Breeze tripped over something. She stumbled but didn’t go down.
Seth wrapped his arm around her and tugged her against his side. “You okay?”
Breeze breathed heavily, but it wasn’t from nearly falling on her face. It was from his words and his touch. “You can’t mean that.”
Seth turned her to face him. Wrapping his hands around her lower back, he stared down at her. His blue eyes were full of a beseeching light. “I do mean it, everyone loves you, is impressed by you, and is begging me to keep you around. I can’t get enough of being close to you. Can’t you see that?”
Breeze licked her lips and spoke up, wishing she would just let him say these beautiful things and not point out the obvious, “But you should be dating a businesswoman, supermodel, or actress, someone famous and perfect who fits your famous, perfect self. I’m sure that’s what your parents would want for you.”
Seth shook his head. “You don’t know my parents. They don’t want some spoiled diva who lives to post another picture of us fake-kissing on Instagram.” He said that as if it had happened, and she felt a roll of jealousy tighten her stomach. “They would much rather have someone non-famous who is kind, resilient, hard-working, and naturally beautiful. Someone just like you.”
Breeze’s breath caught as he stared down at her. His blue eyes were filled with admiration for her. She couldn’t force enough oxygen into her lungs as his hands pulled her in tight against him. He slowly bent his head toward hers, and she knew she was going to be kissed by this handsome, perfect, and famous man who was also kind, thoughtful, and into her. It was surreal, as if she were watching it on a movie, not actually living it. Yet, the way his body pressed against her made her feel warm and tingly, and she knew this was all too real and wonderful.
She arched up toward him, and his lips brushed hers in a tender and pure kiss. It was beautiful, perfect, and she wanted more, a lot more. Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him with reckless abandon. Seth lifted her off her feet and returned the kiss and then some. Light and sound exploded around them. Breeze was dazed and in awe. Had their kiss really created fireworks? Why were people shouting and screaming or was that just in her head?
Seth pulled back slightly and grinned. “Caleb,” he murmured. He glanced past her, back at the house where the explosion had occurred and cursed. “No!”
Breeze whirled to look. A fireball rose above their house and smoke poured from it. Their house was on fire? No! What she’d thought were shouts heralding in their incredible kiss were screams of horror.
She and Seth dashed through the trees and raced for the back of the house. The women were congregated on the back lawn away from the house. The smoke was rising from the front of the house, and fire seemed to be crawling over the top of the garage.
Seth’s gaze darted around. He hurried to his mom, who was holding Paisley. “Is everybody okay?”
“Rachel,” his mom sobbed.
Seth sprinted toward the house. His mom let him go, clinging to her granddaughter. Before Seth could dodge in one of the rear patio doors, there was a shout from around by the garage. Isaac and Joshua appeared. Isaac carried a body wrapped in a blanket. Rachel’s dark hair streamed down one of his arms.
“Get everybody out,” Joshua yelled to Seth.
He looked at his limp sister with horror but nodded and raced into the house. Breeze prayed he wouldn’t get too close to the fire. Ridge! Had he gone in with the rest of the men? Was he okay?
Madeline handed Paisley to Eve and ran to Isaac. “My baby girl,” she cried over and over.
“Don’t touch her,” Isaac cautioned. He knelt on the ground and set his sister carefully on the grass. The blanket slid down, revealing the side of her face and neck. The skin was blackened and looked waxy and fake.
“Rachel!” Madeline screamed.
Joshua picked his mother up and lifted her away, cradling her face to his chest so she couldn’t see. “She’s alive, Mom. She’s alive. She’ll be okay.” But his voice didn’t sound like he believed it.
Paisley was crying loudly for her aunt, and the rest of the women were crying quietly, looking unsure of what to do, just like Breeze felt. Breeze heard sirens faintly in the distance and prayed they’d get here quick — prayed they could save Rachel. The house was putting out a lot of heat, while the fire crackled and roared as it grew in strength. Breeze moved closer to Rachel as if she could shield her from the heat. Sweat raced down her back. It wasn’t a lot of help, but she didn’t know what else to do.
She saw movement at the back of the house, and the men started streaming out. Fire licked the side of the garage and crawled over the roof. Ridge and Seth both emerged from the patio doors and rushed to her. Breeze released the breath that she didn’t know she’d been holding and put up a prayer of gratitude that they were safe. She prayed for Rachel again. Isaac was watching over her, but all he did was lay a clean cloth over the wound. He didn’t seem to know what else to do. Maybe there was nothing to do until the ambulance got there.
Seth wrapped his arm around Breeze, and Ridge pressed into her other side. The family stood by helplessly as Madeline sobbed for her daughter. Joshua still held her, but Peter had crowded in close as well and was murmuring comforting words to her.
Finally, the sirens grew louder and flashing red lights penetrated the forest around them. Luke and Caleb sprinted around the house and returned seconds later with two EMTs. Breeze could hear the shouts of firefighters out front and watched as the EMTs checked Rachel’s vitals, cut her shirt away from the burns, removed her earrings, and wrapped her in some kind of blanket that looked like a big, white gauze sheet. They loaded her onto a stretcher and hauled her around the side of the house.
The family surged after her. Seth hurried to keep up. He cast one glance back at Breeze. She waved him on and then turned to Ridge. Her brother had tears streaming down his face. She knew he liked this family, but he wasn’t an emotional kid. “Ridge?”
“This is all my fault,” he rasped, pushing a fist against his mouth.
“What? What did you do?” she demanded, fearing the worst. No, she wouldn’t believe it. Her brother had gotten into a lot of trouble, caused her a lot of grief over the years but he had a good heart and had never been any kind of bully. He had never, and would never, hurt anyone intentionally.
“Flint,” he grunted. “Seth thrashed Flint this morning. Made him look like the loser he is in front of his worshippers. Didn’t you notice at the house how they all idolized and cowered from Flint, but they all naturally respect Seth more cause he’s a star? A hero? Seth just reinforced that this morning. Flint despises anyone being better than him, at anything. He hates Seth. This is Flint’s payback.” He swallowed hard and muttered, “I brought this on this family. I did this.” He pulled away from her.
Breeze’s stomach twisted as she felt the oppressive heat from the fire and looked at the gorgeous home going up in flames and smoke. The Jewels had raised their family here and now it was gone. She was watching the demise of their safe haven. Even though she wasn’t part of them, it hurt.
Flint? Could he have blown up the Jewel’s home to retaliate against Seth? If that was true, Rachel’s injury was on her as well as Ridge. She couldn’t breathe. She felt she would suffocate. “Come on,” she yelled at Ridge, grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the forest.
“Where?” Ridge stared at her.
“If this is Flint, he’s going to answer for it.”
Ridge nodded and kept pace as she sprinted for the trees. She could find that horrible cabin through these trees. She could find out the truth. If this was Flint, he deserved to be arrested, or worse. Maybe those despicable men in the cabin would try to stand up for him, but, thinking how they’d cheered for Seth this morning, she doubted they were loyal enough to Flint to take the fall for arson and attempted murder. If the family hadn’t been outside, there could have been multiple deaths.
She’d been afraid of Flint when she was under his control at that awful house, but she wasn’t afraid anymore, she was livid. He couldn’t get away with this. Flint was going to pay for hurting Rachel and destroying this family’s home.