Free Fanning the Flames (Romance Firemen Series) by Amanda Perry

at the skylight.
    She was rewarded with tinkling shards of glass bouncing off the towel and hitting the ground around her. She looked up. She had done some damage, but not enough.
    The roaring sound of the blaze was growing louder as the flames started to consume rugs, drapes, the canopy over the bed.
    Cassie began to choke as the plume of smoke creeping under the bathroom door thickened, snaking its way up the walls and devouring the clean air with terrifying rapidity.
    She lunged upward again, bringing another shower of glass cascading down. She kept going, furiously attacking the skylight until she was too dizzy with smoke inhalation to continue.
    Air , she thought, dropping onto her hands and knees and putting her head near the floor. I can do this. I have to do this. I just need to get catch my breath.
    “Cassie!”
    Her head jerked up. Brendan? She tried to call to him, choking on the words. His voice had come from the direction of the bedroom, so she guessed that he was on the balcony.
    Wrapping the towel around the hot handle, she flung the bathroom door open, hoping to show him where she was, but all she saw was billowing black smoke obscuring everything.
    She slammed the door shut again and redoubled her efforts to smash through the skylight.
    She couldn’t do it. The smoke was winning the battle. She threw the chair down furiously.
    Damn it ¸ she screamed internally. I am not going to die like this! A little more breath, then I’ll finish. I’ll climb up on the chair, and I’ll find a way to pull myself out. I will. I have to. I refuse to die here!
    “Cassie!” Brendan’s voice reached her again, this time from directly above. She looked up to see him at the skylight. “Stand back!” he called. “I’m going to smash the rest of the glass.”
    She got out of the way as best as she could and covered her face as Brendan hammered on the remaining glass and dropped down into the bathroom.
    “Come on,” he said hurriedly. “Let’s get you out of here. Climb onto my shoulders. I'll push you up and you can climb out. The roof’s flat, so don’t walk across it. Stay on your hands and knees. I’ll be right behind you.”
    Unable to speak through the smoke, she nodded.
    Brendan knelt and helped her to climb, boosting her up. The ragged remnants of the skylight glass bit into Cassie’s fingers as she hauled herself up, but she barely registered the pain.
    She pulled herself onto the roof, scraping hands, arms, and knees, and gulped fresh air before turning back to make sure Brendan was following.
    He was below, climbing onto the chair, reaching up to test the distance between the tips of his fingers and the edge of the skylight.
    “Go!” he yelled, waving her away.
    “Not without you!” she said. Cassie had a nightmare vision of him being unable to get a grip firm enough to pull up his body weight. She pictured him letting go and falling back into the roiling smoke. But in one fluid motion, he jumped, caught the edges of the opening, and pulled himself up and out onto the roof.
    “Let's go,” he said.
    He led the way to the edge of the building. Cassie looked over and saw a vast expanse of open air between them and the ground. She knew they were only one floor up, but it felt like many more. Brendan reached over and gave her hand an encouraging squeeze.
    “The boys will be here soon,” he said. “But we need to get off this roof in case it collapses. I’ll lower you as far as I can so you won’t have too long a drop. You ready?”
    Cassie stared at him, unsure of what to say.
    "All you have to do is trust me," he said.
    Cassie nodded, trying to trust him and hoping her face wouldn’t give away the depth of her fear. She scrambled over the edge. They gripped each other’s wrists as she walked her feet down the wall, then Brendan leaned out as far as he could.
    “Ready?”
    She nodded.
    He let go. Cassie dropped. She hit the ground heavily, knocking the wind out of her. She rolled aside to let