Page 9 of Melting for the Firefighter
I pull at the fabric.
It will not tear.
My bleeding hand slips.
“Tessa.”
“I’m here. Cora, listen to me. Crews are on the way.”
The phone lies somewhere beyond the shelf.
“Tessa.”
“I’m here.”
The room turns gray. Minutes pass. My lungs burn.
Then a man shouts through the roar.
“Cora!”
Lance.
Relief hits so hard it hurts.
The man who runs toward fire has come for me.
Heavy boots strike the floor.
A dark shape pushes through the smoke. He reaches me, lifts the shelf, and throws it aside as though it weighs nothing.
Then he drops to his knees.
Behind his mask, his hazel eyes are fierce with a fear I have never seen there.
Fear for me.
One arm slides beneath my knees. The other circles my back, pulling me tight against his chest.
“I’ve got you,” he says.
Rough.
Absolute.
My fingers close around his coat.
The room is burning around us, but Lance holds me as though nothing in this world will take me from him.
My body loosens against his.
I am getting out.
He has me.
The darkness takes me before we reach the door.
Chapter 2
