Watching the little figure standing in the window of the burning building was like looking through the gates of Hell. Alex had never thought she would be confronted with a sight so horrific—and she would definitely never have thought she would be fighting herself with every breath not to run inside.

The plan had to work. It had to.

Come on, Landon. She was standing so close to the blaze that she could feel beads of sweat on her brow. But he was closer to the building, the fragile protection of the space blanket reflecting the worst of the heat for a few precious seconds as he shouted encouragement and urgent command to the girl above him. Come on!

"Miss, I'm going to need you to take a step back." Alex hadn't realized until one of the other firefighters approached her that she had shouted her urgings out loud, that she actually had taken a step toward the fire. A gauntleted hand settled on her shoulder, and beneath its weight, for a moment, she could almost imagine it was Landon's hand trying to coax her to safety. But how could she stand to put any more distance between them when he might call out to her at any moment?

Landon might shout her name. The building might begin to collapse on top of the little girl as the insatiable appetite of the fire consumed it alive—

The girl jumped. She hurtled through the air toward the earth, and Alex felt as if her heart stopped beating, completely arrested by the moment. It was as if the world had stopped turning, as if every living thing held its breath in unison to watch the girl plummet.

Then, suddenly, Landon's arms were full, filled with the small body, the force of impact knocking him halfway to the ground, and the world snapped into focus. Her heart resumed pounding with a breathtaking, almost painful throb, and Alex shouldered free of the hand restraining her. She ran to Landon's side as he pushed himself upright and was simultaneously wheeling to run to her. They met halfway across the lawn, when his legs seemed to collapse beneath him. Alex threw herself down to help cradle the girl's limp body.

"Medics!" Alex shouted over her shoulder as she checked for a pulse. Nothing.

Landon threw off the shining thermal blanket, and Alex shoved the girl's shirt up and began to administer CPR.

"She went limp when I caught her. Smoke inhalation," Landon said as he yanked his mask up. He was stroking the girl's sweat-soaked hair out of her face.

The little girl's lips were parted, her eyes rolled back in her head. Alex redoubled her efforts, thrusting down on the child's chest harder until another pair of hands entered her field of vision. She moved aside and let one paramedic take over her rhythm while another slapped a mask over the young face and began to administer oxygen.

The seconds crawled by agonizingly as she watched. She tried to silence the clock in her head that counted down steadily, cruelly, toward an outcome that . . .

The girl gasped suddenly, and her eyes flew open.

Relief flooded Alex, and she nearly pulled the poor little girl into a bear hug. A squeeze around her midsection was the last thing this particular patient needed.

"Mommy? Where's my mommy?" The little girl's eyes rolled around in rising panic as she reached up to try to push the mask away. The paramedics glanced at each other, clearly unprepared with an answer that would put the girl's mind at ease.

"Mommy's safe at the hospital, waiting for you, sweetheart." Alex moved back in as the nurse in her took over. "Let’s keep the mask on, honey. It’ll help you breathe better. Would you like to take a ride in an ambulance to see your Mommy?"

The girl nodded and allowed the mask to settle over her mouth and nose once more. Alex turned her head and saw the paramedics already had a gurney ready. She smiled at the girl and said in her professionally cheerful voice, "These people are going to take you to see your mommy. And they're going to make you feel better, all right?"

"Can you come, too?"

Alex smiled and squeezed the little girl's hand. "Of course. I’ll be there to meet you. Okay?"

"Okay."

Alex helped them load the girl onto the gurney and watched them wheel her away. Then she turned—to find Landon standing behind her. His firefighter’s mask was pulled back, and his face was half-blackened by ash, but his eyes shone with intense, naked emotion that was all too easy to read.

The same feelings overwhelmed her in that moment. Alex threw her arms around him, and he gripped her with a ferocity she had always known he was capable of yet had never experienced before. Every muscle in his frame seemed to tremble with the fear of letting her go.

"I understand now." Her eyes were dry, but she all but sobbed the words into his chest. She pressed herself to him, worrying all the while that he wouldn't hear her, but she couldn't bring herself to pull away. "You have to protect others. You have to save them. I can't ask you to stop, any more than I can ask you to stop breathing. And I don't want to."

She raised her head and caught Landon's lips with her own. He tasted like fire, but she was the one burning in his arms. He tightened his embrace around her as the inferno roared behind them. When she finally pulled back, she saw that his face was twisted in misery.

"I have to go. Some of my guys are still in there."

Alex nodded. "I know." She cupped his soot-stained jaw in her hands. "Find me afterward."

"I will."

They held each other a moment longer, until Landon shoved himself away from her and turned without a backward glance. Alex thought her heart would break, but she knew his abruptness had nothing to do with her . . . it was the only way he could make himself leave her.

He pulled his mask back down over his face and moved purposefully into the burning building.

She watched him disappear into the cloud of smoke that streamed from the open front door. "I love you." Her own words struck her like a blow between the eyes, and she repeated them again in a smoke-choked whisper: "I love you."

The life Landon had chosen for himself was a dangerous one. There might be a fire he walked into one day and never returned from—hell, that fire might be today. But Alex understood now that she had been wrong. She wasn't guarding her heart by holding herself back from loving him. She was starving it slowly, excruciatingly, by not admitting to herself that it was already too late. She had been falling for Landon since the first moment he’d opened his eyes and called her 'angel'.

Loving a man who risked his life to save others wasn't folly. It was inevitable. It was as dangerous as running headlong into an inferno, but it was something she would never again stop herself from doing.

She understood—now—it was worth it.