SeducetheFlame by Ella Drake Read Free Book Online Page B

gnats surrounding her. Clarissa hated gnats, but she’d
rather deal with them than be stuck with Ray in such a small space for one more
minute. The plane’s cabin had smelled like burned tar with Ray’s shoes still
melted onto the floor.
    She stood on the dock at Jonah’s river house and borrowed
the calm of the water. The surface was placid and it helped defuse the
unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach. A hint of a coming storm sent
ripples against the current, but for now, the river flowed in a quiet rush.
    They’d landed and Jonah had been there to transport Vince in
his SUV. Instead of going with them to get the patient settled, she’d taken one
look at Jonah’s empathetic expression and headed to the dock. She needed
fortification before she faced her old friend.
    “Jonah asked if you’d like to come in,” Ray called from the
shore. This is the first he’d spoken to her since he’d given her the death
knell.
    Friend .
    She was a friend. His buddy.
    Ray halted at the end of the dock. Barefoot, he stood there
in his slacks and button-down. It opened at the neck and exposed a tantalizing
peek of chest hair. Shifting one foot to the other, he appeared
uncharacteristically frazzled. She could’ve done that to him, knocked him off
his carefully arranged center. Or it could’ve been Vince. That their former friend
had tried to destroy them had hurt them all. Only Ray hadn’t shown it before.
    A shock of wind blew a lock of hair into her face. She
tucked it behind her ear and Ray’s brown gaze, edged with hungry red, followed
the action. She resisted the urge to run her hands through her hair to watch
that feral response again. Instead, she had to keep her distance. If he
couldn’t put aside his fear of their powers not balancing, or their joining
creating a one-sided vacuum that will kill the weaker of them, then she had to
move on. Same as she’d left her ex when the reality of their doomed future had
finally hit. It was time to cut the strings.
    “I’d rather stay out here. On the water.” She gave him her
back and kept it straight and her shoulders level.
    “Let me rephrase.” His coolness came at odds with the heat
that had licked across his features. “Jonah is ready to check your physical
condition. Now.”
    He emphasized the last with slight lifting of his voice. Not
so cool after all. She whipped around.
    “I’ll go in. If only because I want to visit with Jonah, my friend ,
anyway.” The emphasis on the word friend actually made Ray wince.
    No. Not so cool at all.
    At the end of the dock, she paused a step away but Ray
didn’t move aside. Normally, he’d be gracious, give her a half-smile and
perhaps take her elbow to lead her inside. Now his rigid jawline ticked as he
ground his teeth. His eyes glistened, sparks of yellow jumping in their depths,
and fever emanated from him as if he were a furnace on a low boil.
    She brushed past him. A low rumble sounded and she jerked
her head to the side, but he hadn’t moved or said a word. He simply stared out
at the river. She ached to touch that straight line of a mouth and feel it on
her pussy again.
    As if he’d read her thoughts, Ray jerked around to stare at
her.
    She whipped around and focused on putting one foot in front
of the other until she reached the back patio of Jonah’s house. Her friend gave
a wave and opened the sliding glass door. Wearing a long canvas black kilt and
an open vest, he didn’t exactly give off the air of a typical doctor,
especially with the long, braided white-blond hair and beard. Vaulting herself
up by stepping on his leather biker boots, she threw herself into his bear hug.
“You look the same as always.”
    He patted her back and murmured, “So do you. So do you.
Gorgeous and free with affection. Just how I like my women.”
    She slapped at his shoulder and pushed free of his hug to
stand on the floor.
    “How is Vince? We need to question him.” Clarissa’s smile
felt frozen to her face.
    Jonah