Chapter 19
Palmer
Sirens wailed from somewhere, but they felt far away, like they belonged to another world entirely. I had no idea how long I’d been laying in the snow. Seconds. Minutes. Time didn’t feel real anymore. Everything was suspended as I watched the cloud of black above and tried to breathe.
“Palmer!”
The sound of his voice cut through everything—the smoke, the cold, the residual panic clawing at my chest. The familiarity of it soothed something deep inside me, something raw and shaking. It made me feel safe.
His face appeared over me, blocking out the smoke.
Roman.
He reached for me and lifted me out of the snow before I could say a word. His arms wrapped tightly around me, pulling me flush against his chest.
His bare chest.
My thoughts were thick and sluggish. My head was heavy, like it couldn’t quite stay upright on its own. Phantom made a small, offended squeak as he was pressed awkwardly between our bodies.
“What the hell happened? Are you okay?” Roman demanded, pulling back enough to look me over.
He seemed panicked.
Roman was never panicked.
The sirens were louder now. Red lights flashed somewhere in my peripheral vision.
When I didn’t answer right away, his expression sharpened further with worry. I realized then that I was sitting on his lap in the snow. I hadn’t even noticed when he’d dropped down with me.
He reached for my hands.
The moment his large, warm fingers wrapped around mine, pain shot up my arms in a blinding rush.
I gasped and jerked away. Roman pulled back just as quickly, his brows slashing downward.
My hands.
Fire.
There’s a fire.
My head whipped around toward Hearthstone Security. Fire trucks were pulling in along the street in front, tires crunching over gravel and ice. I caught flashes of red and yellow as firefighters moved, uncoiling hoses and sending water arching toward the structure.
Someone said my name again, but it sounded muffled.
Rough fingertips touched my chin, gently but firmly guiding my face back toward him.
“Palmer, sweetheart, I need you to focus.”
The casual endearment pierced through the haze enough to make me blink. The world around me sharpened a little.
My hands throbbed. The sting pulsed in time with my heartbeat. I was cold and shivering, or maybe trembling from fear. I couldn’t tell the difference.
“Are you injured anywhere else besides your hands?” he asked, his voice lower but no less urgent.
He was holding my wrists, carefully this time, my palms facing upward. I caught a glimpse of the red, angry skin. The first signs of blisters were forming.
My heart clenched.
No.
I couldn’t ruin my hands.
Tears welled up, hot and overwhelming.
Roman forced my chin upward again, cutting off my view of the damage. All I could see was him. His eyes were dark and blazing, something fierce simmering in their depths. It wasn’t just worry…it was rage. A protectiveness I’d only ever glimpsed before, now burned bright and unrestrained.
“Palmer,” he growled. “Talk to me.”
I blinked hard, and the tears spilled over, sliding down my cheeks. “I-I ran in to get Phantom. He was—scared and I—”
“Chief?”
An unfamiliar voice cut through my words.
Roman’s head snapped up, his body shifting subtly, positioning himself between me and everything else. A young firefighter stood several yards away.
“Damian.” Roman’s voice transformed into something authoritative and controlled. “We need medics back here.”
Damian’s mouth dropped open in shock. He was in full gear except for his mask, his gaze flicking over Roman’s bare torso as if checking for injuries.
“Now!” Roman barked.
Damian stiffened, nodded once, and sprinted back toward the front of the building. The smoke was beginning to thin under heavy streams of water.
The dizziness surged, stronger this time. The smoke. The heat. My vision began to tunnel at the edges as I struggled to stay in the present.
But it all became too much.
Roman was saying something, but it sounded distant and warped, like he was speaking from underwater.
Before I could fight it, before I could grab onto anything solid, everything went black.
Consciousness returned slowly, with the low murmur of voices. The scent of smoke and snow and antiseptic invaded my senses. My eyelids were heavy, but I pried them open.
I blinked at the bright lights. My hands ached, but the burn wasn’t as acute as before.
Something tugged at my cardigan. A pair of hands. “Let’s get this sweater off her and make sure she doesn’t have any other injuries.”
It was an unfamiliar voice, but the moment cool air hit my bare shoulders, I jerked away. I locked my arms around my chest so that the fabric covering my scars could not be removed.
“Hey,” a calm, deep voice whispered into my ear. “No one is going to hurt you.”
Roman. It was Roman’s voice coming from behind me.
I looked around, taking in my surroundings. An ambulance. This was an ambulance. My pulse sputtered as my breathing picked up. I was sitting upright on one of the narrow benches lining the inside of the medical vehicle.
Roman’s body was pressed solidly behind me, and I realized I wasn’t actually sitting on the bench.
I was sitting on Roman’s lap; one of his arms was wrapped firmly across my stomach, anchoring me to him and keeping the chill from the open back door away.
I could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest against my back.
I stared down at his gray sweatpants and bare feet. What was going on?
“I need to check you for more injuries.”
I blinked up at an unfamiliar voice. A paramedic leaned into my line of sight.
He tugged at my open sweater. “Can I take this off?”
I leaned back into Roman, shaking my head. “I’m not injured.”
That wasn’t true. My hands were hurting, but I noticed now that they were wrapped in gauze. Still, I couldn’t let him take off my cardigan, especially in front of Roman. I wasn’t ready for him to see my scars. Maybe I’d never be ready for that.
The paramedic glanced up at Roman, as if asking for help.
“Let him check you out,” Roman said, voice low and full of concern.
“No.” My words were firm. “I’m fine. It’s just my hands.”
Roman and the paramedic seemed to share another look, and the paramedic sighed and let go of me. My shoulders slumped in relief.
The medic draped a heavy gray blanket over my shoulders. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Palmer.”
“And do you know where you are?”
I scanned the space again. “Ambulance.”
“That’s right.” He nodded. “You fainted outside a structure fire. Do you remember what happened?”
It all rushed back to me then. The fire. Phantom.
I looked around for the kitten, but he wasn’t there.
“I had someone bring him back to the house,” Roman’s voice whispered beside my ear. “He’s safe.”
I relaxed, and focused back on the medic. He was waiting for my answer, and I quickly described what happened.
“Any trouble breathing?” he asked when I was finished. “Any chest tightness? Dizziness right now?”
I inhaled carefully. My lungs felt heavy, but clear. “No.”
“Throat sore?”
I shook my head.
“Did you hit your head when you went down?”
“I—”
“No, she didn’t.” Roman’s voice interrupted, his chest rumbling at my back.
The EMT gently lifted one of my wrapped hands to inspect the burn dressings. “You’ve got first-degree burns and some superficial second-degree on the palms. Nothing deep. We’ve cooled them and wrapped them.”
Superficial. I clung to the word like a lifeline. Nothing like last time. I would be fine. They would heal on their own.
The paramedic hesitated before continuing. “We do recommend transport to the hospital. Smoke exposure can be unpredictable, even if you’re feeling okay now. They can do bloodwork and monitor you properly.”
Hospital. A pang of panic struck me.
“No,” I said immediately. The burns weren’t bad. I didn’t want to go to the hospital.
The medic blinked. “Ma’am, it would be against medical recommendation to refuse transport.”
“I’m fine,” I insisted, the words coming out thin and brittle. I didn’t have good insurance, either. A trip to the hospital in the ambulance was the last thing I needed.
“You have the right to refuse,” he said carefully. “But we do advise you to get evaluated. Especially after smoke exposure.”
“Okay,” I breathed. “Then I refuse.”
Roman’s arm tightened around me as the paramedic’s gaze shifted to him.
“Sir—”
“I’ll take responsibility,” Roman said, his tone calm but firm. “She’ll be seen by a doctor. Today.”
There was an edge of authority in his voice that made further argument pointless.
The medic gave a reluctant nod. “We’ll need her to sign an AMA refusal form.”
He handed me a tablet. My hands were wrapped and clumsy, but I managed to grip the stylus awkwardly between my fingers and scrawl my signature across the screen.
“If you experience shortness of breath, worsening dizziness, confusion, or persistent coughing,” the medic said, expression serious, “call 911 immediately. Understood?”
“Yes.”
He checked the gauze on my palms one more time, then asked Roman whether he needed medical attention.
“No,” he said without hesitation.
“You can sit here for a little while until she’s ready to be moved,” the medic said to Roman.
I felt Roman’s chin dip in a nod. “I’ll take care of her.”
Once the medic had exited the back of the vehicle, Roman pulled the blanket tighter around my body, drawing me back to him. His arms crossed over my chest, locking me in place.
Despite his warm body around mine, I felt hollow, like something inside me had been scraped clean.
But Roman was solid and impossibly safe, and I let him hold me.
A few moments after the paramedic had disappeared, a firefighter climbed inside the cramped ambulance. He had dark-brown hair that was a bit flat from his helmet, and his green eyes were vaguely familiar.
Then he spoke to Roman. “You good?”
Roman stiffened beneath me. “I’m fine, Nolan.”
The firefighter, Nolan, glanced briefly at me. “What the hell happened?”
Roman let out a sharp, bitter laugh that was devoid of all humor. “I was hoping you could tell me.”
Nolan’s face pinched with frustration as he shoved a hand through his hair. “I haven’t gotten in yet to investigate.”
They spoke in clipped, focused tones that barely cut through the fog in my head.
“Is everything contained?” Roman asked.
“Yeah. Front took the worst of it.”
“Point of origin?”
Nolan shrugged. “Probably. The scent of kerosene is potent. We’re lucky none of your brothers were in that building.” He grimaced. “Or Hailey, for that matter.”
“She doesn’t go to the office,” Roman said in a clipped voice. As if the very thought of his daughter being anywhere near that fire made him want to rage. “She’s fine. I sent Damian to the main house to check on her.”
Nolan nodded, like he was reassured by that. “These arsons are getting out of control.”
The word broke through the fog in my mind. Arson?
Roman swore under his breath. “We need to put an end to this. I want another meeting with the detective on the case.”
Nolan winced. “I understand, but I’m not sure he has more information for you. None of these targets make sense. We haven’t been able to figure out how they’re connected.”
Roman’s voice went colder. “My brothers have cameras all over that building. I’ll have Fox send you the footage.”
“That should help. Maybe we finally got this fucker on video.”
“With any luck, we did.”
Silence fell over us, and Nolan’s gaze flicked between us. I hadn’t said a word. I wondered how messy I appeared, wrapped in Roman’s arms and a scratchy gray blanket.
Before I could let the embarrassment break through, a friendly smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Sorry, I should’ve introduced myself before, but I’m Nolan.” He gave me a small wave in lieu of a handshake. “I’m Roman’s brother-in-law.”
Brother-in-law? The fact that Roman had once been married, and very much in love from what I could tell, barreled through me. I should not be sitting on his lap.
“Oh—hi,” I said softly, shifting to slide off Roman.
He tightened his hold on me. “You’re not going anywhere,” he grumbled into my ear.
I shivered. Heat crept up my neck, but I didn’t speak.
“Nolan, have that detective call me. Tell Shawn I need him to take care of things at the firehouse while I take care of things here.”
Nolan’s attention went back to Roman, and he straightened at the command in his tone. “Got it. I’ll take care of it.”
The tension in Roman’s body eased slightly. “Thank you.”
Nolan nodded and stepped out of the ambulance, leaving Roman and me alone.
“I’m fine,” I said quietly, but my voice didn’t sound right. It sounded off, like it didn’t really belong to me. “You can go to work—”
I barely finished the sentence before Roman stood. He lifted me in his arms like I weighed nothing. The blanket stayed wrapped tight around me as he stepped down from the ambulance.
I yelped and wrapped my arms around his neck as he started to walk toward the familiar path back to the house.
“Roman,” I hissed. “I can walk.”
“But you don’t have to,” he said, focusing straight ahead.
I glanced down at his bare feet in the snow. He was probably still ill, too. He shouldn’t be carrying me. He shouldn’t be out in this cold with barely any clothes.
“Roman, you’re sick.”
He only pulled me closer.
“Shh,” he murmured.
His breath was warm against my skin, sending a chill down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold.
“Let me take care of you for once.”