Flash Point (12 page)

Touching his arm gently, she murmured, “Oh, God, I’m sorry, Todd. Really, I know how that must’ve torn you up. But can’t you see what you’re doing? You’re channeling your bitterness at her on every woman you sleep—”

“Goddamn it, don’t try to analyze me, Kate,” he said tersely, shrugging off her touch. “My dating habits have nothing to do with that bitch. And you knew what you were getting into when you went to bed with me.”

“Dating habits? Try sex habits. You don’t date, Todd. You jump from bed to bed, thinking any chick would be happy to screw you because you’re a fireman.” Her nose wrinkled with scorn and her stomach clenched. “And thank you for the poignant reminder on why I need to walk away now. Yes, I knew what I was getting into, and now I know why I need to get out.”

She pulled on the door handle and jumped down before he could stop her. She took off, plunging down the darkened road and toward the trail that led to her house not too far away. The truck couldn’t drive down the trail, which meant Todd couldn’t follow after her unless he was on foot. But she heard nothing, which meant she was safe.

Alone in the darkness, she let out a sob and allowed the rest of the tears to fall.

Chapter Thirteen

He couldn’t sleep. Again. Todd stared at the empty side of the bed and closed his eyes before getting up. He hadn’t been able to kick the tightness in his chest and overwhelming sense of despondency since Kate had run from him last night.

Her words kept pounding home, relentless and unforgiving. Her statements mixed with Tyson’s and together they left a pretty damning image of him. But it wasn’t undeserved.

How had he never seen it before? Just how much of an asshole he’d turned into. All because he’d let himself fall in love so many years ago.

Or so he’d always thought he’d been in love. It was only tonight, after Kate had left the truck, had he faced the reality that he’d probably never loved Anne. Losing Anne had hurt, but it was nothing like losing Kate. And he
had
lost her. He’d seen it in the sad but determined glint in her eyes as she’d slipped from his truck.

Kate had held a mirror to his life tonight, showing the good, the bad and the ugly.

The ugly? The man he’d become over the years. The good? Being with Kate made him happy. Completed him a way he hadn’t realized he wanted. Needed. And the bad…how horribly he’d hurt her tonight.

Shame lanced through him as he paced his bedroom. Kate had been right, she hadn’t deserved what he’d done tonight. It had been deplorable. Never had he taken a woman like that. He’d been angry and jealous and…fucking
stupid
.

It was better that Kate had ended things. She deserved so much better than him.

His cell phone rang and he glanced down at in surprise. Maybe it was her. Not able to sleep. Wanting to talk and try and work things out… It was the fire station.

Swallowing the disappointment, Todd answered the call. A few minutes later he hung up and headed for the shower. Bruce had a mild case of food poisoning and they wanted him to start his shift early.

And why shouldn’t he? He sure as hell wasn’t going to spend the rest of the night sleeping.

By the time he got to the station, it was a relief to be awake and distracted. Working. Though a couple of the guys gave him sidelong glances and seemed to keep a wide girth, obviously sensing his dark mood.

An hour passed and after a hard workout in the gym, Todd glanced at his cell phone by habit to see if anyone called.

A message from Tyson reflected in the window, and Todd frowned, noting the time from late last night.

He clicked open the message, scanned it, and everything inside him went cold with fear.

Fresh blueberry muffins. Who wouldn’t appreciate them? Especially since she was coming in three hours before opening to make them.

But after tossing and turning all night, coming into work sounded like a mighty fine idea. It wasn’t the first time she’d done it. Baking had always been her way to ease stress and distract herself. Fortunately she now capitalized on it.

She hadn’t stopped thinking about Todd all night. Wondering if she’d made a huge mistake. Because this past week had literally been the best of her life. And who knows, maybe Todd would’ve come around. Maybe he’d… Oh God, who was she kidding? Todd was Todd. He would forever be the town’s Casanova.

After she left her car and arrived outside her bakery, she fumbled to unlock her shop, her fingers growing numb with cold. It was still dark, but then, it was barely three in the morning.

When the key connected with the lock, she gave a small moan of relief and pushed open the door a minute later. She stepped inside and shut the door behind her, a shiver racking through her body.

The sounds of metal hitting the ground tore a scream from her throat.

Kate spun around, heart pounding, and scanned the darkened shop. The lights were right beside her, but she almost too terrified to hit the switch.

She finally did and the shop lit up, illuminating a man who had relief slipping through her.

“Walt,” she said in exasperation. “What are you doing here? You nearly scared me to death.”

When he didn’t answer her, just looked at her, her relief faded. She remembered that it was basically the middle of the night and there was absolutely no logical reason for Walt to be in her shop. Or holding a container of lighter fluid.

Fear washed in cold waves down her back and she cast a quick glance at the door behind her.

“I wouldn’t try it,” he warned, then, “You’re just like her, you know.”

“Like who?”

“My wife. She was a lying slut, leaving me for another man. I couldn’t let her do it.” He shook his head, his gaze narrowing. “I couldn’t let her make a fool of me.”

His wife? His wife was dead. Oh God. Had died in a fire. Her gaze slid to the bottle of lighter fluid in his hands again. Her fear tripled and her throat locked. And when she took a deep breath in to calm herself, she smelled the smoke.

She took what she hoped was an inconspicuous step backward.

“I had such high hopes for you, Caitleen. You were so innocent. It seemed all my little incidents were bringing us together just as I’d planned. Anytime something happened to your shop, you turned to me for comfort. It was so perfect.” He scowled. “Until that stupid Wyatt boy got a hold of you. Turned you into his little sex toy, didn’t he?”

Walt strode forward and wrapped his arm around her neck, dragging her away from the door as he turned off the lights at the same time, plunging them into darkness once more.

She struggled to breathe with the crook of his elbow cutting off her air. Clawing at his forearm, terror overran her. The realization that Walt had been behind everything. Not Penny. Not one of Todd’s exes.

“You weren’t supposed to
be
here tonight, Caitleen. I was just going to teach you a lesson. Have you watch your precious bakery burn down while your stupid boyfriend attempted to put it out.”

Kate’s body started to tingle and she grew dangerously lightheaded.

“But you are here and it’s going to cost you. Just like it cost my wife. I probably could’ve saved her. She was always leaving her silly candles burning at night. But it was just such an easy solution. If she was dead, she could hardly leave me, now could she?”

His hold on her tightened, cutting off the little air she was getting.

“Sorry, Caitleen, I was really hoping you were different. But you’re just a slut like the rest of them.”

She struggled, dug her nails deep enough to draw blood. But her energy was fading.

Then it was too late.

Chapter Fourteen

Todd disconnected the call and swore beneath his breath. Okay maybe it was the middle of the night and she hated his guts, but Kate should damn well be picking up the phone.

He regretted volunteering to come in tonight, or he’d be on his way over to her house right now to warn her about Walt Chapman.

Todd had called his brother, waking him out of bed, after receiving the cryptic text about Walt. Had gotten the full scoop on the record Mr. Chapman had—apparently under a different name and almost fifteen years ago.

Stalking. Domestic violence. Destruction of property. The list went on and contained just about everything besides murder. Which right now, Todd was really itching to look back into that file about the house fire his wife had died in.

A call came in over the loudspeaker, tearing him from his frustration and unease. Once he heard the location and the nature of the call, he sprinted to gear up, adrenaline and rage running through him.

There was a possible fire at Kate’s shop and he had no doubt who was behind it. The only thing he was grateful for was the bastard had struck while she was asleep and not while she’d been at work.

When the engine pulled to a stop outside her shop a few minutes later, he could see smoke inside and the hint of flames coming from the back of the shop.

They quickly read the situation, and Tony called out, “Doesn’t look too bad yet. Whoever called it in must’ve spotted it early.”

Todd nodded, moving to grab the booster line off the truck. Regardless, the smoke damage inside would still mean Kate could be closed down for a bit. Insurance claims filed. His gut clenched with regret for the struggle ahead for her. Had she heard about the fire yet? Was she on her way in?

He glanced up as a deputy pulled up, sirens wailing, but his attention slid beyond the squad car and focused on the parked Ford Escort in its headlights. His blood chilled and every muscle in his body went taut.

“I’m going in,” he shouted, dropping the hose and reaching for his mask. “I think Kate’s inside.”

The burning in her throat woke her. Kate struggled to pull herself up and coughed as she sucked in a lungful of smoke.

Relief that she was still alive surged through her, followed by panic as she struggled to rise to her feet. The bakery was so thick with smoke she couldn’t even tell where the door was.

She tried to hold her breath, her head pounding as she took an uneven step toward where she hoped the doorway was. Dizziness assailed her and she wavered.

Her knees buckled and she swayed on her feet. It had to be a hallucination when what looked like a fireman broke the smoke. But when she started to fall, the arms that caught her were real enough.

Kate was vaguely aware of being slung over her rescuer’s shoulder and rushed outside, passing by another fireman who rushed past them with a hose.

Then she was on the ground, coughing hacking breaths of clean air and trying to stop her lungs from burning. A group of people swarmed around her and someone placed a plastic mask of her mouth.

She sucked in the oxygen eagerly, clutching the heavy sleeve of the firefighter’s jacket. Even with his mask on, she sensed it was Todd. And then he pulled off the mask and confirmed it.

“You’re going to be all right, doll, stay with me. Just keep breathing,” he said thickly, his eyes full of concern and fear.

Kate listened to the sounds around them. The sound of water from the hoses hitting the roof of her shop, the footsteps pounding, men yelling.

Suddenly she stiffened and tugged at her mask.

“Walt,” she croaked. “It was—”

“We’re on it and Tyson’s trying to hunt him down right now.” Todd smoothed her hair back off her face. “Try and relax, Kate. Please, baby doll. Everything’s going to be fine.”

If she wasn’t so weak she probably would have started laughing. How could everything possibly be fine?

Sirens sounded and she closed her eyes as she saw an ambulance show up. Somewhere in her head was a happy place and she was going to try like hell to find it.

Kate pushed aside the breakfast a nurse had brought her a half hour ago, giving up on trying to eat. Her throat was still a bit sore from the smoke inhalation, and she wasn’t hungry. Couldn’t begin to pretend she had the desire to eat.

Though she’d protested, the hospital had decided to keep her overnight for observation. She felt about eighty times better than she had last night. Well, physically.

Her heart twisted and she closed her eyes, twisting the sheet that covered her lap. It was hard to believe how everything had changed in twenty-four hours. She’d gone from having a busy, fabulous bakery and spending her nights with Todd, to having an arsoned bakery and being, once again, alone now that she’d booted the man she loved out of her bed. She wasn’t sure which bothered her more.

You made the right decision
, she told herself. Todd had told her again and again he didn’t do relationships, he couldn’t love. So maybe it hurt now, but it would ease. It had to.

She blinked back tears, trying not to let herself drown in self pity and misery, and glanced out the hospital window at the green trees.

“Mind if I come in?”

Whipping her head back around, her lips parted in surprise as she found the very man she’d been pondering standing in the doorway. He held a bouquet of roses in his hand and her heart sped up, hope rising inside her. But just as quickly she tried to push it down.

Todd was always a charmer. He probably brought every sick friend flowers. And that’s all she was to him, would ever be.

With that painful reminder, she gave him an attempt at a smile and waved him in.

Todd stepped inside Kate’s hospital room and his gut clenched from the emotional punch of seeing her like this. She was entirely too pale, while areas of her hair and along her skull line still had spots of gray soot.

Though fortunately she didn’t look as fragile this morning. But watching her hours ago had just about killed him, kneeling over her with the oxygen mask while she lay weak and hurting on the cold cement.

“How are you?” Her hoarse voice made him wince.

“I’m fine, Kate. It’s you I’m worried about.” He set the vase of flowers down on the table next to her and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I’m not sure if they told you, but Tyson picked up and arrested Walt as he tried to leave town.”

“They told me.” She nodded and he saw the flicker of pain in her eyes. Whether from trying to use her voice or thinking about what Walt had done, he wasn’t sure.