Page 91 of Burning For You

There was a tiny part of her that was happy she hadn’t.

This wasn’t about a story for her. Maybe in the beginning she was going after it for that, but now that she was personally thrown into it, she wanted it over.

And maybe when it was done, she’d have to decide if she really wanted to continue with this freelance stuff, but her reasons for wanting it, just didn’t feel right anymore.

She’d been spending more time the past week on her real job. The one that paid her bills and was boring but predictable. And wasn’t that what she really wanted in her life?

Something that helped her maintain control when so much prior to her new life with the Lancasters gave her none of that.

And in her free time... she outlined the start of her book.

Not that she told anyone that. Not yet.

Then they might ask more questions. And with questions came judgment in her mind.

Or doubts.

Was she good enough to write an entire book? Would anyone want to read it like they were her last few stories?

Those were brief newsworthy things people were interested in. The story about a girl whose house burned down when she was a teen and escaped with only a broken leg? Where was the crime in that?

But she was going to turn it into one. She had to for crime fiction.

It was just getting it all lined up the best possible way to make it make sense.

And her excitement over all of that—it was feeding her more than anything else.

“Don’t be that way, Skye,” Holden said.

The one who spoke the least. She was surprised he was now. He’d always been the one who sat back and listened more than anyone.

“What way is that?”

“We just care,” Holden argued. “And maybe we’re all worried. I am. I’m sure everyone else is too. You’re going out at night and could get in an accident on the way. Or now that this person has reached out to you, how do you know he’s not watching you show up at these fires? You wouldn’t even know if he was.”

She didn’t need that pointed out.

What she’d been thinking of herself.

“I’m careful,” she said. “And I said I’d help catch him, so that means I’ve got to go if there is a fire. I’ve got to give the story. Report the facts. It’s what he wants.”

“Maybe if you don’t go to the next one,” her mother said. “He’ll know and say something. Then you’ll know for sure if he’s there. Do you think?”

“I don’t think she needs to go to any of them,” Tate said. “But it’s over my head making the calls. Everyone knows to watch out for her. She’s got her orders to get her butt right to the line where the officers are.”

“That makes me feel a little better,” her father said. “Not that any of this does.”

“I’ll be there if there is another one,” Keegan said. “Whether I’m working or not.”

“We all should,” Corbin said.

“No,” Ash said, putting his hand up. “We don’t need more people there. We are doing something dangerous. It’s putting more people in harm’s way. I don’t want Skye there either, but I can keep an eye on her.”

“No, you can’t,” she argued. “You’re doing a job and you can’t afford to not focus on that or you or someone else on your team is going to get hurt. Do you all hear yourselves? This is crazy.”

“We’re worried. Don’t get mad over that,” Brenna pleaded.

It was hard to when everyone in this room was supporting her...in their own way. Maybe not the way she’d like, but it was something she’d never had before she stepped foot into their world.