Free Falling for Mister Wrong by Lizzie Shane

question?”
    “Well, I mean, I know in theory, but I’ve
never actually done the spray spray thing.”
    Jesus. She was drunk off her ever-loving ass.
He put her hands where they needed to be. “The visible flames are
gone, but I think the fire was electrical and it might still be
spreading in the walls. If you see sparks, aim at them and squeeze
this. Got it? And if it looks bad, you get your ass out of the
building, understand?”
    She nodded, way too dazed for his comfort,
but he wouldn’t be relying on her for long.
    Leaving Miss Crazy in charge of the fire
extinguisher, he scrambled up the steps to the loft, quickly
checking that there was no one up there unconscious from smoke
inhalation. Empty. “Where’s Ms. Gregg?” he called to Miss Crazy as
he descended.
    “I’m Ms. Gregg,” she said, without relaxing
her vigilance with the extinguisher.
    Will’s feet hit the floor at the base of the
steps with a thud that sent realization shuddering up through his
bones. Of course she was. If he hadn’t been trying to save her
crazy ass maybe he would have put the pieces together himself. He
didn’t know why he’d assumed his neighbor was a senior citizen when
he moved in—maybe the lack of visitors other than her students, or
the early-bird special hours she seemed to keep. He’d never even
seen the woman, but it had never occurred to him for a second that
she might be a hot little redhead in her twenties with more than a
few screws loose.
    Or maybe that was just the alcohol
talking.
    “Keep watching that wall,” he told her. “And
shout if anything happens.”
    “Where are you going?” she asked as he
started for the door.
    He kept one ear open as he jogged back down
to the basement, but didn’t hear a peep from the lovely Ms. Gregg.
Hopefully that wasn’t a sign that she’d passed out from alcohol
poisoning. With that lovely thought as motivation to hurry, he
fought his way through the boxes, finally managing to shove a path
to the circuit-breaker box. He flipped all the switches, shutting
off the electricity for the entire building. If a short at the
light switch had caused the fire, he didn’t want to risk running
power anywhere until the entire house was checked out.
    Ms. Gregg squealed when the house suddenly
went dark and he cursed to himself. “Sorry!” He shouted up toward
her place. “Should have warned you about that.”
    She should still be able to see a little,
thanks to the lights illuminating the mountain for night skiing. On
his way back up, he took a quick detour into his own apartment,
grabbing a flashlight and his cell phone, already dialing emergency
dispatch as he jogged back up the stairs to pretty little Ms.
Gregg.
    Her door was hanging strangely, listing to
one side and he realized he’d busted one of the hinges and cracked
the wood when he kicked it in earlier.
    Ms. Gregg was sitting cross-legged on the
floor in the low light, the fire extinguisher resting in the circle
of her legs as she stared at the ashy black patch on her wall.
    He’d seen other people in the aftermath of
fires. Stunned. Horrified.
    She just looked puzzled. Like she couldn’t
quite figure out how the burned area had appeared on her wall.
    Will quickly filled the dispatcher in on the
situation and then tucked his phone into his back pocket when he
knew the cavalry was on the way. The fire could spark up again.
Technically they should wait outside, but it was cold and she
wasn’t exactly dressed for the elements.
    He slowly approached the woman who had
unknowingly serenaded him for months.
    “Ms. Gregg?”
    “I think you saved my life,” she said softy,
without looking away from the wall.
    “It wasn’t a big fire.”
    She looked at him then, all big blue eyes and
pale, pale skin in the dim light from the mountain and the
moonlight. He frowned. She might be going into shock.
    He knelt down in front of her. “How are you
feeling? Dizzy? Lightheaded?”
    She blinked. “Who are you? Are you a
real