All he could do, unfortunately, was think. Way too much thinking going on. About Brooke, about…Brooke.

It was another whole day before he remembered.

The arson fires. He’d actually come close to figuring something out…something really important. He called Aidan. “Where was I with the arson stuff?”

“Close to screwing up your career.”

“Come on. We’ve fought hundreds of fires, and out of all of those, I’m only talking about four—”

“Five.”

“—So how in the hell is that screwing up my career—”

“Five fires.”

“What?”

Aidan sighed. “Let’s get real crazy, okay? I think that the warehouse fire was arson.”

“Why?”

“Gut feeling. Too many things went wrong. And guess what Tommy told me when I mentioned it?”

“I’ll go out on a limb here and say, ‘Mind your own fucking business?’”

“Bingo.”

“Did you look around afterward?” Zach asked. “Get sight of the point of origin?”

“No, I was sitting by your side in the hospital after saving your sorry ass.”

“Damn it.”

“You’re welcome.”

After they hung up, Zach went out onto his deck and stared off into the night. Maybe it was exhaustion, maybe it was pain, maybe it was simply that he didn’t want to face the fact that his chest hurt, and so did his heart.

Or that he missed Brooke.

Over the years, he’d slept with enough women to lose count, and that had never bothered him any, but now he wondered what it would be like to stay with the same woman instead of moving on each time? To have some familiarity? A real relationship with depth instead of just heat?

He bet there was comfort in that, which he’d never had any use for before. But now, honestly, he could use a little TLC.

Zach hadn’t taken his pain meds in two days, so showering was a bitch, but he got through it, dressed and walked out to his truck. He stopped short at the sight of Brooke getting out of her car.

She was carrying a bag from the local sandwich shop and wore an expression that said she wasn’t too sure of her welcome, an expression that changed to disbelief when she saw the keys in his hand. “What are you doing?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“I’m bringing you something more substantial than pizza or McDonald’s.” Her eyes met his. “Now you.”

“I was coming to see you.”

She let out a breath. “Okay, you have no idea how I both love and hate that. You shouldn’t be driving. How are you feeling?”

Like I missed the hell out of you. “Great.”

She arched a brow.

“Good.”

“Zach.”

“Okay, like shit. I feel like complete shit.”

With a sigh, she stepped close, and did something he hadn’t expected, given how things had gone the last time he’d seen her.

She hugged him.