Page 37 of Wild Fires

I smiled when I felt her presence and heard her walk into the room.

“Wow. This place is like a freaking high-end hotel or something. There is literally nothing out of place.”

“That's because everything has a place. And when everything has a place, then there's no room for clutter.”

“You like things orderly, huh?”

“I do,” I admitted.

“So my place must have driven you nuts.”

I chuckled. “It wasn't so bad once the dishes were done.”

“Aside from a pot of cold coffee, I did notice your kitchen is spotless.”

“Does that make me weird?”

“No, just a tad obsessive.”

Like I hadn't heard that before.

“If you apply even a fraction of your personal standards to your work, then it's no wonder you're such a popular mayor. Ravenden's lucky to have you. I mean that.”

“Thanks.” I didn't want to admit to her how happy it made me to hear her say that. “I'm ready when you are,” I said instead, trying to change the topic.

“Ready.”

Placing my hand at the small of her back, I led her back to the front door.

“I'll give you the full tour next time,” I promised.

“So there will be a next time?”

“I hope so,” I said, and I meant it.

I stopped long enough to unlock my balcony door, just in case, and then held the front door open for her.

It wasn't until we were in the hallway that I noticed Elias standing at his door curiously watching us again.

Gracie didn't seem to notice him at all, or if she did, she didn't acknowledge it.

He gave me a thumbs-up behind her back and I shot him a look of warning as Gracie and I stepped into the elevator.

I’d kept things quiet when he smuggled Kim into his place for months before they even started mating. She'd insisted they were just friends, but I had a feeling Gracie would say the same thing about us, even though I did not think of her as my friend. Lover, tempter, distraction, sure, but definitely not friends.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the elevator stopped just one floor down and Felicity Dean walked in.

She looked from me to Gracie and back again.

“Hey Gracie.”

“Hey Felicity. How are you?”

“Good. You?”

“Okay. There was an incident last night. Andrew Grimes was injured. I'm showing our illustrious mayor around to some of the recent fire sites this week. Clarence's orders. We're going to swing by and see Andrew first this morning though.”

“Oh, so you're like working a case together?”