Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Barn Burner
Cheyenne
Excitement thrummed through my veins like an electrical current, setting my leg bouncing as I sat in the passenger seat of my truck.
Maverick drove, his gaze settled on the road before us.
Not gonna lie, he looked hot as all hell sitting there.
Not many people drove my truck. Call it an ego or control thing, I didn’t really care.
I was just a bit territorial with my things, is all.
But I couldn’t drive home… I mean, I definitely could, but I didn’t want a DUI.
Even if I’d been okay to, though, Maverick wouldn’t have settled on being a passenger princess. He’d been adamant on driving me home, and I was too stunned that he’d actually agreed, that I hadn’t put up a fight.
I had talked the majority of the ride back to the trailer park though, only pausing every so often for him to mutter out a sentence or two in reply to one of my questions.
For the most part, he didn’t seem to mind me talking.
In fact, since he’d agreed to coming home with me, there was a definite shift in his demeanor.
He seemed more open, more alive. He still was one hundred percent himself when it came to being closed off and tight-lipped, but he didn’t seem so wound up anymore.
He watched me with a warmth in his eyes I’d rarely seen before tonight, amusement dancing in the light irises.
Whatever the reason for this shift, I’d take it.
My trailer park came into view, and the desire simmering inside me turned up to full blaze.
The anticipation of what was to come made me fidget even more.
Between that and the amount of whiskey I’d consumed, it was no surprise I reached over and trailed a hand over his thigh, making sure to brush my fingertips over his cock beneath his starched denim jeans.
His knuckles whitened around the steering wheel, his entire body tensing up as a low, deep rumble, reminding me of rolling thunder, quaked from his chest. A shaky breath escaped him as he slowly slid his gaze to me.
The strangest mixture of emotions glimmered in his gaze—surprise, lust, worry, excitement, challenge, confusion—as he opened his mouth to speak. “Which spot’s yours?”
“Six….” My fingers brushed over his cock once more.
He chuckled softly, pegging me with a gaze that mirrored my desire. “Careful, trouble. Or I may just pull off right here and drag you in the backseat.”
“Don’t tempt me with a good time,” I clapped back, offering him a wink as I stroked him once more.
A shudder passed through him, his entire body tensing beneath my touch, those light green eyes of his telling me everything I needed to know. Maverick wanted this. Wanted me. And I sure as hell wanted him.
The desire vanished on his face in a heartbeat, worry and concern replacing any lighter emotions. “What the hell?”
`Red lights flashed, casting his face in a crimson glow. Wait…why are there—
I followed his gaze, my chest constricting as I took in everything.
Fear—cold, paralyzing fear—turned the blood in my veins to ice. It traveled through me, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, settling like a frozen chunk around my heart.
Flames licked toward the midnight sky as a crew of firefighters worked on putting them out.
My trailer… What the fuck? Why? How?
“Oh my God…Brandy!” My voice sounded far off, like I was stuck underwater. Maverick hadn’t even stopped the truck as I slipped off my seatbelt, opened the passenger door, and launched myself out and towards the commotion.
“Brandy!” I rushed forward, fear eating a hole through my chest. I had to find her.
“Ma’am!” A firefighter stopped me, “Ma’am! What’re you—”
“That’s my trailer! Where’s my dog? My dog! Brandy!”
All that mattered. All I could think of was her. Where was she? Was she okay? Heat licked at me even from a distance, the smell of smoke irritating my lungs.
“We haven’t seen or heard a dog, Ma’am. We checked inside.”
My stomach writhed and twisted, like a snake coiling tighter and tighter and tighter.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think or feel anything other than icy terror.
I shivered despite the heat. “She doesn’t do well with strangers, she’s probably hiding!
Please, please, sir. I have to go get her! Brandy!”
I pushed past him, but he caught me around the waist.
“Ma’am—Ma’am, calm down. We checked. There ain’t no dog.”
I lost it. Completely and totally lost it.
I started swinging. Flailing. Screaming as tears poured down my cheeks and smoke tore at my raw lungs. No. Brandy wouldn’t leave. She was loyal to a fault, which meant she had to be in there. She had to.
“Cheyenne, what the hell’s goin’ on?”
That familiar, deep voice cut through the chaos, and my wild gaze found him. He stalked toward me, a look of murder on his face, his dark silhouette reminding me of some fallen angel come to earth.
My chest screamed at me—from the panic and the smoke inhalation—as a raw, broken cry left my lips. “Maverick, it’s Brandy! She’s in there!”
A second firefighter had joined his buddy to keep me at bay as I struggled beneath their grip. If I could. Just. Get. Free.
I knew she was in there. I knew it. I felt it in my bones.
Maverick’s shadowed face met mine, but some unnamed emotion blazed in his eyes as he met my gaze.
And then he raced toward my trailer…