Page 9 of Wild Fires

She had always been a pretty girl with her heart shaped face and big brown eyes that seemed to sparkle when she laughed. Maybe that was part of it. The girl I'd known had been moody and dark. This woman before me wasn't like that at all. She was more confident and somehow lighter which was sexy as hell. Yet if I looked close enough I could still see the pain there, just not as close to the surface as it had once been. I wasn't sure why I was just noticing it. It wasn't like I hadn't seen her for a while. Our paths crossed often enough.

I hadn't really dated in a while. My job was demanding, and I set my personal bar of expectations too high. People were always warning me of that. My life was my work. Maybe that was sad to some, but not to me. The reality was my priority was work and it would always come first. I didn’t have the time or the desire to date.

There was more to it than that though. I knew everyone in Ravenden. I’d dated the few women I found to be eligible future mates already and none of those relationships worked out. Lately, my personal life was non-existent and there just hadn't been anyone who interested me in a long time.

Gracie Montgomery was everything I wasn't. And I certainly shouldn't be looking at her like a horny teenager, but there was just something about her. I was drawn to her in a way I hadn't been with anyone, maybe ever.

I didn't even like her, but it surprised me to find I wanted her. The tightening in my pants was evidence of that. If I didn't calm myself down, I was going to be sporting wood and a full tent before we got through this assignment.

Why had I ever agreed to this?

She was the last thing I wanted, the last person I wanted to get involved with, yet my mind wouldn't stop conjuring up highly inappropriate images featuring her naked beneath me.

I shook my head.

Get it together, Mr. Mayor. This is ridiculous, I told myself, but I couldn't help allowing one more glance her way.

With a scowl I barked, “I know it's where the goddamn fire was.”

“Okay, okay. I was just teasing. Don't be so serious all the time. You're so uptight.”

“I'm not uptight,” I insisted. “I just don't like to waste my time.”

Why was I arguing with her? My foul mood had nothing to do with any of that. It wasn't her fault that my traitorous body seemed to want the one person I would never concede to.

Never.

Gracie

Chapter 4

Ryan Davenport was an enigma.

One moment he was reminiscing about days past. The next he was clearly checking me out. Maybe it had been wrong to call him out on it, but I knew when a man was staring at my ass. Back at the station it didn't happen often anymore, except for maybe with the occasional rookie, but I was always aware of such things.

I hadn't been wrong about that. I was certain of it.

Opening my big mouth had seemed to piss him off. It was kind of humorous. Had I ever seen him lose his control?

No. I hadn't. I wouldn't have thought it possible before today.

It gave me a bit of sick pleasure to know I could affect him like that. Served him right. I hated how my body responded to him. It made me feel like a mammal in heat, or at least how I'd imagine that would be. I just wanted to jump his bones every time he was near. The slightest brush of his skin against mine was electrifying, shooting tingles up my arms and down my spine.

Why him? Of all people, why did it have to be Ryan Davenport that set my body on fire? The one man I could never actually be with. He was far too perfect for a screw-up like me.

“What exactly am I looking at?” he asked. “And don't say the remnants of the fire. Clarence seems to think there's something special about this or it’s somehow connected to several from the preceding days. What did they have in common? What do you think?”

I stopped and stared at him. Did he really just ask my opinion? No one ever truly asked my opinion about anything.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” he asked, wiping at his face and smoothing down his perfectly groomed hair.

He always looked perfect.

“No. I'm just surprised.”

“Surprised about what?”

“That you'd actually ask my opinion about all of this.”

---