Page 161 of Burning For You

She nodded. Then shook her head.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I think… I think I will be. Eventually. I got a text from Sara. She’s in shock. She lost her home, the man she loved. She’s going to stay with family and hopefully she can move on. I think she wants to keep in contact with me, but I’m not sure right now.”

His hand found hers, slow and careful, like he was afraid she might disappear if he grabbed her too tight.

“You have to make that decision, but no one says it has to be today.”

She shook her head. He was right. There was no reason to rush anything.

“I should have waited. Or told you everything that was going through my mind. I was ready to call you on the drive over and then decided to just send the text.” The words spilled out before she could stop them. “About Sean. About everything. I thought if I could prove it first, if I had something solid⁠—”

“You don’t have to explain,” he cut in gently. As if he realized now how shaken she truly was.

Or maybe he was just as much. And now that it was over, it was easier to set anger and frustration aside.

“I do,” she insisted, finally looking at him. “Because you almost paid for my mistakes.”

His jaw tightened. “You didn’t make this happen. And I didn’t pay for anything. I knew what I was doing going in for you.”

“But I walked into it,” she whispered. “I walked in ignoring what common sense was telling me. I should have been smart enough to put this together before. I let emotions cloud me.

“Tate and I questioned Sean,” he admitted.

“You did? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because he voluntarily talked to us. He showed us proof of being at work during the fires. There was no cause or reason not to believe him.”

“But he lied.”

“He did. And because of that, I let emotions cloud my judgement too.”

“I’m glad you believe me. That you came for me.”

“I always would have,” he said without hesitation.

That certainty hit harder than the fire ever could.

She swallowed, her throat burning. “You could have died. You weren’t in gear. You came charging in and I wasn’t even letting you take me out first.”

“I wasn’t letting any of us die.” He reached up, brushing his thumb beneath her eye, catching a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen. “Skye… I need you to hear this. You’re not alone anymore.”

She let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know how to stop.”

“Yeah, you do. You did it once. You came home already,” he said.

“I was scared to do it.”

“But you still did. So use that strength to move forward.”

Her phone was ringing in the other room. “I should get that.” He stood and held his hand out for hers. “It’s Tate,” she said when she picked it up. She pushed the bar to the side to answer. “Hi.”

“Do you want to come down and talk to Sean?” Tate asked her. “I’d prefer you don’t, but Mom says you might need to. That you might need to hear what he has to say.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Has he said anything at all? Why he did it? Did he even admit to them all?”

“He’s not talking,” Tate said. “But we’ve got enough. We’ll get more. You don’t have to do this.”

“I want to,” she said. “I need to understand.”