Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“That’s him. Question of the hour, though. What are you doing back in town?” I asked her as I stopped by her bedside, barely a foot of space separating us.
Zoe held my gaze for a second, visibly swallowing hard before folding her hands in her lap and sitting up a little straighter. Like she’d pulled herself together. What was running through that mind of hers?
“I’m here to investigate the arson case. I want to write a piece about it,” she told me.
My eyebrows lifted.
“Hey, you became a journalist! That’s awesome, Zoe,” I said as I reached out to nudge her arm.
Zoe smiled and shook her head at me like she used to do a lot. She was beautiful back in high school, but she was even more gorgeous now with her sharp eyes and full lips. When she looked at someone, it was like she was peeling back their layers, searching deep without a lapse in attention. Maybe that unsettled people, but I found it a little endearing. She actually paid attention when someone talked to her.
A familiar spark of guilt went off within me, catching me off guard. I hadn’t felt that in a while. Whenever I noticed her beauty or just other things in general that made me admire her, I was taken back to high school when I was dating her best friend, Rachel.
I knew that sounded bad. I internally grimaced at the thought, but Rachel was the best girlfriend I ever had. We had a lot of fun and did a lot of growing up while together. While I did find Zoe attractive, I never pursued her or ever thought about being unfaithful to Rachel. I refused to be that guy.
“Yeah, it’s been great. I write for The Blue Ridge Times out in Raleigh,” Zoe said. “I bet you’re a good firefighter. You’ve always been an adrenaline junkie.”
I chuckled and shrugged.
“I’m just a probationary firefighter right now to see if they like me enough to keep me, but it’s definitely been a thrill,” I told her before sitting on the edge of her bed, my fingers brushing the top of her knee as I sank down. “How long have you been in town for?”
“Not even twenty-four hours. I got here around noon, put my things in my rental house, ate at Pizza King, and bolted over to Grady when I heard about the fire,” Zoe sighed, sounding tired from all the craziness. Her feet moved a little under the sheets like she was digging her heels into the mattress.
“No clues yet, huh?” I replied.
Zoe shook her head.
“But I’m just getting started,” she said with a determined glint in her eyes.
I couldn’t help but grin a little. I had seen that look in her eyes so many times, whether she was hearing about a writing assignment in English class or someone challenged her to anything. She was competitive, and I doubted that had changed since I last saw her.
“You should come down to the station sometime,” I offered. If she needed information about the fires that had been going on lately, that would be a great place to start. Hell, I was probably hired because there was so much arson activity, and the station needed extra hands to help.
“Really?” Zoe asked, immediately looking intrigued.
I nodded.
“Yeah, you can talk to the fire chief or the station officer to get some information for your story. Maybe it’ll at least point you in the right direction of where to look,” I suggested. If I was her, that was where I would start.
Zoe reached out and gave my arm a gentle nudge. A familiar touch. This time, it lingered an extra second longer than usual. Oh, how I had thought about her touch roaming over my body like mine did to hers.
Forbidden thoughts. But what was holding us back now?
“Thanks, Matty. I wanted to get to the fire chief eventually, but I figured that it might be tough getting his attention given everything going on,” Zoe said.
“Luckily, I’ve got an in,” I told her, sharing a smile with her.
I’d just started working as a firefighter, and I was already starting to get burnt out from all the calls we had been getting lately. These weren’t small, petty fires either. Cars went up in flames. Houses were destroyed. Businesses were set ablaze in the dead of night. It was constant.
So, if she could figure out what was going on and expose whoever was behind all of this insanity, I was all for it. I wanted to help her because that would help us and this town.
Maybe part of me wanted an excuse to see her again too. She would be so busy working on the story, so her being at the fire station every so often gave me the opportunity to at least check in on her. Depending on how deep she got into this case, she was putting herself at risk. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.