Page 92 of Fire for Effect

For a few moments, I just stood still, watching him in the firelight.

To some degree, I loved fire because of its ability to destroy. There was something beautiful about being able to harness that raw power and turn it into something that could nurture - a fire could burn down a forest, but it could also provide warmth, cook food, and bring comfort.

If fire could do that, then surely, I could too.

Seeing the fire that Kai created, tame and quiet, was a metaphor for something. I just didn’t know what.

His hair was so black it was practically blue in the light. His jaw was so square it could cut like a razor, and his prominent, thick black brows gave him a masculine edge that I had always admired. Standing head and shoulders taller than me, he was over six feet tall, and broad about the chest and shoulders. He’d grown thicker in the time outside the Army, and not a single bit of it was from fat.

“I can feel you staring,” he said with a small chuckle. “Come join me, baby. Let me hold you.”

Busted.

“I was just admiring your sweet ass.”

“Seems unfair, it being all one sided,” he retorted.

“So turn around, dumbass.”

“Come here, Psycho,” he chuckled, holding his hand out to the side to invite me down.

I did, walking down the stairs, and stepping up beside him. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me into his side.

“We have to talk.”

I internally cringed. “Haven’t we talked enough today?”

“I’m not talking about this,” he said, squeezing my hip with his strong hand. “There’s another reason I’m here.” He placed a kiss on my temple as his hand snuck into my jacket, grabbing the pack of cigarettes, and the lighter. “I’m taking a hiatus from work. My entire group is.”

“Why is that?” I asked, watching him pull out a cigarette with his teeth, then putting the pack back into my pocket.

With one hand, he flicked open the lighter, and lit up.

“You ever sweep for bugs?” he asked.

“Bugs? Out here?” I gestured at the woods with my hand. “Who the heck could get in to plant one with the security cameras? No one comes out here. Not even Mack and Charlotte.”

“What about that Riley douchebag?” I almost laughed. Riley was far from a douche. “He ever come on here when you’re not around?”

“Never,” I said, as he offered me the cigarette.

“Repair men? Contractors? Landlord?”

I let out a long line of smoke, and he placed his open mouth near mine to breathe it in.

“Secondhand smoke kills,” I told him with a smirk.

“That’s why you quit smoking, right?” he bumped his nose against mine. “You told me that lie two birthdays ago.”

“And I did!” I protested. “For a whole week, I didn’t smoke.”

“Then what happened?” he asked, tilting his head.

“My mom called.”

“Shit.”

He had seen me take calls from my mother enough to know what kind of an impact she had. I wasn’t prepared for the therapy it would take to resolve. Plus, he couldn’t complain. Not when he was draining my pack as fast as I was.

---