Page 17 of Controlled Burn
He adjusted his bunker pants, jaw tight enough to crack. He was slipping. Control. Sanity. Maybe both.
He ducked into the laundry room, desperate for distance from the storm inside him.
But she was already there. Folding towels like nothing had happened. Like she hadn’t shattered his self-control just hours ago. Her eyes stayed on her hands, but he saw the tremble in her fingers as she smoothed the fabric. Her Chanel perfume hung in the air—citrus, smoke, roses. The edge of her tattoo peeked from her sleeve: deep burgundy petals, bruised against pale skin, thorns curling up her forearm.
Dahlias for armor.
“Captain,” she said, voice low, not looking up.
“Cross.”
Silence, sharp and brittle.
Then the door creaked, an ominous groan slicing through the hush.
Nina Watts stepped in—all lazy grace and tension, her expression unreadable.
“Didn’t know anyone was in here,” she said, too casually.
Dean straightened, heart hammering like an alarm bell. “Just getting laundry.”
“You need something?” he added, sharper than intended.
“Yeah. My fleece.”
“Grab it. Go.”
She did, but not before casting them a look—less suspicion, more calculation. Like she knew. Or soon would.
When the door clicked shut, Talia turned to him, voice barely above a whisper. “You think she suspects?”
“I think we shouldn’t be in the same room alone.”
“But we are.”
He looked at her as if she were fire.
“You’re going to ruin me.”
She smiled—bitter, cracked. “You’re already ruining me.”
They stood there, caught in the gravity of what they’d done and what they hadn’t dared say. His hand twitched at his side. He wanted to touch her. To confirm she was real.
But he didn’t.
***
Later, Dean sat in his office, phone pressed to his ear.
“Dean,” his wife’s voice was clipped. Cold. “You didn’t call back last night.”
“We got back late. Training ran over.”
“You could’ve texted.”
He rubbed his neck. “Didn’t think it mattered anymore.”
Silence. Then, soft and deadly: “If that’s how you feel… maybe we should stop pretending this marriage is salvageable.”
