Page 158 of Burning For You

He knew that fear.

The one that clawed through you when you ran toward flames and prayed you’d come back out.

He jumped into his truck, crushed the motorcycle’s front tire as he pulled away, and tore down the street toward the smoke.

The house was already an inferno.

Flames poured from the front door. The first floor was gone. Fully engulfed. Heat slammed into him the second he stepped out, stealing the air from his lungs.

“Skye!” he shouted, spinning, searching. “Skye!” Looking for any way in.

Then glass exploded.

He ducked on instinct, his heart pounding, then realized it was one window, searched again and found it upstairs. The screen dangled loose near the roofline of the attached garage.

“Skye!” he screamed.

An arm appeared out of it. Then her head as if she was assessing her next step.

“I’m coming,” he yelled.

“She won’t move!” she cried. “Sara won’t move!”

“Get out!” he shouted, jumping for the roofline, and missing. It was just out of reach.

“I’m not leaving her!”

He didn’t argue. He couldn’t. There was no time.

He charged the side garage door and slammed into it shoulder-first, wood splintering everywhere. Inside, it was dim but organized. His eyes locked on a stepladder.

Good enough.

He dragged it to the edge, climbed fast, then launched himself onto the roof, his hands scraping shingles as he hauled himself up and scrambled up the roof to the window.

The glass was already shattered, lamp pieces scattered inside, the broken, twisted metal lying next to it on the ground. Her weapon of choice worked.

He knocked away the sharp edges and climbed in.

She had a shirt over her mouth. Another pressed into Sara’s hand and holding it up for her. But Sara wasn’t moving. As if she couldn’t even get her body to do the one simple thing to buy her time.

He knew instantly that he was carrying her out.

“Go!” he yelled to Skye. “I’ve got her.”

Skye shook her head. “Get her out first. I’m right behind you.”

She bent to grab something a few feet away and he didn’t stop her. There just wasn’t time.

He hauled Sara over his shoulder and climbed back through the window just as a firefighter reached the top from another ladder and hauled himself up and raced toward him.

He passed Sara off and turned back, but hands grabbed him. “Stay with her!”

Alan’s voice.

The realization hit hard: the man Ash had suspected, feared, doubted was saving the woman he loved.

But Skye didn’t need saving.