Read Online Once Burned by Suzie O'Connell - Free Book Online Page A

experience the scenic highways in these parts.”
    “You have a motorcycle?”
    He nodded. “Are you up for all that?”
    “I am. Sounds like a blast.” Not giving herself the chance to chicken out, she said, “And sex? Is that part of the deal? That’s really all I had in mind to begin with.”
    “I got that impression, but let’s save it for your last night in Montana.”
    “Why wait? We have the house to ourselves. Everyone else is still partying it up at the reception and likely to continue for a while yet.”
    “You deserve more than a meaningless fling.”
    Lindsay’s eyes rounded, and she stared at him for several thuds of her heart. Not one of the men she’d been with since Max— including Max—had ever left her with that sentiment, and to hear it from a man she’d known barely more than twenty-four hours did something strange to her insides. They quivered with hope even as doubt threatened. She cleared her throat to dislodge the lump that had formed and hoped Henry took it as a sign of playfulness rather than the moment of vulnerability that it was. “Isn’t that what we’re proposing?”
    “No. I mean, yes, we should keep it in the here and now and not expect anything lasting to come of this, but that doesn’t mean it has to be cold and impersonal.”
    “I highly doubt it would be either.”
    Henry’s lips curved. He leaned toward her, and she met him halfway. When their lips met, she purred. After the hours of flirting and dancing, she was glad to finally kiss him. He was willing and eager but also considerate and restrained. She pressed her body against his and curled her arms around his neck as he took her face in his hands and deepened the kiss. Waves of sensation flooded her, and she gleefully gave in to it.
    “Well, it definitely won’t be cold,” he murmured.
    “Are you sure you don’t want to come in?”
    “I am, but if you keep kissing me like that, I might just change my mind.”
    “Would you regret it if you did?”
    He leaned back in her arms. “Not in the way I think you mean, but I am serious about making it mean something—for both of us. I don’t want to hurt you.”
    “You can’t possibly hurt me worse than Max did.”
    “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t hurt you.” He wrapped his arms around her and sighed. “I’m not sure I can explain it. I’m still in a place that I want to hurt Melanie for breaking my heart, but I can’t. How did you feel when Max told you he’d not only found someone new but that he was going to marry her?”
    “I wanted to hurt him like he’d hurt me,” she admitted. “But I couldn’t… because he didn’t love me like I loved him.”
    “So you turned that anger and pain on someone else.”
    She shook her head. “No, but I wanted to.”
    “Exactly. You needed an outlet. I don’t want to use you and cast you aside, and tonight, I’m afraid I would.” Gently, he kissed her again, then lowered his lips to her neck. She shivered and sighed. “Believe me, I would love nothing more than to take you inside or—better yet—back to my house and spend all night exploring every exquisite inch of your body.”
    “But it’s not a good idea tonight,” she said, seeking confirmation.
    “No, it’s not.”
    “What do you expect will change between now and Saturday?”
    “If you keep making me forget her like you have been all day… everything.”
    He walked her to the door, kissed her once more after she opened it, then vanished into the night. Lindsay closed the door and leaned against it with her head tipped back. Raw desire quivered through her, but even as she wished she had tried harder to convince him to stay, she knew he was right. As she climbed the stairs and slipped out of her bridesmaid dress, she thought about what he’d said. His frame of mind and current inclination to inflict pain on someone in retaliation for the pain he was suffering should probably concern her, but the fact that he was aware of it