Page 79 of Dangerous Mission

Her eyes are rounder than I’ve ever seen them. I’m afraid they’re only going to look more distressed after I drop a load of reality on her.

“Buckle up, sweet girl.”

“Oh, I forgot.”

I reach across, grab the belt and shove it home. Then I put the truck into drive and hit the gas.

It takes a few miles before I get up the courage to rip the proverbial bandaid off and lay it on the line.

She’s completely silent and the air inside the truck is hot, thick and nervy.

After drawing a breath, I spit out the first fact. “We can’t have sex.”

The silence gets even more dense.

I glance her way and wish I hadn’t. She’s more beautiful, more destructive than ever before.

The flush on her cheeks is mine. The color on her lips is mine.

I want nothing more than to own the rest of her.

But that’s not fucking happening.

Rain starts to fall from the moisture-laden sky, hitting the windshield in fat, random drops.

“Is something broken?”

I take my eyes off the road and put them on her again. “Broken?”

She presses her lips flat as a deep red blush slides onto her cheeks. “There’s other ways to be intimate.”

Oh fuck. Now I know what she’s talking about. “I thought you felt my cock pressing against you.”

“But I guess it could still be broken.”

“No, sweet girl. I’m one hundred percent in working order. At least when it comes to my hardware.”

She goes silent again and I wish like fuck I’d never started this conversation.

Or kissed her.

I almost choke on my own tongue from telling myself that lie.

Staring through the increasing rain, I curse the fire that changed everything.

Another lie. I was already fucked before that, when it came to intimacy. The fire was just the final straw.

“Scout, remember we said total honesty between each other.”

Swallowing deeply, I tighten my hands on the steering wheel. “I can’t have normal sex.”

Her comeback is instant. “Explain.”

“You know I don’t like to be touched.”

She curls her hands into her lap. “Do you ever have sex?”

Maybe I’m hoping to scare her off because I say. “Yeah, I have sex. A lot of it.”