Page 48 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

“I’d rather be hit by vomit than listen to Patrick for one more minute.”

He grinned and peeked into the back. “How’s the new job going?”

“It fucking sucks.”

He nodded knowingly. “Yeah, well, that happens when you take a job with Rafe. Didn’t you realize that after the first job?”

“It’s not fucking Rafe,” I sighed.

“It’s the girl. Yeah, I get it. She’s hot.”

“Why the fuck does everyone keep saying that?” I growled.

“Uh…I would guess because she is. Have you not bothered to look at your wife?”

I didn’t say a thing as I stared out the main window.

“Oh, shit. You haven’t slept with her?”

“I can’t,” I snapped. “It would muddy the waters.”

“Asher, this job could go on for years. Are you telling me you’re only going to use your hand to let off some tension between now and then? You’re going to end up going on a rampage and killing everyone in sight.”

I was fucking tired of explaining myself. I had to make the best call for myself, and that didn’t include getting my dick wet just to satisfy an urge.

“Are you having trouble figuring out how to approach her? Because I can give you some pointers.”

I slowly turned and glared at him, but he wasn’t even paying attention.

“This is actually a trade secret, and if you fucking tell anyone, I’ll have to kill you.”

“Is this about building the fucking fire?”

His jaw dropped as he turned to me. “Who told?”

“You. Remember, we jumped out of a plane together? All across the fucking mountain, all I heard was how you were building a fucking fire with her. You’re lucky you even got her in the end.”

“Hey, that was a good metaphor.”

“Yeah, well, metaphor or not, that’s not the way it is with Jade and me. There will be no fire building.”

He snorted. “Not with that attitude. There’s no way to build a flame if you’re going to throw in wet kindling.”

“I’m not wet kindling.”

“You kind of are. I get it,” he whispered, glancing over his shoulder to the back. “She’s the kind of woman that could turn into a fucking forest fire if you’re not careful. Then you risk that fire spreading, like those wildfires out in California. Before you know it, houses are burned to the ground and the police are coming after you because you didn’t take the proper care when starting the fire. And there’s not enough water in the world to put out those flames. So, then you’re worried about the fire burning out naturally or waiting until winter comes along.” He shook his head with a sigh. “That’s why you can’t let it burn out of control.”

I just stared at him. He was fucking crazy. “Where do you even get this shit?”

“It’s just common sense, man.”

I shifted in my seat. “Let me ask you something, if you had a relationship that was so hot it turned into a wildfire, why would you want it to burn out?”

“No, see, I didn’t say I wanted it to burn out. It’s just an eventuality.”

“If the relationship is that hot, why would it burn out? Wouldn’t it just continue to burn hotter?”

His brows furrowed as he thought about that. “I think you’re misunderstanding. Let’s start again. You grab some kindling…”

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