by Anne Conley
Text copyright © 2018 Anne Conley
All Rights Reserved in accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher or author constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from this book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of author’s rights.
FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison along with a fine of $250,000.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover photography: Jeffrey Todd
Cover Model: Stanley Fields
Cover designer: James Price; AEP Bookcovers
Editor: Tiffany Fox; Beyond DEF
Interior Layout: Deena Rae Schoenfeldt; E-Book Builders for Beyond DEF
Table of Contents
Books by Anne
Hot Lava
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Epilogue
About Anne
Anne’s Series
Books by Anne
Playing With Fire:
Truth or Dare
Hide and Seek
Spin the Bottle
Hot Lava
Pierce Securities:
Craze
Wire
Click
Grab
Murmur
Bond
Seek
Hitch
Echo
Pierce Securities: Aces Press Publications
Mae Day (Re-release 2019)
Redemption for Misty (Re-release 2019)
Book B!tches:
Power of Love
Loving the Enemy (Historical)
Master of Love
Hunt for Love (Coming Soon)
Fostering Love (Coming Soon)
Will to Love (Coming Soon)
Love’s Ward (Coming Soon)
Stories of Serendipity:
Neighborly Complications
Chef’s Delight
Dream On
Hot Mess
Falling for Him
Gambling on Love
My Mistake
Wrecked
Saving Charlie
Four Winds:
Falling for Heaven
Falling for Grace
Falling for Hope
Falling for Faith
Falling for Cyn
Falling for Eternity (Complete Four Winds Box Set)
Stand Alones:
Best Laid Plans of Boys and Men
The Fixer Upper
MeetCute: Fortune’s Kiss
Hot Lava
Logan never went back for seconds. Had he known Katie lived in Pamona Gulch when they met, he wouldn’t have touched her. With all their mutual acquaintances hooking up, now she’s insisting they need to be friends. Logan has only had one friend in his life, and it certainly wasn’t the off-limits woman he’d lusted over for the last two years.
Katie needed to get over Logan. Two years ago, he taught her exactly what the BDSM lifestyle could offer her, and now she’s stuck pining for a Dom who won’t even speak to her. When Katie got involved with the wrong man, Logan was forced to step in, testing their newfound friendship and stretching boundaries.
The arsonist is finally caught and tempers flare, snuffing out the inferno building between this second-chance romance. Or does it only add fuel to the fire?
Dedication
Hubmeister, thank you.
Mom, you are why I am who I am, so thank you.
My kids, you guys need to eat, right? You’re welcome.
Acknowledgments
To my professional team: Tiff, Deena Rae, Lj, and Leteisha--I couldn’t do this without you guys.
To my reader group and launch team: You guys’ support is one of my motivating factors in everything I do. Thank you.
To the readers: Without you guys, I’d be nothing. Thank you.
Chapter One
“Hey, we need to talk.”
Not the first words Logan wanted to hear when he woke up, even if Katie’s voice did more for his morning wood than his hand ever could. Although, the twenty-pound furball on his head did a little bit to wilt it.
But not much.
“What about?” Logan batted the massive cat away as he sat up. He had his suspicions but wasn’t willing to voice them over the phone, especially when her husky voice made his cock twitch. He palmed it, wanting a release, relief from the sudden ache in his balls, a cold shower, something.
Hella Kitty, the cat he’d taken home from the pound a few months ago as a favor but couldn’t seem to part with, stretched on the bed between his feet, his tail straight up in the air. It was a demure move for such a crotchety old thing. And then it growled, his tell for farting, and Logan sneered at the animal.
“Stuff. Lots of things. Just … can you meet me at The Beestro? In an hour?”
Public. Sure, he could do that. Right after he did something with this erection he was palming. Something involving his shower, her husky voice, and memories he’d unsuccessfully tried to suppress for years.
Logan grunted an affirmative and rolled out of bed, still clutching his dick like a lifeline.
Two years ago—
Logan sat in the leatherette booth of the diner in Albuquerque, waiting for this morning’s appointment, his excitement about tonight letting loose in the jerking of his knee. He really loved this, the anticipation, almost as much as the actual deeds done. Choosing a woman, meeting with her, discovering her needs, making a plan to fulfill them, matching his skill set with the woman. One time. Then he got to do it all again with a new woman. It was a heady feeling, one that bolstered his confidence more than almost anything in the world, with the possible exception of actually saving someone from a fire.
When she walked in the door, it was like a breeze followed her into the stuffy, greasy-smelling diner. Her red curls were tucked into a hat and scarf, begging to be free. Porcelain skin, with a light smattering of freckles across her nose, made Logan wonder if she had a few on her shoulders. Petite, tiny even, she looked ready to collapse under the weight of her expensive jacket. The heels on her boots didn’t look like they could support anyone, but she walked in them like she was born in five-inch heels.
The woman was gor
geous. Logan inhaled sharply as she looked around, her eyes locking on his and dropping automatically.
Nice.
Strutting over to him, her hips swaying with the movements, she slid into the seat across from him and tugged a small sheaf of papers from her pocket.
“Logan, right, Sir?”
She slid the papers across to him at his nod, and he busied himself with looking them over. This was what he did. He picked up a woman online, met with her, and played once. It provided variety, excitement, and then he was finished.
The papers were revealing, his questions designed to tell him more than the basics. He perused the answers she’d provided. She’d never had a pet, as her parents wouldn’t allow them in the house. She was taking care of her brother so her parents could travel, a circumstance that had started out temporary—ten years ago. She was now the legal guardian of her little brother.
As Logan looked over the documents, he made a profile. She was used to obeying, but as her newfound adulthood infringed upon her, her life had taken on more and more responsibilities.
Katherine needed to let loose.
He scanned her limits, noting there weren’t many.
“Have you done this before?”
She had been watching him look over the papers, not fidgeting, her hands still and flat on the tabletop in front of her.
“Not like this. I’ve tried to do something with some partners but haven’t had any luck.” She shrugged, and Logan bit back the questions about her partners. He told himself he didn’t give a shit about her past beyond what he needed to know to be a good partner for tonight. But something about this woman just seemed …
Perfect.
Stupid. He’d met her twenty minutes ago, and eighteen of those minutes he’d been reading and re-reading this questionnaire. Her answers were different. She gave way more information than the question asked, which was nice. It gave him a clearer understanding of what her expectations were.
He looked again at the question about limits. They were all clear, but the explanations for one of them made him reexamine it.
“Your parents forgot about you and you stayed locked in a closet overnight?”
She laughed, a sound that had no business with this particular story. “Yeah. They were packing for a trip and didn’t realize I’d been hiding in the closet under the stairs. Didn’t think to look for me until the next morning. Anyway, I don’t do closed spaces, and blindfolds are iffy. I have to know I’m in an open space to be blindfolded, if that makes sense.”
It wasn’t the saddest story he’d ever heard, but it was the saddest story he could imagine associating with this effervescent fairy sitting in front of him wearing the expensive clothes.
It explained some things about her. With her neglected youth, her parents probably threw money at her to make her feel loved. She took care of her little brother and was starting a new business venture, probably a bid for independence to get out from under her parents’ money.
The perfect canvas for someone needing submission. Her profile said she liked pain too. That could be fun. Excitement built inside him, and a plan started to form.
But the images in his head of her other partners had something rearing to life inside him. Something he tamped down before it became recognizable.
At The Beestro, Logan shut off his truck, hoping this would be quick. He wasn’t in the mood to fight with Katie today. Honestly. He just wanted to go to work, do his shift, and tomorrow night, have a couple of drinks with the guys before going home and working in his spare room.
But Katie was so insistent. He’d been horny, her voice had done something obscene to him, and he’d agreed without thinking.
So here he was.
He walked inside and easily found her sitting in one of those wire chairs he hated. He gingerly lowered himself into the one across from her and waited to see what this was all about.
“So … we need to talk about us,” she began after taking a huge breath as if this was hard.
He could simplify things. “There is no us.”
“I know, but things are weird. You have to realize that.” Her eyes were sad, and it pissed Logan off because he knew it was his fault.
Physically, she hadn’t changed one iota since their first meeting. She still had the long red curls, the impossible blue eyes, the tiny, petite figure with the lithe legs. She still dressed like a million bucks, but now that he knew her, he knew the clothes weren’t brand-new and were worn season after season. Like this particular sundress, one of his favorites. To have lasted this long, it was probably designer, but the yellow flowers on the green background and the bright colors soothed Logan in spite of his lusty thoughts of slipping his hands up her creamy thighs to see what sort of sin she wore underneath.
The look in her eyes had changed. She used to look so innocent and free—just needing her release to get through the stresses of her days. These days, she looked harder, more disappointed in life. It was subtle, not something the average person would notice, but Logan was pretty sure he was a main ingredient in that recipe.
“Our friends are dating, and we’re going to be thrust together in certain situations. We have to figure out how to be around each other without fighting all the time.”
“We don’t fight,” Logan argued, even though he knew what she meant. He probably always looked at her like he hated her, but it was just the opposite. He hated himself.
“Well, I want to rip your testicles off and shove them down your throat half the time.” Fire sparked in her eyes as they shot daggers at him. She clenched her tiny fingers around her cup of tea and leaned forward so far, her tits were on the table.
“Oh.” His impotent response in the face of her anger seemed to soothe her a little, even if it inflamed him. “I didn’t realize you hated me so much.” That was louder than intended, but he didn’t care. “It’s not like you didn’t realize how this would be.”
He’d gone over everything with Katherine—her limits, her expectations—and he had a vague plan for what he would give her tonight. Meanwhile, Logan had watched her pack away more pancakes and bacon than any woman had ever eaten in his presence. Everything about her turned him on, and he knew tonight would be awesome.
“I will do everything tonight for you. There is one thing I require from all this.” The eyes that met his widened with expectation. “We won’t see each other again. I do this once. You’ll get to have as many orgasms as you can handle, and when we’re done, we’re done. I won’t call you. I won’t profess my undying love. I’m not that guy. I’m not a white knight looking for more than one night. You have to understand this. This is what I need from the experience. To go home and relive it without you.”
Katherine deflated under his words, her eyes shuttering into a look he would find alarmingly familiar in a couple of years. But she nodded, her back still.
“I understand, Sir. One-time thing.” She sipped her coffee, which he noticed was black. “You just really like first dates or something?” She smiled softly, probably trying for levity, and he appreciated it.
“Or something.” At least she understood. That made this so much easier. “Make sure I have your hotel room key before we start, so I can get you back to your room safely. After tonight, you won’t see me again.”
She slid a card across the table to him. “They gave me an extra. I’m going to be so nervous, I’ll probably forget.”
He smiled at her. “It’s my job to make sure you don’t. But this is fine too. Thank you, Katherine.” Logan liked the old-fashioned name coming out of his mouth. It was nice, like velvet. He could say it over and over again.
“Thank you, Sir.”
Chapter Two
“I mean, Annette’s pregnant and talking about moving in with Jude. It doesn’t look like they’re breaking up anytime soon. And Joey and Vivian
are a serious thing, like, family-style and all that.” Katie waved her hands around vaguely. “And don’t get me started on Zane and Lettie. That proposal was off the charts. I’ve never heard Lettie talk so much. Ever. She’s even talking about flying Zane to Gainesville to meet her Grandma.”
“I get it. Our friends are serious. You want us to be what?” Logan ignored the pain in his belly at the talk about the guys from the firehouse. Babies and marriage and families were things he’d resigned long ago to never have.
Her face softened, and something broke inside him. What would happen if he actually let himself love Katie the way she deserved? It was a thought he’d had before but knew it was fruitless. It would lead to wishes and unfulfilled desires, and he’d been down that road before.
“Different, Logan. I want us to be different. I’ve resolved myself to the fact we’ll never be together again, but you have to admit things have changed since you laid that rule in my lap in Albuquerque. We live in the same town. We have the same friends. We see each other regardless of what you dictate.”
“Nothing’s changed.” The growl rose from Logan before he could stop it even though he knew she was right. Everything had changed, but he couldn’t reconcile that with what was in his mind. He knew things were different, but he couldn’t figure out how to change himself.
She laughed, a loud, boisterous, throaty noise that had Logan looking around the small restaurant. “You are so full of shit, Logan. Everything’s changed, and you can’t deny that. I’m just saying stop acting like I have some STD when we are in a group. I’m not looking for movie night and to invite you to girls’ night and shit. I just don’t see why you have to hate me for breathing.”
Did he do that? Was that really their problem? Logan knew it was him. He was trying to appease her sensibilities or some shit. He didn’t want to do things her way, and their friends were definitely making things hard for both of them. He heard the grunt before he realized it was him.
“I don’t hate you for breathing,” he muttered under his breath at his lap.