“And as all the barriers around my heart crumbled to dust, I held him. For the first time in my life I held a man, I embraced him. I felt his hot skin against my cheek, and I felt his heart race in his chest. And then a miracle occurred—he held me back. A man. A man held me, and I felt no desire to throw him off me. Because this man had saved me.” Maddie paused, eyes unflinching. “The man they called Flame.”
