Page 47 of The Sun & Her Burn

But Linnea was already jumping out of the car and running to the attractive, curly-hair blond man, throwing her arms around him in a way that made jealousy bite the back of my tongue, the metallic taste of it like blood in my mouth.

“She’s notactuallyyou’re bloody girlfriend,” I muttered to myself as I got out of the car and followed.

But when she stepped back just as I reached them, I let instinct take over and curled a finger into the top of her leggings, tugging until she stumbled back into my side. Ignoring the look she aimed up at me, I slid my arm around her waist, palming thecurve of her hip. The skin of her belly was so soft, the scent of her like blooming hibiscus and ocean air.

“Hello,” I said, offering my hand. “Adam Meyers.”

The man’s eyebrows raised almost comically, his gaze darting between my possessive hand on Linnea’s hip, her face, and mine.

“Ugh,right,” he muttered, then seemed to remember himself and shook my hand. “Sorry, mate, just a bit stunned Lins didn’t tell me she was bringing a proper celeb today.”

“I brought two, actually,” she corrected as a door slammed somewhere behind us and the sound of feet approached.

I swallowed thickly, knowing without having to turn who stopped at my side and pressed slightly into my shoulder as they leaned forward to offer the man their own hand in greeting.

“Sebastian Lombardi,” he introduced in that rich Italian accent I would know anywhere across any amount of time. “Pleasure to meet you, Gary.”

“Pleasure’s mine,” Gary assured him, face lit up. “Couldn’t’a picked a better day for a dive, I’m tellin’ ya. Have you both been up before?”

Fuck no.

“Plenty of times,” Sebastian answered. “I actually got my C license a few years ago.”

“Seriously?” I asked, incredulous.

The idea that Sebastian and Linnea could find dropping to the earth from a great highfunwas extremely concerning.

Seb flashed me that movie-star grin, all teeth and parted pink lips. “I had to skydive for my stunts inEnemies Behind Closed Doors,and I fell in love with it. You haven’t skydived before, right? Not to worry, I can tandem with you, and Gary can take Linnea.”

My eyes burned with the intensity of the glare I leveled at him.

“Or I could always take Linnea myself?” he suggested, as he pushed his aviators into his black waves, revealing those precious-metal eyes that seemed to pierce through the centre of my soul.

“Absolutely not,” I said.

“So we go together,” Sebastian declared with a happy smile, turning to share it with Gary, who offered him two thumbs-up.

Fuck no, I thought again.

I didn’t have a fear of heights per se, but I didn’t fuck with them either.

“Linnea didn’t inform me that this was on our agenda for the day,” I said, but she cut me off, curling into me, pressing a hand to my chest and sliding it slowly, deliberately down my stomach to curl over my waistband, fingers dipping beneath to scratch lightly at the top of my groin.

A growl lodged in my throat that was painful to swallow down.

“I wanted to surprise you,” she said, full mouth pouting, eyes wide with mock sincerity. “You’re always surprising me, and I wanted to return the favor.”

Oh, the bloody cheek on her.

I dipped low enough to turn my mouth into her ear as if I was giving her a brief kiss. Instead, I whispered, “Careful, brat. You’re not too old to turn over my knee.”

A shiver rolled through her, pupils dilated as she pulled back to look up into my face. “Are you sure you’re not too old to make an impact?”

Without thinking, I leaned forward to nip the end of her nose in a little reprimand.

She scrunched it in response and stuck her tongue out at me. “Come on, sweetums, don’t tell me you’re scared?”

Yes, I was definitely going to get her back for this later.