“You won’t make your goal for opening though,” she said, frowning.

“No way in hell. Even if insurance processes in record time. Most of the building is intact, but the loading dock area will need to be rebuilt. Right now, the place reeks of smoke, and there’s water everywhere.”

She stretched up and kissed me. “I hate that it happened, but it could’ve been a lot worse, Holden. No one was hurt, and it happened when you were gutting the inside anyway. Think how much worse it would have been two months from now.”

I inwardly shuddered because she was right. That would’ve been a disaster.

“Hey.” She ran her finger over my lip, still so close I could smell her floral scent, and I breathed it in, let it soothe me. “It’s okay to be upset it happened, but you need to stop beating yourself up.” She kissed me again, and it was getting harder to be upset.

“You need sleep,” I said to her between kisses.

“You need a shower.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

“Go get clean and I’ll meet you in bed,” Chloe said, then pressed one more lingering kiss on my lips, which had me going half hard, in spite of my bone-deep weariness and the despair that’d been hanging on me like a heavy overcoat when I came inside.

She slipped away and padded toward the front of the house, I assumed to turn off the lights and check the locks. I watched her walk away, my eyes on her shapely ass in yoga pants that showed every shift and every sway of muscle and curve. That was the kick of motivation I needed.

I pulled my shirt off and stripped down to nothing as I headed for the master bath, ready to wash the stench of the evening away and even more ready to curl up with Chloe between the sheets.

Six minutes later, I smelled better, felt better, at least physically, and came out of the bathroom to find the bedroom light off and Chloe tucked in on her side, facing the wall. She didn’t stir, and my hard-on sagged a little at the thought that she might’ve fallen asleep. I brushed my teeth, turned out the bathroom light, didn’t bother to put pajamas on, and climbed into my side of the bed.

I stretched out on my back, reminding myself Chloe’s alarm went off at six a.m. I let my mind go back to the fire because, if anything could kill my need for sex, that was it.