On their way out to the truck, Bo watched her walk. He liked how her bottom moved. It made him think about other things he wanted to do later.
Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned that bit about her maybe wanting them to get caught. He might have been way off. As she said, it wasn’t that, but the idea itself was the thrill. That would be more Erin’s style, daring the world to cross her.
She’d been good at firefighting because she knew how to stay calm and keep her cool under pressure—the way she did when she was turning him on with all the guys and her sister a few rooms away.
She liked the challenge. She craved excitement. They were alike in that.
Her offer to try something new—anything he wanted—was tempting. It was also dangerous. Did it mean that Erin had changed? That some of the old rules between them no longer applied? That she trusted him more?
That there could be something new between them?
He shook his head as if trying to cast away the thought.
“What?” she asked, bringing him back to the present.
“What?” he echoed back, taken off guard.
She smiled. “You were shaking your head no at something.”
“Oh. Just lost in thought, that’s all. Here we are,” he announced. “If this is bad and you want to leave, you say so, okay? We’re only here to look around—no pressure.”
“Got it.”
They stopped, and she slid out of her seat to the pavement, taking in the skeletal remains of the burned-out warehouse. Erin seemed to confront it without any particular emotion at all. That was a good start, he supposed.
They approached a small shed, where Bo grabbed hard hats and handed her one. She put it in her head, and he stifled a smile. He’d once told her how cute she was in her firefighting helmet, and she hadn’t taken it as a compliment. She’d been cranky with him the rest of the day, until he got her back to her place and did things that made her decidedly uncranky.
“Let’s go.”
He went ahead. No one else was there, though there was heavy equipment on the other side of the lot. They were obviously prepping to level the place. He couldn’t blame the company that owned the property—it lost money the longer it sat here unused, and the investigation had held it up for long enough without yielding much. This was Bo’s last chance, literally.
The light was fine as the sun came in through the rafters, and safe passage through the burned-out building was marked with small flags and chalk so that inspectors and others weren’t injured.
“Make sure you stay within the marked areas. Other spots are not safe.”
Erin nodded, but was otherwise quiet. Bo hoped this wasn’t a mistake.
“It’s so spooky,” she finally said when they paused inside the large entry, looking around. “But also weirdly pretty. The way the sun comes down in between the burned rafters.”
“I’ve thought that, too, though it feels wrong to see something artistic in so much ruin.”
She agreed silently and walked ahead of him, her expression mostly curious. He let her lead, but made sure she stayed on the safe route. He wondered what it would be like, to see it all again for the first time. Even with his experience, it was still overwhelming sometimes. The ability to analyze discrete parts of a fire scene as well as the overall picture took discipline and practice because there was so much to look at. It was also easy to see something misleading or something that could fool you.
Eventually, you learned the patterns and the telltale signs of various kinds of fire, how it behaved or how it had started or progressed, but there was still an element of surprise. It paid not to get too bogged down in patterns, since that’s when you could miss the most important things.
Maybe it was the same way in relationships? What had he missed that he and Erin had gone so terribly wrong?
He pushed romantic musings from his mind. Though he’d been over the site several times now, some things had changed due to weather exposure and other people invading the area, and he tried to see it all with fresh eyes.
What might he have missed?
Erin started moving faster through the charred walkway, as if she were moving toward something. As if she were drawn in a certain direction. Bo followed, fascinated.
She stopped at a spot in the far corner, looking up.
“Something happened up there?”
She turned and looked at him, her face strained—parts fear, anxiety and pressure.
Bo followed her gaze.
“That was the general quadrant of the building that you and Joe were sent in to check out. They thought there could be toxic chemicals stored there. But you were both found in a completely different area of the building, which is one of the things we can’t account for.”
Her expression was pained as she stared, trying to remember so hard, and Bo almost couldn’t take the agony on her face.
“I can feel something...like, panic,” she said, and he stepped closer as her breathing quickened. “But nothing else.”
He noticed her hand was shaking as she lifted it to her face.
“This is enough, I think. Let’s get out of here.”
“No, I’m okay. I’m just so frustrated. Show me the spot where we fell.”
Bo shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Erin stared through the rafters at the same spot on the second level for several more long seconds, and then, before he could stop her, she took off for the stairs that went up to that floor. Outside the safety zone.
“Erin!” he shouted, but she was fast and halfway up the steps by the time he followed.
“I’m okay.”
“It’s not safe. Those supports are burned. Come back down slowly.”
She looked at him over the rail. “They’re knocking this down tomorrow. I need to see.”
She continued her progress up the stairs, which seemed to be holding, so Bo muttered a curse under his breath and followed.
Erin was never reckless before, which made her one of the best. She knew that being reckless was what could cost people their lives, and Bo hoped that wasn’t the case now.
She was also about sixty-five pounds lighter than he was, and when he stood on the second step, it gave an ominous creak.
She’d ambled up fine, but he could take the whole thing down in seconds, and then she’d be trapped.
Cursing more vehemently, he backed off.
She was up there for a few minutes, quiet, and he started to worry even more.
“Erin? What’s going on?” he shouted up the steps, wishing he’d never brought her here.
She came to the edge, peered down at him through jagged, burned-out boards.
“We ran,” she said, her complexion as ashen as the walls around her. Then she looked over his head, back toward the east side of the building. “Joe took off and ran that way.”
Chills worked down Bo’s spine as she pointed in the direction of the spot where she was nearly killed. He balanced the excitement at her memory with concern for her current safety.
“Okay, good—that’s good. Now, come down very slowly, carefully, and show me where.”
She looked like a ghost, but she made it back down the rickety steps safely.
Bo grabbed her and hugged her tight to him, relieved, and then held her at arm’s length, staring