The Fire Still Burns by Crystal-Rain Love Read Free Book Online Page A

would follow.  She wouldn't give up the chance to go off on him once they were away from the firefighters who’d arrived on the scene minutes after them.
    “Explain yourself.”  Her order was low in voice, but strong in tone.  He could tell by the way she growled the words that she was royally pissed.  He didn't blame her.
    “I will,” he promised.  “Just not here, not right now.” 
    She huffed and he couldn't help but look at her, taking in the way the spots of color diffusing her cheeks matched the red highlights in her hair, the way her breasts rose and fell as she breathed hard and angry.
    The urge to kiss her, which had swept over him by the Mulroney property, hit him again, slamming into him with the force of a hurricane wind.  What the hell was wrong with him?  She had already burned him once, and now she knew something that could ruin his whole family.  The last thing he should be worrying about was kissing her, despite the desperate yearning clawing its way through him as he gazed at her rose-hued lips.
    He shook off the confusing sensation while he held the passenger door open for her, looking away while she got in the truck.  He couldn't let the fact that she looked innocent, had always looked innocent, cloud his judgment.  She fooled him once.  Shame on her.  If she fooled him twice…well, then that would just make him a great big idiot, wouldn't it?
     
    ~~~
     
    Brynn fumed in silence, angrier at herself than at Adam.  She'd let him destroy evidence.
    Evidence!
    How could she begin to justify her actions?  Her job was to find the arsonist.  Letting evidence burn and not saying a word to the fire chief was not the way to run an arson investigation.
    She’d let her personal feelings cloud her judgment and had gone along with Adam’s lie.  Her stupidity was laughable.  Adam wasn't there for her when she'd needed him, but it didn't stop her from going along with his story.  Why did she help him, knowing he'd turned his back on her when she'd needed him most?
    “Enough stalling, Good.  Fess up.  My patience is wearing thin.”  She barked out the demand and clenched her hands into tight balled fists, her nails imprinting crescent marks along her palms.
    Adam glanced her way, but didn't say a word.  He continued to steer the truck down the narrow rural lane, his facial expression grim and tight.
    “Adam.”
    “I know.  Just…wait.”
    Maybe it was his tone, but she managed not to slug him.  A part of her even felt compassion for him.  She found herself wanting to erase the tired, troubled look in his eyes.  Wasn't that a bitch? 
    He turned off the road, maneuvered the truck down a dirt road, which after half a mile, formed a circle encompassed by trees.
    “I can't believe you brought me to Lover's Loop.”  Brynn gasped in outrage, recognizing the teen make-out spot.  She and Adam had fogged up many a window during their late-night make-out sessions on the circular road.
    “I didn't bring you here to neck.”  Adam shut off the engine and turned toward her.  “Nobody comes out here in the daytime.  I want a quiet, private place to talk.”
    “To confess, you mean.”  She narrowed her gaze on him.
    Adam grimaced.  “Yeah, I guess.”
    “You burned evidence, Adam.  Why shouldn't I turn you in?”  She studied him, taking in the strained look on his face, the tense shoulders as he stared out the windshield with his hands still gripped on the steering wheel.
    “My mother took it hard when my father died.  You remember how she was.  She took it even worse when Zeke was killed.”  He turned toward her and looked at her with his eyes beseeching understanding.
    “You're right about all this having something to do with Zeke.  I know this, but it would kill Mama to know that maybe Zeke did something bad enough to gain this much hatred.  Our whole lives, we were brought up to be perfect.  Perfect grades, perfect manners…you name it.  I was always a little bit