Page 70 of Burning for You

“Is that why you two hate each other?”

“Perhaps. But really, I don’t hate him. Since our dad passed, he’s only sober ten percent of the time, and we’ve fought each other so much I feel he’s not my brother anymore.”

“Well, he’ll wake up. So you’ll still have a chance to kiss and make up.”

I nod with a light chuckle.

“It must be nice to have siblings,” she says. “My mom couldn’t have any more kids.”

“You don’t look spoiled enough to be an only child.”

“Oh, no. My parents never spoiled me. I made my own bed, I took public transport to school, and I’ve worked for my pocket money since I was five.” She pauses for a moment, and then adds, “Although I was pretty hardheaded. Still am.” She scoffs at herself. “I got it from my dad, I guess. Wise men stay away from me—because of Dad, and because I remind them too much of him.”

“Is that a warning?” I quip.

“No. It’s just an honest confession.”

“Should I be scared?”

“Maybe,” she says. “But you know what? Learning from the past, I can say that men got scared because they came with the wrong intentions. They usually wanted me for what I have.”

I’m not after anything she has—I just want her. No, I’m not scared of her. If anything, I’m drawn to her even more.

If I fall in love with someone, of course I’ll put her first before Jesse. But for a girl to be able to deal with my crazy brother—lovingly—regardless of the situation, is even more special, because I never thought I would find someone like that.

“Actually, Levi,” she says, “when I asked you if you wanted to ‘talk about it,’ I meant… the sex.”

I choke. I dread the possibility that she might say it was a mistake.

But she kisses my lips. “It was the best I’ve had,” she whispers.

“Carolyn…”

“Call me Caro.”

“Is that what people call you?”

She nods.

“Then I’ll stick with Carolyn.” I transfer the name to her lovely mouth straight from mine. I’m ready to plunge my tongue inside her, but my moment is cut short. A man’s voice juts from around the corner, asking one of the hospital staff for Carolyn Meyer.

Carolyn draws herself to her full height.

Two men soon appear at the end of the corridor where we’re waiting in. She gets up to meet them.

“Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Lee.”

The man Carolyn has just greeted as Mr. Armstrong holds his handshake. “Are you all right, Miss Meyer?”

“I’m sorry I went AWOL, gents,” she says. “But I just had something personal that couldn’t wait.” She glances at me. “My friend’s brother is really sick. I didn’t have mobile reception where I was, so I told the Bozeman airport staff to contact you as soon as I could.”

“Josh sounded upset when I told him you didn’t show up,” the other man, Lee, says.

“Upset?” she says. “I hope he didn’t spark a search or something?”

The men shake their heads.

Why didn’t Josh? Could he have thought Rupert was behind her disappearance? Or did he suspect that Carolyn had found something? So he was careful enough not to involve the police hastily. He was upset because the scheduled meeting didn’t take place, or he was simply acting.

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