#BURN: Fever Falls Book 2 Page 5

  He snickered, but I could hear the sadness in his tone, the bitterness of a man who had seen the cycle he was referring to one too many times. “So what have your thoughts been on all this? You interested in working with this deal? I’d understand if you’re not. You said when I came out here that you weren’t interested in the limelight, and this would be that. And it would take you away from your work, which you clearly love even more than I was expecting.”

  “I’ve been mulling it over since our first conversation, and I was thinking about possibly taking you up on this.”

  He glared at me as though I’d said something that had not only surprised him, but offended him.

  “What’s that look for?”

  “I’m not exactly trying to sell you on it now, and here you are, wanting to go forward with it?”

  “I’m full of surprises, Dax Munro.” I winked at him, and he smiled.

  “Apparently.”

  “I was already thinking about it before tonight, but when we were talking about what Crawford used to do, it ramped up my interest. I’ve always wanted to help upgrade the Fever Fight campus. They’re a nonprofit that has this rec center and different activity spaces for kids in the shelter, and they also coordinate with the local LGBTQ center. I have a couple of friends on the board, and I have this crazy image in my head of doing something to expand the rec center. That’s where I spent most of my time when I was younger. I figured we could expand it, make it more like a pimped-out YMCA. Then they could use some money for their library. It’s improved over the years, but it’d be nice if they could stock more books— Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “That’s what you were thinking?”

  “Well, you mentioned it was like winning the lottery, and I always said that’s what I’d do if I won the lottery. Part of me feels like maybe this is my shot to give back to this community.”

  “Your whole job is giving back.”

  “But this would be a different way. Something that wouldn’t just help kids today, but decades from now. Crawford would have liked that. I’d like that.” Crawford would have been proud.

  Dax’s gaze was fixed on me, but he remained silent, so I added, “Well, I’d have to draw it out for you to really impress you with the idea. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, though.”

  “No, clearly. It sounds nice.”

  “I’m not saying I’m settled on it just yet. But giving it more thought than I was initially.”

  “As much as I warned you, you won’t see me fighting you about it. This is a big break for me too. You ever heard of Freyda Inc.? I can tell by your expression you haven’t, and it’s not a big deal. They’re a rival firm, and you’re the one thing I can use to land this deal, which would put my company back on top.”

  “You like being on top, do you?” I asked, and the way Dax’s lips curled upward showed he appreciated the innuendo.

  “What the fuck could you know about topping, Mr. One Time in College?”

  “I’ve had requests.”

  “I bet you have.” His eyes narrowed as he looked me over, like something was puzzling him.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I haven’t met a lot of guys like you. You’re easy to talk to, and that’s nice.”

  “You’re pretty easy to talk to as well, Dax Munro. So what would happen if I said yes today, for instance? What if I just plunged right ahead into this deal we’re talking about? What would that look like?”

  He took another drink of his beer. “First things first, I’d call my assistant and tell him I told you so, since he didn’t think I’d be able to work this out. Then I’d get on the phone with Hacksmore, to whom I’d be saying I told you so without using those words…”

  “Hacksmore… So that’s the name of the guy I’d be working for? I thought you said I needed to sign an NDA before you told me that.”

  “I did, and we should, but I don’t know… For some reason, I have the strange feeling you wouldn’t use that information against me, and maybe I kind of wish you would to taint this nice-guy image I have of you.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I can be bad too, but only when people need me to be.”

  He glanced me over like he was taking in the truth of my words.

  “But anyway, you were saying? You’d be braggy to Hacksmore and then…”

  He shook his head. “Oh, yes. Then I’d be getting a signed contract for us to get this going. I say we’re looking at a couple of weeks, maybe a month while we’re coming up with the larger picture. Then we’ll be calling you out for shoots, and you’ll start making the rounds and appearances at some parties to be caught by the paps, of course.”

  “And I have a year of this?”

  He nodded. “Then, if it all goes well, you’d be up for a contract renewal, which you could take or leave at that point.”

  “A lot to consider…”

  “Take your time. You gotta do what’s best for you and your family.”

  Yes, I did. My family would always come before any sort of financial arrangement.

  But Dax had given me a lot to consider. Although, as I sat there with him, I found myself considering it more seriously than I figured I would…in part, at least, because I didn’t think Dax was the kind of sleazy business guy who would try to screw me or my family over. He didn’t seem to realize it, but he really was a good guy.

  “Okay, come on,” I said, taking a deep breath. “How about I drive you back to the hotel?”

  “I can just Uber. No need for you to go all that way.”

  “It’s fifteen minutes. I made you stay here in Fever Falls for a few nights. It’s the least I can do.”

  7

  Dax

  Funny what a dinner could change.

  Now that I knew he was considering the deal, a part of me wanted to chase him away from it. Not that I would have—if he signed that dotted line, it was on him—but even after our conversation, I knew perfectly well it was one thing to hear about the consequences of fame and fortune, yet another to experience it, to see exactly how it could destroy a person. My business was knowing what people liked, and they would eat Jace Kruse alive. He was everything depicted in that photo and so much more.

  As he drove me back to the hotel, we chatted about superfluous topics that had come up during dinner. He gave me the dirt on Keegan, making sure to bring up a few embarrassing stories from their childhood.

  We reached the hotel, and he pulled into the porte cochere. He stopped not too far from the valet, and I took a breath. “So what are you thinking right now?” I asked.

  He waited a beat, pressing his thumb against his cheek. “That maybe we could discuss this more in your room.”

  His gaze drifted down my body, and I figured he was talking about more than the deal, but that wasn’t a problem for me. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

  He headed around to the parking deck, found a spot, and then I guided him into the lobby and up to my room.

  “Holy fucking shit!” he said as he entered. “You got the fucking penthouse for a one-night visit? Damn, if I’d known you were paying premium for this, I wouldn’t have made you stay as long as I did.”

  “It’s fine. I have hotel points with Marriott.”

  “Well, it’s impressive,” he said as he went into the living area. He walked around, checking out the space, calling back to me when he got to the bathroom, “Damn, that’s a big shower!”

  “If you accept this deal, you’ll be seeing some really big showers.”

  Jace walked back in as I relaxed on the sofa, and plopped down beside me.

  “So you know I was asking you if you wanted to talk about the campaign,” I added. “Not to…”

  “Yeah. I was talking about that too. Why else would I come up to your room?” Jace smiled, so much mischievousness on that innocent face of his. Yet there was something not innocent at all about it too. “But since you brought it up, do you have that happen a lot…mixing business and pleasure? Or do you have rules about that kind of stuff?”

  “Eh, not too many rules in my industry,” I replied. “In fact, most of the guys I know tend to mix it up to the point where you can’t really see where pleasure ends and business begins.”

  “But you’re a pretty powerful guy, from the way you talk. How do you know if someone’s sleeping with you because they want to or if they’re just using you?”

  “I don’t mess with anyone I think is using me. No point when I can fuck whoever I want.”

  “So cocky. I respect that.”

  “I don’t imagine you struggle in that department.”

  “Nah. I’m good there too.”

  I found my gaze continually moving down to his crotch, and he seemed to notice, so I decided to put my attention back on the whole reason I was there. “So…what are you thinking so far?”

  “What would you do if you were in my shoes?”

  “Run like hell,” I admitted, and even as I said the words, I wondered why I was sabotaging my own efforts.

  “There’s that honesty again. Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?”

  I chuckled. “Not serving me right now, but I wouldn’t be doing it for a cause like the one you mentioned. I’d just be using the money on me, and I know how that turns out. It’s nice knowing you have something you can do to make a difference.”

  “I’ll miss working at the station, but if that money is on the table and it can be used for something good, I’d be kind of a bastard if I didn’t do it just because it might be a little difficult.”

  “You have a very interesting perspective, Jace. I’ll get Carter to send over a preliminary contract with my company and a disclosure that you promise not to work with any competitors while this deal is underway. Not anything
that implies you have to take on whatever deal Hacksmore comes up with. Just to protect my company’s interests.”

  “Oh, wow.”

  “You have to understand, it’s not that I don’t trust—”

  “But kind of,” Jace interrupted, his eyes narrowing.

  “Well, I don’t really know you. I’ve worked with a lot of people, long enough to know when you need to stop trusting. Is that okay with you?”

  “Dax, you don’t know me. You don’t have any reason to trust me. Trust is something a person earns.”

  I was sort of blown away by his statement. “I really hope you’re everything you seem to be.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Just…not every day I get to meet Batman.”

  Jace laughed at my reference to our previous discussion. “I like hanging with you too, Dax. You’re a pretty cool guy.”

  An awkward silence filled the room as we gazed into one another’s eyes.

  This heat radiated from my solar plexus and filled my cheeks as my mind bombarded me with fantasies of all the things we could do to one another.

  “Better get going,” he said, pushing to his feet, and I followed suit, escorting him to the door. Stopping before it, I turned to him and noticed him checking out my mouth, just sort of staring at it for a moment before his gaze lifted to my eyes. His brows popped up as though he wasn’t ashamed of my catching where his interest lay.

  “Thank you for coming out here and…persuading me.”

  “Didn’t take much to persuade you.”

  “You should keep that in mind next time we see each other,” he said, his gaze returning to my lips, then took my hand and shook it.

  I wondered if he felt what I felt, but then he lurched forward, his lips slamming down on mine. Oh fuck, how that magnetism radiating from his body made me tremble.

  I itched with passion and fire until he pulled away and glanced at my lips a moment longer, then said, “Really nice meeting you.”

  The smile that overtook his expression was all satisfaction and confidence, and he appeared unfazed by it all. With a slick wink, he opened the door and headed out, leaving me reeling in the pleasure coursing through me.

  Holy fucking shit.

  8

  Jace

  “How’s it going, Jace?” Dax asked as soon as I answered my cell.

  I was officially flying out to London and then meeting with Hacksmore the following day to finalize and sign all the paperwork, if we all agreed to everything. Dax had hooked me up with an agent to assist me with my side of things in the negotiation process, and we were set to go.

  “Pretty good.”

  “I’ve been in meetings for the past few days, scheduling photoshoots and trying to figure out how the hell we’re going to get some of these details nailed down, but outside of that, everything looks ready. Carter has all your travel arrangements so that you can fly out on Wednesday.”

  “Yeah. I got them. When do I get to see you?”

  He snickered, and there was something so hot about the breathiness of it.

  “Well, I scheduled you to be here a day before the meeting for a reason.”

  “And here I was thinking you might have shoved me on a cheaper flight,” I teased.

  “No. Only the best for you, Jace, don’t worry. I’m eager to see you again, been bothered by how short our last encounter was.”

  “Funny you mention that. I have been too.”

  “Didn’t have to be that short.”

  No, it didn’t, but it was a little much for me at the time. I was surprised I’d even had the impulse to go at him like that. But those lips looked so goddamn pretty, so fucking kissable in the soft hotel-room light, and then when our lips touched…fuck.

  “Well, maybe we can take care of that next time we see each other,” I said.

  What the fuck was I saying? I didn’t know shit about being with a guy.

  Well, there was that one time, but I was drunk and just a kid wanting his dick sucked. Wasn’t like it was the best blowjob I ever got either. It was what it was, and that was that.

  But now I was so fucking curious.

  * * *

  “Hey, Ash, what does dick taste like?” I asked as he inspected the engine of Nance’s car.

  Nance told me she was hearing a funny sound, and Ash, being pretty good with cars, was more than willing to help when I told him the issue. When the conversation had settled, I’d just spit out what was on my mind.

  “What?” Ash asked, his gaze shifting from the open hood to me, looking shocked as hell by my question. I knew Ash through his boyfriend, Beau, who was my bud at the station. When I’d first met him, I’d fanned out a bit. Not every day do you get to meet a Mr. MVP Quarterback Star, and celebrities were hard to come by in Fever Falls. But Ash was a great guy, and we’d talked even more after my pic went viral and I needed some advice about the media frenzy.

  “Jace, I’m sure you don’t mean it in a bad way, but when I tell you that I think your mom’s car has an internal oil leak, and that’s your response, it sounds a little weird.”

  Fuck. I was so distracted by my thoughts about Dax, I hadn’t even heard him say anything about the engine.

  “Also, just a heads-up,” he continued, “if you asked the wrong person that question, it could be perceived as offensive, and maybe even like you were making fun of them.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I was being serious. I’m just curious, and I figured…considering you would know.”

  He looked at me for a moment before laughing his ass off. “Oh God, Jace.” He grabbed a cloth from the side of the car and wiped his oily hands, as though he felt this conversation warranted a moment of his time. “I think it’s only fair to ask what brought about your question.”

  “Something I’m curious about lately.”

  Since I’d kissed Dax in his hotel room, I’d thought about it a lot, actually. It played on my mind the way those pretty pink lips of his had, to the point where I couldn’t resist them anymore. I remembered staring at them and just wanting to know how they tasted, and damned if that wasn’t the best taste ever. And the sensation of having them against mine… Hell, if I’d stayed much longer, I figured I would have definitely been reliving some college experiments, but I’d resisted.

  I could rush into a burning building, but apparently, the thought of having to deal with a cock was too much for me. Well, at least in that moment.

  “Would it be kind of salty?” I pressed.

  “Salty?”

  “Like from sweating or something.”

  “Could be, I guess. Wow. This conversation is officially starting to weird me out.”

  “Or taste like soap after a shower?”

  “I think the safest answer is it depends on whose dick you’re sucking,” Ash said. “So you want to tell me whose dick you’re interested in sucking?” As soon as he said that, he offered this friendly smile, welcoming me to share the details, as though he wanted to let me know he was there for me. “This is all a big surprise to me, but it’s a little funny that you’re telling me this. When I came back to Fever Falls, I asked Beau if you were gay, and he was sure you were straight. I’m glad I didn’t know you swung that way because I think I would have been a little jealous.”

  “Not my fault that there’s a lot to be jealous of.”

  He grinned ear to ear. “Ooh, we’re a whole lot of ego for one town, aren’t we, Kruse?”

  “Yes, we are. But I can’t confirm or deny anything about which way I’m swinging. I haven’t tasted a dick yet, so I can still change my mind,” I joked, and Ash snickered.

  “Well, as far as I know, you have a reputation in this town for being a hot straight guy.”

  “Interesting that you say that. For the past week, I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve always been attracted to guys. I’m not afraid to tell a guy if I think he’s hot or something.”

  “I think most people have assumed it’s because you’re really confident.”

  “I mean, that’s true, but I’ve never shied away from anything. If I’ve felt attracted to someone, I’ve done what I wanted or flirted with who I wanted. Guys have even offered to do things with me, but no one’s just flat-out asked me if I was gay or bi or straight ever. I think everyone assumed because I had girlfriends, but I’ve messed around with a guy before.”