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“There is nous, Blaze,” I say, my pulse accelerating.
“That’s not even remotely true,” he says, his eyes narrowing. Have I offended him? I don’t understand how.
The step he takes toward me makes me stumble backward. I want to stand my ground, but I absolutely don’t want him touching me. I fear what my response will be — and not that it will be bad.
“You can’t possibly be afraid of me,” he says, not backing away.
“Of course I’m not afraid of you, Blaze. I just prefer to stay on task. There’s really no point in discussing things that are better left buried.”
“Dang, you have that professor voice down pat, don’t you?” he asks with a chuckle. My fingers tighten on the strap I’m clutching like a lifeline. He came to me for help, but he certainly isn’t interested in making things the least bit easy on me.
“I want to talk rules before Iconsiderdoing this with you, Blaze.”
His lips turn up even more. I don’t appreciate that he’s amused by me. I’m no longer that naïve little teenager I was when he rescued me from the ocean. I can understand why he thinks it's different. I behaved with abandon on our weekend. Now I’m running hot and cold. I can’t seem to stop it.
“Rules?” he finally asks.
“Yes, rules, Blaze,” I stiffly tell him. “You came to me wanting help, and now I’m telling you my terms.”
“I’ve never been very good at following rules.”
“I shouldn’t have come. This wasn’t wise.” The stress of being here begins to weigh on me.
Before I can so much as move an inch, Blaze reaches out, taking my hand. “Sometimes in life, the biggest mistakes turn out to be the greatest blessings,” he quietly says.
The husky timber of his voice and the fire in his eyes have my knees shaking. Is he saying what we shared was a mistake? Or is he saying that doing this game together will end up being a blessing? I really don’t know. With concentrated effort I pull my hand from his grip and take a step back as I try to get my breathing under control. This is wrong — it’s so wrong, but I can’t seem to force myself to walk away.
“Can you do this professionally or are we going to have problems?”
“I don’t see any problem with us working together,” he tells me, but the look in his eyes promises the opposite.
“Fine, then do you want to hear my terms?” He smiles at me, as a parent would while indulging a naughty child. I decide I’ll have to get used to this from him. I can’t nitpick everything.
“What are your terms?”
“There will be no touching, no flirting, no trying to get in my pants.” His smile grows, but he says nothing. I take a breath and continue.
“We’ll keep this strictly business. And if you can’t promise this, I’m not helping you.” I cross my arms and give him my sternest look. His smile grows, and though I want to keep on talking to fill the uncomfortable silence, I wait.
“Let me counter,” he tells me. The low timbre of his voice makes me tremble. “I promise not to do anything you don’t want me to do.”
I wait for him to go on, but he decides this is all he wants to say. I glare at him for several moments but it seems that no matter how stern a look I give him, he isn’t one to back down.
“Then I guess there’s not a problem because I’ve made myself clear. I wantnothingfrom you.”
“Then we’re ready to begin,” he tells me. This is going to end badly for me, but I’m now too committed to back away. I sigh before deciding to give it a try.
“Let’s look at the map,” I tell him.
Blaze looks as if he wants to say something, but then, much to my relief, he lets out a sigh and begins walking to the guesthouse. I follow behind him, my fingers aching from gripping the strap on my chest so tightly. As we step into the small cabin and I look around, memories of the past assault me. I wonder how truly professional I’m going to be able to remain.
This isn’t just anyone, it’s Blaze, my first love. The past should stay buried, but it appears I just provided a shovel to dig it all back up.
Chapter Fifteen
Blaze
I wipe my palms on my pants, shocked to realize they’re sweating. I’ve been in places where bullets zipped past me, nearly taking my life, and I haven’t felt as nervous as I do while Cori sits across from me.
