Chapter 3

Ryan

The last thing I wanted to do was spend the day with Gracie, but I couldn"t deny I was intrigued. It had been a long time since I dusted off my forensic skills. With nothing pressing in my schedule for the day, I liked the idea of a new challenge.

"I"ll drive," I offered.

"No. You don"t even know where we"re going. I"ll drive."

My jaw locked, but I didn"t argue as we headed for her Jeep Wrangler and climbed in. With the top off, it was just us in a roll cage, and we soon were going a hundred miles an hour down a windy back road just outside of town limits.

"Slow down," I yelled.

The wind was rustling through my hair, and it gave me the urge to shift. I was sure it was going to be a mess by the time we stopped, though I wasn"t convinced we were going to survive this trip.

Oh God, this was the end. I was going to die a horrible broken mess when she crashed this hunk of metal.

This wasn"t how I was supposed to die. Okay, I didn"t really know how I was supposed to die, but this couldn"t possibly be it.

The woman was a menace hellbent on killing us both.

Before I could go into a full-blown panic attack, the Jeep came to a sudden hard stop, jerking me forward against the seatbelt as my eyes closed, bracing for the end.

I heard someone scream and it took a second to realize it was me.

"You okay?" Gracie asked.

I didn"t appreciate the way her voice was laced with sarcasm.

Staring at her, I realized she was actually insane. I always suspected as much, but damn, she was certifiably crazy.

"Are you trying to kill us?" I blurted out when I finally found my voice.

She looked at me like I was the crazy one.

"Are you really this much of a drama queen? Come on. We have work to do."

I sat there in shock as she jumped out of the Jeep and walked over to the edge of the cliff. If she jumped, it wouldn"t have surprised me even a little.

With that thought came an old memory from back in high school where I"d seen her do just that. It had been a thing us teenagers would do, a sort of rite of passage. We would run full speed to the edge of that cliff and jump, shifting mid-air before reaching the bottom. But Gracie had still been too young for her bird to come in and when she didn't shift like we expected, ten of us hurriedly flew down to catch her, each of us grabbing whatever we could hold onto to try to slow her down and stop her from splatting at the bottom of the canyon.

I shivered remembering that day clearly. I hadn"t thought about it in a long time. I had never been that scared in my entire life. I"d only had my wings for a few weeks, and it was nothing but sheer adrenaline that had kept me holding onto her that day. When we'd reached the bottom and she was still alive, we'd made her swear never to do that again. In turn she made us promise we would never mention what happened again.

After it was all said and done, she told us she just wanted to finally know what it was like to fly. Even back then she"d been reckless and wild. I had always suspected she had a death wish, but I'd never understood why.

Briefly, I wondered if she was remembering that day too as she looked out over the cliff. I wanted to ask her, but an oath was an oath, and that was something I took very seriously. Neither of us spoke, each lost in our own thoughts and memories.

Not everything was that nightmarish here. I could still clearly remember Carson Pierce being drunk, tripping, and nearly going over the edge. His raven hadn"t come in yet like the rest of the others, so he couldn"t fly. It had been scary and funny at the same time. We"d all laughed for weeks about it. Poor kid had struggled to live that one down.

And he wasn"t the only one. Vance Thornton had also gotten drunk and had a rather unfortunate time out here. He"d pissed off a couple of the Caldwell boys. They"d frozen him and chucked him over the edge. Scott Montgomery had taken pity on him and used his fire powers to melt the ice just in time for Vance to shift and fly back up to the cliff.

I hadn"t been there for that, but I"d heard about it. Elias said he had a mouth on him that often got him in trouble or targeted for bullying. I often wondered if that was why he"d chosen to go into law enforcement.

Those had been the days. Carefree and crazy. Sometimes I missed those days, but more often than not I was too busy to even stop and remember.

"We had a lot of good times up here," I said, feeling nostalgic as I noticed her watching me.

I"d heard her drama queen comment but didn"t even bother to respond to that.

"Not all great."

"But definitely memorable."

I gave her a conspiratorial smile as she rolled her eyes.

"Come on. We don"t have all day," she grumbled.

Watching her walk away, I was struck by how beautiful she was. I had no doubt she knew it too. Damn, her ass was firm and perfectly heart-shaped. I had a strange desire to reach out and touch it.

"Are you coming or just going to stand there and stare at my ass all day?"

My eyes shot up to hers. I"d been busted, but I damn well wasn"t going to admit to it.

"In your dreams," I told her.

She smiled. "I"m sure you"d love to know all about my dreams, but I assure you they"ve never included being ogled by our illustrious Mayor."

My jaw dropped in surprise. I didn"t even know how to come back from that, though my mind went to all sorts of dirty thoughts. I really wanted to know about her dreams now, but there was no way I was going to cave and ask about them.

The little minx shook her ass and shimmied over to a large pile of ash on the ground.

Shaking away inappropriate thoughts from my head, I walked over to join her.

"Okay. What am I looking at here?"

"The remnants of a fire."

She said it with a deadpan look on her face, but when my jaw dropped to respond and nothing came out, the corner of her lips tipped up into a satisfied smirk.

I"d never had a problem with witty comebacks, but for some reason I was finding myself tongue tied around this girl. No, girl wasn"t the right word. Somewhere along the way, Gracie had grown into a beautiful woman.

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.