Dammit, she loved that place. Had put her heart and soul into it. And now it was gone.
A siren wailed somewhere close by. The firefighters were on their way, which meant her sister, detective extraordinaire, wouldn’t be too far behind. And along with her sister would come Reece’s brother.
“You should go,” she told him, still staring at the flames. “We both know Eva didn’t send you here tonight. You’ll catch hell from Cam.”
He made a noncommittal sound and didn’t move. She faced him. “I’m serious. Go before they see you.”
“You think I’m afraid of Cam?” A hint of a smile turned up the corner of his too-serious mouth. “I used to dig up worms in our backyard and chase him around with them until he cried. I’m not afraid of my little brother.”
“Maybe not. But you should be very afraid of my big sister. If Eva finds out what we were doing in there before the fire broke out…”
If she wasn’t mistaken, a flush filled his cheeks underneath the soot. “We’re both consenting adults. And as I said, it’s not happening again.”
“Humph. Tell Eva that. See how well it goes over. I’ll give you a hint: lead balloon.”
“It’ll be fine.”
“Keep looking on the bright side, Starburst. One thing, though. You weren’t planning on ever having children, were you? Because Eva will make sure you don’t.”
He winced.
She patted his shoulder, then on impulse stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. He was just too damn cute. “Do us both a favor and leave. Please. It will make this about a billion times easier for me, okay?”
He stared down into her eyes for a long moment, and she hoped to all things holy he couldn’t read any of her secrets. Because she got the feeling he could, and it chilled her to the bone.
“Please,” she said again on barely a breath of sound and held out his jacket. As grateful as she had been for it during their dash through the smoke, she didn’t want Cam or Eva to see her with it now.
The fire engine’s lights flashed red and yellow against the snow clouds hovering over the city. They were less than a block away at this point, and she feared he was going to be stubborn, but he finally gave a short nod and took the jacket. “We’re going to talk later.”
He left her standing on the sidewalk and climbed into an SUV that was worth way more than she’d ever made in her lifetime. She wished she could hate him for it, but when she tried, the worry she’d seen in his eyes edged out all the negative emotions and filled her with the warm fuzzies.
Ugh. That man was dangerous.
The fire truck screamed to a stop in front of the building, and they wasted no time hooking up their hoses. Streams of water filled the air and within minutes, they had the fire under control.
One of the firefighters came over to her with a blanket. It was just cold enough that the mist from the hoses was already freezing into ice on his helmet and, for the first time, she realized how cold she truly was. And here she thought it was only shock.
He draped the blanket over her shoulders. “Are you okay? Do you need medical attention?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“What happened here?”
She opened her mouth to tell him how she was preparing the bank deposits before leaving for the night—true—when she noticed smoke and escaped out the side exit—also true—but a car pulled up behind the fire truck, lights flashing in its grill. The fireman glanced over, and then did a double take when Eva and Cam slid out of the vehicle.
“Hey, Detective Cardoso. Someone call homicide?”
“No,” Eva said, and her tone was all omg-I’m-going-to-lock-Shelby-in-a-plastic-bubble-and-never-let-her-leave. “Deluca, this is my sister.”
Shelby managed to keep her wince internal. Someday she wanted Eva to say that without looking like she just bit into a lemon.
“Oh.” Deluca’s eyes narrowed as he looked from Eva—tall, thin, dark hair, and olive skin—to Shelby—petite, curvy, turquoise-and-purple-for-now hair and fair complexion—and then back again.
“Half sisters,” Shelby explained helpfully, then regretted drawing attention to herself, because Eva whirled on her.
“What the hell happened?”
Shelby sucked in a breath and gave her sister the story she’d been about to tell Deluca. When she finished, Cam frowned and scrubbed a hand through his dark hair. It was a thoughtful expression, which was so Cam-like she kind of wanted to hug him. Always steady and solid, he was the rock of Gibraltar in his family. She couldn’t wait until he became her brother-in-law.
“Anybody here with you?” he asked.
Oh, shit. Steady, solid, and way too frigging perceptive. “No, not now.”
“On the way in, I thought we passed…” He trailed off, shook his head. “Nah, forget it. Was it arson or an accident?” he asked Deluca.
Deluca shrugged. “Won’t know until the fire’s out and one of our investigators can get inside. But, I gotta tell ya, just between you and me, that broken front window is looking suspicious.”