Into the Flames

by Multi-Author

  “But we always put one report together at the end of an investigation,” she protested.

  “Then I don’t know.”

  “And I don’t want to think of what he really had in mind,” Noah put in. “Randi, I’m not minding your business, just trying to show you the truth. You can’t trust him anymore.”

  “And if you’re wrong?”

  “Then I’ll apologize to both of you. Meanwhile, we need to figure out where they’ll strike next.”

  “But how?” she wanted to know. “If every complex is owned by a different corporation, you have no way to tie them together.”

  Noah pointed to his laptop. “I’ve got a program that can do wonders searching for stuff. I just shared it with Jeff, so we can both do a search for ownership all over the target area.”

  “And what do you want me to do? I can’t just sit and do nothing.”

  “Come sit next to me.” He tugged her chair over. “Maybe something you see will strike a chord.”

  They had gotten about halfway through the lists when her cell rang.

  “It’s Captain MacNeill,” she said, showing Noah the screen. “I have to take it.”

  “Okay, but don’t clue him in to anything just yet.”

  But the phone call changed everything.

  “We’ve got another one, Randi.” MacNeill sounded exhausted. “Two of the four buildings went up. And, Randi? This time we’ve got fatalities.”

  She wanted to throw up. People had been killed because of someone else’s greed. If only she’d had her brainstorm earlier, could she have stopped it? Should she be mad at Noah because he had information earlier and didn’t share? No, probably not, she told herself. What he had may only have been unconfirmed supposition. She might have gone running off in the wrong direction. She had that happen before.

  “Here’s the address,” MacNeill said. “I already called Dan. You’d better get going.”

  When she hung up, she relayed the information to both men.

  “We’re going with you.” Noah didn’t sound like he’d put up with any argument from her.

  She swallowed her objections. “Okay, but let’s be sensible. There’s a possibility Jeff night show up at the scene, but not you, Noah. So, if you insist on going, you guys follow me in your car and hang back. Let me see what’s going on there.”

  Noah didn’t much like it, nor did Jeff, but, in the end, they both agreed with her. As she raced to the scene of the fire, she prayed she’d find something tonight that would help her close this case and stop this from happening anymore.

  The fire scene was easy enough to spot, even from a few blocks away. From the number of people and vehicles, she could tell it had been called as a three alarm fire. Two ladder trucks were stationed by the still-burning buildings, spraying water on flames that looked like the fires of hell. Red and orange and yellow tongues danced against the blackness of the sky. The water hissed as it hit the flames, sounding as if a huge snake was spitting into the air. Smoke was everywhere. Most of the firefighters wore oxygen masks, but not the onlookers who were choking on it.

  Nothing seemed to be doing much good. Whatever had been used as an accelerant, the ILR had obviously worked fast and destroyed the buildings. It had been strong enough to soften and melt the mortar between the bricks and, as the interior collapsed, it brought down much of the exterior walls. Randi thought it all looked like the scene from a war movie.

  There were several ambulances there, and EMT crews worked on badly injured survivors. Off to the side, she saw where bodies had been zipped into black bags and placed out of the way for the morgue to pick up. Captain MacNeill, in full gear, stood beside one of the trucks, talking to one of the firefighters. When he saw her, he waved her over.

  “This is a real bad one, Randi.” He sounded tired. “Seven dead, twelve injured. They’re still fighting the blaze.” He pointed to an area beside the second building. “Dan’s already here. Look. He sees you. Go find out what he wants and if he’s seen anything.”

  She looked around for Jeff’s car and, when she saw it parked across the street out of the way, she waved to them and headed toward her erstwhile partner. She hoped they’d stay put for the moment. After all, if Dan was involved, what could he do to her with all these people around?

  “This is a disaster,” she told him as she approached. “This time they’ve outdone themselves. People are dead, others badly injured. We have to catch these guys, Dan.”

  “They’re damn slippery,” he agreed. “That’s for sure. Come over here. I found something I want to show you.”

  “What is it?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to go off with him.

  “Come on. I think they made a mistake this time.” He clamped his hand over her arm.

  “Wait, Dan.” She tried to pull away from him but in seconds he had dragged her around to the back of the second burning building. “Stop it,” she screamed. Then she realized with the roar of the fire, the babble of the crowd, and the noise of the hoses, no one could hear her.

  “Shut up, bitch.” His voice was harsh. This didn’t sound at all like the Dan she knew. “Goddamn nosy bitch. I told you to step back from it. I could tell today you were onto it. Now you’ll go and fuck everything up.”

  Randi dug in her heels, literally, and refused to move. But Dan was much bigger and stronger.

  “You kill me, and they’ll find my body. How will you explain that?”

  “That you ignored warnings not to go into the building and ended up being burned alive. Which is about what I have in mind for you.”

  He tried dragging her again, and again she screamed for help at the top of her voice. If he got her to the burning building, he could knock her out and toss her inside then make up some kind of story. She despaired of anyone hearing. Use your brain, she told herself. Suddenly, she gave up all resistance, Dan stumbled backwards, and she gave him a hard kick to the crotch.

  “Ow! Goddamn bitch! Fuck!” He doubled over, cupping his hands over his family jewels, just as two men appeared out of the dark. One of them pulled her close to his body, his arms tight around her. She thought it was Noah, but when she looked she realized Noah had punched Dan hard enough to knock him to the ground and was straddling him, still delivering punches.

  “Stop.” She tried to get away from Jeff. “You’ll kill him, Noah. He’s not worth it.” She looked at Jeff. “None of this is any good if he ends up in jail instead of Dan.”

  “Dan’s going there, make no mistake,” Jeff assured her. “Dan?” He released Randi and jogged over to grab Noah’s arms. “Enough, buddy. The guy’s out cold. Come on. Let’s get one of the responding officers to take charge of him.”

  But the first person to confront them was Captain MacNeill, still in his gear, a distressed look on his face.

  “What the hell is going on here, Randi?”

  She sighed, hugging herself tightly to stop the trembling that had suddenly set in.

  “I’ll tell you what’s going on.” Noah was breathing hard, still straddling Dan. “This asshole tried his best to kill Randi.”

  MacNeill looked at her. “That true?”

  “Y-yes.” Suddenly, despite the heat, she couldn’t stop shivering.

  “Captain?” Jeff was just stuffing his cell back in his pocket. “I just called my lieutenant. Can we move this out of the public eye?”

  “Good idea. Let’s all head to that cruiser parked across the street and sort this out.”

  It took some doing to heft Dan, a big man, and take him in a fireman’s carry, but eventually, they were all safely out of range of both the fire and the crowd.

  * * *

  Randi had put in some long nights, but none longer than the one that just ended. By the time the fire was under control, the dead and injured removed, and Randi’s story repeated at least half a dozen times, it was close to sunrise. She was exhausted in every nerve and pore and just wanted to crawl into bed for a week.


  Shock reverberated through both the fire and police departments as news of Dan’s complicity spread like, well, wildfire. Jeff had made the official arrest and taken him to the station for booking. They’d gotten most of the story out of Dan, desperate to either save his own neck or take everyone down with him. The missing piece was his stepbrother, an attorney who did a lot of corporate work. He and Dan had purchased the apartment complexes with low down payments then leveraged each parcel to buy the next one. The only thing that would save them was burning down the buildings. They’d originally planned it for the insurance money, but then they learned of the city’s mega-million project, and they saw a bigger pot of gold.

  This was a scandal that would rock the city when it all came out. Randi still remembered the icy feeling of dread when she realized Dan was onto her and planned to kill her. At the moment, she’d been too shocked to feel real fear. But Noah and Jeff had gotten out of their car when they saw her walking over to her erstwhile partner and headed in her direction. She still had trouble wrapping her mind around the whole thing.

  At last, both her boss and the police department were through with them. Jeff promised to call them later in the day. Right now, he had work to do since Dan’s case had just been assigned to him. Then she and Noah climbed into her car and headed back to her house.

  Noah had filled her big claw-foot tub with hot water and poured some of her bath salts into it.

  “This will relax you,” he told her. “You need this.”

  “What I need,” she told him, “is for you to get in that tub with me, put your arms around me, and never let me go.”

  So now they both sat in the fragrant, steamy water, Randi leaning back against him, his muscular arms wrapped around her, his hands cupping her breasts as his thumbs teased her nipples. She really did wish she could stay like this forever, never moving, in the security of his embrace. Later today she knew, unfortunately, she’d probably have to go back to the firehouse, but, for now, this was her entire world. She needed it.

  “I’m still in shock over Dan,” she said, snuggling closer to the hard wall of his chest. “How stupid am I that I never suspected?”

  “Not stupid. You trusted him, and, until now, he hadn’t given you any reason not to.”

  “To think he’d been using all the arson sites we’d studied to learn about different chemicals and accelerants and how to create a quicker flashpoint. I’ll be a long time getting over this.”

  “But you will,” he promised. “And I’ll help.”

  They lapsed into silence again, letting the water lull them and ease the tension in their bodies.

  “Thank you,” she said at last.

  “For?” he prompted.

  “Not saying I told you so.”

  He gave a rough laugh. “Would it do me much good? You’re the smartest woman I know, Randi, but everyone has a blind spot. For you, it was Dan Kessler.”

  “He seemed like such a together cop. I never ever suspected he’d be involved in something like this.” She ran a fingertip along the wet hair on one of his arms. “Lesson learned, though.”

  They were both quiet for a long moment, just reveling in the fact everything was over and they could be together like this.

  “You did good tonight, firecracker. Got him right in the nuts.”

  Her laugh was tinged slightly with hysteria. “I did do good, didn’t I?”

  He kissed the top of her head. “You bet.” He bent his head and nibbled the lobe of her ear. “I’m always going to worry about you. I can’t help it. I love you. A lot.”

  Her heart stuttered. “You love me?”

  “Randi, that was never in question. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. I was just scared to death for you and stupid enough to think I could order you what to do with your life.”

  “And I was mad enough to fight back and not try to see it from your point of view.” She paused. “I’m not giving up my career, Noah. I want you to understand that. But—” She bit her lip.

  “But?” he urged.

  “But if New York is where you need to be, I can ask Captain MacNeill to help me find a position in the NYFD. He has a lot of connections.”

  His arms tightened around her. “You’d do that for me? Just pick up and move because that’s where I told you I have to be? Want to be?”

  “Uh-huh. Because I love you.”

  “See how nicely that works out?” he teased. “But guess what? I’m established enough that I can choose my own home base now. I choose San Antonio.”

  Randi turned around in his embrace, excitement coursing through her. “You would do that for me? B-but then you’re giving in on everything. What would you get in return?”

  Emotion burned in his eyes, along with fierce hunger. “I’m getting you. That’s more than enough for me.”

  “Oh god. Oh, Noah.” She threw her arms around him, pressing her slick body against his, and kissed him so hard she almost couldn’t breathe.

  “I think we need to take this to a different location.”

  She felt the hard thickness of his cock press against her in the water.

  “I agree,” she told him breathlessly.

  In what seemed like seconds, he had them both out of the tub, dried off, and on the bed. He paused only long enough to dig a condom out of his wallet and roll it on. Randi welcomed him into her body as he slid inside her with one hard thrust. Oh god! This felt more right than anything else in the world.

  “Next time I’ll take longer,” he breathed. “But, right now, I have to be inside you. Oh Jesus, Randi. This is the only place I ever want to be. You feel so damn fucking good.”

  “Same goes.”

  “Look at me,” he commanded.

  She opened her eyes and found his hot ones blazing into her.

  “Don’t close them. Keep them open. Just like now.”

  Then he began to move, slow then faster and faster, his cock dragging thickly against the inner walls of her pussy, her body stretching to accept him, her juices lubricating the way. The tension of the day, the fear and drama of the evening all combined to ramp up their emotions and responses.

  As they reached the crest, she whispered to him, “Flashpoint.”

  And it was their own point of explosion, the heat of their fire, and the lick of the flames that scorched them both.

  He nodded and plunged into her one last time.

  They came together like the explosion of a volcano, her walls clamping down on his pulsing cock as they shuddered together again and again.

  There was nothing but the two of them, just them and this unbelievable joining.

  She never took her eyes away from his, reading in them everything she’d always ever wanted from him. For the two of them.

  At last, limp and spent, they lay exhausted in each other’s arms. She knew he would always be there for her as she would for him. They’d had to separate to come together again, but nothing would ever break them apart again.

  The End

  About the Author

  Desiree Holt is an award-winning author known the world over as The Oldest Living Erotic Romance Author. She has won an EPIC E-Book Award, the Holt Medallion and many other awards. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The London Daily Mail and numerous other national and international publications.

  Visit her:

  Website

  Facebook Author Page

  Twitter

  Pinterest

  Where There’s Smoke

  A Roaring Twenties Novella

  by Cindy Spencer Pape

  Cover Art by Carey Abbott

  Nettie Price supports her abusive father because of a deathbed promise to her mother. One of the highlights of her day is when Eli Lawson, lawyer, and volunteer firefighter comes in to her bookshop for his morning papers.

  Eli can’t understand why Nettie doesn’t leave
, but after one particularly brutal beating, he finds her and takes her to his home to recover, with his sister as chaperone. The sister is sure that Eli and Nettie belong together, despite being from opposite sides of the tracks. As a string of fires heats up the town, things also start to heat up between Nettie and Eli. Wedding bells seem to be in their future until Eli is injured in a fire. Convinced he’s no longer whole enough for Nettie, he calls things off.

  Back at the bookstore, Nettie comes face to face with the arsonist as Eli races to rescue her. Will love be enough to save them both?

  Firefighting in the 1920's is dangerous business, but so is falling in love.

  ~ Dedication ~

  To all the men and women who risk their lives fighting fires:

  Thank you for keeping us safe.

  Also to Sarah, Jen and Rebecca, who’ve been aiding and abetting my fondness

  for the 1920s to the point that I had to set a story there.

  ** Reader Advisory **

  Where There’s Smoke is an historical romance which includes scenes of family abuse. If you are sensitive to this potential trigger topic, this may not be a romance you would enjoy.

  Chapter One

  September, 1926

  Elias Andrew Lawson III whistled as he walked down Main Street to the bookstore and newsstand where he always picked up his morning papers. Sure, he could’ve had the local news delivered right to his doorstep, but this was better. It meant that almost every morning of the week, he got to start the day with Annette Price’s smile.

  He ducked in the door and tipped his hat—a dashing new tan fedora he’d bought in Chicago last week. “Beautiful day, Nettie.”

  “Good morning, Mr. Lawson.” The pretty young clerk looked up at him with eyes as blue as Lake Michigan on a summer afternoon. There was no smile today, though, and the eyes were quickly shuttered by her long dark lashes. “Which papers will it be today, sir?”

  “The Chronicle, of course.” Eli always picked up the Carstairs, Michigan paper. As one of the town’s three attorneys, it didn’t pay to be behind on local knowledge. “And the Chicago Tribune, I think. I had the New York Times yesterday.”