Page 28 of Turn Up The Heat

“Are we going far? Because I’ll be honest. I can’t see a thing,” Bellamy admitted with an unsure waver in her voice.

“Yeah, this is a totally different brand of dark than you get in the city. Here.” He captured her gloved hand in his bare one, just meaning to help her get her bearings.

But the way she squeezed him made him forget his own.

“Sorry.” She let go of a nervous laugh. “I promise, I’m not normally scared of the dark.”

He commanded his legs to move and the pang in his chest to settle. “Don’t worry. I felt the same way the first time I came up here.”

“Well, sure. You were probably like eight or something when that happened, though.”

Shane’s thoughts darted to the first time he’d stumbled upon Carrington Ridge, but he quickly stuffed the memory away. By the feel of the hard, flattened grass under his boots, where they stood right now should do the trick. Most of the snow that had fallen the week before had melted, exposing big gaps of frozen earth. Shane stopped about halfway through the field, eyeballing it in the dark shadows. Yeah, this was good. He made quick work of unfurling the blanket, kneeling down to make sure no sharp twigs would poke through and hurt Bellamy when she sat down.

Nope, not even a stray rock or anything below the dirt. This was perfect.

“Okay. This’ll do it.” He sat down on the blanket, making sure there was plenty of room for her to sit next to him, but she hesitated.

“You coming, or what?” he asked, jerking his head toward the space on the ground next to him.

“Where?” she asked back, sounding thoroughly confused.

Shane’s laughter felt warm and good as it left him. “To see the view, of course. It’s been right in front of you the whole time.”

* * *

Bellamy’s eyeshad finally adjusted to the dark, which now looked less like a pitch black abyss and more like layers of shadow on shadow. At least now she could make out Shane’s silhouette against the background of the night around them, with his legs kicked out casually over the blanket he’d put down. He seemed to be measuring her with his look, head tilted to one side, but she couldn’t quite tell in the dark.

“So, you think you can trust me for a second? It’s better with your eyes closed.”

Bellamy was tempted to retort that of course she trusted him, she’d ridden right into the heart of no-one-can-hear-you-screamville with him, for God’s sake, but instead she just gulped. The closest breathing person had to be miles from here. She and Shane were very, very alone together, and he’d just asked her to sit down next to him, close her eyes and trust him.

Oh, God, she wanted him to kiss her again.

“Um, okay.” Since when did her voice sound all breathy and soft? She sat down next to him and extended her legs toward the edge of the blanket. Bellamy closed her eyes, wishing she’d had the wherewithal to subtly pop a breath mint after downing that cup of coffee. “There.”

Shane was so close to her that she could smell his skin, a combination of woodsy cedar-scented soap and lean, strong man that made her want to breathe him right into her body. “Okay,” he murmured, his clothes rustling as he shifted his weight next to her. “All you have to do is lean back and open your eyes.”

She clutched. “Lean back, like lie down?” Bellamy squeaked. Ohhhhh, as much as she was attracted to him, this might be more than she’d bargained for right out of the gate.

“If you want.”

And then she got it.

Bellamy braced herself with her palms and eased back onto the blanket, keeping her eyes shut but unable to suppress her Cheshire-cat grin.

“Shane?” She tipped her head toward him as she spoke, inadvertently landing her ear on his shoulder.

“Mmm?” he asked, breathing into her hair in reply.

If she hadn’t been so preoccupied with one-upping him, she’d be turned on right down to her toes. “Why didn’t you cut through all the crap and just say we were coming up here to look at the stars?”

His sexy, no-boundaries laugh spilled out of him again, and it froze her breath in her lungs.

“Open your eyes and see what all the fuss is about, Bellamy.”

Bellamy’s lids fluttered open. Stars littered the sky like an ocean of diamonds over a velvet canvas, some burning so brightly that they were unmistakable; others, so dim they barely smudged the space with light.

She gasped, eyes flying wide. “Oh.”

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