Page 40 of Burned

“Shut up, Erin!” Cass rolls her chair forward, bumping my shin.

“Ow!” I step back, “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious!” she shouts. “I’ve been locked in this house staring at the same walls, baking like I work at Costco.” She eyes Ryan, who just popped into the room. “And not all of us have a very active you-know-what life to keep us occupied.”

Blaze snorts.

“I could use a surprise,” she says.

My cheeks heat. “Shut up, Cass,” I whisper.

“Aunt Rin. We don’t say that,” Ryan admonishes.

“That’s right,” Lucian says.

Leaning down, he whispers in my ear, “Watch that mouth, or I’ll take you upstairs and put it to good use.”

Good Lord, has it gotten hot in here?

“Stop,” I hiss, despite the flood of heat between my legs.

Ryan is standing in the doorway wearing mismatched socks and one of Lucian’s black hoodies, which swallows him whole. His hair sticks up on one side.

Ryan perks up. “Can we see the surprise now?”

“Yeah, Auntie Rin,” Cass says, looking up at me and fluttering her lashes. “Can we?”

Lucian answers for me. “Yes.”

Mack ushers the three of us to Cass’s first floor back bedroom. He stands guard, his back against the closed door.

Staring up at Mack, Cass whispers, “Do you think I can get that giant of a man to spank me if I try to roll out of here?”

Shame fills me. “Ugh. How do you know about that?”

She rolls her eyes. “Please, Erin. Apparently, you are the only woman in New York who didn’t know how kinky the Bachman men are.”

“Anyway,” I say, going back to the book I’m reading to Ryan.

She laughs to herself, passing the time by harmlessly trying to get Mack to flirt, only to fail miserably. His responses are only grunts or one-word answers.

Finally, there’s a knock on the door.

Mack opens it, and Blaze appears.

“Your surprise is ready!”

For a split second, all I see is that clip of Isobel over and over.

There are good and bad surprises.

I can’t help looking up at Blaze and asking, “This is the good kind of surprise, right? I’m not sure I like surprises anymore.”

Blaze laughs. “That’s rich, coming from the woman who almost got jump-scare tackled in the woods this morning because she decided rules don’t apply to her.”

I stare up at the big man. “I was gathering kindling.”

“You were gathering trouble,” he says.