Slow Burn (24 page)

“I need time to think about it,” Ashley
said.

The policewoman sighed. “We can’t predict
when he’ll strike again so—”

“I said I’ll think about it.” She felt bad
for snapping at the officer who was only doing her job. “I’ll let
you know in the morning. Not now.” Please, she begged with her
eyes.

Again, the intuitive officer caught on fast.
She nodded. “You do that, Ms. Fitzgerald. For now, I have a team
outside should you need anything.”

“Thank you.” Ashley watched Ron escort the
officer to the door, then bristled when he pushed the door shut
softly and stayed there, his hard eyes on her. She wanted to say
“what?”, but something in his eyes made her keep her mouth shut. He
started toward her in measured steps.

“Are you okay?” His tone was mild, but he
reminded her of a volcano about to erupt.

She shrugged and tried to match his tone.
“I’ll live.”

“Not you won’t,” he snapped, causing her to
flinch. Then as if he regretted it, he took a deep, calming breath.
When he reached her side, his arms slipped around her waist and he
hugged her tight. She leaned against him, drawing on his warmth,
his steady and solid presence.

“Tell me why?” Ron turned her around and
peered into her face. He rubbed her arms, his expression grim.

She wanted to physically retreat but was so
tired. Truth be told, she wanted to crawl in bed and forget today
ever happened. Not the lovemaking part. That she’d treasure. But
the rest of it, she wanted to bury.

“I said I’ll think about it, Ron.”

“There’s no time for that,” he said
dismissively. “Not when that bastard knows where you live.” He
searched her face. “If you’re uneasy about having police
protection, then you should consider staying with me.”

And put him in harm’s way? She shook her
head.

“No.” She really didn’t want to think about
police and protection, or why Dunn and the people he worked for had
her home bugged. Right now she wanted to crawl under the blankets
and just howl.

“Babe, please come to my place until this is
over.”

She shook off the self-pity.

“I won’t let that man drive me from my home.”
Or put Ron in harm’s way by moving in with him. She didn’t know how
it happened, didn’t really care, to be honest, but she was in love
with Ron. And she was not about to let Dunn anywhere near him. She
lost way too many people she loved to add him to the list. “I’m not
running away, not anymore.”

His eyes narrowed with confusion. “Who said
anything about running away?”

“You came to see me a week and a half ago,
the spy stuff was planted before that. Dunn is after me because
of,” she tapped her head, “whatever I saw ten years ago. That’s why
he had my home bugged. Sure, someone out there wants to expose what
happened. But Dunn and whoever he works for want to bury it.” A
horrified sound escaped her. Kirkland. What if her first
conversation with Kirkland led Dunn to him? She was responsible for
what happened to him.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions. I received
the first letter about three weeks ago, too. Maybe the fact that I
went around and talked to my father’s old fire buddies brought Dunn
to your door.” Ron gripped her arms.

His assertion gave her a pause. How she
wanted to believe him, but no, she couldn’t delude herself.

“Thanks, but I can’t rule anything out. If
Dr. Reuben weren’t flying back east for a conference, I’d ask her
to hypnotize me first thing tomorrow morning. I want to know
everything now. Wednesday seems so far away.”

“If you insist on staying here, I’ll stay
too. We can find a way to keep busy until the good doctor returns.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and started leading her
toward the stairs.

“No.” Ashley dug in her heels and gently
nudged his arm off her shoulder. “I have a mural to finish
and—”

“What? You aren’t thinking of going to work
with this hanging over our heads?” He crossed his arms and fixed
his unflinching gaze on her.

“I’m not going to stop living—”

“Fine. I’ll take you wherever you need to
go.”

A man gives you multiple orgasms and he
thinks he owns you.
Couldn’t he get it through his thick head
that she was trying to protect his hide? If she was the target, she
wanted him as far away from her as possible. In fact, she planned
to call Officer Sanchez as soon as Ron left.

“You know what, Mr. Hotshot Firefighter? I
don’t recall asking you to be my bodyguard. I can take care of
myself,” she finished with a bite.

“Would you like a recap of what Dunn did to
your delivery boy?” he asked in a deceptively soft voice. “A boy, I
might add, who’s taller, bigger and stronger than you.”

Goosebumps spread across her skin. No, she
didn’t need a review of Dunn’s latest deed. To locate Nguyen’s Ford
Escort, the car he used to make deliveries, didn’t taken the cops
long. They discovered it in an alley not far from Ashley’s
apartment building, with the bleeding and duck-taped man in the
trunk. Just thinking about how frightened the poor man had been
made her light-headed.

“I’m not going to stop living because of that
man, Ron.” She brushed past him and headed toward the kitchen, but
he dodged her footsteps. “And I’m not moving in with you.”

“If the idea of staying at my place is so
unappealing and you don’t want me here, then go to your cousins’
for awhile.”

Cold fingers crept up her spine at his words.
The thought of anything happening to one of her cousins because she
couldn’t take care of herself was downright frightening. For ten
years, she had let fear of the unknown dictate how she dealt with
the events in her past. Heck, she never once wanted to look into
it, until the day Ron walked into her life. Even after she called
Dr. Reuben and discussed hypnosis, she still had reservations. Now
she knew that to beat Dunn at this cat-and-mouse game, she would
have to unlock the gates and let out whatever dark demons were
lurking in her subconscious. Her lost memories were the key to this
whole nightmare. Bringing her cousins into it would be just plain
stupid.

“I can’t, Ron,” Ashley whispered and stopped
by the counter.

“Why not?” Ron turned her around so she faced
him, his eyes glittering with frustration.

Anger slowly swelled inside Ashley. He was
becoming annoyingly pushy. She had to make him leave right now or
she would say something they’d both regret.

“Because I can’t paint anywhere but here. I
plan to start as soon as I finish developing the films I took today
or…,” her voice broke. Ashley took a deep breath and cleared her
throat. “Or there won’t be a show. In fact, I won’t need you to sit
for me for awhile.”

Ron muttered a curse under his breath and
shoved his hands in his pockets, as if to stop himself from
grabbing her and shaking some sense into her.

“Ashley, there won’t be a show if you’re
lying in the hospital with a broken body.”

The images his words created were gruesome.
To stop him from seeing how rattled she was, she turned, yanked the
freezer door and removed a box of her favorite ice cream. She
skirted around him, her face averted, opened a drawer and retrieved
a spoon.

“Damn it, Ashley.” He pulled her arm and
swung her around to face him. “Why are you acting like this?”

If only she could tell him the truth. The
thought of Dunn hurting him turned her insides cold. “I know you
think I’m being pig-headed but—”

“Pig-headed doesn’t begin cover it. You’re
taking chances with your life, and I won’t allow it.”

“You?” She leaned back with rounded eyes.
“When did this become about you?” Her tone was scathing.

“When you became my lover, babe, that’s
when.” His words were deliberate, as though he were explaining
himself to the village idiot. Eyes flaming, he leaned toward her.
“It changed the dynamics of our relationship.”

On a different day, his words would have
thrilled her. Right now she couldn’t afford to be swayed by them.
She tugged her arm free from his hand and put some distance between
them.

“Don’t be so sure about that,” she
mumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The smile she gave him was supposed to be
casual, but it cracked when she saw his expression. He was
intimidating when pissed, but she’d put up with his wrath to
protect him. She was going out on a limb here with this. If he
bought it, he would leave and she wouldn’t have to worry about him
on top of everything else.

“My cousins told me about your reputation,
Ron. That’s why I slept with you. I, uh, I just wanted to see if it
was true.” She almost choked on the lie. Disbelief flashed in his
eyes and pain at her deceit twisted her insides.
Why do we
always have to hurt the ones we love?

Her heart thumping hard, Ashley forced
herself to hold his gaze when all she wanted to do was run in his
arms, take back her words and love him madly. She swallowed and
continued.

“You actually lived up to your reputation.
Tonight may be just another notch on your bedpost, but it was the
best sex I’d had in a long time. You’re very good, except…,” she
paused, coward that she was, her gaze shifting to the pulse beating
erratically at the base of his neck, “you forgot one thing. You
were supposed to be gone before the sheets cooled down.”

She waited for him to curse her, grab his
jacket and storm out of her loft. That was what she would do if the
positions were reversed. No one liked to be used, then kicked
out.

She blinked in confusion when she saw the
corners of his mouth turn up. Her gaze dashed upward and connected
with his amused one. Surprise followed by annoyance sliced through
her when he started to laugh. Hard.

Ashley wanted to deck him, or throw the box
of ice cream at him. Why couldn’t the man act normal? Why did he
have to be so unpredictable? She was so annoyed she couldn’t even
ask him what was so funny. Instead, she slammed the ice cream on
the counter and glared at him.

“Sweetheart,” Ron said between laughter, “you
are about the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. And you should have
definitely stayed with acting. If we’d done it once, I would have
bought your little act. Four times, babe, and that doesn’t include
the bathroom—”

“Oh, put a lid on it, you impossible man.”
She grabbed the ice cream and clenched it to her chest, not even
feeling its iciness. “I’m trying to politely tell you this was a
one-night stand and it’s time you scurried home.”

Laughter disappeared from his face. His eyes
grew serious, hard.

“This, baby, was no one nighter. We’re just
beginning.”

“No…we…are…not. And there’s no ‘we’ here,
Ron.” He continued to glare at her, his eyes smoldering, his stance
unyielding. She turned toward the living room. “Goodbye,
Ro—mmph!”

The swift, possessive kiss was unexpected,
the rapid response of her body inevitable. He didn’t give her a
chance to come to her senses and protest his high-handedness. He
stormed her senses, strummed her like a damn instrument. She was
just starting to gather her wits when his head lifted. Ashley
blinked at him, completely dazed. Both of them were breathing hard,
their bodies vibrating in perfect unison.

“What was that?” she blurted stupidly.

“A sure way to shut you up. I didn’t like
what you were saying.”

He didn’t like….

Anger drained from her, and Ashley started to
laugh. His hand moved from the back of her head, swept down her
back and stopped on her waist. When he grinned down at her, she
pushed at his chest. Surprisingly, his hand dropped from her waist
and he stepped back.

“Go home, Ron. It’s been a long day and I’m
exhausted. I want to go to bed.” When he opened his mouth, she
added quickly, “alone.” Something flashed in his eyes. Pain? She
couldn’t be sure. “I’m sorry. I just really need to be alone
tonight.”

“Okay. I understand your need for privacy, so
I’ll leave. But,” he paused until she was back looking at him,
“I’ll be here first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Don’t. Please. I don’t need the complication
of a relationship right now.”

“Too late, babe, because we’re having one.”
He picked up his jacket, shrugged it on, then turned and flashed a
grin at her. His hot gaze raked her body.

Ashley closed her eyes, as if that simple act
could stop her body from greedily responding to the promise in his
gaze. She must be jinxed or something. When she opened her eyes,
Ron was staring at her with a triumphant grin on his face.

“Don’t come back, Ron. I don’t want you
to.”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily, babe. I
will not go away just because you order me to, so don’t.” He closed
the gap between them, the grin disappearing from his face. When he
stopped before her, he was so close his breath ruffled the strands
of hair on her forehead. He lifted her chin until their gaze
locked. A searing buzz of sexual heat flickered, then warmed the
air.

“Don’t push me, Ron.” Her voice came out
shaky. She hated that.

“I will until you accept the inevitable.” His
voice was soft, but relentless. “You can say you don’t want me, but
we both know it’s a lie. Your body knows what it wants, what it
craves. Don’t fight me, Ashley, because when it comes to this,” he
lowered his head and landed a possessive kiss on her lips, “I
always win.”

Ashley couldn’t speak. Since her reasoning
had long disappeared, she watched him walk to the door without
uttering a single word.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He paused one last
time and glanced her way. The door closed softly behind him.

She staggered to the couch, opened the
already melting ice cream and dug in. For what seemed like forever,
she forced the cold treat down her throat without actually tasting
it. She had eaten half the box when she calmed down enough to have
rational thoughts.