Page 79 of Burning for You

I didn’t know a belly button was connected to your prostate, but I’m feeling it.

Carolyn slowly takes off my t-shirt, raising her face to my shoulder. She walks her fingers on my rose tattoo. “What does it mean?” she asks.

“Immortal love.”

“Who’s the lucky lady?”

“I was highly philosophical then. It was just a hope. There was no one in my life at the time.”

“What about this one?” she says, moving to my other arm, circling the Weeping Virgin Mary.

I sigh softly. “I got it after my mom died.” It’s a discussion for another day, so I point at the tattoo on my right shoulder. “Why don’t you ask about this one?”

She kisses it. “Tell me about this feather.”

“Peaceful freedom,” I say. “I wanted Lucy to have her peace and freedom after she passed.”

Carolyn glides a light fingertip over my cheek, wiping a tear. “I’m sure she has.”

“I wish she was here. She’d love you, I’m sure.”

She gives the tattoo one more kiss.

I place my hand on her knee, saying, “Can we not talk about my tats anymore?”

“You just want to fuck?” she says, driving my hand to the fold of her thigh.

“That’d be nice,” I sigh, pulling the sheet over us. I jerk my hips, freeing myself from my shorts.

Her phone starts ringing again. I can see it’s Josh.

“Leave it,” she grumbles. But then her face sags. She leans into me, breathing hard. “Hold me.”

I put my arm around her, and she rests her head on my shoulder. Despite her earlier hint of wanting sex, and the fact that I’m naked with a hard-on, she now seems lost in her own thoughts. She rubs my pec, over and over, and then dozes off.

My cock nudges me with impatience. But it satiates me just observing her peaceful face. If anything, I want her to fall into a deep sleep. We have one hell of a fight ahead of us. She needs all the energy she can get.

I gently thumb the love bite I left on her neck—I’m sure she had some sort of mini-orgasm because of it. This impossible woman!

“It’s so comfy,” she suddenly murmurs.

Oh, she’s woken up already?

Carolyn stretches.

My cock has fallen asleep now, so I might as well bring up what’s really at stake. “So, what are we gonna do?”

“Well, I’ll gather all information I can in the next couple of days. You’d better call your accomplice at Brilliance and find out what else he can get.”

“Of course.”

“You were pretty resourceful,” she says, slowly nudging herself to sit up. “I couldn’t even find anything about Montana from the system. That night, after your brother crashed my party, I was looking tirelessly.”

“You believed my brother?” I say, bewildered. “He was stoned that night.”

“Yes, I did believe him. Not because of what Jesse said, but because of Josh’s reaction when I brought it up after we got home.”

Carolyn has smarts. No one will ever lose if they have her by their side.