They collapsed together, and he lay on top of her, trying to catch his breath. When he finally thought he could move, he rolled to the side and pulled her like a spoon against him, kissing her neck and shoulders. He held her in his arms as the music continued to play and looked around at the candles she had used to decorate the room. Never had a woman done so much to please him. It was almost as exciting as the sex itself. “I could touch you all night,” he said.
“I’m kind of hoping you will.”
“I’ve never come home to anyone other than Harlow.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment. “Did you like it?”
“Very much.”
“I don’t promise to be dressed like this every time or put on the same kind of show,” she said.
“As long as you will for special occasion.”
“I can manage that,” she said with a kiss.
“I’ve seen you dance, but never the way you moved tonight.”
“You enjoyed it.”
“Very much. In fact, it gives me an idea. You should consider including a pole dancing class at your new studio. I hear those are very popular in the cities and a great way to keep in shape.”
“You really want to give my a father heart attack, don’t you?”
“Well, that would be a nice side benefit.”
She laughed and it felt almost as good as an orgasm. This was the way she always imagined making love with Miles would be like, a connection both physical and emotional. Tonight had been about passion and need, but also about connection and love. She was the first woman he had ever come home to and she hoped to be the last.
As she was thinking this, he sat up, turned on a bedside lamp and faced her. She blinked in the sudden brightness and was concerned by the serious look in his eyes. “Miles, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“Absolutely nothing,” he said and took her hands in his, kissing them tenderly. “Jillian, I love you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. I have been thinking about you and us constantly since I left, and I know I want to find a way for us to build a life together.”
Tears flooded her eyes, and she couldn’t talk past the lump in her throat. She let go of his hands and threw herself into his arms. “Yes, oh, Miles, yes,” she said when she finally found her voice. “I love you too and I want to share my life with you. I’m sure I can find a site for my business in Baltimore, and…”
“Baltimore? Why would you find a site in Baltimore? I want us to live here. I’ve already spoken to the director of my company and I am going to work remotely until we can build a branch of the consulting company up here.”
There were no more words for her. She kissed him passionately and let her actions speak for her. This was everything she wanted, and more than she hoped for. Needing to show him all she was feeling, they made love again, slowly and tenderly. Her final thoughts before drifting off were of how wonderful it was to be in love and loved in return.
She didn’t know how long they’d been asleep, when the squawk box downstairs woke them up. He was about to run down the stairs to check on it, but his phone rang and he answered that first. He said nothing after “Hello,” then, “I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
“It’s happening again, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and you’re linked to it again. Maximum Results is on fire.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“There’s no need.”
“I didn’t say there was. I want to be there, not for you, but for me. I am going to show whoever’s doing this that I am not cowering. Besides,” she added, as she started to dress as fast as he did, “there are bound to be lots of people watching and I can help with the crowd.”
“Fine. I don’t have time to argue and you probably can help. For starters, you drive. I need to make some phone calls while we’re on the way.” He surprised her when he called for Harlow, and they were out the door minutes after the call.
* * * *
This is going to be the most spectacular one of all. The building is big, so I’ve been able to create more than one fire in different areas. Room after room will catch and burn. It was easy to swipe a key to the place, and it’s been a thrilling few days of preparation, but now everything is ready to go.
This time, I mixed paint thinner with water. I sneaked in late yesterday, only a few hours before the place opened, and poured it in long trails along the edges of rugs and floors. Some areas were given larger amounts then others, especially that damn dance studio. Anyone who smelled something would have assumed it was cleaning products. All I had to do tonight was go in with a few matches and watch as the fire traveled.
After this, maybe I’ll stop. It won’t be easy. I’ll miss nights like this, but it will be wonderful to have people talking about these fires and how, even though they brought in an expert, I was never caught. I’ll be the area’s greatest unsolved mystery. People will discuss it for years to come. I don’t know if I will be able to accomplish what I originally hoped when it comes to Jillian, but I will have shown them all I’m the one worthy of their attention and adoration.
Chapter Twelve
Before Jillian could put the car into park, Miles was out the door and rushing to meet the teams already on scene. Even from a distance, she could see Maximum Results burning from several different sections of the building. The fire was everywhere, and as she walked closer, a third wave of fire engines arrived, sirens blaring. She’d never seen this many people work to get a blaze under control. At the moment, it looked like an impossible task. Jillian could hardly believe the chaos. This was much larger than what had happened at either her building or Tanya’s house.
She moved in closer, hoping to watch Miles, but not so close as to get in the way or distract him. This was what he did, and she was ready to accept it, along with the danger that went with it. Jillian knew she was never going to like it, but she also knew Miles was trained and talented. It was the best she could hope for.
As she stood there watching and feeling helpless, she heard a voice screaming a familiar name. “Courtney? Courtney!”
Jillian searched the crowd until she found Stacy, who was frantically running around, grabbing people and crying. She ran to the woman and stopped her by clutching her shoulders. “Stacy, what are you doing here?” Jillian said over her screams.
“Have you seen Courtney?
“No,” Jillian said, panic beginning to take hold.
“She’s in there.”
There could only be one place. “How did this happen?”
Between sobs, the woman got the story out. “She rode her bike there a little more than an hour ago. Said she had a rough day at school and she wanted to spend some time dancing. I know you don’t mind her using the studio when you’re not there. She looked miserable and she’s always happy after she’s been dancing, so I told her to go.”
“You’re sure she hasn’t come out of the building?”
“I can’t find her anywhere.”
“Oh God, no,” Jillian said, as she heard glass shattering and saw fire billow out of a window. “The studio’s in the back. She would have used my employee key to go in through the delivery entrance. No one will know she’s there. No one will think to look for her.”
“Please, do something!”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
Jillian scanned the workers for Miles, but couldn’t pick him out. She knew where Courtney would be. There was no time. “Give me your sweater and stay here,” she said to Stacy. Moments later she was running under a spray of water, hoping the dousing would help her once she was inside and she ran into the building.
* * * *
Miles saw the pink of her jacket as Jillian opened the door to the gym and then she vanished. For a second, he was certain he couldn’t have seen what he thought, but then he knew the truth.
He didn’t know what she was doing or why, but if she made it out of the building, he was going to kill her. “Someone’s in there,” he yelled t
o Eric. “Get me a suit, tank and a mask.”
Eric responded immediately and with his assistance, Miles was dressed faster than he ever had been. He entered through the same door as Jillian and was immediately surrounded by smoke, with flames not too far away. It was nearly a replay of the last fire he was in, only this time he had equipment. Unfortunately, Jillian didn’t.
He knew the only place she could be going was to her office or studio. It was too dark and smoke-filled to see, so he ignored what his eyes were showing him and used his memory to guide him to the corridor and down the hall to where she worked. Checking her office first, he yelled for her as best he could with the mask on, then took it off briefly to yell again. Listening carefully, trying to calm his breathing, he heard nothing. He replaced the mask and made his way to the next room.
Before he could open the door, Jillian and a young girl walked out. He recognized the child from the lesson a few days ago. Jillian had wrapped a sweater over the girl’s nose and mouth and covered her own with her jacket. Her face was already blackened from smoke and soot. When he took his mask off to place it over the girl’s face, he saw her eyes were red and swollen, although whether from crying or the smoke, he didn’t know.
“We stick together, and we will get out of this. Do you understand?” Both women nodded. “Keep that mask on, honey, and try to breathe slowly.”
“You can do it, Courtney,” Jillian shouted. Good, now he had the girl’s name. It would go a long way to keeping the child calm.
“Jillian trusts me, Courtney, and I need you to trust me, too. Can you do that?” The girl nodded her head. “Good,” he said loudly. “We are going to walk in a huddle with you in the middle. Jillian will keep one hand on you and one on my shoulder to let me know you’re both safe. Try not to look around you. It’s not far to the front, but we are going to be moving slowly because I don’t know how much damage the fire has done. Every ten steps or so, Jillian is going to tap you on the shoulder. You will take a deep breath, hold it, and hand her the mask. She’ll take a breath and give it back to you. Everyone clear?”
“We’re ready, Miles,” Jillian said.
He pulled his handkerchief from his pocket, covered his mouth and started forward. They moved carefully, but steadily. Never had the walk from her section of the gym to the front door seemed farther. He heard things breaking and falling, but didn’t look to see what had happened. He kept his concentration in front of him and his awareness on the touch of her hand on his shoulder. That pressure was the only thing keeping him sane enough to put one foot in front of the other.
He couldn’t have said how long it took them to get outside, but he knew they were safe once he felt water showering down on him and a cheer go up from the gathered crowd. Firefighters came rushing to help them along with a woman he had never seen, who he assumed was Courtney’s mother.
Jillian handed the girl over and the three women walked quickly away from the building as Miles got an update on the status of the blaze. It was consuming the structure faster than they could fight it, and at this point, it looked as though there would be nothing to save. Since the building was isolated, there was no danger of it spreading and the teams were working consistently, but less frantically.
Miles ran over to the circle of Jillian, Stacy and Courtney. “Are you all okay?”
“Yes, we’re fine,” Jillian said, tears streaking her soot-covered face.
“Good, then can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked, pulling her away from the reunited mother and daughter.
* * * *
He grabbed her by the shoulders and yelled, “What were you thinking? How could you go charging into a burning building without any equipment? Why didn’t you get help?”
“I don’t know. I had to. I didn’t think about it. As soon as I knew Courtney was in there, I needed to go in after her. I looked for you, but I couldn’t see you.”
“It’s a good thing I saw you!”
“Yes, it is, but it’s even better I went in there. I know it was dumb, but I was afraid there was no way to direct someone to the studio fast enough. I knew how to get to where she was so I thought it would be easiest if I went.” He stared at her as if she had lost her mind, and she probably had. Tomorrow it would hit her and she would likely fall to pieces. In a timid voice she offered, “It turned out fine.”
“It just as easily might not have. I want to spend my life with you and I almost lost you again. God, Jillian, I don’t know if I could bear that a second time. Don’t go scaring me like that again.”
She heard nothing after he said he wanted to spend his life with her. He pulled her into an embrace which nearly squeezed the breath out of her. She knew they were both lucky to be alive, so she simply let him hold her as tightly as she was holding him. Harlow joined in the reunion by jumping and barking all around them. “It’s okay, Harlow, I’m fine,” said Jillian. “See?” She opened up her arms, but instead of moving closer, Harlow took a step back and kept on barking. “What’s wrong with her?”
“I’m not positive, but I’m hoping it’s what I think. Harlow, go. I’ll follow.”
The dog took two steps away and turned to make sure they were behind her. Then she broke into a run until she stopped in front of Tanya. She walked around the woman sniffing and bumping, and when Jillian and Miles got to her, she began to bark furiously.
“You can relax, Tanya. Courtney is fine.”
Tanya said nothing.
“It’s you,” Miles said simply.
“What are you talking about?” Tanya said.
“You’re the arsonist.”
“You can’t be serious, Miles,” Jillian said. “She wasn’t even on the suspect list.”
In the space of a blink, he grabbed Tanya’s upper arm. “No, but she should have been. She has something against you, and has for a while. She’s also pretty angry at Rob, I would imagine, for not giving her what she wanted.”
“Let go of me, you bastard,” Tanya said. “You can’t prove anything.”
“Oh, there you are very wrong,” Miles said and took out his phone to make a call while still holding tightly to Tanya.
“You almost killed Charlie,” Jillian said, still in shock. “And your niece.”
“No one was supposed to get hurt.”
“But they did? How could you?”
“It’s your fault, Miss Perfect!” Tanya screamed, trying to get out of Miles’s hold. “You were never supposed to be here to mess up my life.”
“What are you talking about?’
“Don’t you remember? The night of the bonfire at the lake, the night of the accident. You were leaving Glenway, leaving Rob, and he would have been mine. It was going to be so wonderful. Sure, you probably would have been a star and everyone would keep talking about you, but I wouldn’t have had to see you and the way he stared at you. Rob would forget about you and finally pay attention to me. But then you stayed, you bitch, and I never had a chance.”
“So instead you set fire to five buildings and caused all this damage? Just to have Rob in your life?”
“To get back the life I deserve, the life you stole from me. I’m the head cheerleader, the popular one. The girl everyone is supposed to love and notice. I’m supposed to marry the quarterback, have the family and life everyone envies. But is that what happened? No! Everyone always talked about you. Mom was always telling me to watch what I ate so I could be as slender as Jillian. Stacy goes on nonstop about how great you’ve been for Courtney. And yes, then there’s Rob, who can’t get over you.”
“He doesn’t care about me. It’s the power and position my father offers that matters to him.”
“What’s the difference?” She was shrieking now and people were starting to watch them instead of the fire. “He was still yours, and he should have been mine.”
Jillian stood there silently. She’d never saw herself this way and couldn’t believe anyone, let alone Tanya, did. Fortunately, before she could come up with anything to say, two pol
icemen came over, a response to Miles’s phone call, she assumed, handcuffed Tanya and led her away.
Miles took Jillian into his arms and she held him tightly. As she stood there, she wondered how Tanya could have harbored these feelings for so long and never said or done anything, but then she looked up into Miles’s eyes and realized that on some level, she could identify with Tanya. She had allowed years of misunderstanding, pride, and fear to keep her from the man she had always loved.
She kissed him softly, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Giving us this chance to start over. I’ve known you almost my entire life and yet only now do we finally have all the possibility and promise of a future together. I can’t tell you how happy and grateful I am.”
He pulled her into his arms. “You don’t have to thank me, because I feel the same way. You have always made my life richer, more loving and more passionate. None of that was there when you weren’t, and I couldn’t acknowledge to myself how much I missed it and needed it until you were back in my life.”
She didn’t know how long they stood there, but they were interrupted by one of the members of the Glenway Fire Department. “Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt, but Chief Monroe and the police captain need to talk to you.”
“Thanks, Eric. Tell them I’ll be right over.”
“There’s going to be a lot to do. I don’t know what time I’ll be home.”
Home, she thought. Their home. “I completely understand. As fate would have it, I’ve got my car. Will you be able to get a lift?”
“Not a problem. I’ll see you later?”
“I’ll be waiting,” she said and kissed him with all of her heart.
* * * *
Hours passed before she heard his car pulling into the drive. She’d already showered and fallen asleep on the couch. The clock said five a.m. Greeting them at the door, she noticed Harlow looked better than Miles did. “Are you okay?”
Passionate Heat Page 15
