Burned Deep (Burned 1)

“No, really,” I said. “I want to know.”

For all his mammoth stature and stoic, borderline scary disposition, I’d long ago learned he was as loyal as a Labrador and as protective and territorial as Dane.

“I understand what upset you that night.”

My brow jerked up. That was putting it mildly but I supposed it helped him to do his job when he kept his own emotions on an even keel.

“Okay,” I ventured.

“You don’t seem to realize that a man like Dane…” He pinned me with a look and said, “He’d die for you, Ari.”

My jaw fell slack. His gaze returned to the road.

The words rooted in my head. There were songs like that. By Prince, Bon Jovi, Bruno Mars, however many others. Romantic connotations, for sure. But not something I would ever expect to hear in real life.

I stared out the windshield, trying to process the full extent of what Amano said. It didn’t change the fact that I’d been terrified that night with Vale. It didn’t exonerate Dane from nearly killing him. It didn’t make me any less fearful of what I’d become embroiled in.

The problem lay in the all-too-real inevitability that I would have preferred Dane never see me in the shape I’d been in. Bloody, near hysterical, in pain, horrified, weak. Beyond that, he’d heard me screaming—and he’d known what Vale had planned to do to me. Dane had heard me begging Vale to stop touching me. He’d seen me with my blouse ripped open and my panties mid-thigh.

And even though nothing beyond that had happened—I had not been raped or otherwise molested—he still had to live with the very striking reality of how far it had gone and how much worse it could have been.

The truth was, I figured it would have been a hell of a lot easier on him if I’d just disappeared. If he and Amano hadn’t been able to find me. Instead, Dane had gotten the sucker punch of a lifetime, seeing me tied up and at another man’s mercy.

Unable to stop myself, I looked over at Amano and asked, “How bad off is he?”

His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “Bad.”

Again, I suspected that was not at all the word he wanted to use.

I sat back in the seat. “Is he expecting us?”

“Yes.”

Loyal as a Labrador.

I wrung my hands in my lap as we drove the winding dirt path through the trees and arrived at the massive wrought-iron gate. My nerves were a jumbled mess. I wasn’t sure what I was doing here. It’d been an impulsive decision because I hadn’t been able to stand the solitude of my bed without Dane next to me.

I didn’t know what I wanted the outcome of a confrontation to be. I wasn’t even certain a confrontation was the sane way to go. I had some recognition of his current mind-set, given Kyle’s and Amano’s comments. But I had no idea how Dane felt about me at this moment.

“Perhaps you ought to stick around,” I said, anxiety closing in on me.

“He wouldn’t appreciate that.” As Amano spoke, Dane pulled open one of the double doors and stepped onto the patio.

The

night was silvery, with a hint of fog and slivers of moonlight through the dense forest surrounding the house. He wore inky jeans and boots. A black shirt that hung open. The soft illumination revealed the hard angles of his face and his bunched muscles. He took edgy and brooding to all-new levels.

Maybe this is a mistake.…

I didn’t reach for the handle. Amano alighted from the SUV and came around to my side. I hadn’t even unlatched my seat belt. My gaze locked with Dane’s. I wondered what I was doing here. What I was supposed to do.

Amano opened my door. Still, I couldn’t move.

I hadn’t seen Dane in over three weeks. Aside from in my head, in my dreams. None did him justice. He was mesmerizing. So masculine and sexy. Perfect.

Everything I’d never known I wanted.

My eyes drifted closed. He’d said those words to me, with astonishment in his voice. He’d known long ago, from the onset, some sort of destiny was at play between us. I just wasn’t sure what that fate might be. My fairy tale hadn’t exactly turned out sweet and innocent. And hadn’t he also told me that?