Found in Flames Read Online Free PDF Page A

her ass and holding her tight against his chest. She could barely breathe and she absolutely could not get enough. Her tongue rolled shamelessly along his with every opportunity.
    You know better, Ella, some piece of retained sanity whispered in the back of her mind. And oh how she wished that part of her were wrong. But it wasn’t and so, with more effort than she was willing to admit to needing, Joella pulled back from his hungry lips.
    The moment she applied pressure to his shoulders, his grip loosened, and she watched, transfixed, as his Adam’s apple bobbed with a heavy swallow. She kept her hands on him, just under his shoulders, as she worked on catching her breath.
    “Why,” she said with a gasp. “Why did you bring me here last night?”
    Luka’s expression fell into a frown and his hands slid to her hips, but he made no effort to remove her from his lap. “I told you,” he said. “Char will come for you now.”
    “Right,” she acknowledged, barely resisting the urge to dance her fingers around the collar of his shirt. He was way too distracting for her health. “But, why is that your concern? Why do you care about whether I live or die?”
    As soon as she asked it an odd sensation fell over her. The question, relevant though it was, seemed so much heavier. Not because of the passionate kiss they’d just shared, but because, thinking about it that way, she wasn’t honestly sure there was anyone who truly had cause to care about her survival. Sure, she had work friends, and two or three friends from college she’d kept in touch with, but no one she really felt close to. And that realization was far from comforting.
    Luka’s frown deepened, whether because of her question or because of his seeming ability to read her mind, she wasn’t sure. “He’s my enemy. Everyone he kills is my fault, because I failed to kill him when I had the chance.”
    Her eyes widened and, thoughtlessly, her gaze landed on his scar. Without direction, her fingers followed her gaze and, as the tips of her fingers landed on the curve of it over his cheek, she whispered, “Did he … do this?”
    Frown softening as his gaze shifted, becoming distant, Luka replied, “Yes.”
    For a moment she felt the burn of tears behind her eyes, but Joella pushed them aside and leaned forward, pressing her lips lightly to the scar where it bent to follow the curve of his jaw.
    Luka’s arms wound around her waist, hands splaying over her spine, and he whispered, “Why do you care about my pain?”
    “I know what it’s like,” she admitted softly, her arms curling around his throat. “To grieve … alone. No one should have to endure that.”
    Silence settled around them for a moment, and an odd sense of comfort warmed Joella’s heart, much the way Luka’s embrace was warming her body. After a few seconds, however, a very different sensation made itself aware and Joella bit back a groan of mortification.
    “Luka,” she began, sitting up a bit again even though she couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. “Do you, um, have somewhere I could pee?”
    He raised a brow at her and she could’ve sworn a corner of his lips twitched with amusement but, fortunately for him, she wasn’t looking straight at him to be certain. “Yeah,” he replied instead, before promptly shoving to his feet without releasing her.
    Joella cried, startled, and tightened her hold on him as her legs dangled awkwardly in the air. The man was nearly a foot taller than her! But his hands returned to her hips and he set her down without argument, gently, and on her feet this time. Like he’d suddenly decided to have manners. Geez, kiss a guy once and he’s all nice to you all of a sudden.
    With one hand at the small of her back, Luka escorted her out of the cave and around to the back, where he gestured toward the not-so-distant line of desert trees and shrubbery. “There’s the tree to the left, the tree to the right, or those bristle bushes in the