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“You know what else I’m good at?”
Her mouth rounded on the word “what,” but I didn’t give her the chance to answer. Instead, I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and brought her face down to meet mine, crushing my mouth to hers.
A yelp of surprise escaped her lips, followed by a moment’s hesitation, and I knew this was it—either the moment she let go of any reservations she had or the moment she shut down.
My lungs burned as I held my breath, holding her tight and hoping, waiting for the moment she made her decision. And then, like an answered prayer, she sank into me, one hand splayed over my chest while the other threaded through my hair as she brushed her lips over mine. I cupped her chin, tilting her head and angling her so I could nip her lower lip. She tasted sweet, like the frosting we’d made, and I wanted to drown in her. To spend forever right there, drinking in her strawberry-frosting-flavored kisses.
My heart pounded, a frantic vibrato in my chest—so hard and fast, I wondered if she could feel it underneath her palm. I trailed my hand down her back, gliding my thumb over the soft cotton of her t-shirt to a sliver of exposed skin at her waist, and when I felt her shudder, I rolled her over, bracing my weight on my hands beside her.
Slowly, I grazed the angle of her chin with my lips. The sensitive spot beneath her ear. The edge of her jaw.
When goosebumps rippled over her skin, I smiled and returned to her mouth like a beacon calling me home. Fire fisted in my belly and my head spun, heady from the drug of her lips. The temperature in the room blazed, an inferno, and the only way to put the fire out was to kiss her harder, longer.
Out of nowhere, a shrill sound pierced the quiet.
She jolted underneath me, and I flinched as I blinked my eyes open, cold without her mouth on mine. “What is tha—”
And then I smelled it.Smoke.
I jumped to my feet, disoriented, my head groggy. Beside me, Scarlett turned, and her sharp intake of breath drew my attention.
Flames. Hundreds of them licked their way across the stove to the butcher block countertops.
“No!” Scarlett screamed and yanked a towel off the counter before heading toward the flames where she began beating at them to no avail.
I grabbed her arm, stopping her.
“Get out of the way. We have to stop it,” she wailed.
I gripped her bicep, my eyes searching our surroundings, and when they returned to her face, her eyes were wide with shock. “A fire extinguisher. Every commercial kitchen has one. Where is it?” I asked.
It took a moment to get through to her, but she snapped to attention, pointing me toward the other end of the kitchen.
I raced toward the red cylinder mounted to the side of a utility closet and slipped it from the bracket. By the time I turned back, the entire wall had caught fire. Heat blasted me in the face as I pushed Scarlett aside and pulled the pin. I pressed the handle and it released a small hiss of air, along with a burst of white dust. Then nothing.
I shook it and tried again, knowing we were losing precious seconds, minutes, which meant everything. When it didn’t respond, I checked the gauge. “Shit.”
“What?” Scarlett grabbed it off of me and glanced at the dial. “It’s not charged,” she said like she couldn’t believe it.
Her shimmering eyes lifted back to mine. “What do we do?”
“We need to get out of here.”
She shook her head. “No. We can’t just leave.” She darted toward the other side of the kitchen and grabbed one of the giant tubs she mixed batter in earlier and started filling it with water at the sink.
Beads of sweat from the rising heat in the kitchen dripped down my back as I chased after her. “You’re going to get yourself killed,” I yelled. “We need to call the fire department and go. Now,” I pleaded, but it was as if I hadn’t spoken.
She ignored me, sloshing water over her clothes as she ran toward the fire and tossed the water at the flames, but it did little to ease the inferno. Hisses erupted around us, followed by a loud pop. Smoke plumed toward the ceiling, a mushroom cloud of black. Wood splintered. Plastic whined, and the stench was overbearing.
If we didn’t get out of there soon, we’d never get out, so I grabbed Scarlett’s arm. This time, yanking her roughly toward the exit.
She stumbled back, resisting while smoke filled the kitchen.
I coughed, covering my face. Eyes stinging. Skin burning, as I reached for her once more, only to find nothing but smoke and flame.
Chapter 27
SCARLETT
