Page 100 of Burn

She nods. “He eventually forgave me, but he never forgave Evan for it. And somewhere along the way, no one really knows why or how, Caleb became a holy fucking terror.”

“Has he had other relationships?” These are certainly questions I shouldn’t be asking and I feel horrible probing Jacey for information, but after what I just witnessed in his room, I feel like I should know more about him.

“If you can call them that. He had this one girlfriend, Gemma, but she turned out to be a stripper and fucking his friends. Now he’s trying to fill a void.”

My eyes widen. “What void?”

She drops her eyes to my lap. “Thatvoid.”

I know the void because he’s filling it within me too. No other man has ever compared to the way he makes me feel in those brief moments I’m with him.

“Let me give you some advice. Caleb, and pretty much all the Ryan boys, need two things in life. Sex and fire. And Kellan, well, he needs handcuffs. Stay away from him.”

I laugh. “Noted.”

“So you and Caleb?” I let the question hang there. I’m curious. Their relationship is more along the lines of brother and sister, but you can definitely tell there’s been something there before. “You don’t still . . .?”

She shakes her head immediately. “No. Not since we were sixteen.”

I hear noises from upstairs, and my eyes widen. “Shit, gotta go.”

Jacey waves, curling up on the couch again. “Bye.”

As quietly as I can, I sneak back upstairs to his bed. He stirs, rolling over to wrap his arm around my waist, pulling my back against his chest.

I listen to his breathing, light and easy and then jump out of my skin when he whispers, “Where’d you go?”

Immediately I want to ask Caleb a million questions about his relationship with Jacey.

And then again, I don’t because whatever relationship they have now is their business.

“To get some water.”

I have a million questions for him that have nothing to do with Jacey and everything to do with him. I know he doesn’t want me to ask though. For some reason, it’s like he doesn’t want me to know him.

Accountability

The process of emergency responders (fire, police, SAR, emergency medical, etc.) checking in and making themselves announced as being on scene during an incident to an incident commander or accountability officer.

I’m back at work the next day and guess who shows up?

Apparently, last night wasn’t enough for him, given the four-day departure.

Though I know I’m going to get in trouble, it’s adorable the way he can’t let go. And I absolutely don’t ask about the nightmare.

Standing there dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, Caleb drops his head as he runs his thumb over his lower lip. “Can you take a break?”

And by break he means fuck. In case you didn’t know.

This time we’re in my office, and he’s trying to convince me to do it up against the windows. Those windows face Shaw Investments. No can do.

Caleb smiles against my neck as his hands shift from my hips to my ass. Scooping me up in a fluid motion, I wrap my legs around his waist, and he presses my back to the glass. “You know you want me to fuck you against this window.”

“I do, but you see that building over my shoulder?”

He nods, his mouth finding mine.

It takes me a moment to reply, what with him kissing me and all, but I eventually say, “That’s Shaw Investments. And you remember that guy outside the closet that one day?”

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