Accepting Aaron (The Evergreens #1)

Chapter One

“Look out!”

Aaron Garrett issued the warning only moments before a geyser of fire erupted from the third-floor window of the old warehouse.

He wasn’t sure who he was yelling at. There wasn’t anyone up there but him.

Just instinct, he supposed.

Standing at the top of the ladder that was connected to the truck below, he’d helplessly watched the fireball building for a few seconds, realizing there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

As it was, he barely had time to slide down a few rungs and avoid taking the blast head-on. But he managed. Thankfully.

It missed him by a hair. Another fraction of a second and his day would have been a lot different.

He still felt the raging heat as the flames roared above him. That had been a close call. But in his line of work, close calls were pretty standard.

Unfortunately.

They were catching up with him, too. The job taking its toll. That was a problem for another day, however. Right now, he just needed to work with his crew to get this fire under control before it spread to any surrounding structures.

The building it was consuming was all but lost. Thankfully, the place appeared to be empty. Now, it was just a matter of extinguishing the flames before they finished ravaging that host and sought a new one, like some runaway virus that could not be appeased.

Coming off the ladder, Aaron saw his captain on the ground. Ed Chambers took off his helmet, slid his arm across his forehead to wipe off some sweat, and said, “What’s the status?”

Shaking his head, Aaron told him. “It isn’t good. Building is a total loss. I’d say the fire is only…oh, thirty percent contained.”

The captain mumbled a curse as he surveyed the scene. “It’s gonna spread to that one, huh?” He jerked his head toward the brick warehouse next to the structure that currently hosted the blazing inferno.

They weren’t connected, but they might as well have been. A narrow alleyway of only about four feet stood between them.

“I think we can save it. We just need to—”

Aaron’s suggestion was cut off by a deafening roar that made both men flinch. More flames leapt from the top of the old building. The heat alone nearly knocked Aaron over. For a moment, it felt as if he was standing in a damn furnace.

Aaron picked up right where he left off. “We have to hose that one down!” His eyes went to the adjacent structure.

Captain Chambers nodded and moved along, barking orders over the crackling roar of the fire. “Set up a perimeter! Keep it from spreading first, then worry about the center!”

Aaron sprang into action, ready to protect the as-of-now unharmed building, when another blast stopped him dead in his tracks. He looked into the narrow alleyway to see flames leaping out of a second-floor window, shooting straight across to the other building.

Damn.

But it was worse than that.

A scream followed the explosion.

Someone was inside.