Page 34 of Grant’s Heat

“Fuck,” I growled. “Fuck, fuck—” But then I dropped my hands out of my hair. “Hold up. The fire extinguishers!”

I raced back into the empty building and yanked the nearest canister from its mount. On my way back to Rio and the fire, I yanked the pin from the handle and pulled the nozzle free. “Get back!” I bellowed while aiming the foam at the base of the fire. Rio didn’t move. She shot me a defiant glare before stepping around to position her body in the direct path of the canister stream and the fire itself.

“Rio! What the—”

“No!” she shouted over the dull roar of the growing flames. “Just get out of here, Grant. Stop trying to save the world!” She swiped the tears from her cheeks with angry sweeps of her fists. “Stop trying to save me!”

“This has nothing to do with you! Get out of the way or I’ll knock you down, Blaze—so help me God!”

“Seriously?” Planting her little hands on her hips, she looked up at me with a fiercer glower. “I’d like to see you try!”

“Goddammit.”

She was forcing my fucking hand. I really didn’t want to physically move her, but the fire was getting bigger while we argued. A few more feet and it would be precariously close to the base of the skyscraper.

“Last warning, girl!”

“Fuck off, Twombley.”

“Not a chance, honey.” To my shock, and clearly to hers, my snarls suddenly turned into soughs. My fury was now a collection of heartfelt pleas. “I won’t let others pay the price for your maniacal show of grief. There are other ways to do this, Rio. Don’t you understand that?”

She blinked hard. Stared at me with even more fervent force. “Understand?” she stammered. “Understand…my what?” Her big brown eyes widened, revealing a new slew of emotions. Disbelief? Fury? Fear? Heartbreak? “My…what?”

Her repetition made things clearer. She was enraged. At me. Probably for what I’d just said, but maybe for other reasons. But there was no time for figuring out that morass. Not right now.

I squeezed the trigger of the fire extinguisher and snaked the hose and nozzle right around Rio, hitting the fire wherever I could. I no longer had the luxury of time. With a sob, Rio lunged and grabbed, battling to stop my progress. At the last second, I dodged out of the way. She landed on the ground with a thud, bracing her fall on her palms.

Quickly, I hit the base of the fire again, making good progress at putting out the flames. By the time Rio was back on her feet and rushing me again, most of the fire was out. Because her body weight was no match for mine, I barely swayed as she clung to me. I steeled my jaw, getting in a few more finishing shots to the fire before dropping the red cylinder and wrapping the hysterical woman in my arms instead. I gripped her so tightly, I made her flailing arms immobile.

“Okay. Okay,” I crooned. “That’s enough now.”

I lowered us to the ground and held her in my lap while she wailed. This time, she didn’t put up a fight. With a low moan of abject misery, she twined her arms around my neck and held on for dear life.

“I know, baby. Ssshhh. I’ve got you. Sssshhh. All right.” I gently rocked back and forth with Rio in my embrace. I felt just as torn as her. Part of me was trying to calm her hysterics, but part of me thought she needed to really just let it all out. Get it all out of her system so she could grieve and eventually heal.

We sat until the fire completely stopped crackling in the shallow hole and the light wind turned too cold to stand. Rio shivered in my arms, and even the protection of my large frame wasn’t enough to keep her warm.

I leaned back and brushed her hair away from her face. My heart broke a little more when I saw the expression there.

Haunted, hollow eyes looked back at me. Lifeless and dull, lost in deep circled pits that made her face look thinner and more frail than just an hour before, when her features were alight with insanity as she watched the flames dance in the fire pit.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said. “I’ll take you home.”

She stiffened instantly. “No. No, Grant, please. I can’t go back there. Not tonight.”

I nodded, understanding at once. The place was filled with too many memories of Sean. “All right. I get it. But first, let me call Abbigail. She’s been worried sick. Everyone has been. I can take you to their place in Calabas—”

“No!” She jerked out of my arms. “Not there! I don’t want to be anywhere near…him,” she spat.

Oh, here we go again.

Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned Abbi, but for Christ’s sake, the woman was Rio’s sister-in-law. Her family. The only family she had in the local area, as far as I knew.

“Fine,” I murmured. “So not Calabasas. Where else, then? Do you have any other relatives nearby?”

She got back to her feet but shifted her weight uneasily. “Why can’t I stay with you? I won’t be in the way. And you love my cooking.”

I got to my feet while dusting off my suit pants. When I finally got the courage to meet her gaze, she looked so hopeful—so desperate—that I couldn’t say no.