Dad was in front, issuing orders, talking on his radio. It occurred to me that I’d never seen him on a call before. His reserved demeanor was gone. The man I saw out there was completely in charge, shouting over the noise. He was in control, but there was worry in his face.

Something was wrong.

I ran across the street to see if I could get a better view without getting in the way. A firefighter carried a woman in his arms. She looked scared, but definitely alive and breathing. He took her to one of the waiting ambulances and the paramedics took over.

The house rumbled, a low groaning sound. Fallen debris blocked the front door and smoke billowed out of the windows and rose from what was probably a hole in the roof. It groaned again and the sound reached right inside my chest and wrapped around my heart.

Where was Gavin?

Several firefighters aimed streams of water at the building, but none of them were Gavin. Dad paced around, talking on his radio, gesturing with his arms.

Glass flew out a front window, as if it had been broken from the inside. A second later, a firefighter climbed out.

Was it him? I couldn’t tell from here.

He turned back to the window and reached inside.

Gavin was in there. I didn’t know how I knew, but I was certain of it.

A crash reverberated through the ground, the vibration traveling through my feet and up my legs. My stomach clenched as the whole house shook. It looked like it was about to collapse.

Oh my god, Gavin, get out. Get out. Please, get out.

“Get him out of there,” Dad bellowed.

Two more firefighters rushed to the window. Smoke poured out, pooling against the porch roof above it. The building shuddered and something crashed inside.

I held my breath, wondering if my heart would explode.

The smoke obscured everything. I couldn’t see what was happening. The building shook again, the noise of old beams failing more horrifying than the collapsing bridge.

Two firefighters backed away from the window. Then a third, the one who’d been inside.

He had another one, his arm around his shoulders.

They rushed him onto the lawn and pulled off his helmet and mask.

It was Gavin.

He took heaving breaths and the other three worked to pull his gear off. A paramedic raced toward him, but Dad reached him first.

I couldn’t see anything with all the people surrounding him. Tears ran down my cheeks and my shoulders clenched tight. He was alive. I’d seen him breathing. He was alive.

With another ear-splitting groan, the building caved in. Beams split and cracked, the walls fell inward, and the roof seemed to disappear. I turned and shielded my face with my arms from the blast of smoke and debris. When I looked back, the Haven House was a pile of burning rubble.

I waited for what seemed like an eternity while they loaded Gavin on a gurney. Dad got up and went back to work. His eyes caught mine and with a quick nod, he pointed to the ambulance.

That was all the invitation I needed.

I rushed to the ambulance, still parked in front of the engine. The back doors were open and Gavin was sitting up, talking to the paramedic.

He smiled at me, a big grin that puckered his dimples. “Hey, Sky.”

“I believe some thirty percent of firefighter deaths are due to internal trauma from being crushed by falling debris,” I blurted out. “Did anything hit you?”

The paramedic got up and smiled at me. “He’s okay, Miss Stanley. Go ahead.” He climbed down and gestured for me to get in.

I took the hand he offered and got inside the back of the ambulance. Gavin watched me with an amused twitch of his lips. I sat on a seat next to the gurney, wishing I could throw myself on top of him instead.

But only if they’d already checked him for internal injuries.

“Nothing fell on me.” He held up a lightly bandaged arm. “Just some minor burns. It got too hot in there, even for my PPE. What are you doing here?”

“I saw the smoke.”

“Are you okay?”

“Of course I’m okay. I wasn’t almost trapped in a burning building. Are you okay?”

His eyes held mine and he nodded. “Mostly.”

“Do the burns hurt?”

“No.”

“Then why mostly? What’s wrong?”

“I’m really sorry about the other day.”

“We don’t have to talk about that now.”

“I know, this totally isn’t the time. But I don’t care. Sky, I’m in love with you.”

I sucked in a quick breath and touched my fingers to my lips.

“I realize we were supposed to just be friends. I broke the rules, but I’ve never been much of a rule follower. And I’m so sorry for acting like a lunatic. You were right, the bridge scared the shit out of me. But that’s because I’m crazy fucking in love with you.”

Staring at him, a sense of elation poured through me. Gavin loved me. It was crazy love, but how else would Gavin Bailey love someone? That was who he was.

“Gavin, I’m so in love with you.”

His mouth turned up in a wide smile. “You are?”

“Crazy in love.”

He reached out to touch my face. “Wow, you made that so easy. I thought I was going to have to work a lot harder to convince you.”

I laughed. “Hardly. I’ve been in love with you for a while. I was just afraid to admit it.”

“Me too.”

Careful of his arms, I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. He slid his hand in my hair and his mouth was soft but insistent.

Someone cleared their throat.

Oops. It was my dad.

He stood at the back of the ambulance. “You okay, Gav?”

“Yeah, Chief. Nothing serious. Did you get Sally out?”

“We did. She’ll be fine.”

Gavin let out a breath. “Good.”

Dad’s eyes flicked to me, then back to Gavin. “Don’t leave until they release you. And unless the entire town catches fire, you’re off for the rest of the night. You hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Chief.”

He hesitated, like there might be more he wanted to say, but he just nodded and walked away. My dad had always been a man of few words.

“I talked to him about you earlier,” Gavin said.

“You did?”

He nodded. “Not because either of us need his permission to be together. I just wanted to be up front. Tell him how I feel about his daughter.”

“What did you say?”

“That I’m in love with you.” He paused, his dimples puckering. “And I’m going to marry you someday.”

Little flutters of happiness pulsed through my body. I stared into his soft brown eyes and I knew. He was right. He was going to marry me someday.

“Ask me again.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Now?”

I nodded. We were sitting in the back of an ambulance at the scene of a fire that could have killed him, and none of this was textbook. None of it was normal. We hadn’t really dated, we hadn’t even known each other that long, and it didn’t matter at all. This was right. Every single bit of it.

I felt it, deep in my soul.

His face grew serious, his brow furrowing, and he reached over to take my hands in his. “Skylar Stanley, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” I said, my voice more confident than it had ever been. No shy Skylar here. “Yes, I will marry you.”