Page 38 of Fatal Deception

He’d never had that. Hadn’tlethimself have it, and he wouldn’t have even all these years later, but it had just…happened.Shehad just happened. And he didn’t know anyone like her. Never had. She was damn confusing, was what she was. One minute all soft and self-sacrificing, the next hard and demanding and always…alwayscarrying too many weights on her shoulders like she was the only one who could.

Her smile faded. She probably saw what was in his expression, but she stood her ground. He could walk away. He could—

But she stepped forward. She didn’t shy away from meeting his gaze. She had to see the conflict there, between the things he shouldn’t want and the things he did. And maybe he thought he saw the same things in her gaze. That was what gave him the permission.

Because if anyone deserved the things she wanted—even if she shouldn’t—it was this woman right here.

So he kissed her. Just swooped down and pressed his mouth to hers, settled his hands on her hips and drew her in.

He kissed her until he forgot there was anything else in this world except the feel of her mouth against his.

She kissed him back. That impossible mix of sturdy and soft. Demanding and giving. And when she leaned against him, of her own volition, he felt like he’d won a war.

It wasn’t wild so much as rooted. Tangled. It felt like being pulled under and into something he didn’t understand, or maybe was afraid to. But the honeyed pleasure of the taste of her in his mouth coated any fear.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned into him fully. He would have leaned right back, but something flickered in his peripheral vision. For a second, he thought maybe he was seeing stars, but it penetrated. How wrong it was. The flicker against the dark. He managed to get his mouth off hers, turned his head and…

“Audra. Out the window. Fire.”

Chapter Twelve

Audra didn’t understand the words at first. Her body was a riot of sensations and…fire.

Fire. Actual fire. All that heat, sizzle, fascinating intensity, drained out of her into a cold, icy fear as her eyes finally accepted what she was looking at.

Copeland had already started moving for the back door. His phone was to his ear and he was barking out orders to whomever he’d called.

She took a stumbling step forward, her twisted ankle forgotten until pain shot up her leg. She swore at herself, then limped another step toward the back door.

Copeland wrenched it open, but he turned to face her. His expression was all sharp lines, his words stern. The kind of order meant to be obeyed without question.

“Stay put.”

She looked beyond him, to where the tool shed was engulfed in flames, shooting light and smoke up into the dark sky above. The shed was the closest outbuilding to the house. Luckily, it housed no animals, but it contained a lot of her yard tools and very little that could have just…spontaneously combusted.

He nudged her back. “Fire department is on their way. I need you to stay inside. I’m just going to look around the perimeter. You stay inside and lock the door.”

She wasn’t trying to be a pain. She wasn’t trying to cause a problem. She was trying to understand, and she couldn’t do itif she stayed inside. She couldn’t comprehend… “Copeland. It’s my place.”

“I know it.”

The conviction in his tone was strong enough, out-of-character enough, she moved her gaze from the fire to him. His dark eyes were intense, but it wasn’t that impatience she was so used to. There was something more understanding there.

“You can’t go limping around when someone was out there starting a fire on your property. You are the center of this Audra, like it or not. You have to protect yourself.”

“What about you?”

He patted his hip, where he still had his gun from earlier. “It’s my job, Audra. I’m damn good at it. I need you to let me do it, okay?”

She supposed it was that he wasalmostasking this time around that allowed her to nod.

He looked around the flames, the backyard. Cursed. “Look, stay off the foot if you can, but if you’re looking for something to do, get yourself a gun. The front door is locked but I need you to lock this one behind me.”

But locking him out sounded…bad and dangerous. For him. Her purse was right there on the counter, so she pulled her keychain out of it, then jerked open the junk drawer and retrieved a flashlight. She handed both to him, but he hesitated.

No time for that, she understood. She grabbed his hands and forced everything into them.

“Fine,” he muttered. Then he was out the door, but she noted he waited.