Free Burning for You (Blackwater) by Lila Veen

directly into someone, knocking me back so
my ass meets the pavement.  “Shit!” I say, scrambling to my feet.  I’ve got to
stop doing that.  Then I see who it is that I’ve bumped into and my mouth goes
dry and my heart begins to race.
    “Miss Holt,” Ash Lavanne says with
a slight smile.  His black eyes do that thing that makes me want to take off
some article of clothing.  “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
    “Perhaps you need to stop being
everywhere I am,” I tell him.  “It’s like you’re stalking me or something.”
    “Stalking you?”  He laughs. 
“You’re the one running into me everywhere I seem to be.  What are you doing at
the hospital, anyway?  Perhaps you have a neck injury from a recent car
accident?”
    “Hangover from a potion?” is my
retort.  “Apparently you’re bad for my health.”
    “I think I can be very good for
your health, Miss Holt,” he purrs, making something stir below my waist that
simultaneously makes my face turn red.  Keep your clothes on, Leah, I think.
    “I coincidentally landed myself a
job,” I say.  “Just like that.”
    “Oh, really?” he asks. 
“Coincidentally, I think not.  Nothing is every coincidental for a fire
elemental.”  He looks around, seeming to recall that he’s in public, though
there really isn’t anyone around.  “We make things happen, Miss Holt.”
    “We?” I ask him.  “Are you a fire
elemental?”
    Ash laughs.  “When I say ‘we’ make
things happen, I mean we will make things happen, now that we’ve found each
other.”
    I recall Isabel’s talk with me
about my catalyst.  I swallow a lump that’s formed in my throat, wishing I had
a glass of water or vodka to quench my thirst.  “I’m not sure what you mean,” I
say innocently.
    Ash smirks.  “You know exactly what
I mean,” he says.  He takes a step closer to me, making me catch my breath.  The
blood roars through my head, making my cheeks feel like they might explode. 
“Can I see you tonight?” he asks me in a low voice.
    “What?” I say, shaking my head and stepping
back.  “What about Erika?”
    “We’re friends,” he replies.  “With
benefits.”
    “Well I’m married,” I offer as a
lame retort. 
    Ash blinks, his lashes brushing
just below the dark rim of his black eyes.  “I shouldn’t think you were very
serious about that,” he tells me.  “I saved you from a date with a reaper last
night.”
    “Whatever that means,” I reply,
eyes rolling at the memory of my embarrassing capture from Chez George.  “So
why are you here, anyway?” I decide to change the subject.
    “I was going to take Erika to
lunch,” he says, looking sheepish.
    “So she is your girlfriend,” I
point out, not really phrasing it as a question. 
    Ash shakes his head.  “Erika and I
are just having fun.  She knows it and I know it.”
    “Sometimes women don’t always know
it,” I tell him.  “Or they aren’t honest about it for fear of losing what they
love.”
    Ash cocks his head slightly,
looking down at me through those sleepy eyes.  “You sound like you speak from
experience,” he says.  I shrug, wondering why I have to be so insightful with
someone I barely know.  “So you have a job.  That’s fantastic.”
    “I still have to wait for the offer
letter,” I explain.  “But thank you.”
    He nods.  “You made it happen, you
know.  You came here wanting a job and you made one happen.”  He takes his hand
and places it on my shoulder and runs it down my arm.  I feel heat all the way
down from his touch, practically setting my arm on fire.  He picks up my hand,
holding it delicately in his own and presses the back of my hand to his
forehead.  “Run into me again soon,” he says and drops my hand and walks away,
toward the entrance, leaving me speechless and melting. 

Chapter 7
     
    My mother has to give me Heidi’s
address when I call from the hospital visitor’s lot.  Considering the last