Page 42 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

I rolled my eyes and tried to step away from him, but he wouldn’t release my hand. When I stared into his eyes, he said, “I missed you. I thought I was protecting you. I’m sorry I broke your heart. Please let me try to fix it.”

I lowered my gaze to our hands and softly caressed his with my thumb. Looking back up at him, I said, “I’m a firefighter, Kyrie. I’ll try to remember to tone down my protective instincts when we’re together, but it’s who I am. I save people.”

“I understand, Genesis. I just need you to understand me. In no circumstance do I want you putting your life on the line for mine. Saving me today and from the burning building, I get it. That’s your job. However, when shots rang out at Some Other Place was a totally different ball game and out of your scope of expertise. In situations like that, I need you to be protected, notthe protector. I love you. I will never be able to accept you laying down your life for me to have mine.”

I lowered my head again and nodded. “I understand.”

“Is that something we can compromise on?”

“I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I finally get my seafood dinner.”

A slow smile made its way to my lips as I leaned over and kissed his. Heat went through my body, just as it had done earlier, when his lips touched mine. When I pulled away, I said, “I missed and love you too.”

He finally released my hand so I could sit in the chair next to him. “So, I know you don’t plan to leave me in the dark about what happened, but Detective Johnson is out there, and she seemed a little tight when the lieutenant arrived. She was talking to him privately when I came back here. They will probably be making their way back before long. So is there something you can tell me about what happened?”

He nodded. I knew he really didn’t want to talk about it, since he had been so tight lipped about it before. Things were getting more intense, and if I was his woman, I needed to know what was going on so I could be aware of what or who I needed to look out for. Plus, my grandmother could possibly be a target for whoever was after him.

As my mind raced, before he could say a word, I said, “Oh shit.”

“Oh shit, what?” he asked.

“For them to be using my grandmother as a safe house, one of two things has to be true. Jesus Christ. Samuel has to be in on this. My daddy will turn flips in his grave if he is. If he isn’t involved in the corruption, he’s being blackmailed or forced to cooperate. How else would they know to use my grandmother’s house unless Samuel introduced them to her? It’s just so random that they used her. They used her before, but they know we hadsomething going on… I mean, it just all seems so coincidental, along with Samuel’s disdain for us dating.”

“Shit,” he said breathlessly.

We were both quiet as we allowed the information I’d just spewed to settle into our minds. “Why would Samuel get involved in this? I mean, if he needed money, he could have come to me or Mama. My mother got compensated handsomely when Daddy was killed. She invested a lot, too, and that only made her more money. He knows that. She would have gladly helped him. I just don’t understand it.”

Kyrie coughed then groaned. I could imagine that would hurt with fractured ribs. He brought his hand to them as the nurse came inside. “You okay, Judge?”

“Yes. I just coughed.”

“Ooooh, I know that’s painful. I’m sorry.”

She gave him a tight smile, and he did the same to her as I watched her fumble with the ice packs in her hands. “We have to ice your ribs for fifteen to twenty minutes to keep the swelling down. You’ll have to do this for at least the next week. The doctor may recommend longer. After that time has passed, you’ll be able to use heat.”

Kyrie nodded then winced as she laid the ice packs on him. “Start that timer immediately,” he said.

She chuckled. “I started it before I put them on you. So you’ll get a fifteen-second advantage. Once I take these off, you’ll be getting transported to a room. You have people waiting to see and talk to you.”

He nodded as she left us alone again. I stared at him for a moment and asked, “Where will you stay?”

“Probably my house. There’s no point in going back to Grandma Jean’s house.”

“Oh, so you’ve adopted my grandma as yours?”

“Absolutely. She’s a fun time. I had to beat her ass in dominoes for her to calm down a bit.”

I laughed and lightly clapped. My grandmother thought she was a master of dominoes. Unless you could beat her, you would never have her respect. I ran my hand down the back of my head again as I questioned myself about what I was about to say. We’d just gotten back together, and I was ready to dive all the way back in. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my insides. The way my body was trembling, it was like I was about to ask him to marry me.

“Just say it, baby,” he said.

I looked at him to find him staring at me. “I umm…”

“Genesis, why are you nervous? I know we just got back together, but I was hoping we would just be picking up from where we left off and not starting over. Tell me, baby.”

Although I knew he was talking softly because he was in pain, he sounded so sexy. My body didn’t even care that he was injured. It was still filled with desire. “I was going to offer my place. You can stay with me if you want to.”

He smiled slightly. “I want to, but I think my house is best. My mama can come and go as she needs to, because I know she didn’t leave town. She’s so hardheaded.”

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