Into the Fire by Keira Ramsay Read Free Book Online

to?
    He scribbled his address on the back
of an envelope. “We’ve got something special, Charly. Something
more than the short term. Come see me when you figure that
out.”
    Any response she might have made was
forestalled by the ringing of her cell phone. As she picked it up,
he slapped the envelope down on the counter and stormed out of the
kitchen.
    “ Davis,” she responded, but
her eyes tracked Nate’s back as he pushed open the front door hard,
making it thunk against the porch siding.
    “ Fourth and Washington,” the
precinct’s dispatcher announced, “early reports are this is
definitely a torch.”
    “ On my way,” she
disconnected the line. Even as she tried to shift her mind from
Nate to the case, it stubbornly refused. The orgasm he’d given her
was stupendous, fabulous, but just like he’d said, she knew there
could be so much more, if she’d let herself go.
    Shaking her head, she bolted for the
bedroom and a new blouse before grabbing her keys and purse on the
way out the door. Her relationship with Nate--or lack
thereof--would have to wait.
     

Chapter Five
    Nate leaned against his hood,
seething, even as he recognized he was being an ass. Yeah, she’d
said it was only sex, but dammit, as always, she’d turned him
inside out, and he wanted more. He wanted to use the nipple clamps
and restraints still sitting uselessly in his pocket; he needed to
hear her beg for his touch. Dammit, he wanted it all.
    He’d actually sat in his truck for a
few minutes, keys in the ignition, before he realized that in order
to have it all, he needed to understand the “new” Charly. The girl
he’d known was still there, yes, but tempered by a woman he didn’t
really know. So he’d stepped out of the cab and into the cool
night, determined to wait out his anger and try again.
    The new and improved Charly walked out
the door with her hair pulled back into a tame ponytail, purse
under her arm. She turned to lock the door, and he could see her
Beretta holstered at the small of her back.
    The phone call, which he’d heard
coming in as he stormed out, had obviously mobilized her. And, just
as obviously, it was work.
    After what they’d just
done, dare he involve himself?  Hell
yes.  He pushed away from the
truck.
    “ Another?”
    She barely spared him a glance as she
opened the car door.
    He wasn’t dissuaded. He couldn’t be.
Not if he wanted to win Charly. And, dammit, if this was another
arson fire, he wanted in. His years in the Air Force had taught him
how to analyze almost anything. The Department of Defense was
damned good at training their Airmen to think outside the box. If
that training got him closer to Charly, if it helped her, then so
much the better.
    As she fired up the engine, he walked
to the passenger side, opened the door and slid into the
seat.
    “ What in the holy Hell do
you think you’re doing?” Charly ground out, tension clear on her
face.
    “ I still want in, regardless
of where you and I stand,” he replied as he buckled his
seatbelt.
    “ Get the fuck out of my
car.” She was furious, there was no doubt.
    Nate turned to face her fury. “I will,
if you want me to. But I’d still like to see the scene, walk
through it with you.” He forced his voice to be calm, reasonable.
He may have been pissed a few minutes ago, but now he was thinking
clearly. “You’re undoubtedly the expert, but I may see something
you don’t, because I have a fresh, different
perspective.”
    She considered him through narrowed
eyes. He actually saw the moment she chose the case over her
feelings, saw the shift from anger to speculation. He knew, in
order to fulfill his goal of claiming her, he’d have to respect the
importance she placed on her job. The thought was sobering, because
no matter how much he boasted of “different perspective”, she was
still the professional here; he was a clueless amateur.
    In the end, their history won out. “If
I didn’t know there was a world-class mind