SeducetheFlame by Ella Drake

place Vince below. Ray didn’t put Vince on the
tousled bed, but on the floor next to the chest of drawers. She thought she
understood he’d done that in a strange way of protecting her privacy, but did
he know that?
    “It’s my reaction to you. It won’t listen to me.” He climbed
back onto the deck and strode toward the fire.
    “If you don’t douse that thing, we’re gonna get wet. And I
don’t mean in a fun way.”
    Ray jerked a scowl at her and faced the flames again. The
light danced across his stubbled chin and his shoulders flexed. His powerful
build was lean but muscular. Moon-shaped red marks covered his shoulders where
she’d dug into him. She couldn’t help the smile even when faced with death.
    Her powers were still muffled. If the ship went down, so
would Ray. So would she. She was a strong swimmer, but they were too far out
and she couldn’t control the water to make it easier on them to get to shore.
“If I had my powers back, I could put that out.”
    “Why don’t you grab a bucket instead?” Sweat beaded his brow
and his body had gone tense and rigid as he stared at the flames flaring from
around the pilot’s house. She didn’t know if the engine had caught fire.
    She coughed again. Smoke blew into her stinging eyes but she
couldn’t stop from staring at Ray. The muscles on his arms corded and his hands
flexed.
    “Wake me up, Ray. Let it all free. If we just embrace it, we
can take care of this fire together. Get this boat to land before we starve to
death. I don’t think there’s even one candy bar on this yacht.”
    “There’s not. Not even a box of saltines,” he replied calmly
even though his body was as tight as a live wire.
    “Even if you put that fire out.” She paused. The fire didn’t
seem to be spreading, but it wasn’t going out either. And Ray had to hold it
with a visibly intense sapping of his strength. His chin worked as he ground
his teeth and his fists open and shut. “We still have to deal with getting
rescued. I don’t think you have enough control over your power to try starting
the engine.”
    The flames flared hot and high at her assessment. The
crackle sounded loud and dispersed across the Atlantic where no boat waited to
rescue them.
    “That fire isn’t listening to you,” she insisted.
    “It will,” Ray answered in a low snarl.
    “Give it what it needs.”
    “And what’s that?” He shook his head once in a curt motion
and reached out. His power responded and the fire reached even higher. The
ceiling of the wheelhouse turned black and smoke billowed as the flames reached
it.
    “Your fire needs its mate.”
    Ray stilled. The muscles in his broad shoulders twitched.
Wind, tinged with smoke, ruffled his hair.
    The spreading destruction paused. She could feel the heavy
expectation and hunger of his power as it waited, barely contained. Gulping,
she kept on, holding his attention.
    “We’ve started it. Whatever you hoped to avoid, it wasn’t to
bring us to this. Trapped out here with life in the balance and our powers
handicapped. Even if the Coast Guard found us right now and brought us to
shore, we still need to repair ourselves. This is what I want deep down, and
hiding from it will not help me. It’s what you want. I can see it in the way
your fire seeks me. It wants inside, to meet and join with mine. Fire needs
water, Ray.”
    He turned on her with a snarl. “I told you this would
happen. I’ll burn everything down.”
    “We all live with the danger of causing a power surge with
our first loves. All of us. I nearly drowned my first boyfriend when I lost my
virginity.”
    His scowl turned into a snarl and he stalked toward her,
jerking her body into his raging-hot skin. The sheet she’d held around her
fluttered and flew free. Like a flag flying over the water it disappeared on
the wind. “Not another word about another man.”
    The low threat was real and deadly soft. But it wasn’t a
threat to her. He couldn’t bear the thought of