear. “What thefuckwere you doing?”
Coughing.
That’s what I was doing.
But since I’m coughing again, there’s no way to reply as I’m toted off against a man’s chest.
Somehow he juggles me, grabs my saddle and trots to a black Ford F-350 that’s parked a hundred yards behind what was my vehicle. All without breathing hard.
“Can you breathe?” he demands, his scowl vicious as he looks down at me when he drops me on my feet.
“Yes I can breathe!”
Fury is bubbling in my veins like the plastic melting from my engine compartment. “What the hell did you do that for?”
