Free Make Me Burn: Fireborne, Book 2 by RG Alexander Page B

forceful as she reached for his wrist and pulled his hand away from her skin. “Maybe we should go into the details later.”
    Ram moved closer, trapping her firmly between his body and the cab’s door. He pressed his lips against her ear, speaking loud enough for the now less paranoid, but still incredibly interested driver to hear. “Are you sure you won’t give me a taste of what’s coming? What you’re going to give me? In your story, I mean. A small bit of something I can sink my teeth into?” He bit her earlobe gently. “I apologize, but my curiosity is making it hard for me to control myself. Name your price.”
    “That’ll be fifteen pounds even, sir.” The driver’s voice was actually blushing. He was scandalized. But it was better than his being suspicious. Aziza bit her lip to keep from laughing and ruining the act…or moaning and begging Ram not to stop.
    Fuck.
    She opened her purse and paid the fare before slipping out of the taxi to stand in front of her aunt’s building with a sigh of relief.
    And regret.
    No. Only relief, she assured herself adamantly, watching Ram unfold from the vehicle, a broad grin on his beautiful face.
    “Oh shut up.”
    “What?” he asked innocently. “You started it. I was all ready to talk about serial-killing Jiniyr when you went into your Girl Friday routine. I was trying to give him a good show.”
    “First Lois Lane, and now Girl Friday,” she muttered. “I’m getting the feeling I’ve been racked with guilt about you for no reason. You’ve been popping popcorn and kicking back watching old movies with West and his pretty roommate, haven’t you?”
    “You saw her? She is a stunner, that one. Reminds me of my younger sister, and a little of you without the fatalism.”
    He had a younger sister? She’d never thought about him having a family. People other than Shev. People he wasn’t allowed to see until his punishment was over.
    Ram shrugged. “And yes, I’ve watched your movies. It makes me feel like Jinn again, only I’m peeping on prerecorded actors instead of the real thing. I have to do something to occupy my time while you’re screwing the poo— oomph —the Enforcer,” he finished with a groan, gripping his stomach where she’d punched him. “No more canine humor. I’ve got it.”
    He was acting like nothing had ever happened. Like he hadn’t been an ass, and then irresistible…and then an ass again. She was feeling a definite case of emotional whiplash. “You need to pick an emotion, Ram. You’ve been so…”
    “Angry and unavailable?” he offered. “That wasn’t an act, Aziza. I’ve been a snake, and I know it. This isn’t easy to adjust to, being stuck here and not getting what I wanted.” Her . It was left unspoken, but she knew. “There are too many limitations. But for the last week or so I’ve been getting tired of the crush of all that bitterness. And then this started happening. Underbridge is a small community, so I have heard of the losses. I knew the two women. I want to help.”
    He had heard? He knew them? Of course he did. He was right about kink communities. They were just that, communities. Like-minded people who spent time together and shared more than their predilections for play. Brandon would add that to Ram’s guilty column. More ammunition to take in her Jinn.
    “Three now,” she told him.
    Ram’s eyes widened. “Three?” He looked around and lowered his voice. “Who?”
    “We’re out of the cab,” she said, “and my mind-your-own-business button is still pushed, so I think we should talk.”
    “Now? On the sidewalk?”
    “There are things you need to know.”
    Aziza quickly and quietly laid out the events of the night before as people walked by, oblivious. She told him everything. Finding the girl—though she had no idea who she was—what she’d said, the other murders, even the fact that she was getting glimpses into the Niyr and Jinn worlds.
    She wasn’t sure why it all came out to