Page 68 of Burning for You

Her steely stance immediately softens. In less than a second, she becomes Carolyn the human—vulnerable, sweet, yet defiant. She almost cries when I touch her chin, nudging it up so she faces me.

I whisper, “We do this together, yes?”

She takes a deep breath. “Yes. You won’t lose this land. I promise.” She examines the documents more closely. “It’s a digital signature. Someone has stolen it. I swear. You’ve gotta believe me. I would never do such thing!”

“Your fiancé seems to have gone the extra mile to try to bring you down.”

“Josh has tricked me into buying some of his shares, under the illusion that the funds would be used for building improvements in New York. At the same time he’s been pushing me to deal with these Bozeman people.” Carolyn sits back down on my bed. “It’s like he wants me to be the face of Brilliance—I don’t know, with my reputation? My connection to conservation?”

I nod and weigh in on her speculation. “Maybe he wants the public to think his project is environmentally friendly and all that.”

“Maybe. And if there’s fallout, I’ll be the one copping it while Josh can wash his hands, and Rupert can bail out quietly.”

I reach for her hand, then I put it on my heart. “Promise me you’ll return this land to the Holts.”

“I swear.” She squeezes my hand back. “I wish I’d known and could’ve done something sooner. You didn’t deserve to lose your dad over this.”

My parting mouth reaches for her perfectly-shaped lips. “Don’t ever tell my brother about us. He’ll kill you,” I whisper, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“He’ll kill me regardless of who you fuck.”

“I’ll take you back to Bozeman tomorrow.”

“Good,” she says.

Before we can think of what’s next, we hear Jesse’s voice.

“Jeans!”

“What does he want now?” I grumble.

“Don’t you wanna check on him? He’s still tied up?”

“No. I let him loose. Just ignore him.”

“LEVI!”

Part of me wants to ignore his hysterics, but I’ve never heard my brother scream my name like that. And Jesse doesn’t even make an attempt to get out of his room—if he was upset, he would be here in front of me.

Then I hear a thud.

“Go,” Carolyn says, worried.

“God!” I find Jesse on the floor, shaking from a seizure. His eyes flip back. “Jesse, what have you done?” I see pills scattered around him. I should’ve left him tied up.

In my panic, the figure of Carolyn Meyer comes to me like a calming force. She kneels next to Jesse.

I frown at her—begging her for… I don’t know, understanding, help, or something. Because I’m starting to think today is the day that I’m going to lose my brother.

With no shred of hatred, she holds Jesse’s hand. If someone told me she was a nurse, I would believe them.

“Jesse, Jesse.” She taps on his cheek and takes his pulse. “He’s OD’ed! You need to take him to the hospital.”

“It’s four hours away. It might even take close to five hours—and it’ll be sunset soon. Will he make it?”

“With the plane you can be there in less than an hour. Go on, get it ready. I’ll stay with Jesse.”

I look at her with a blank face.

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