Saved By A Stranger by Andi Madden Read Free Book Online Page A

couldn’t move, watching
how the flames spread.
    Despite the flames, she grew cold, started
to shiver. She was doing it all wrong, all wrong. Her cold-blooded
strategy, out the window.
    This fire wouldn’t fool any insurance. Like
the people who used lighters, who set the gasoline on fire instead
of letting it explode, she had made mistakes. Using a torch, what
was she thinking? She’d read about it, read that this was why
people got caught, got sent to jail.
    Stupid, stupid her.
    She did wrong, so wrong.
    And then there was Ben and the fire
extinguisher in his hand, and then everything went black.
    * * * * *
    Cold needles pricked at her face, a roaring
in her ears.
    She licked her lips, trying to drag her
eyelids open, and swallowed a mouthful of water. Blindly she
reached for the faucets, but hard hands clamped around her wrists,
holding her in place.
    “ C-c-c-cold,” she said.
“Stop it, stop.”
    “ Not yet,” she heard Ben’s
rumble of a voice, “the shower will do you good.”
    But the water hitting her face and slicking
her clothes against her body turned a notch warmer.
    “ There’s nothing like a
cold shower,” he said, “to bring you back to the
living.”
    He stroked his hands up her arms and settled
around her shoulders. “I won’t let you set fire to this place. It’s
wrong, and in your heart you know it is.”
    She wanted to slap him for speaking the
truth, but her shoulders slumped, shame rising in her for what she
had done.
    If he hadn’t stopped her…what if the fire
had hurt other people? Her body started trembling, hard, violent
shivers that let her teeth clash together.
    “ How bad—” she swallowed.
“How badly did I damage the basement?”
    “ Nothing a lick of paint
won’t fix,” he said. “The shelves are ruined though. The smell of
smoke is moderate. In this neighborhood, she doubt anyone alerts
the fire brigade. What were you thinking, opening a shop in this
desolate area?”
    She groaned, having asked herself the same
question more than once.
    He started massaging her shoulders, and she
let out a sigh when he found her knotted muscles. Like an
avalanche, today’s images came pouring into her mind.
    And what could she do?
    Nothing, as usual.
    She could do nothing. Nothing as Ben shot
the man who was supposed to save her. She could do nothing.
    She shrugged out of her shirt and let the
water hit her breasts and stomach. She tried to peel off the pair
of jeans.
    “ Shit.” Her fingernail
broke as she opened the zipper. “Shit,” she cursed again, the wet
denim so tight against her legs it wouldn’t peel off.
    “ Let me,” he said,
startling her. He tugged the wet fabric slowly but steadily over
her hips and bottom. “Lift your foot,” he said, and she did, first
one then the other until her jeans landed with a wet flop on the
floor. “Better now?”
    His mouth brushed lightly against hers, a
strange comfort. When he flicked his tongue against her bottom
lip.
    “ Make me forget,” she said, surprised to hear the edge in her voice. “Make me forget
today.”
    Reaching out, she grabbed a fistful of his
shirt with one hand, and reached with her other between his legs.
“You are hard,” she whispered, tracing a finger over the ridge of
his erection. “Make me come, make me come, hard, until I stop
thinking.”
    His stomach muscles moved as he stripped off
his shirt, zipped open his pants. She licked her lips as his
erection sprang free. He kicked off his shoes, pants and briefs,
stepped into the shower, turned on the water again. Turning his
face into the spray, his hair turned darker, slicked against his
head.
    Seeking the heat of his mouth, she leaned
forward. He turned his head, her lips landing against his jaw. She
found no laughter in his eyes, no playfulness. She turned, pressed
her cheek against the cool, wet tile. But she couldn’t look into
his eyes.
    “ Turn around,” he said, his
hand gripping her shoulder. “Look at me.”
    “ I want it like