Burned Deep (Burned 1)

That jealousy bit again. It did the craziest things to me. I fought the smile, because it would only piss him off, I was sure. “You don’t have to trust him. You have to trust me.”

His expression turned ever more somber.

I sighed. “Personally, I think he’s a good guy. And he wants the job. As it relates to me…” I rested my forearms on the table and leaned toward Dane. In a soft voice, I said, “You can’t honestly think, for one single second, that Kyle poses any sort of threat.”

He didn’t appear convinced. “Maybe you don’t realize that heads snap in your direction when you walk into a room. I see it.”

“You really notice stuff like that?”

“When it comes to you,” he said, his gaze deep and intent, “yes.”

I pulled in a steadying breath.

“Sharing you isn’t a possibility.”

“You don’t have to share me,” I assured him. “You wanted exclusivity. I’m not my mother. I’m not a cheater. But…”

Dare I ask the question practically burning a hole in my head?

He eyed me speculatively. “But what?”

I swallowed hard. I risked pissing him off further, but I just had to know. “You didn’t call me all weekend. If you had a table at the fund-raiser that likely means you had a … a date. I want the same terms from you that you demand of me—mutual exclusivity.”

God, that sounded so small and petty. Yet, it wasn’t. Not when it came to Dane. The mere thought of another woman on his arm, even just for social appearances, shredded me. I didn’t even want him to notice other women, let alone be with one.

Which meant it took all the willpower I possessed not to bring up Mikaela—and ask if she’d been at the fund-raiser as well.

In a tight voice, he said, “I’ve made my intentions very clear. I gave you some space this weekend. Under no circumstances should that ever be misconstrued as me being with another woman. Ever.”

His green gaze bored into me and my pulse jumped.

“It was strictly business,” Dane added, “with associates. No date.”

“Oh.” I inhaled deeply. “Okay.” I was extremely unnerved to discover I had a jealous streak. There’d never been any cause for it before. Yet with Dane I was filled with anxiety just thinking of the number of batting eyelashes that came his way.

“Ari,” he said, snagging my attention. “That is absolutely the last thing you have to worry about.”

Thank God, because I already had a lengthy list of worries.

“Fine. But that goes for you, too. Especially where Kyle is concerned.”

“About that—”

“Hey,” I said with a somewhat imploring look. “What happened to giving me anything I wanted?”

His eyes smoldered. “You’re going to owe me for this one.” Then he got to his feet and sauntered off.

Leaving me dying of curiosity to know what that meant.

* * *

“More catalogs for you, Miss DeMille.”

“Ari is fine, Jason. And thank you.”

The mail clerk hefted a stack of high-end catalogs I’d ordered off the Internet that contained holiday and other decorations. I’d decided that in addition to jumping on hiring staff, I needed to quickly formulate a plan for all the Christmas and event accessories. Since the pre-launch activities occurred prior to New Year’s Eve, around Christmastime, and we’d no doubt leave up the decorations into the first week of January at least—it was an easy theme with which to work. But I’d need lots of decorations and, knowing it’d take some time to wade through all of the offerings, sooner rather than later was my current motto.

Jason left me and I started scouring the pages, ripping them out whenever something caught my eye. Several hours passed and my conference table was covered with images. I hadn’t even made it all the way through my stack.