No doubt he was utterly confused by my reaction. Nothing was stopping either of us from evacuating the building. Nothing, except me, that was.
His hand clamped onto my wrist. “Damn it, come on! Snap out of it.”
Thankfully, I did. With one touch, he’d somehow grounded me back to reality.
Gathering my strength, I forced my legs to move as Cowboy tugged on my arm and headed for the door with me in tow. By the time we made it outside and caught up to Mandy in the parking lot, sirens were blaring in the distance.
“Those are our boys,” Mandy announced proudly. “I was driving past when I saw the flames.” She motioned to the side of the library, where an orange glow illuminated the dark alleyway. “At first, I thought you were here because of the fire, but then I looked through the window and saw you inside with a book in your hand. Don’t know which surprised me more.”
Cowboy gave her a petulant look. “What’s on fire?”
“Oh, um…I’m not sure, but I think it’s the dumpster. I called it in over the radio and had Reynolds grab my bunker gear from the station in case they needed any help.”
“Good thinking,” Cowboy told her.
Flashing lights swung across the parking lot asphalt as two wailing fire trucks pulled in and rolled to a stop nearby. Several uniformed firefighters spilled out and sprinted in the direction of the fire. A tremor ran through me. With Cowboy’s hand still latched onto my arm, I had no doubt he felt the physical vibration reverberate through my body and into his.
Our eyes met briefly, then he glanced to Mandy. “Go suit up, Barlow.”
“Aren’t you coming, Captain?”
“No. The crew can handle this one without me.”
Mandy hesitated, wrinkling her forehead in puzzlement, then ran for the trucks.
The moment she got out of earshot, I looked up at Cowboy. “If you need to go—”
“What happened back there, Anna? Why’d you freeze up?”
And just like that, reality smacked me in the face. There was no way I could explain it to Cowboy without telling him more about me than I cared for him to know. Or anyone else, for that matter. Like he said, news traveled fast in small towns.
“It was nothing. I’m sorry.”
“No need for apologies, darlin’. I only want to make sure you’re okay.” When I didn’t say anything in return, he dropped the subject and focused his attention to the firefighters in action.
Even though the reinforcements had everything under control, Cowboy kept a sharp eye on the men as they hustled back and forth between the trucks and the fire, laying hoses and opening water lines. They were obviously capable of handling themselves, but he stayed on top of them by occasionally shouting orders from the sidelines where he babysat me.
We couldn’t see the fire from our position in the parking lot, only the orange glow coming from the side of the building. Every time the flames shot higher, red-hot embers released into the air and then dissipated, before the ashes floated away in the evening breeze. Although I was awestruck by the lethal beauty, the pungent smoke littering the air took me back to a time I didn’t want to remember. I was still a little shaken, but the last thing I wanted was for Cowboy to witness one of my physical or mental meltdowns.
Moments later, the flickering light vanished. Judging by how fast the blaze dwindled, and what knowledge I had of fires, I gathered this one hadn’t been very large. If so, he probably would’ve left me in someone else’s care while he led his team.
No surprise there. He liked to be in control. And it was sexy as hell.
A young fireman approached us, suited up in his bunker gear. “Engine four crew is heading back to the station, Captain. The rest of us will stick around for a few and make sure the fire stays out.”
“Sounds good. Tell Barlow to fill out a report and have it on my desk by morning,” Cowboy ordered.
The kid nodded and headed back to the trucks.
“Come on,” Cowboy said. “You can walk over with me, and we’ll check out the damage.”
Shock blasted through me, as if he electrocuted me. “No, I can’t!” But then I glanced back to the side of the library where the orange glow had emanated, and my nerves shriveled back into their rightful place. “I mean…the fire.”
He looked at me strangely. “Fire’s out, remember?”
I exhaled a slow, calming breath. “Right. Uh…okay.” God, he probably thought I was a lunatic.
I trailed behind him as we made our way to the side of the building, where the dumpster sat. As we neared the site of the fire, my steps dragged until I ended up stopping completely.
Mesmerized, I stared at the large smoldering metal bin, imagining the flickering flames as they surrendered to the force of the water the firemen had pumped into the dumpster. Then I made the mistake of shifting my eyes to the scorch marks on the library’s exterior stucco wall. A building I had inhabited while the dumpster was burning. Jesus.
An involuntary shiver ran through me as my legs liquefied. I forced myself to stay on my feet, though, rather than drooping like a wilting flower. I could handle this. I had to. But as rattled as my fragile nerves were, I couldn’t handle much more tonight.
Cowboy took a look inside the dumpster, shook his head, and then walked toward me. “Do you smoke?”
“No,” I replied, wondering why he would ask me such a weird question.
“Any clue how the fire started?” Cowboy asked, glaring at me strangely.
“Why are you asking me? You’re the fireman here.”
“Because, if memory serves, you were the last person anywhere near the dumpster before the fire started.”
Chapter Two
I gasped. “You think I started the dumpster fire?”
“Not intentionally, no.”
Offended by his insinuation, I gawked at him. “You’re accusing me of starting it by accident, though?”
He shook his head. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m just trying to figure out what happened, that’s all.” He pointed to the container. “When you took out the trash earlier, is this the dumpster you put it into?”
“Well, yes.”
“Was it on fire when you came outside?”
I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Of course not.”
“Did you see anyone out here? Anyone in the parking lot, maybe?”
“No, it was just…me.” My eyebrow rose. He can’t possibly think I…
Cowboy sighed in frustration. “Do you know what was in the trash bag you carried out?”
“Some half-eaten plates of food, used plastic cups, and stuff like that. It was left over from a board meeting earlier today. Nothing that would start a fire.”
“But you don’t know for sure?”
“Well, no…I…” The way he stared at me made me nervous, as if he really thought I started the blaze. “I didn’t do it,” I blurted out.
“Never said you did.”
“You didn’t have to.” The way he was looking at me said plenty. All I wanted was to get away from his suspicious glare. I sighed warily. “Look, if you’re done with me, I’d like to lock up and go home.”
“Sure, but I’ll need you to come down to the fire station first thing in the morning.”
He might as well have told me he needed me to wash his truck while I was there. “For what?” I asked.
“I’ll need to take down your statement.”
“That’s unnecessary. I can give you my statement now. In fact, I already did. It went something like this: I don’t know how the fire started.”
“By morning, you might recall some detail you forgot to mention or remember seeing something you aren’t thinking clearly about right now. It won’t hurt to go over everything one more time tomorrow so I can add it to the report.”
“This is silly. So I’m supposed to come down to the station to answer questions about a fire I know nothing about. All because you think I’m lying?”