Page 10 of Wild Fires

He scowled. “Clarence told me we should work together on this. I assumed that meant you know what’s happening or had some ideas on the issue.”

“Well, yeah, but . . .”

“But what?”

“But people don't usually ask my opinion on stuff like this. I mean, I'm always happy to offer it, but I never really feel like it's taken seriously.”

“Why not?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you feel like you're not being taken seriously? You're the first female to make it through firefighter training. You work your ass off to ensure Ravenden is safe. And Clarence would not have assigned you to work with me if he didn't think you were the best. He’s the one that recommended you and I work together and he knows how particular I can be.”

“Sorry to break it to you, but you just got the short end of the stick. He assigned me to you to get me out of his hair for a while.”

Ryan shook his head. “You're wrong. You're good at what you do, Gracie. So do it.”

I wanted to assure him I wasn't, but that wasn't true. I knew I was damn good at my job. I just wasn't always sure others believed it, no matter how many times I told them or tried to prove myself. There was just some weird piece of me that needed to argue with this man.

I bit my tongue. “There's no accelerant,” I blurted.

“What?”

“That's the connection. Each fire was set with a single wooden match left at the scene but with no accelerant. Yet each day the fire has been bigger. Look down. The ring you're standing in is about five feet in diameter. It's the biggest yet. But still, no one has been able to determine an accelerant. The only clue truly connecting them is the match, and it's just a basic wooden match with no way to determine where it came from.”

“Yeah, that could literally be from anything. Clarence said his gut tells him they are all connected. Is that the only reason? Because lots of people use matches to start a fire. And up here on the cliff, I mean, we had some pretty big bonfires back in the day. Could it just have been some teens screwing around up here?”

“Look around you. There's no trash. No beer cans. Nothing.”

He did and shrugged. “Maybe this generation is more environmentally conscious than we were?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I'm sure.”

“I get it. But we can't entirely scrap the idea either.”

“No, I agree. Right now we need to keep an open mind about everything.”

He gulped and somehow his eyes seemed to darken from a light brown, to a brown so dark they almost looked black.

“Everything?” he asked in a husky voice that shot right to my core.

“Y-yes,” I stuttered willing my body to calm down.

There was no way Ryan was interested in me, and I sure as hell wasn't interested in him.

Keep telling yourself that, sister, I thought.

“Yes,” I said a little more assuredly. “We should definitely keep an open mind about everything.”

Did his eyes darken or had I imagined it?

I licked my lips and his gaze definitely dropped to them.

“Regarding the fires,” I clarified, not wanting him to think I was flirting with him.

Was I? No. Absolutely not.

“No footprints or anything?”

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