“I can’t breathe,” Melissa said, but she still didn’t move away.

Miles was having a difficult time breathing himself and the temperature seemed to have shot up. She had that effect on him.

Then he realized the breathlessness they were feeling wasn’t from the kiss.

Smoke filled the hayloft from the trapdoor they’d used to climb up. He ran to it and glanced down into the barn. Fire blazed upward, consuming the ladder as the horses, still in their stalls, whinnied and kicked, trying to escape the flames.

In the distance, footsteps rushed toward the barn and he recognized his brothers’ voices as they started opening stalls and forcing out the animals.

He pushed her away from the opening as flames shot up and the ladder finally caved, crashing to the floor. “We can’t get out that way.”

Panic filled Melissa’s face and he suspected she was thinking about Dylan and never seeing him again. He took her shoulders and locked eyes with her. “We’ll figure out how to get out of here. I promise.”