But the uniform who’d been patrolling had called the fire department. The fire truck had rushed to the scene. Her walls were still in place. Mostly. One window was broken and a trail of black ash and soot stained the side of her home. The front door had been smashed and—

“Are you okay, Piper?”

She turned at Ben’s quiet question and forced a smile. “It’s not as bad as I thought.” Then she finally voiced the mantra that she’d been repeating in her head. “It could have been worse.”

Eric stalked up behind Ben. “Yeah, you could have been inside. That would have been one hell of a lot worse.”

Piper flinched.

“Jesus, man!” Ben grabbed Piper and pulled her into his arms. “Have some tact. You don’t just say shit like that.” His arms surrounded her. “You’ve got insurance. The house will be fixed. Everything will be fine.”

He felt good. Reassuring. Normal. His touch didn’t make her pulse sky rocket or make her whole body become jittery. He was Ben. Her safety net.

“I’m not giving Piper lies.” Eric’s voice was flat and hard. “Everything isn’t fine. She’s got some nut-job out there who torched her house. If she’d been home, he could have killed her.”

It was hard to pull in a deep breath.

“Her car was here,” Eric added darkly. “The bastard could have gone in there, thinking Piper was inside. And when she wasn’t, he torched the place.”

Even though Ben was hugging her, she felt ice cold.

“Okay, jeez, enough. Stop grabbing on her already.” Eric tugged her out of Ben’s arms. “We can’t stay out here forever. I just talked to the arson investigator.” He pointed to a guy wearing white gloves who stood near a pick-up truck. “He told me the fire originated in your bedroom. An accelerant was definitely used, he could see the burn patterns so he knows that the perp poured the accelerant all around the room.”

She shivered.

Ben immediately stepped toward her.

But before Ben could touch her again, Eric pulled her against him, wrapping his arm around her. “I’ve got her, okay?” Eric frowned down at her. “It’s only a house. It’s just things inside. What matters most is you. You’re okay, and I’m going to keep you that way.”

She was shivering, and, yes, the tremors were due to the cold. It was helluva cold in Atlanta that morning. Forecasters were even saying snow might come next week. But her shivers were also due to fear. Bone-deep fear. “He set my house on fire.”

Eric pulled her closer. “I know, baby.”

“Did you just call her ‘baby’?” Ben demanded, voice rising a bit. “What the hell—”