Burned Deep (Burned 1)

His low chuckle rumbled in his chest. “I’m sorry about your thong.”

“No, you’re not.”

Another soft laugh. “No. I’m not.”

We fell silent for several minutes. I stared out the window as we turned off I-17 and headed toward Sedona. I hadn’t even realized it’d started to rain.

I gave a half snort. Figures.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. It’s not really funny at all. It’s just … We’re driving through another shower and I didn’t even notice until now.” Even though the rain pinged against the roof.

A hint of anxiety encroached on my tingly afterglow. I slipped from Dane’s loose embrace and returned to my seat, pulling down my skirt and whipping off my semi-shredded thong. I stuffed it into my small purse as he zipped up, though his shirt still hung open. The sight of all that smooth skin over rigid muscles was too tempting by far. My hands burned to touch him again.

He scowled, apparently not liking the distance I’d just put between us. “We’re still twenty minutes away from your townhome.”

“You know where I live?”

“Résumé,” he simply said.

“Right.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

In other words, why couldn’t I handle more than a few minutes of cuddling? I sighed. “Everything ceases to exist sometimes when I’m with you. It’s like people, the rain, it all melts away and there’s just … you.”

His brow crooked. “And that’s a bad thing?”

“It’s dangerous,” I reminded him.

The brow dropped and the disconcertion deepened.

“If you’re worried about what sort of impact this has on your job, believe me when I say I can separate the two.”

“Of course I don’t want to lose my job. But it’s more than that. I don’t want to get all tangled up in…” You.

Yet …

Even as he sat there brooding, I wanted him. Even though his features were darkened and there was a hard glint in his emerald eyes, I wanted him. Even though I knew this had the potential to end horrifically for me, I wanted him.

“Maybe we should set the record straight,” he said. “I’m not interested in just one night in the back of a limo with you. I’m not interested in your type of fast fuck in a hotel room before you bolt for the door.”

My breathing turned shallow. His eyes locked with mine and I felt his intensity to the depths of my soul.

“This isn’t something casual, Ari. It isn’t something fleeting. I already know it. However long it takes for you to realize it, fine.” He tried to cut me slack, but I could see the impatience rimming his eyes. A certain restlessness to his entire demeanor that was now quite familiar. I felt it, too.

The question that had invaded my mind the morning after he’d made me come with his sexy tone and dirty talk crawled to the forefront. I asked, “What exactly are we doing, Dane? Are we dating?”

“Call it whatever you want,” he said without hesitation. He clearly had this worked out in his head, while I still bumbled along. “We’re involved.”

Oh, God. That word.

He continued, since I couldn’t find my voice. “I want exclusivity. No more picking up men in hotel bars.”

“That’s not anything you have to worry about. It’s been a while.”

“How long?”