After the meeting, he’d had to sit in the dining room until everyone left and think about baseball until his erection went away. Too bad Cheri had returned and cornered him before he could leave.
He grimaced. The woman had straight up offered to go back to his place and blow him when he declined her invitation to go for coffee. He admired a woman who went after what she wanted and he wasn’t upset by her blunt approach to what she wanted from him, but when she’d kissed him, he’d immediately been pissed.
The fact that Gracie saw the whole damn thing just made it that much worse.
I don’t know. It meant you got to kiss Gracie, got to see how beautiful she was when she was coming all over your fingers. Maybe you should send Cheri a thank you note. She helped you discover that Gracie is submissive.
That was a dangerous thought. Just because Grace liked being pinned down a little, liked the idea of doing what Gideon said in bed, in no way meant that she wanted to be handcuffed to his bed, or spanked, or any other wickedly delicious things he would do to a naked and handcuffed Gracie.
She said she was thinking about being handcuffed to your bed.
Fuck, if he kept thinking about that one stupid offhand comment she’d made, everyone in the goddamn mall was gonna see their sheriff with an erection.
“Gideon?” Grace said impatiently. “C’mon, let’s get this over with.”
He winced. “Grace, I’m sorry about Wednesday night.”
“Yeah, sure, okay.” She brushed off his apology like it was an annoying fly. “Can we finish this up now? I’m tired and I want to go home.”
She walked off without waiting for his reply and, with another grimace, he followed her.
* * *
Gideon scooped his cell phone off the nightstand. “Sophie? What’s wrong?”
“Sorry to call so late, Sheriff,” Sophie said.
“It’s fine.” Gideon sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed and then glanced at his alarm clock. It was just after one in the morning and he scrubbed a hand through his hair as Tank padded into his bedroom. The big dog had his own twin mattress on the floor in the guest bedroom, but it didn’t stop him from sneaking into Gideon’s room whenever he was feeling lonely.
Tank made a low huff before backing up and sitting in Gideon’s lap. His front feet were still braced on the floor, but it didn’t make him any less heavy. Gideon grunted as a hundred and seventy-five pounds of dog landed in his lap.
“You okay?” Sophie said.
“Yeah.” He rubbed Tank’s side before resting his hand just behind Tank’s front leg. He could feel the steady thud of Tank’s heart below his palm. “What’s up, Sophie?”
“There’s a fire in town. Not, like, a massive one, but you always say to call if there are any big emergencies in the night.”
“Where’s the fire?” Gideon rubbed Tank’s side again, and the dog’s tail thumped solidly against Gideon’s ribcage.
“Over at the Whispering Heights complex. Right now, it’s just the one townhouse, but Darryl says the one beside it is looking like it might go up too.”
Panic infused every molecule of Gideon’s body. The Whispering Heights complex was Gracie’s complex. His hands already shaking from adrenaline, he pushed on the Great Dane’s flank. “Tank, move!”
“Sheriff? You okay?” Sophie said. “You sound… weird.”
“Tell Darryl I’m on my way,” he said.
“Okay,” Sophie said slowly. “But, the fire department’s there already, Sheriff. I don’t think you need -”
“I’m on my way,” he repeated and ended the call.
He called Grace’s number, pacing his bedroom with long jerky strides as Tank hopped onto his bed and laid down.
“C’mon, baby,” Gideon said. “Pick up. Pick up, baby.”
It continued to ring and when it went to voicemail, he cursed and grabbed his jeans from the hamper. He dressed in record time, calling Grace’s cell phone again as he did. The panic was eating at his stomach, making him feel like acid was leaking into his gut.
“She’s fine,” he said as he grabbed his keys from the hook by the door. “Just because she didn’t answer her phone doesn’t mean it’s her place that’s on fire. It’s late and she probably has her phone on silent.”
Or, she’s ignoring your calls because she’s pissed at you.
He slid into his SUV and backed out of the driveway before speeding down his street. Fuck, he hoped so. Gracie could ignore his calls for all of eternity if it meant that she was safe.
* * *
“Hey, Gideon, you didn’t have to come down. I told Sophie the fire -”
Gideon ran past Darryl without saying a word. The complex’s shared parking lot was full of emergency vehicles and he dodged around the firetruck. He skidded to a stop, staring in mute horror at the townhouses in front of him. It wasn’t Gracie’s townhouse on fire but the one next to hers.
Firefighters almost had the blaze out, but thick black smoke poured out of both townhouses. Gideon charged toward Grace’s townhouse, his heart a racing, jittering beat in his chest while horrifying images of Grace’s blackened and burned body flickered in a reel in his head.
He hadn’t even gotten close to her townhouse before a firefighter was stepping in front of him and shoving him back. “Sheriff, what are you doing?”
He shoved the firefighter away and surged forward, snarling angrily when two other firefighters appeared and grabbed his arms. “Get the fuck away from me!” He strained to free himself, shouting Grace’s name.
“Sheriff! Hey, stop! Jesus, what the fuck?” One of the firefighters shouted.
He tore his right arm free and when the initial firefighter stepped in front of him, Gideon cocked his arm back to hit him.
“Gideon, enough! Grace is okay!”
He paused, the adrenaline still making his limbs tremble as he stared blankly at the firefighter. “Daniel?”
Addison’s brother was in his full firefighting gear and soot covered his sweaty face. “Grace is fine, Gideon.”
“She’s fine,” Gideon said.
“Yeah.” Daniel turned to the firefighter still holding Gideon’s left arm. “Let him go, Brad.”
“You sure?” Brad said.
“I’m sure. Let him go.”
Brad released Gideon before walking away with the other firefighter.
“Where is she?” Gideon couldn’t stop staring at the smoke billowing out of Gracie’s townhouse.
“She’s over at the ambulance. She’s not hurt,” Daniel said when Gideon stared at him in panic. “But it took her a while to get out of her townhouse and she did inhale some smoke, so we gave her some oxygen.”
“Jesus,” Gideon said. “What about her neighbour?”
“He’s safe too,” Daniel said. “Some minor burns and smoke inhalation. They took him to the hospital to get checked out and have his burns looked at. He’s a lucky bastard. He fell asleep smoking in bed.”
The firefighter shook his head. “God, people are fucking stupid.”
“Why isn’t Grace at the hospital?” Gideon said. The smoke was making his eyes burn and water. Daniel took him by the arm and led him a few feet away.