Page 106 of Burning For You

Both Keegan and Tate sighed at the same time.

Ash was right there with them.

She was getting ahead of herself.

“The police will question them to find out if they know who it is. The boy wasn’t talking earlier.”

“Well, the thought of everything he owned being destroyed now is making him talk. His sister is bawling, his mother right there with them. I know what it’s like as a kid. Maybe he knew all along and didn’t want to get in trouble, but now he might not have a choice.”

“What am I missing?” Alan asked.

Tate filled Alan in on what happened, Keegan hearing the same.

“Not saying whoever threw the bottle is justified in the least,” she said. “But maybe if the son hadn’t been a bully none of this would have happened.”

“All speculation,” Tate said. “And none of that goes in your article. Do you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not stupid. I’m going to leave it with the facts and let the police do the rest.”

“Then we can leave,” Ash said, “because I get enough sleepless nights fighting a fire, the last thing I want to do is stand around when I don’t need to.”

He was looking at Alan when he said it, but didn’t get much of a response other than, “I don’t have much of a life.”

“That was strange,” she said, climbing back into his truck. He was glad she waited to talk until then. “Don’t you think so?”

“I do,” he said.

“And do you believe me now? Do you think it’s him?”

“Just because I think it’s odd he showed up tonight doesn’t mean I believe it’s him.”

Being bored with your married life and wanting to get out when you can was a far cry from starting fires for fun. It wasn’t like Alan was even working to put it out.

To be a hero.

Wasn’t that what firemen who were arsonists wanted? He didn’t fucking know.

It wasn’t as if his mind even went there.

“Did he say why he was there at midnight? Like his wife never questions it? Shit, if it were my husband, I’d wonder if he used that as an excuse to have an affair.”

Ash laughed. “Who knows? Maybe he is. Maybe he’s saying he’s at the fire, showing up so people can say he was there, then fucking some other chick smelling of smoke and dirt before going back home to climb in with his wife.”

“It made sense until you said it sarcastically like that.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Skye. You got your story and it’s not the one you wanted. Which is fine with me. I’m sure you want to go home and write it now. You don’t have your laptop at my place.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I should. Kyle would like it first thing. That’s how he expects it now. Guess he’s come to rely on that fact.”

He wasn’t going to take offense that she was putting this part-time job before him.

It couldn’t be that way. Not for either of them.

Instead, he went to his place, let her in so she could get her things, then gave her a kiss at her car. No way he was letting her walk out alone.

Hell, he wanted to follow her to her place and go in with her, but he caught her look, like she knew what he was going to suggest, and bit his tongue.

Things were good with them now. They’d been that way for weeks, and he couldn’t let this get in the way.