Chapter 1
The instant Dane stepped through the back door of his beach shack, even before the screen door sprang shut behind him, he knew something was wrong.
Deadly wrong.
He smelled it in the air. Gas.
All his senses came alert as if electrified. He ran through the kitchen, down the hall, scanning each room until he slammed through the door of his bedroom.
“Shana!” She wasn’t there. The thudding of his heart drowned out his thoughts. Driven by fear, he raced back through the small house and out the back door into the yard.
She wasn’t inside. But was that a good thing, or a very bad thing? He wouldn’t let himself speculate as he raced around the side of the house, back to the patio.
There he saw her.
“Shana.” His voice sounded less strangled, but the panic didn’t subside as he darted a glance back at his home—their home. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her from where she stood stretching after her run. A protest died on her lips as her eyes met his. He knew she saw his fear.
He didn’t let up on the death grip he had on her arm as he sprang across the lawn to the pier. She kept pace with him. Not that she had any choice.
“What is it?” she asked breathlessly, without letting up. He glanced back once to look at her, but there was no time to answer as they reached the end of the pier that jutted out into the harbor. There was no time to do anything but pull her into his arms.
The beach shack exploded with a roar of flames that shot into the air at the same instant he leapt off the pier with Shana. The heat hit him just before they hit the water and sank deep into the blessedly cold sea.