Page 91 of When We Burn

“Stephen, do you know Bridger Blackwell?”

Stephen’s head comes up with a frown, and then he must hear the other man approaching because he glances behind him and nods.

“I do. Hey, Bridger, I didn’t realize you lived across the street.”

“Yeah,” my man says as he slips his arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him. “I do. What’s going on here?”

“Oh, my car decided to die on the wettest day of the year, and Stephen gave me a ride home.”

“Here you go, Dani. My number’s in there.” Stephen passes me my phone, smiling softly at me, and Bridger stiffens beside me. When I look up, his dark eyes arefurious.

“In case I need another ride tomorrow.”

“She won’t,” Bridger says, turning his attention back to Stephen. “But thanks for taking care of my girl today. I appreciate it.”

He holds out his hand for Stephen to shake. The other man looks at me with a quizzical smile and then back at Bridger.

“Of course.” He takes Bridger’s hand, and I can see that Bridger’s grip isjusttoo tight. “Like I said, happy to help.”

He pulls away, nods at me, and then walks down to his car, pulling out of my driveway.

“What was that?” I ask, frowning up at the angry man beside me. He’s practically vibrating. “Why the dick-measuring contest?”

His eyebrow climbs. “Don’t look now, sweetheart, but you just swore.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of mad at you.”

“You’remad atme?”

“Yes.” I roll my eyes and unlock my door, walking inside. It smells a little musty, like it hasn’t been lived in much.

Because it hasn’t.

“You were rude to him, and there was no reason to be.”

“I was perfectly calm. Trust me, I wanted to punch him in the face, so you should be pleased with how that all went down.”

I set my things aside and prop my hands on my hips as I face him. “What? Why? He just gave me a ride home in the rain because my car died. He was totally nice to me.”

Bridger’s jaw tightens, and his hands flex into fists at his sides.

“Bridge, are you okay?”

“No.” He shakes his head and walks slowly to me. “I’mnotokay when another man drives you home, walks you to the door, and puts his motherfucking phone number in your goddamn contacts, Dani. There’s nothing about that scenario that is in the vicinity of okay.”

“Bridger.” I sigh and close my eyes. My man is beyond jealous, and he has no reason to be. “I’m yours. You know that. I’m not interested in Stephen at all, even if I was single, which I’m not.He’s just a friendlycoworker who saw that I had car trouble and helped me out. It was completely innocent.”

“For you.” He tips my chin up, finally touching me. “But I saw the look in his eyes when he looked at you, and it’s not innocent for him.”

“That doesn’t matter,” I insist. “My intentions are what matter here, and there aren’t any intentions with that man. He’s just a nice guy. End of story.”

Bridger shakes his head and then his lips are on mine, hard and unrelenting, as his hands dive into my hair, holding me in place so he can plunder my mouth. With a groan, I lean into him, fisting my hands in the shirt at his sides, immediately ready for him.

I’malwaysready for him.

I’m in a skirt today, and he bunches it up around my waist as he picks me up and carries me to the kitchen where he sets me at the edge of the countertop, and his fingers pull my panties aside, and then a finger slips through my already wet folds, making me groan.

“That’s from you,” I manage to say against his lips. “Only you.”

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