“Got it. Thanks,” Dane told him.
“I’ll be back at daylight to do my investigation. No need for you to be out here if you have things to do. You’ll hear from me when I’m done.”
“I’ll be here. I’ll stay out of your way.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Dane watched as he climbed back into his truck and pulled away, tossing up his hand in a gesture of departure as he turned around and headed back out the driveway. Dane looked at the black ruins of his workshop and groaned. He was tempted to look around but knew it would only make him appear guilty of something. Instead, he went into the house, wrinkling his nose up at the smell of charred wood coming from next door. It was going to take more than a day or two for that to air out.
He considered just going back to the city, but it was late, and he was tired. Instead, he showered and went to bed. At least he could sleep in if he wanted now. He’d intended to get up early and go get the supplies he needed to repair the workshop, but that was out now. Instead, he’d just wait until it was clear for him to rebuild, though it was heartbreaking to lose the place he and his father had worked side by side in during his childhood and a good portion of his adult life.
It had been therapeutic, building one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture out there. Even when his father had achieved success with the company that now belonged to Dane, he’d continued to live out here in their old house and work with his hands. You’d have never known he was a multi-millionaire when he died, just as you’d not know Dane had inherited that money after his parents lost their lives. He didn’t feel like a rich man. He felt like the same old Dane Jensen he had always been.
Tomorrow, he would get up, see what the fire marshal had to say, and then see about clearing away the debris so he could rebuild.CHAPTER SEVENAdriana
Adriana woke up feeling like someone who stayed out too late and overindulged. Thank God she didn’t have to get up early. Instead, she rolled over and buried her face into her pillow. Why had she drunk so much last night? It wasn’t like her at all, but she’d just felt the need for release. As much as she liked to pretend she was a badass and that the incident with Parquo hadn’t bothered her, the truth was that it had.
He had taken something from her. Her sense of anonymity. Most people couldn’t tell you what a writer looked like to save their own lives. They were names behind a style of writing their readers enjoyed, and that was good enough for them. While social media had brought faces to the forefront that would have remained in the shadows before, she did her best to keep a low profile due to the nature of her articles.
She operated under a shield, or so she thought until he turned up in her office and cornered her. It made her realize that she wasn’t so hard to find, after all. In fact, it had been incredibly easy for him to find her and accost her. She’d have to reconsider how she put herself out there in the future, so maybe this dating piece wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Yvette had perhaps known she needed to regroup a bit before tackling another hard-hitting article that might endanger her in such a way.
So, that was it then. Here she was doing some fluff piece on a dating app. So far, she’d been on one bad date, stood up by one, and insulted a third. It was too bad too. Dane Johnson looked like someone she could really enjoy doing some thorough research into. The way he owned the room told her that he was always in charge. It might not be something she was interested in as far as dating went, but the bedroom was a different matter. She had no doubt that he knew his way around every button of hers he could find to push.
She closed her eyes and envisioned what he must look like, fresh out of the shower, wearing nothing but a towel. He might be a dragon, but he moved like a big cat—his long legs striding with the pride only a big cat displayed. Some of her best moments had been spent in the form of a cat, from the smallest house cat to the fastest cheetah racing through the jungles on a holiday to Africa.
Shifting was one of the greatest joys in life and being in the throes of ecstasy with a man who possessed the confidence the Alpha males of her kind did was beyond amazing. She might not care much for what they had to say outside the bedroom, but when they shed their clothes and took control in private moments, you couldn’t ask for much more as a woman.