Page 39 of Wild Fires

“As long as we agree I was never here.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Gracie called and told me there was another fire, so she picked me up so we could investigate.”

I supposed it wasn't entirely a lie.

“You two have been hanging out a lot this week.”

“You noticed?” I asked.

“We all noticed. Should we be worried?”

“No,” I said a little too quickly. Andrew eyed me suspiciously. “Clarence's orders,” I clarified. “Take it up with him.”

He looked back and forth between the two of us.

My palms were sweating, and I was sure my heart was racing with the fear of being caught.

What the hell?

Ryan didn't have to be some dirty little secret. He was the mayor for crying out loud. One of the most respected people in all of Ravenden, not to mention the most eligible bachelor. Most women would be screaming it from the rooftops if they'd experienced even half the number of orgasms that man had given me in the last twenty-four hours.

But he wasn't my type, and people would inevitably talk. We didn't make sense. He was stuffy and uptight. I'd seen his apartment. It was insane how clean and white that place was. Would it kill him to add a little color to his life? Or, I don’t know, leave one dirty dish in the sink.

I was fairly certain that would likely send him over the edge and into a full-blown anxiety attack.

I nearly laughed at the thought.

Me and Ryan? No way. Yet when we were together, everything just felt right.

How could such opposite personalities work? It wasn't possible. In the end we'd either kill each other or be completely miserable.

I looked over at him as he laughed easily at something Andrew had said. It was a genuine laugh, not a fake one. It warmed my heart seeing the two of them together like that.

And I couldn't believe I was even thinking of being with Ryan like that. A few orgasms and I was suddenly swooning over him like I was back in high school. It was pathetic.

“You know, if I were there, this wouldn't have happened,” I blurted out causing the two men to stop talking and turn toward me.

“Come on Gracie Lou. You can't do that to yourself.”

“He's right. Even if you were still on active duty there's no guarantee you would have been there.”

“Then you don't know me very well. I'm always there. I hate that they went to battle a fire and I wasn't there to help. Clarence may not like my tactics sometimes, but we certainly wouldn't be here right now.”

Ryan gave me a sad look, and I knew what he was thinking. Because I wouldn't have been with him last night either. I didn't even know how to feel about that right now because I was too busy beating myself up over Andrew.

“Calm down, Gracie. I'm going to be okay. This wasn't your fault, and it wasn't my dad's either. There was just a wind gust or something that came out of nowhere and triggered it. You know how it goes.”

“I know. But . . .”

“No buts,” he insisted.

“We should go and check out the site while it's still fresh,” Ryan said.

He and Andrew shook hands and then Ryan leaned down to hug him. I hadn't even realized they knew each other. The Davenport and Grimes Flocks rarely associated with each other. Though I supposed since Ryan's brother was mated to Andrew's sister that it made sense.

When it was my turn, I leaned down and kissed his cheek, grateful the burn wasn't covering his face, at least not the majority of it. The worst of the burn was on his back and side, so I'd been told. I had no idea how he was laying on it.