Free Before the Mission Begins (When The Mission Ends) by Christi Snow Page A

offering her physical therapy services elsewhere.
    14.    Check fire d—
     
    Someone snatched the pen out of her hand. “Hey!” She looked up into the glaring green eyes of her sister, Rachel. “You took my pen.”
    Rachel rolled her eyes and settled her hands on her hips in a pose that Julie knew too well. “Please tell me you are not sitting here making a list while your townhouse burns down behind you.”
    Julie winced. Rachel would lambast her over this. She was sliding down a slippery slope, but so far hadn’t been able to stop it. Her debacle of a last date had just put a nail in her psychological coffin. Her OCD was out of control. She wasn’t sleeping. This wasn’t healthy, but she tried to defend herself anyway. “I’m not. I’m pretty sure the fire’s out, so there’s no danger of it burning down completely anymore.”
    Rachel sighed, sat down beside her on the curb, and yanked the partially written list out of her hands, smirking as she read it over. “Having some fireman fantasies, are we?” Rachel glanced back toward the sexy men in question and simply hummed in concurrence. But that didn’t change the concern in her face.
    A noise captured Julie’s attention and for the first time she noticed her brother , Owen, standing behind Rachel. His lips pinched together as he watched the firemen mill about the yard. He frowned down at her, looking way older than his twenty-six years. “What happened?”
    She ducked her head. “I was cooking and it got hot, so I turned on my ceiling fan in the kitchen. I didn’t even think about it…” She trailed off, not wanting to give Rachel any more ammunition. As a licensed psych iatrist, Rachel really could bundle her up and send her off to the sanitarium.
    Rachel narrowed her eyes at Julie’s weak explanation. “Ms. Hyatt?” Whew, saved by the fire chief.
    Both Julie and Rachel stood, and Julie stepped forward to ask, “Is the fire out?”
    “Yes, my boys are just making sure there aren’t any hotspots left right now. Someone will be here in the morning to check the structural integrity of the home. It looks like we saved most of it. Your kitchen is gone, but the rest just has smoke and a bit of water damage.” Julie nodded and tried to concentrate on how lucky she was that all of her belongings weren’t ash at this point.
    Owen asked, “Do you know what caused it?”
    The Chief nodded , with a grim look toward Julie. “The stove top was the source. It looks like some papers got too close to the open flame.
    Julie closed her eyes in humiliation as Rachel fluttered the paper with Julie’s list on it still in her hand. “Imagine that…”
    She was right. When Julie turned on the fan, the copious amount of lists that were scattered all over her counter blew into the stovetop flame. So stupid… But the lists kept her sane, or at least, kept her insanity under wraps. At the pinched, tension-filled expression on Rachel’s face, she had to admit that this method probably wasn’t working for her anymore.
    Her siblings stepped over to the side while t he chief gave Julie instructions about how to proceed the next day. She tried not to obsess about the not-so-subtle scowls Rachel kept flashing her while Rachel and Owen discussed something in hushed tones. What were they saying about her? She’d screwed up big this time. The Fire Chief gave her his card and then walked away.
    J ulie took a deep breath and squared her shoulders to face her siblings. She searched their faces. Rachel had her therapist’s face on, completely still and devoid of emotion, but Owen didn’t have that ability. Rubbing the temples of his forehead, he wouldn’t meet her eyes. Her stomach clenched and she wanted to weep. She was stronger than this. She needed to be stronger than this. They wrapped their arms around her and Rachel softly said, “Honey, you’re going to have to make some changes in your life.”
     
     

Chapter 1
    Two months later
     
    Lust flooded his body