Lawked Flame by Erosa Knowles

would she react if he actually did something other than
touch her—like kiss her? The moment the thought entered her mind,
her thighs clenched against the scorching heat swamping her
core.
    “ Are you okay?” Khayden
asked.
    The dark, deep cadence of his voice was lighter than
any caress. It slid over her skin, teasing her already aroused
flesh to throw off the constraints she had in place.
    She looked at him with a start, her eyes wide and
face hot. “Yeah.” She coughed around the lump in her throat. “I
need to give you the address.” Fumbling in her bag for a pencil,
she stopped when his large palm rested on hers.
    “ Just tell me, or put it in the
device.” He pointed to the GPS on the dash.
    “ Oh.” She released a breath,
grateful for something to occupy her mind other than the X-rated
fantasies ruthlessly bombarding her. When she finished punching in
the address, a loud peal of music rent the air.
    Her hand flew to her chest trying calm her heart.
Inhaling, she looked around for her bag and fished out her cell.
“Hello?” She answered without looking at the caller ID. After
realizing who was on the other end, she wanted to smack her
forehead for that breach.
    “ Rodney, what’s up?” She did not
want to talk to her former partner. For some reason his calls made
her uneasy and got on her nerves.
    “ Hi, Alayna. How’s it going? Ready
to come back to civilization?”
    “ I haven’t left.” She said dryly.
Turning to look out the window, she wondered how long would this
polite conversation last?
    “ Good one. Listen, I had a
potential customer call yesterday. He was interested in the
Littleton Project you did a couple of years ago. He wants to talk
to us about building him a similar one in another
state.”
    “ Congratulations,” she said, failing to hide the touch of envy
in her voice. That project had been her baby. For two years she’d
poured herself into the strip mall. And now this asshole would get
the credit and the new deal.
    “ No. Not so fast. He wants the
original developer. I told him I needed to check and see if you
were interested.” He paused. The tone in his voice changed and she
was surprised to hear his desperation. After her divorce, he had
chosen her ex’s side and bought her share of the company, seeming
confident he’d soar without her. He had gone so far as to drop
hints to that eventuality. It seemed the mighty had
fallen.
    She decided to test the waters. “As good as that
sounds, I’m not ready to return to that level of involvement. I’m
going to pass, but thanks for contacting me.” Smiling, she could
imagine the scowl on his face. Rodney hated when things did not go
his way, which had been one of their problems.
    “ Are you sure? You stand to make a
lot of money. He hinted they might use our services for more than
this one deal.”
    Alayna rubbed the goosebumps that
sprung up on her arm while gazing at the passing scenery. The next
time she accepted a contract to develop a piece of land, it would
be under her own label. Chewing her lower lip, she mulled the
possibilities. She and Rodney had worked well until her divorce. His betrayal of
her trust had killed any hope of them being friends
again.
    “ Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not up
for the challenge right now. Maybe in the future we can collaborate
on a project.”
    Khayden’s fist tightened on the
steering wheel as he listened to the one-sided conversation. Clotho
had warned him humans were different, but no male would accept his
woman talking to another male whom he did not know. It simply was
not done. His eyes warmed, undoubtedly they were glowing behind the
sunglasses. He tried to reign in the heat of his temper. Exhaling,
he heard a yelp from the back seat.
    “ Master Lawke,
please stop ,” Lorenzo moaned
telepathically.
    Khayden glanced in the rear view mirror and winced.
Lorenzo’s skin had flattened across his face as though he had been
in a G-force windstorm. Surreptitiously, Khayden sent