Page 96 of Wild Fires

When we got to Ryan's apartment complex and checked things out, we hadn't expected to find anything. We'd been very wrong. Carson had laid out an intricate system of explosives throughout the electrical panel and Chief was not taking any chances with it. Not that I blamed him when his daughter and her mate lived there too.

A team from Westin Force highly skilled in explosives was brought in to comb every inch of the building before he and Ryan were convinced it was safe to return.

In those three weeks, Ryan and I did a bit of talking, negotiating, arguing, and conceding that resulted in lots and lots of fabulous makeup sex. Who knew that makeup sex would be so much fun?

Since the moment Carson was taken into custody, Ryan and I had practically been inseparable. I had to admit that a few of the guys had gotten into my head with concerns about his job and wanting me to be this perfect image of a mayor's wife. Luckily for me, that wasn't the case at all.

After I'd yelled at him and flown away that day at the evacuation shelter, he'd been approached by six Grimes women. And while he'd confessed to believing they wanted him because I'd made him seem more approachable, he also humbly conceded to how very wrong he'd been. They weren't after him, they wanted to be like me.

I supposed the coolest part about that was that he'd been able to see me in a different light and recognize my gift as valuable and heroic instead of terrifyingly reckless as he'd once thought.

We still had our shit to deal with and life with Ryan was never going to be easy all the time. While he prided himself on order, I struggled to keep to his standards. But both of us were learning to be flexible enough to handle it and overcome those type of obstacles.

I had learned that his job was far more demanding of his time and attention than I even imagined, but when I was on call, I was tied to my phone even more than him. He was learning to set boundaries with people and keeping work confined to work hours unless there was a true emergency. And I was learning to also let go of work and focus on us when I was off the clock.

There may be a lot of things we seemed to be complete opposites about, but our work ethic was not one of them. It had given us a firm foundation to start, and as we got to really know one another more and more each day, we were finding all sorts of new areas we were alike.

“Babe, are you home?” Ryan yelled when he walked into the house.

At first, he had been so quiet around the house, almost like a mouse at times, but I'd definitely rubbed off on him in that department.

I walked out of the bathroom and went to greet him with open arms.

“I missed you.”

This was the longest we'd been apart since he moved in with me—temporarily, of course. But he'd had meetings all day and I'd had the day to myself. Well, almost. I'd gone to The Diner for a late lunch with Gia and Kim after their rush hour passed.

They were the best, and Gia was working on a new plan: Project Get Him to Mark Me.

I wasn't really in any hurry though. Ryan Davenport was mine. He knew it. I knew it. Hell, the whole town knew it. The rest would work itself out in time.

As I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his, my soon-to-be sisters were long forgotten.

“I'm sorry my meeting ran late. We can cancel on Aunt Ginny's garden party tonight.”

“No, not again. Andrew gave me shit at the firehouse all week for cancelling on game night last week. If he hears that we skipped out on this too . . . well, I don't want to deal with that again.”

Ryan looked almost pained as he scowled at me and then looked at his watch and then back at me.

“Screw it. We're going to be late though.”

“Ryan,” I started to protest, but he cut me off by slipping his tongue into my mouth and kissing me deeply.

How was a girl to say no to that?

I sighed in resolution as he pushed my dress up to my waist and discovered I was almost bare, hot and ready for him. My intention had been to tell him later and drive him nuts during the event to ensure we would be home early.

He cursed against my lips as I set to work removing his tie. His shirt, tie, and undershirt were thrown around the room, but he barely managed to get his pants pulled down before he was taking me fast and furiously up against the wall.

Hot damn! I hoped this passion between us never died down. I couldn't get enough of my handsome man, and I secretly loved that the picture-perfect poster boy of a mayor only ever lost his composure with me.

“Tell me you want this.”

“Of course I want this. Faster,” I managed to say, feeling my body tensing as I neared orgasm.

“No, all of this. Me, you, this, everything, for the rest of our lives. Tell me you want it all with me.”

Tears pricked my eyes. “There's nothing I want more than that.”

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