Page 21 of Heated

I hope for your well-being it’s the last time.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to say, “Me too.”

But it remains there, heavy and silent.

Because it’s a lie.

CHAPTER FIVE

ZORA

Damn straight, I’m offended.

I pull out of the parking lot at a deliberately sedate pace, when all I want to do is smash my foot to the accelerator and tear out of there.

Away from that beautiful, aloof mask that managed to be both inscrutable and disapproving. Away from those crystalline, cold eyes that saw too much and offered nothing in return. Away from the living temptation in taut, golden flesh.

Good Lord.

I’m crazy. I’m losing it.

Lust for the most wrong, inappropriate man in the world is making me lose my mind.

“Spill it, Zora. And don’t try to tell menothing. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have a chokehold on the steering wheel like it’s a Karen who tried to touch your hair in the grocery store.”

Okay. Miriam does have a point. I let up on the steering wheel, slightly wincing at the low-grade ache in my fingers. Straightening and flexing them, I sigh and shake my head, throwing a sidelong glance at my sister.

Both of her dark eyebrows jack high.

“Oooh. That good, huh? C’mon, Nelson. Get it off your chest. It’ll make you feel better,” she says in a singsong voice.

I snort. Doubtful. Still, my sister might be crazier than a bedbug, but since we were younger, we’ve been the keeper of each other’s secrets. In a house like ours, where a failing test grade or a secret boyfriend or a chore gone undone could be the excuse used to set off the Wars of the Roses, we learned early on to be the other’s confidante. Old habits die hard.

“It’s Cyrus Hart.”

“Iknewyou were going to say that,” she crows, wagging a finger at me.

But not satisfied with that, she pokes it in my side, and with an undignified squeal, I just manage not to jerk the wheel into the next lane.

“Miriam! Dammit, I’m driving!”

“Sorry.” Her wide grin says differently. “But Iknew it,” she sings again. “I was joking about you seeing him in all his naked glory but not about the attraction between you. Seriously, when you guys walked off, I thought I was going to have to cover some tender-aged youth’s eyes. Hot, Zora. And I ain’t mad at you. At all. What was it? Don’t tell me a one-night stand? Oh shit! Was I right about that? Tell me his di—”

After removing one hand from the steering wheel, I stretch an arm out and clap my hand over her running mouth.

“Breathe.”

She glares at me over the top of my hand, but she stops talking. I lower my hand and return it to the steering wheel.

“Cyrus Hart is a client’s ex. She hired us a couple of weeks ago to end their relationship, and since we were short staffed at the time, I had to take the job.”

“Sooo you broke up with him ... and then you fucked him?”

“What? No! God, no,” I practically yell.

Miriam shifts, the rustle of her harem pants sliding over skin filling the interior. A glance to the side reveals her shoulders squared against the window.

“Start from the beginning,” she says, for once with no hint of humor shading her voice.