Page 6 of Burning For You

Time to see how they did their job.

That last one. It was lit and he was gone, waiting to read about it the next day.

Tonight people were gathering at a cautious distance, voices were sharp with worry, eyes searching the smoke for shapes that shouldn’t be there. Someone would ask the question soon enough. Was anyone inside?

No. Not this time.

This wasn’t the ending. It was the beginning. Just a spark. Still a second test run.

He lingered a moment longer, the warmth brushing his skin, satisfaction settling deep in his chest as he pushed the hat down on his head more.

There was still time and plenty of it.

2

FINDING THE TRUTH

“Did you get the story, Skye?”

“I’ll get it to you in thirty minutes or less,” she said to her editor, Kyle. “Coming from me first.”

“Facts or speculation?”

“Facts,” she said. With a touch of speculation, but she’d word it just right. They wouldn’t know the difference.

“Good. Get it to me before anyone else and we’ll run yours. You know how it works,” Kyle said.

Yep, she did.

It wasn’t exactly the career in writing she wanted, but it was an addition to her full-time job. Again, not what she really wanted.

But she’d made a promise to herself years ago. A goal she’d always had.

One she’d made once her new adoptive parents showed her what a family really was.

What caring looked like. How it felt.

She’d put that and so many other things off for too long.

“You’ll get it soon to run and I’ll get my money.”

The laughter on the other end came as she expected. “Always looking for the dollar.”

“It’s how you get ahead.”

She disconnected her call and got to work. It really wasn’t about the money, but if Kyle thought she felt that way, that she was eager as much as others, it’d give her that little edge.

Tate had introduced her to the captain and fire inspector and she got more than she’d thought, but not enough just yet to confirm it was the same MO as the car fire last week.

Her fingers moved across the keyboard, the words coming out fast and exact.

Then she read it again, cut some words out, gave them a punch, added some drama to it and left enough in there to make people wonder if it was done yet without causing too much panic.

She’d ended it with an implication that she’d be following up.

Once she had read it one more time, she sent it off to Kyle and waited for the money to hit her account in a few hours.

There was no doubt she was first, and even if she wasn’t, she was better.