Page 52 of Love Me Dangerous

But the instant I try to stuff it down, it takes hold with a vengeance. I cannot get attached to Sofie Whittaker or Finn River or the problems Sheriff Olsen thinks I can solve. Maybe things will work out here, but it’s more likely they won’t.

With a silent curse, I pull back and press my lips to her forehead.

We stand there, just breathing, my arms around her shoulders and her delicate fingers hugging my waist.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she says.

“I did,” I say. “If you missed it, I could try to rephrase it.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

A sassy retort is on the tip of my tongue, but I bite it back. I need to put on the brakes. Hard. Before we end up…

She puts a hand on my chest. It’s gentle but sends a shock through me. Maybe it jostles my busted rib, or maybe it’s my heart curling up to protect itself. I’m sensing that the answers she wants aren’t ones I can give.

I thumb her lower lip, savoring the way she kissed me. Will I get a chance to do it again?

“How long are you going to keep me in the dark?” she asks, looking hurt.

Before I can come up with a defense that won’t push her further away, a blaring chime from the phone on the wall makes us both jolt.

With a grimace, Sofie slips from my embrace and reaches across the counter for the phone.

She answers with her back to me. “Hello?”

I run my left hand through my hair and huff a painful sigh at the ceiling.Why did I have to go and kiss her again? And why did she have to kiss me back?

Sofie snatches a pen and paper from near the phone and brings it to the counter. “Uh-huh.” She scribbles something down. “Where was this?”

Her handwriting is fluid yet precise. She tucks the phone into the crook of her neck. “Okay. Can I get your name, please?” After another pause where she jots down more information, she adds, “Thank you. I’ll get him the message.”

After ending the call, she reaches back across the counter to replace the receiver. The movement raises the hem of her sweatshirt, revealing a bare patch of pale skin at her waist.

My cock twitches. In the split second before she turns back to me, I attempt to adjust myself, but the contact makes the throbbing worse.

Thankfully, Sofie is oblivious to my suffering. “The house line is the same for Dad’s job, and it’s hunting season.”

“Everything all right?”

“Dad’s been tracking a poacher all season. Sounds like there’s been another one.”

“How do you know it’s the same person?”

She taps the pen on the pad as if still thinking, then turns to me. “We should get going. Hand over that shirt. I can fix it while you shower.”

I’m tempted to tease her about getting me out of my clothes, but the rules of engagement between us are already too murky, and her question about keeping her in the dark feels like a line drawn in the sand. One I won’t cross.

I reach up and slip my top button from its hole, then the next. To my delight, she squirms a little as I get to the last button. What’s even better is I don’t think she realizes she’s doing it.

When I slide the denim from my shoulders, she’s completely fixated. Though my undershirt hides my scars, I still feel exposed. I place the shirt in her outstretched palm and continue down the hallway.

But not before I catch the longing in her sigh.

Chapter Fourteen

ZACH

Even though Sofiedrives slowly and veers around the bigger holes and washboards, I’m sweating and hyperventilating by the time we reach the pavement.

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