Burned Deep (Burned 1)

Right.

I wasn’t wired to fall in love, anyway. I’d never even been in deep like.

As always, this would just be sex. Well, okay, with Dane it’d likely be amazingly hot, singe me to the core of my being sex, but again …

Just sex.

Maybe.

I frowned.

The rain fell steady and straight, flooding my small patio. The flashes of light illuminated my dim living room. If I were a superstitious person, I’d add another element to my freak-out over Dane. I’d call all of this dark and ominous weather an omen. The fact that I didn’t subscribe to signs didn’t mean I dismissed them entirely—especially with this particular scenario. I still had warnings to heed. The most prevalent one being the foreboding that flickered in Dane’s eyes when he looked at me.

I had a very strong sense of what that was all about. The man was a take-no-prisoners type.

He wanted me, and he’d already let me know it wouldn’t be a casual fling.

My right that had morphed into a more tenuous maybe was now a solid oh, shit.

> I spared a glance at the clock. Twenty after ten, and my mind was much too preoccupied for sleep. I went into the room that housed my desk and opened the Web browser on my computer. I pulled up the 10,000 Lux site that I’d viewed when I’d submitted my application. I sifted through the hyperlinks again, noting they’d added more photos and information.

I clicked on the “Careers” section, curious to know what positions were being advertised in the Events department that still needed to be filled. Those employees would be my staff, after all. Another concern to mull over. I’d never really managed anyone, other than subcontractors who already knew the business, knew exactly what they were doing.

I ran through the list anyway, happy to see there’d be a robust team of planners and support staff. I was about to move on when my gut twisted. It suddenly dawned on me that the Events Director position was no longer posted.

Had Dane pulled it? Was he that sure he’d snagged me?

I let out a hollow laugh. “Of course,” I mumbled.

I never enter negotiations without knowing exactly what I’m getting into and exactly what I want to get out of it.

Given his aggressive nature, I’d say the more appropriate sentiment was that he never entered negotiations without knowing exactly what he would—for certain—get out of it.

This wasn’t even a negotiation. What was there to reconcile? He’d laid the world’s most tempting cards on the table—and had thrown in the possibility of sizzling sex for good measure.

As I considered how easily I’d stood under his net and let it fall on me, the Web site turned a sinister onyx, with the words Under Construction suddenly flashing in the center in red, along with a sequence of numbers in the bottom right-hand corner. Moments later, the text and numbers turned to crimson splatters against the background, then dripped away. Leaving nothing but pitch-black.

Huh.

I reached for my phone and tried to pull the site up on that device. No dazzling Lux lights, just eerie darkness. That was strange and deeply disturbing. Dane was actively hiring now that he’d set the date for the opening. Why would he take the site offline now?

Finding that curious, I grabbed his business card, which I’d pinned to my corkboard. I tapped the cardstock against my palm for a second or two, debating whether I should alert him to what could be his latest glitch.

I hardly thought I’d wake him. A man of his caliber and grand success probably didn’t sleep much.

What if he’s with another woman?

Okay, that one stung. When I knew it shouldn’t. We had no claim whatsoever on each other. Yet the mere idea of him tangled in the sheets with someone else made me absurdly and vehemently jealous. Ridiculously tormented.

Now I knew I was in over my head.

I dialed before I could stop myself or think this through. He picked up on the second ring.

“You came around a bit faster than I’d expected.”

I cringed at how my call screamed eager beaver when it came at nearly eleven o’clock at night. On a Sunday.

Pushing that aside, I asked, “How’d you know it was me?”