Fire and Ice (Firemen do it Hotter Book 1) by Cheyenne McCray Page B

slipped through. The ceiling had collapsed in the living room and licked the tile floor as it consumed the furniture. Spot barked from the other side of the living room.
    Through the smoke, Grady saw a female slumped on the floor beside the window, Spot at the tall woman’s side. “Sandy!” She didn’t move.
    He looked for some way around the fire to get to her. To the right, closest to the window, was a space so far untouched by the fire.
    Jakowski said, “You’ll never get to them in time. This whole building is going to go.”
    “I will.” Grady glanced over his shoulder. “Three minutes, in and out.”
    Jakowski nodded right before Grady plunged into the fire, moving as fast as he could to the area yet to be ravaged by flames.
    His heart beat faster, but his mind was clear. He reached Sandy and Spot. The Dalmatian barked as Grady scooped up Sandy, who moaned and her eyelids fluttered as she choked on more smoke.
    He turned to head back in the direction they had just come.
    Flames consumed everything in the room. Debris rained down a moment before another beam crashed through the massive hole in the ceiling, shaking the floor.
    The floor was starting to give in. It creaked and groaned.
    Grady swept his gaze one more time around the area in front of him. A beam that had crashed through the ceiling rested against one wall. The angle of the beam left just enough space to duck through. Spot barked and led the way.
    Grady carried Sandy in his arms. He reached the beam and dropped to his knees to crawl beneath it, moving her in front of him as he push-crawled.
    The heat was nearly overwhelming. Grady scrambled out from beneath the beam, picked up Sandy, and eased her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold. He saw the open door and Jakowski through a wall of flames.
    A thought went through his mind over and over. I have to get back to Chelsey. I can’t leave her alone like her husband did.
    He admitted something to himself that he hadn’t before.
    I love Chelsey.
    I will get home to her.
    Grady’s heart thundered, yet he was calm at the same time. No way was he going to end up trapped in a fire and not save Sandy and Spot.
    The ceiling shuddered and groaned. Grady ran in the only direction he could—for the door.
    He emerged from the flames and with relief handed Sandy off to Jakowski. Spot stood just in front of Grady, barking as if telling him to hurry.
    A yawning roar and the ceiling collapsed.
    Flaming debris fell just as a beam slammed onto Grady’s legs and drove him to the floor.
    Grady’s vision blurred as his mask ripped away from his face and all air was knocked from him.
    Smoke crowded his lungs and he choked, his eyes watering. He tried to crawl forward but pain screamed through him. His legs were not only trapped beneath the beam, but they were probably broken as well, including his ankle.
    “Fuck.” He could barely choke out the word. The room grew hotter, the smoke denser.
    “Hold on.” Craig crouched in front of Grady a moment before he disappeared from sight.
    Craig worked to shove the beam off Grady’s legs, and he bit back a shout from the excruciating pain.
    The smoke was so thick, that Grady came closer and closer to losing consciousness.
    Another firefighter entered the room. Grady could only tell it was Marc by the name patch sewn onto his gear.
    “You need to get out of here,” he shouted at Craig and Marc. “This place is going to go.”
    “Shut the fuck up and let us do our job,” Craig shouted.
    Spot tugged on Grady’s sleeve, and he almost gave a delirious laugh at the seriousness in the dog’s actions and the growls coming from his throat.
    “It’s okay, boy.” Grady had a coughing fit before he spoke to Spot again. “They’ll get this damned thing off of me and we’ll make it out.”
    The room vibrated. The floor made an ominous sound.
    Marc and Craig shoved the beam off of Grady’s legs and he almost screamed and blacked out from the pain.
    The men grasped him by