Burned (Devil's Blaze MC #3)(43)

“Whatever, I know what I saw.”

“Yes, and you just admitted there was someone in the club Beth couldn’t trust. So, don’t you think you should have checked it out a little bit better?”

“You probably don’t get this, but when you get enough men slamming doors in your face and hurting you, you learn when to f*cking throw in the towel.”

“Someday, you’ll tell me all about that.”

“I doubt it, since this—whatever this is—will end soon.”

“I don’t see that happening,” he says.

“You’re deluding yourself.”

“So you’re not even going to try?” he asks. “I never figured you for a quitter, Katie.”

“I’ll give you a week. One week to show me whatever this is between us, and to convince me that you really do have my and Beth’s interests at heart.”

“That seems like a lot to accomplish in a week.”

“Are you not up for the challenge?”

“I didn’t say that, sweetness. We need some ground rules, though. First of all, you’ll not try to run away. If we can’t have that trust between us, I can’t let my guard down around you and vice versa.”

“Done.”

“That was awful easy.”

“Done, for one week only,” I qualify.

“We will be in Kentucky in a week.”

“I’m not opposed to going to Kentucky, but I’m not about to give Beth the okay until I know it’s absolutely safe.”

“Okay, then. One week. Next, you do whatever I ask of this body. You trust me to take control and give you exactly what you need.”

“Umm… are you about to get freaky on me? I watched that movie, you know. The one with the red room.”

“I can promise you, however freaky I get, you’ll like it.”

“I want a better safe word than the lame one they used.”

He seems shocked at my reply, but smiles. “That’s doable. What word?”

“Bastard.”

“Bastard?”

“It’ll be the easiest word to remember if you piss me off.”

“Fine, whatever. It’s not like you will use it, anyway. So, are we making a deal here?”

“Do we seal it with a kiss?”

“Well, we can start with a kiss,” he says, taking my mouth.

I hope I didn’t just let my hormones make a huge mistake.





“I want to know where Beth is.”

I wince as I hear Skull’s voice. He’s pissed. He’s more than pissed.

“I’m not telling you,” says Katie. “Torch says you won’t hurt my sister, but I don’t trust you.”

“You will tell me what I need to know.”

“Not ‘til I know for sure that you’re safe. I have my sister and my niece to look out for.”

“Listen, perra…”

“I’ve been called worse. But I’m not the f*cker who gave the woman who loves me a pile of cash and told her to get lost with my child. So you can back the f*ck off. I’m already regretting agreeing to this,” Katie growls, throwing the phone back to me.

I make a judgment call. I hope I’m doing the right thing. “Sweetness…”

“He’s such an ass. I have no idea why my sister loves him.”

“She loves him?”

“Don’t be an *. Of course she does.”

“Two years is a long time.”

“It’s been longer than that, and of course she does. She hardly gives anyone but me and Gabby the time of day. Men throw themselves at her and she’s oblivious. When she got his note that night in the hospital, it almost destroyed her.”

With that, I carefully turn the phone off without drawing attention from Katie. “Let’s talk about something that doesn’t make you so tense. I have plans for you today.”

“Plans? That doesn’t sound cryptic at all.”

“Nothing for you to worry about, remember?”

“It came back to me when you demanded I not wear underwear and put on a skirt this morning.”

“You look amazing.”

“I’m not used to men telling me what to wear.”

“You’re not used to having a man around at all. I’ll make you like it.”

“You keep saying that.”

“I’ll prove it,” I tell her, pulling into a parking lot.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she says, finally seeing where we’ve pulled into. “A dildo shop?”

“Shame on you. It’s adult novelties,” I correct her. “They sell much more than dildos. Of course, if that’s what you want, I’ll be glad to get one of those, too,” I add with a wink.

“I am not going in that store with you.”

“I never pictured you as a prude, sweetness.”

“I’m not. I have toys. I just tend to order them.”

“You have toys? I didn’t see them in your things.”

“I planned to buy more when I got settled.”

“Then we can pick them out together because, sweetness, I’m definitely the only man who will use them on you.”