"I should go home," she muttered.
"The movie isn't over."
"Maybe a little longer then."
"Stay as long as you want, Kate."
As she drifted off to sleep, she had the foolish thought that she might want to stay forever.
* * *
Kate woke up with a cough. Her chest was burning, and the air was thick and heavy-smoky. A steady, sharp, beeping sound relentlessly played through the air.
She blinked her eyes open. She was on the couch with Devin. They must have fallen asleep during the movie. The television was still on, now running some sort of infomercial, but it was difficult to see through the dark haze.
Something was burning. And the alarm going off had to be the smoke alarm.
The smell was worse now. Not just smoke but also gasoline. And there was a heat building around her. She couldn't see flames, but something somewhere was on fire.
"Devin," she said, grabbing his arm. "Wake up."
"What?" he asked sleepily.
"There's a fire," she said, coughing at the end of her sentence.
Devin sat up, then jumped to his feet as his gaze took in the smoke around them. "Shit! Where's it coming from?"
"I don't know."
"We have to get out of here."
"My computer." She got up from the couch, heading toward the kitchen table. She was almost there when the door on the heating vent on the wall suddenly blew off, and flames leapt out of the walls. The door hit her in the arm, and she stumbled backward, landing on her ass.
Devin ran to her side. "Are you all right?"
"I'm okay. The fire is in the walls."
"Must have started downstairs. We need to go now."
She got back to her feet, throwing her computer and phone into her bag while Devin did the same. As they started down the hall, the heat intensified, and she was suddenly terrified that they wouldn't be able to get out of the apartment.
Pulling the neck of her shirt up over her mouth and nose, she followed Devin to the front door, keeping a hand on his back so she wouldn't lose him in the smoke.
When they went out the front door, she saw that the entire first floor of the building was ablaze. Sirens filled the air. Someone must have called in the fire.
Devin went down two steps, but as he hit the third step, the wood collapsed, and he would have fallen through if she hadn't grabbed his arm. He pulled out his leg and bypassing that step, they made it down to the sidewalk as a fire truck turned the corner.
The first man off the truck was her brother Hunter. He stopped abruptly when he saw her, then ran over to her. "Kate? What the hell?"
"I was in there," she said, pointing to the house. "We just got out."
"Anyone else inside?"
"No."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Go. Do your job."
He gave her a hard look, then joined the rest of the crew, while Devin and Kate watched the old Victorian house go up in flames.
"Damn," Devin muttered, staring at the blaze. "I didn't expect this."
"Expect what?"
"That he'd go after us and not the target."
He was right. Devin's building wasn't on the register. And it wasn't in the target zone.
"This isn't the third fire, Kate. This is a warning." He looked back at her, his lips set in a grim line. "We're getting too close."
"Are we close?" she asked in bewilderment. "We have no idea who's warning us."
"They obviously don't know that. Someone we've talked to recently figured out where I live, and he sent us a message. This could be his first mistake."
Seeing Devin's home destroyed didn't seem like much of a mistake to her. "You might lose everything Devin."
"But maybe we just got our first real clue."
There was no denying the excitement in his voice, but she didn't understand where it was coming from. "What clue? We don't know who did this."
"Not yet. But we forced him to break the pattern. The arsonist got nervous enough to act out of order. Who knows what he'll do next? I'd rather deal with someone who's panicking than someone who's acting with cold-blooded precision."
He had a point. "Okay, I guess it's about time you turned into the optimistic one, especially since it's your home that's going up in smoke. Oh, no. I just remembered-we didn't get the map off the wall."
"We have the photo you took earlier. And I have one on my computer."
"Right. Thank goodness. I didn't want to start from scratch again." She paused. "The first floor tenant is going to lose everything. All those beautiful vintage clothes are gone. The fire must have started in there."
"I'm sure it was easier to break into an empty store. There was no one around." He paused, turning to look at her again. "Thanks for waking me up."
"I keep thinking … what if I hadn't?" She was a little shaken by that thought.
"But you did. That's what matters."
"I'm glad we never got undressed and went to bed. At least we're still in our clothes."
"Yeah, we would have made quite a scene running out naked."
His joke lightened her mood a little. "Especially since my brother was the first one here."
"I didn't meet him yesterday, did I?"
"No, Hunter didn't show up. He's the one who's going to climb Mt. Everest."
"I can't imagine that's a bigger adrenaline rush than running into a burning building."
"I can't, either. I never ever wanted to be a firefighter. I forget how dangerous it is because I don't see it, and the firefighters in the family always downplay the risk. But there's risk. They just don't care. They don't get scared."
"They probably do get scared, but they push past it. You do that, too, Kate. You're every bit as brave as your brothers."
"I don't know about that, but thanks." She looked down the block, seeing neighbors coming out of their homes, gathering on the surrounding streets. Did they all belong here? Or was someone out there-watching them? A chill ran down her spine. "Do you think he's here?" she asked Devin. "Do you think he's enjoying this?"
"If he's out there, he's going to see that we're fine, and he's going to know that we're coming for him," Devin said with grim determination. "He's not getting away. He didn't scare me. He just motivated me more."
Twenty
After scouring the crowd for any suspects and talking to both the fire investigator at the scene and to Emma on the phone, Devin took Kate to a nearby hotel just before four in the morning. They checked into a room on the tenth floor, and Devin noticed that Kate made sure to double bolt the door. She was definitely rattled, and he couldn't blame her. They were lucky to have gotten out of his apartment alive.
Kate took a quick shower and stripped off her clothes and got into bed. He showered after her to get the smoke off his skin and out of his hair, and by the time he slid under the covers, Kate was asleep.
He left the light on for a minute, taking a moment to just look at her, to reassure himself that she was all right. The paramedics had offered them oxygen and a ride to the hospital, but while they'd taken the air, they'd declined the hospital trip, and he hoped that was the right decision.
Kate looked fine. Her cheeks were rosy from her shower, her hair still damp from the quick blow-dry she'd done, and her skin was its usual creamy texture. She was a beautiful woman. Sometimes when they were in the middle of things, he forgot that. When he was with her-her fire, her determination, her optimism-were so forceful and bright that all he could see was her personality-all he could see was her.
She was one-of-a-kind-the full package. The kind of woman who could kick down a door one second and nurture a baby the next.
The kind of woman he could love.
That thought shook him more than any other, and he rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.
Seeing Kate with her family had shown him her softer side. He'd watched her try to patiently connect with the autistic Brandon, and hold a sobbing baby while her mother went to get her a bottle. He'd seen her joke with her brother and sister and share confidences with her cousins. It was clear how well loved and liked she was, and he'd been more than proud to be her fake boyfriend.
He just kept fighting the urge to make it real.
But how could he make it real?
There was no way. Their paths were going to split and go in completely opposite directions in just a few days. There would be no more trips to the batting cages, no more dance lessons, no more watching a movie together, no more sex …
Glancing over at her, he didn't know if he could stand the thought of never kissing her, touching her, being with her again. He'd never had such a feeling of panic run through him. But that had to be what was making his heart thud against his chest.
How could he have let this happen?
He knew better than to let himself care too much about anyone, especially someone who had one foot out the door.