Hellfire, Texas (Hellfire #1) (12 page)
Read Hellfire, Texas (Hellfire #1) Online
Authors: Elle James
Tags: #Suspense, #Romance, #Firefighters
Kinsey.
Becket spun, intending to take the shortest route through the house, but the fire had intensified in the living room, having spread to the ceiling. Timbers crashed down, shooting sparks into the air.
Going back the way he’d come was no longer an option. He had to get to Kinsey. Fast.
Bolting for the back door, he leaped off the porch. The sound of sirens rang out across the countryside as Becket ran around the side of the burning structure. When he reached the front yard, he ground to a halt and his heart stopped.
Massey had Kinsey from behind, his arm looped around her neck in a chokehold.
Her face was blue, turning bluer by the moment.
“Let her go, Massey.” Pulse pounding against his eardrums, Becket inched toward them. “It’s over.”
Kinsey scratched at Massey’s arms, fighting for breath. Fighting for her life.
“Back off, or I’ll kill her.”
“Yeah. You’ve already proved you’d kill her anyway.” Becket considered his options. He could charge the two. He’d hit Kinsey first, but if he could knock them both over, Massey might loosen his chokehold. If he did nothing, Massey would kill her anyway.
Bunching his muscles, Becket raced toward Kinsey. At the same time, he saw her hand rise to Massey’s face.
She jammed her thumb into his eye.
Massey screamed and loosened his hold.
Kinsey jammed her elbow into his gut.
Dillon let go, she dropped to the ground and rolled to the side as Becket plowed into Massey, slamming him up against a tree.
The man’s head hit with a loud crack, and he slumped to the ground.
A fire truck rolled down the driveway as Becket helped Kinsey to her feet and held her in the curve of his arms. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” she asked, her voice gravelly. “If you hadn’t come around when you did, Dillon would have killed me.”
“If I had stayed put, I could have kept him from getting to you.”
“You’re a good man, Becket. You wouldn’t leave your worst enemy in that fire.” She faced him, lacing her hands in the hair at the nape of his neck. “That’s what I love about you.”
His arms circled her waist, and he pulled her to him. “There are a lot of things I love about you. But all those scratches and bruises need to be tended to first.”
Firefighters converged on the house, and paramedics surrounded Kinsey, Becket, and Massey.
Massey was loaded into an ambulance and taken away.
The paramedics treated Kinsey’s wounds and checked both her and Becket for signs of a concussion.
A second ambulance pulled up. The paramedic opened the door and started to pull out the gurney.
“We can walk,” Kinsey insisted.
“Though I didn’t seen signs of concussion, you both should be checked over by a doctor, just to be safe,” the paramedic said.
Kinsey looked to Becket. “I won’t go unless he comes with me in the ambulance.”
“You’re not going anywhere near Massey without me.” Becket stood with hands on his hips.
She lifted a shoulder and smiled. “Then I guess we’re both going to the hospital.”
Inside the ambulance, Kinsey and Becket sat beside each other on the gurney. The paramedic insisted they both wear oxygen masks during the drive, which precluded talking.
Kinsey slipped her hand in his and rode all the way to the trauma center in Hellfire.
The doctor checked them out and cleared them to go home.
“What about Dillon?” Kinsey asked.
The doctor’s brows dipped. “Are you a relative?”
Kinsey shook her head.
“I’m sorry, I can’t share that information.”
On the way out of the examination room, Becket could see into the next room. Nurses and a doctor worked over Massey.
Nash, dressed in his sheriff’s deputy uniform, met them in the reception area. “Are you two going to live?”
Becket hugged Kinsey to him, careful not to touch her bandages and bruises. “We will. As long as Massey isn’t let loose on the street.”
“We have so many charges compiled against him, he’s not going anywhere but the state penitentiary.”
Kinsey pressed into Becket’s side. “Good.”
“I’ll see you two back at the house. Chance and Rider are finishing up at the old Phillips’ place. There won’t be anything to salvage.” He touched Kinsey’s arm. “I’m sorry.”
Becket ran his hand up and down her arm, knowing what she must be feeling.
She nodded, her eyes awash with tears.
Nash turned to Becket. “Lily’s waiting outside.”
“What about the barn at our ranch?” Becket queried, although he wasn’t holding out much hope.
Nash shook his head. “Gone. Thankfully, all other buildings are intact. Even though the barn burned to the ground, keep in mind, buildings can be replaced. People can’t. I’m glad you and Kinsey are okay.”
Becket hugged his brother. “Me, too.”
Nash turned to Kinsey and hugged her.
“Thanks.” Kinsey hugged him back. “You’re right. I’d rather lose the house and barn than you, Becket, or any of your siblings.”
Nash nodded and stepped past them to speak with the doctor.
“Come on.” Becket turned with her in the circle of his arm and walked toward the exit. “Let’s go home.”
She snuggled against him, her arm around his middle. “I promise to get a place of my own as soon as I can get a job and save up the necessary deposits.”
“You have a place to live for as long as you like,” Becket said, his voice gruffer than he’d intended. “Forever, if things work out.”
She slowed to a stop and faced him. “How’s that?”
Maybe he was pushing things too fast, but he’d almost lost her that day. “None of us know how long we have on this earth.”
Her brows twisted. “I’m not following.”
“I’m just saying, I don’t want to waste time.” He held both of her hands and squeezed. “After you have a chance to recover, you and I are going out on a date. A real date.”
“I’d like that.”
“We could take it slow,” he continued, running a thumb over her knuckles. “Just dinner. Maybe a movie, and end it with a kiss, if you want.”
She eased from his grip, and a hand settled on his chest. “What if I don’t?”
His heart stuttered, and he captured her hand in his. God, if she walked away from him now, he didn’t know what he’d do. This woman had the potential to be the one to restore his faith in women. To remind him what love was all about, and the sacrifices he’d willingly make to keep her safe and happy.
Becket raised her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss into her palm. “Kinsey, you’re free to choose who you want to be with. I will never force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I know.” She cupped his cheek. “What I meant is: what if I don’t want just a kiss?” Leaning up on her toes, she brushed her lips across his, and then whispered in his ear, “What if I want more? What if I want to ride out in a pasture on a four-wheeler with you?”
His heart exploded with joy, and he wrapped her in his arms, rubbing his cheek against her hair. “Sweetheart, if you asked me to ride you to the moon and back, I’d be happy to take you. You name it. I’m there.”
“Take me home, cowboy. I think doing it in a bed this time would be nice.”
“Are you sure?” He stared down at her, his gaze taking in the myriad bandages covering her arms and legs. “You’re a mess.”
“I’ve never been more certain in my entire life. And you’re pretty beat up yourself.” She touched her fingertip to the black eye he’d earned in his fight with Massey. “I’m sorry you had to get involved in my screwed-up life.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Becket grinned. “A few bumps and bruises, I can live with. So, if you’re sure…I’m sure.”
She laughed and swept an arm toward the exit. “Home, it is.”
As they left the trauma clinic, Becket swept Kinsey off her feet and carried her toward Lily’s waiting truck.
She laughed, wrapped her arms around his neck, and nuzzled his ear. “I think I could fall in love with you.”
He stopped and smiled down into her happy face. “Sweetheart, I’m well on my way there, myself.” Then he kissed her soundly, ignoring the stares of his sister and the people who had to step around him to enter the building.
Love didn’t take a week, a month, or a year to develop. Sometimes love took a minute, an hour, a day, or a look. He’d give her the space she needed to recover. But the fire in his heart would burn eternal for this woman and, if she let him, he would spend a lifetime proving it.
The End
ELLE JAMES
also writing as
MYLA JACKSON
is a
New York Times
and
USA Today
Bestselling author of books including cowboys, intrigues and paranormal adventures that keep her readers on the edges of their seats. With over eighty works in a variety of sub-genres and lengths she has published with Harlequin, Samhain, Elloras’ Cave, Kensington, Cleis Press, and Avon. When she’s not at her computer, she’s traveling, snow-skiing, boating, or riding her ATV, dreaming up new stories. Learn more about Elle James at
www.ellejames.com
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Or visit her alter-ego Myla Jackson at
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Elle James
R
eed Tucker, Tuck
to his buddies, tugged at the tie on his U.S. Navy service dress blue uniform, and his gut knotted as he entered the rehabilitation center of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
He’d never run from anything, not a machine gun pinning his unit to a position, a fight where he was outnumbered, or an argument he truly believed in. But the sights, smells, and sounds inside the walls of the rehabilitation center made him want to get the hell out of the facility faster than a cat with its tail on fire.
But he couldn’t leave. Not yet. This was graduation day for Reaper, aka Cory Nipton, his best friend and former teammate on SEAL Team 10. Reaper was being released from the rehabilitation center after enduring something even tougher than BUD/s training, the twenty-four week Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training designed to weed out the true SEALs from the wannabes.
But Reaper’s release from rehab wasn’t the only event that brought Tuck there that day. He was going to a wedding. His heart twisted, his palms grew clammy, and he clutched the ring box in his left hand as regret warred with guilt, creating a vile taste in his mouth.
