SEAL's Embrace - Makenna Jameison Page 0,12
she might’ve been harmed? It was unfathomable.
Blake grabbed a woman rushing toward the exit. “Do you know a woman named Hailey? General Murphy’s administrative assistant?”
“Hailey? Yeah. She’s on the second floor. I haven’t seen her though.”
Blake nodded, and he and Grayson were instantly moving. The smoke was thicker as they took the stairs, and Blake stopped to help an injured woman as Grayson rushed forward. “I need to carry her out,” Blake yelled.
“I’m going for Hailey,” Grayson replied, running up the last few steps.
He knew Blake would never leave an injured woman alone on the stairs. And Grayson was more than capable of searching for Hailey by himself. He pushed open the door from the stairwell to the upstairs hall and gasped as he saw the destruction on the second floor. The walls had partially collapsed at one end and flames were licking upward.
The smoke was growing thicker, and he covered his face with his arm.
“Hailey!” he shouted again.
One woman glanced at him in surprise as she rushed out. “Last door on the left!”
“Shit, shit, shit!” he muttered, running toward it. She was right by the collapsed section. Hopefully she’d already gotten out, but what if she’d been injured? What if more of the building began to crumble and cave in?
The heat and smoke were overwhelming, but he’d never forgive himself if he got this far only to leave here there. She could be trapped inside, and he was so close. He tried her door, finding it locked, and then began to pound on it with his fist. “Hailey! Are you in there?” he shouted.
He tried to listen for an answer, but between the fire alarm and roaring fire, he couldn’t hear anything else. “Hailey!” he shouted again.
It was beginning to get hot as hell up here, and he knew the air wasn’t safe for him to breathe much longer. Not waiting for her to answer, he backed up and then breached the door. He’d been trained with his team, and although he usually had weapons with him when he broke into homes of people they were after, Grayson had no trouble kicking the door down with his combat boots.
“Hailey!” he shouted again.
He moved further into her space, gasping when he saw her lying on the floor, a cut on her head. She must’ve fallen in the explosion and hit her head on the bedframe or something. It looked like she’d been in the middle of getting changed. Her shirt was off, but she had a camisole on, revealing some of her creamy skin.
Her auburn hair stood in stark contrast to it, and blood ran from her forehead, matting some of her hair. He knelt down beside her, trying to ignore the swells of her breasts beneath her top. She was so fucking beautiful—like a damn angel or something. She looked fragile and innocent, and he immediately took her into his arms.
Mumbling slightly, she came to as he lifted her.
“Grayson,” she murmured, blinking as she looked at him.
“Yes, it’s me, sweetheart,” he said, standing up as he cradled her body to his. He turned and walked back the way he’d come. Hailey fit in his arms perfectly, and holding her to his chest as he walked toward the door, nothing had ever felt more right. She smelled faintly of vanilla, and even with smoke filling the air, it was the sweetest damn thing he’d ever noticed. He grabbed a piece of fabric from the top of a pile of clean clothes, smirking as he realized it was a pair of green satin panties.
Not caring what he’d grabbed hold of, he pressed it to her forehead, trying to stop the bleeding.
“Hold this to your head so I can carry you out.”
“What happened?” she asked in confusion.
“There was another explosion,” he said grimly. “We have to go.”
“How did you find me?” she asked.
He kicked the remnants of her door aside, moving into the hallway.
“Oh my God!” she gasped.
He kept walking, his gaze looking into a few open rooms to make sure no one else was there. The fire alarms continued to blare, and the smoke was growing thicker. The fire blazed all around them, moving closer to her side of the hall. He talked loudly above all the ruckus as he rushed her away from the danger. “I ran for your building with my teammates,” he said. “Raptor and I came inside to look for you. It was chaos downstairs, but I called out your name, and someone knew you.”
“You came and