Burned by Passion by Dez Burke

shortly, gripping her arm. “Come into the car and let’s go where we can talk.”
    Kira didn’t waste her breath trying to argue. Terrence deserved an explanation. He’d probably grown tired of waiting for her to contact him and decided to make the first move. And that had made him even more pissed Kira was sure.
    Inside the car he didn’t drive off immediately but instead turned to face her. From the way he looked Kira knew he wouldn’t wait until they got to their destination before he gave her a full inquisition.
    “Why didn’t you call?” he asked abruptly.
    Kira stared straight ahead through the windscreen. “I’m sorry. I should have. I’ve been so crazy busy at work.”
    “Is that really all you can say?” Terrence said with quiet anger. “I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you lately, Kira. Especially the night of the party. And that reminds me – why the hell did you go after Bretton Carter’s son?”
    This time Kira twisted in her seat to face him. “I don’t know why you have to question me about my actions. But I guess you deserve to know. Mr. Carter is my boss; you saw how Blake behaved at dinner. I had to give him a piece of my mind!”
    “You had to do zilch! It was none of your damned business! You shouldn’t have interfered. A stunt like that could get you fired.”
    Kira winced. Terrence cursing at her and looking like he could strangle her were not was she was used to. She sighed heavily. “I know what’s going on between them Terrence. I was hoping I could help.”
    “You have no idea how it looked to everybody when you dashed after him like that, do you?” Terrence asked with astonishment, and Kira stiffened.
    “And when you never returned; even when your boss finally decided to put an end to the evening you still weren’t back. No one else seemed to notice but I certainly did. I waited around forever for you to return and you never did.” Terrence’s eyes bored into hers as he asked, “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
    Kira tried to keep her gaze steady and not shift from his. “Nothing happened, Terrence.” She wasn’t even sure why she was lying. Maybe not just because she was ashamed, but because Terrence didn’t look like he could handle the truth. He’d never forgive her and she already couldn’t forgive herself.
    “Blake and I just talked. I’d met him earlier and I felt I could have a word with him and let him know his behavior just wasn’t appropriate,” she said quietly and then bit on her lip hard. “Look I know you’re angry and I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have done it and I wasn’t thinking of the consequences. I apologize if you felt hurt by my interference. You’re right; it was stupid of me to try to jump in between the two of them. If I had it to do all over, I wouldn’t have. I hope we can put this behind us.”
    “I wish I could,” Terrence said bitterly, fist clenched on top of the steering wheel. “I mean I’m not sure how much more I can stand with the insults. I know that snooty boss of yours doesn’t like me for whatever reason. If I didn’t trust you completely, I’d say there was something fishy going on with you and him.”
    “What do you mean?” Kira asked angrily while inside she quaked. Could he possibly suspect?
    “I’m just saying be careful. I don’t like the way you’re getting involved with the Carters. For one thing I don’t trust that boss of yours. I mean who invites his secretary to a family event anyway? You’ve only been with his company a year and now he treats you like one of them? Yeah right. That’s why I insisted on escorting you to that party. Not like it did much good; you went ahead and did what you wanted to do anyway. I was so mad when you ran off.”
    “I said I was sorry,” Kira said with an impatient sigh. “Now can you please drive me home or do I have to get the bus? I’m really tired and I want to get some rest.”
    Terrence suddenly groaned. “Damn! I was