Deceiving The Groom by Lisa Shadow Page B

she had an excuse to be working so late. What was Liam’s? He had his adorable niece waiting for him at home. What was he doing?
    She switched off the lights and sighed. No good pondering Liam’s movements. No good thinking about him at all. They may work opposite but she had to be professional. Turn off useless feelings. She grabbed her bag and stepped out the front door, locking it behind her.
    A faint tang of burning synthetics brushed her nose. She spun around, eyeing Liam’s store. It was a little brighter than usual. Unease curled through her insides and she rushed to the window. She pressed her face to the glass and cupped her hands around her eyes. Bright orange flames licked the back wall.
    Liam!
    Her gaze scanned as far as she could see inside the office. He hadn’t left, his car was still in the street. She peered hard though the smoke. A dark shape sprawled on the floor. Her heartbeat exploded in panic.
    Claire raced to the door and pulled on the handle. It was locked. Her chest squeezed. She ran back to her store, fishing for her keys and shoving them in the door, then dashing for the fire extinguisher in the front entrance. Extinguisher gripped in both arms, she sprinted across the road to Liam’s office and slammed the base into the door.
    Glass shattered and crumbled with a tinkling sound. Claire stuck her arm through the gap and unlocked the door. Smoke wafted out and she pulled her blouse over her nose, then gripped the nozzle of the extinguisher in her left hand.
    Fire stroked the carpeted wall at the back of the office building near the bathroom. Claire stalked towards it and pressed the trigger on the extinguisher, spraying foam in an arc. Her eyes burned and heat stung her fingers. She kept spraying. The light dimmed and the fire folded under the thick white stream.
    The flames fizzled out and Claire dropped the extinguisher. She turned to where she’d seen Liam. She coughed deeply, her lungs rejecting the toxic air. What was it she’d been told in school? Get down low? She dropped to her knees and scooted towards Liam’s office door. He lay on his stomach, unmoving. She gulped and more coughs savaged her.
    Oh God, be okay…
    She shoved his shoulder. It was like shoving a sack of flour. He needed to get out of here; out of the smoke. She grabbed his hands and stood, dragging him step by step towards the front door where the air was clearer.
    Glass still littered the floor. She dropped Liam’s hands and kicked as much as she could out of the way, then hauled him the rest of the way outside.
    She laid him on the pavement and tapped his cheek.
    “Liam!”
    A trickle of blood oozed down his forehead. His features remained slack, his chest too still. A sob caught in her throat and she leaned over him. She tipped his head back a pushed open his jaw. She took a breath, covered his mouth with hers, and exhaled deeply, watching his ribs expand.
    She blew another deep breath into him then placed her hands over the center of his chest. It rose beneath her fingers and she almost collapsed. She tugged one of his knees up then rolled him onto his side. Hovering beside his lips, his shallow breath brushed her cheek. She shut her eyes and ran her hand over his hair.
    “It’s going to be alright, Liam.”
    She fished in her pocket for her cell phone and called for an ambulance.
     
    Long after Mrs. Ruiz had taken Lexi home to bed, Claire sat in the narrow chair beside Liam. She’d leave when he woke up, when she’d seen for herself that he was really alright. Her heart seemed gripped in a steel glove. People she cared about had a way of dying on her. Liam wasn’t going to—she wouldn’t let him.
    Claire rubbed her thumb over the top of Liam’s hand, staring at the IV inserted in his arm. The picture was all wrong. Liam’s healthy body in a hospital gown, lying in a bed that could barely contain his huge frame. She couldn’t take it. Wanted to rip out the IV and shake him, tell him he was stronger than