Jan Hambright - On Fire

“Children’s services came and took you. Mom remembered the insignia on the car…then someone from the state came for your mother.”

Sorrow, deep and raw, penetrated her soul. She’d been given the information by her adoptive parents. It had been so long ago that the story had lost its edge, but hearing Kade describe it brought it all back.

“They said she was crazy, that she couldn’t handle raising a child. But they were wrong. She was psychic, not mental. Did she fight? Did she struggle to stay?”

“I don’t know.”

Savannah hung her head, haunted by the whispers of the past. The despair she’d felt, the confusion and loneliness.

“What happened to her after they took her?”

His concern wrapped around her; she could feel it like a caress. “She died several years later in a mental institution. I was adopted by the Dawsons, and here I am.” She’d left out a dark decade, but it didn’t matter. There was nothing there she cared to revisit.

“You still own this place?”

“Yeah. My mom left it to me. It’s a rental right now. What about your house?”

“My mom’s place is going on the market…well, it was until the fire. She’s back until she finds another apartment building.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. It’s home.”

“Do you remember doing it?”

He hung his head, then looked up. “I remember the jolt, and I think I supplied the razor blade and you brought the Band-Aids.”

She had to smile now as she pulled the full memory into focus. The trouble she’d had slicing into her own finger without flinching, being shocked when blood oozed out of the cut. Feeling a wondrous sense of belonging as they locked their fingers together, mixing their blood and making a promise to one another. “A couple of silly kids trying to stay linked forever.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

She swallowed, overcome with emotion, lost in the odd sensation generating between them. “Yeah, better than we could have imagined, but I’m not sure I like free passage on your train of thought.”

“And you think it’s a thrill ride for me? I’m new at this. What do you say we get a cold drink and you give me some pointers on mind reading?”

“I’d like that.” She let him take her elbow and steer her toward the gate. It took everything she had, but she put up a mental wall between them. She didn’t want to know his thoughts and feelings about that day before he verbalized them. She wanted it fresh, she wanted to hear them firsthand.

When they reached the gate, he pulled her up short and stared down into her face. “All I want to know is why you hide the color of your eyes.”

“It keeps people from freaking out. I got tired of the stares. It was easier to disguise them with brown contacts than to take the gasps of horror, like I was some sort of demon child from the Village of the Damned, able to melt small children with a single glare.”

“I understand. If I remember right, they matched my best cleary marble. I always thought they were cool, but it wasn’t something I could explain to my buddies. They would have kicked me out of the fort.”

“Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Let me get my purse and lock my car.”

Kade held the gate open and followed her into the driveway, enjoying the sway of her hips, but the sightseeing ended when he spotted a pickup truck parked across the street and watched a lanky man climb out and move in their direction.

“Oh, no!”

“What is it?” He refocused on Savannah.

“It’s gone! My purse is gone.” Disappointment choked her voice.

“You’re sure you didn’t take it into the yard?”

“Yes.”

He took her arm. “Let’s call the police. File a report. The sooner you cancel your credit cards, the better.”

“Hi. Are you the landlord?”

Kade glanced up at the man who’d walked across the street and now stood in the driveway next to them.

“No. I think you want Ms. Dawson.”

“If she owns this yellow house, then I guess I do.”

He didn’t like the way the man devoured Savannah with his gaze or the satisfied smile that followed.

“Ms. Dawson, I’m Todd Coleman, your new tenant.”

Savannah looked up at the jean-clad man addressing her and offering his hand. She shook it, momentarily forgetting her missing purse and key ring.

“Doctor Savannah Dawson. Pleased to meet you, but I don’t have a key. You’ll have to stop by the rental agency for that.”

“Done.” He pulled a key out of his pocket. “Picked it up this morning. This is a great place. I knew I had to have it the first time I saw it.”

“You’re planning to move in today?”

“Yeah.”

Kade felt caution sluice in his veins, but he couldn’t locate a source for the feeling. Savannah’s new tenant was slick, and he wasn’t sure that there wasn’t some jealousy mixed in with his concern.

“Great…Mr. Coleman, is it?” Kade eyed him tentatively.

“Yeah.”

“Any chance you saw someone around Ms. Dawson’s car in the last ten minutes?”

Kade gauged his reaction, but he had a poker face under a layer of tanned skin.

“As a matter of fact, I did see a guy hanging around. I think he was driving a red car…high-end. Why? What’s the problem?”

“Ms. Dawson’s purse has been stolen.”

“Damn. That’s tough.”

The reaction sounded genuine and Kade relaxed, letting go of his caution.

“I see you work for the fire department. Are you a fireman?” Coleman pointed at the insignia on the department vehicle parked in the driveway next door.

“I used to be.” Disappointment gelled in his veins. “I’m an arson investigator now.”

“That’s cool. You don’t get to race into burning buildings anymore, but you get to figure out who torched them?”

“Something like that.”

“I always wanted to get on with the department.”

“Really.” Kade studied Coleman’s frame. “You should look into it. The department can always use new recruits. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to call the police and file a report.”

“If you need me to tell the cops what I saw, you know where to find me.”

“I have a spare key at home. I’ll get my car out of the driveway later today,” Savannah said.

“No problem.” Todd Coleman turned toward the street.

Kade took Savannah’s elbow and walked her toward his house. He could feel Coleman’s eyes on his back, but he resisted the urge to turn around. Instead, he zoned on the feel of his fingers against her bare skin, absorbing the odd transfer of current from her body into his.

That’s when it hit him. He was walking normally. The pain in his hip had subsided.

She wasn’t only psychic—she was a living, breathing, pain annihilator.

HE BRUSHED HIS HAND across the pillow and closed his eyes, imagining her head on it, her hair fanned out in contrast against the crisp white linen.

Pulling in a deep breath, he honed in on her scent in the room, her room, a place he’d been many times…but never with her. Breaking in felt so wrong, but he knew where the spare key was.

He sobered, opened his eyes and tamped down the irritation flaring in his veins.

She would come to care for him. He already knew her secret. Coaxed it, fed it. Her affection couldn’t be far behind.

His heart drummed in his chest as he wandered into the bathroom, bent on somehow telling her, making her understand the flames were for her.

Then it would only be a matter of time before she recognized how much he wanted her. She would return his love. Lie in his arms until dawn penetrated the night….

Savannah stared at the front of her house from the passenger seat of Kade’s vehicle.