Chapter 12

Gracie

Andrew looked awful. He was burned down one side of his body and his back.

Several of the guys were there recanting what had happened, though no one seemed to know for certain. If I"d been there, none of this would have happened.

I shot Clarence an angry glare, but he was too focused on his son to even notice me.

I could have saved him from all of this pain and suffering.

A nurse walked in scowling. "I said no more than three at a time, Clarence."

"Sorry Dottie. They just want to make sure my boy"s okay."

"Fix this or I'll kick all of you out."

"It"s all good," Dan said. "Ryan and Gracie just got here. Let's let them stay and catch up and we"ll be out in the waiting room. Come on, guys."

Clarence waivered for a moment and then scrubbed his face with his hands. "I could sure use a strong cup of coffee. Do you guys want anything?"

Ryan and I both declined.

"How are you feeling?" Ryan asked Andrew as Clarence left.

"Like shit."

"I"m surprised Kim isn"t here."

"Oh, she would be if she knew what happened."

"What? You didn"t tell her?"

"Hell no. She"d leave work and run down to fuss over me, and for what? I"m fine."

"You"re not fine," I protested.

"I"ll shift when I get the okay and my raven will heal this with no problem. Just waiting for Doc to give me the green light."

"She"s gonna kick your ass when she finds out," Ryan insisted, causing Andrew to laugh until he held his side in pain.

It was good to see his humor was still in tact. But I hated that he was suffering at all. I should have been there. I could"ve helped.

It was frustrating being sidelined like this. I was a great firefighter. There was no need for me to be benched.

"Ah hell. She"s going to kick my ass when she finds out I knew and didn"t tell her," Ryan added.

"At this point you"re screwed either way," Andrew joked. "But do me a favor and don"t mention it to Elias either. I know he can"t keep his mouth shut."

"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.

I pulled away and glared at him. "Why weren"t you in uniform when you ran into that fire?"

He gave me a sheepish look. "I was off duty but happened to be driving by when the fire ignited. Vance was there. I hadn"t even heard the call come in. When I felt the wind pick up, I ran in to pull him to safety. Another gust and it got me."

I scowled. "Why was Vance onsite for a fire?"

"It"s not uncommon," Ryan insisted. "Fire, rescue, and police often work together on these things."

"Maybe," I said.

I"d seen Vance pick something up at the last site. The combination of the two wasn"t sitting well with me. I didn"t want to mention my suspicion around Andrew though. I made a mental note to discuss it with Ryan later.

As we left the room, I stopped to talk to the guys and to hear more of their accounts of the story. None of them knew much, just that Andrew was on fire when they arrived.

"We should talk with Vance," I whispered to Ryan when we finally said goodbye and walked out of the clinic.

"Vance? Why?"

"He was there, Ryan. You heard Andrew."

"Well, yeah, but Gracie, that"s not uncommon."

"Before it was called in? And I"m telling you, I saw him pick something up at the last site and pocket it. He"s up to something. I don"t trust him."

"Vance Thornton? You think he's the mastermind behind these fires?"

"No. Maybe. I don"t know. But we can"t just ignore the facts and right now they point straight to him."

"I"m sure it"s nothing, but we can talk to him and see what"s going on."

"He"s the best lead we have at the moment. There is nothing else connecting these sites that I can think of."

"Maybe."

"What do you mean maybe?"

"The cliff and the barn are both common sites for teens to hang out, or at least they were back in our high school days. Remember?"

I considered it for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, but what does that have to do with the other sites?"

"I don"t know yet. I mean, the roadway by Gia"s place isn't really anything special. Big Dick wrecked his car there once senior year. Maybe not that exact location, but in that area. He had several people in the car with him at the time, like more people than were seats. Rattled a lot of feathers for it. That"s probably the only reason I even remember it happening."

"Who was in the car with him?"

Ryan shrugged. "Can"t remember. Oh wait, Vance was there."

"Vance? You"re sure?"

"Yes. And he used to hang out at the cliff and the barn too, right?"

"Of course. We all did."

"The first fire was at the football field. Vance played football."

"I played football too. A lot of us did."

"I"m just saying. What about the one down by the river? Any connections there?"

He shrugged. "Not that I can think of."

"Wait, didn"t Guffy have a kegger down there once? Carson got his ass kicked by someone that night for making out with a girl. Who was that?"

Ryan huffed. "Penny Caldwell. She was dating Vance at the time."

"Vance?"

"Yeah, Vance."

"Ryan, that"s it. These are places that Vance had bad experiences in high school."

"The football field? Nothing bad happened to him there."

I thought long and hard. "He broke his hand at that one game."

"Homecoming, senior year."

"It fits."

"I can"t believe it. It cannot be Vance, Gracie. It just can"t."

"Ryan, we agreed to keep an open mind."

"About everything," he added.

"On the clock. There are rules."

"No touching or kissing on work time. But is this really considered work time? Or just downtime between work time. I just want to make sure we"re clear on this."

He ran one finger slowly up my arm causing goosebumps to surface in the wake of his path.

"And does work time count when we"re all alone and no one is there to see?"

Feeling like a horny school girl, I pulled over to the side of the road and parked amongst the trees.

"I don"t think this is where the fire was," he commented with a smirk.

Without bothering to comment, I reached over and undid his pants until he sprung free. I licked my lips staring down at him and then got to work shimmying out of my own pants and underwear.

This went against all my rules, but to hell with it. I wanted him inside me so bad that I wasn"t sure I"d be able to think straight until I"d had him.

Just one touch. That was it. One soft little tickle up my arms to make me wet with desire.

I knew no one would see us here and no one would think to come back here. We were completely hidden from view of the road by trees and thick underbrush.

I pulled him toward me for a kiss, igniting that fire within that only he could extinguish, and only temporarily at that because one more touch or look my way and I knew my body would be on fire for him once more.

His phone rang, causing me to jump.

He grinned and then apologized as he answered it.

"Hey Jennifer, what"s up? . . . Uh-huh . . . Yes. I told him Monday I'd look into that. I"m busy this week . . . No suspects yet, but I am still working the case . . . Keep it clear . . . That"s right . . . I"ll check in at the office next week."

Needing him to finish this conversation a little faster, I bent down and licked his tip, swirling my tongue around it and then up and down the base.

His free hand fisted in my hair and when I looked up with a grin as I sucked him into my mouth, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"Yup, that"s right . . . Anything else?" he was starting to sound impatient. "Okay then. I"ll check back in tomorrow. Only call me if something pressing pops up that can"t wait. Thanks. Bye."

He disconnected the call and then tossed his phone into the backseat as he let out a long moan of pleasure.

"What are you doing to me? That feels so good."

He tasted good too, but I knew we didn"t have long or else someone may actually question our whereabouts. And I have needs to be met too. Remembering just what those needs were, I slung my leg over him and lowered myself onto him.

For a minute we just sat there, fully fused together staring at one another. There was nothing awkward about it, and he felt so good inside of me. I didn"t want to even move, but the pressure was already building within me, and I knew I had to.

Fast and furiously, we brought each other to the peak of pleasure.

The windows were fogged, and I wiped a sheen of sweat from his brow. I was physically spent and more than content, unable to make myself climb off of him.

He cradled my face in his hands and then kissed me.

That"s when I realized that this was a lot more than just a casual fling.

This felt like a lot more than that.