Page 35 of Burning for You

“Please don’t make a fuss out of it. It was nothing, really,” I tell him. “Besides, it won’t be good for the charity.”

“That was what Suzanne said as well.”

Josh puts his arm around my shoulders loosely.

“Hold me, please,” I say. Even though I have a lot of things in my head, I can’t deny how rattled I am.

“Caro… I’m pretty beat. We… we had sex earlier…”

My heart was fluttering before, but this time it sinks. “I just want you to hold me. I don’t want sex, Josh.”

“Sorry. Come here,” he says with open arms.

I push him away and get up. “Forget about it. I never thought it would be too much to ask, for my fiancé to hold me.”

Josh, who’s supposed to be my comfort, glowers at me, following me to the bedroom. “You never just want me to hold you.”

“What?”

“You have a ferocious appetite. So your exes said. I know what you did in the bathroom! We’ve been together a year, and before now I never felt those remarks carried any weight. I guess your pelvic bone was still recovering.”

I gape. Not because I got found out—that doesn’t really matter. But truly, my fiancé is even more disgusting than the drunk who took me at Miller Hall.

His statement also makes me wonder—why, when a man possesses high libido, they exude manliness, but when the same trait is attached to a woman, then it becomes a stigma?

My need to slap Josh is almost uncontainable, but it’s enough ruckus for one night. So I leave and troop to the bathroom.

“Fine! Walk away. That’s what you do best.”

I breathe in, reminding myself not to turn into the crazed emotional partner I used to be. We’re both tired and not thinking straight.

I return to the bedroom and find my fiancé changing into his pajamas.

“I’ll sleep in the other room,” he says.

“Josh,” I say softly.

“What is it. Caro?”

“Montana… does Brilliance have any other project besides the Bozeman Airport?”

Josh cocks his head, perhaps thinking I’m here to apologize or to beg him to sleep with me in the same bed. I’ve left my anger at the door, but he’s the one who needs to apologize. Bringing up my pelvic injury was downright nasty.

“Why are you asking me that?” Josh tilts his head, as if trying to control his annoyance. I can see his breathing move from his abdomen up to his chest.

“I’m preparing for my meeting with Lee and Armstrong,” I say.

“Just the airport, Caro. That was a stupid question.”

I know a liar when I see one.

“I thought I’d ask, in case I need to look into something else beforehand,” I reply and then lock myself in the bathroom.

As I hear Josh walking away, I take the opportunity to check my messages.

Levi John Holt, 23. Born in Random Valley, Montana.

Former employee of Charter Flow Construction; terminated following a disciplinary action – health and safety breach resulting in injuries.

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