Page 62 of Too Hot

“Hey, Captain, what’s up?”

Brianna started to pull away, but Rafe tightened his hand on hers and shook his head.

“Yeah, sure. What time? All right, see you there on Monday.” He slipped his phone back in his pocket.

“Work issue?”

“Just a meeting that got scheduled.”

“Do they often do that to you?” She really didn’t know that much about his job.

“No.” They continued walking. “We’ve had a string of suspicious fires over the past few months. My boss was just giving me a heads up about a meeting.”

“Like the one at Lara’s?”

“I think the one at Lara’s was probably an accident. Some of the others we’ve had seem to be deliberate.”

“Will you tell me about them?”

“You don’t really want to hear about my job. You dislike fire.”

“And you love it. I’d like to know more about what you do.”

Rafe nodded. “All right. It started with a fire a couple of months ago.”

Brianna listened to Rafe as they walked. She learned about his suspicions over some of the fires and asked him questions about how he could tell if a fire was arson or not. She heard the passion in his voice as he spoke.

It was more than that. He liked figuring out puzzles. And while she wasn’t comfortable with open flame, Rafe had an understanding of fire that Brianna admired.

“Will you tell me more about the fire play you’re planning on doing at the club?” She was curious about it.

“While it’s considered fire play, I will mainly be doing fire cupping.”

“What is that?”

“It’s basically taking fire and trapping it in a cup and adhering the cup to someone’s skin.”

She shivered. “Sounds painful.”

“It’s not. If you watched the Olympics, you might have seen athletes with circular red marks on their backs or arms.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that.”

“That is fire cupping. It’s great for relieving pain, increasing circulation, and removing toxins from the body. Many like it to relax and let themselves go in a safe situation.”

“Have you done a lot of it?” This was interesting. Not that she wanted to try, but it was intriguing.

“I’ve been studying fire since I was a teenager. I’ve been doing fire play and fire cupping for the last eight years. I’m no master, but I’m very competent at it.”

“You’re competent at a lot of things.” They’d reached the end for the trail, so they turned and started back.

“I’m glad you think so.” He squeezed her hand. “The fire play room will be ready in probably another week or so. I’ll check it out again before I bring any of my equipment from home.”

“You have equipment?”

“I have fire cupping sets along with everything I need to make it a pleasurable experience.”

“Why such a specialized room if it’s safe?”

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