Ignite (Wildwood 1)

“Are you going to see him again? Did you two make plans?”

“No.” A waitress approached, topping off their coffee cups, and they didn’t speak until she left them alone. “What’s the point? I figured we’ll see each other again eventually.”

“So you really are treating this whole thing as a casual affair?” Delilah sounded surprised.

“Well, yeah. There’s no point in wanting more from West.” She meant that, really she did. Yet, if he tried to turn what they had into something more serious, she’d be inclined to give it a go.

Oh, whom was she trying to kid? She’d totally go for it. She had feelings for West. But she was also trying to tell herself that she could settle for a purely sexual relationship with him. If she got in too deep, she’d walk.

Simple as that.

Hopefully.

“Listen, this isn’t good enough.” Delilah slapped the edge of the table, startling Harper so she jumped in her seat. “I need more details. You don’t have to get graphic, but was he an attentive lover? He was a good kisser back in the day, so I can only imagine he’s improved. Was he considerate? Dirty talker? Quiet grunts? Did he make sure you had an orgasm?”

“All of your questions require fairly graphic answers,” Harper pointed out primly. “So . . . no comment.”

“Come on, Harper, throw a dog a bone.” Delilah lowered her voice. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had sex? I’ve gone through the most serious dry spell of my adult life. I’m dying over here.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that you’re encouraging me to give you sex details about my encounter with your ex-boyfriend?” Harper thought it was pretty weird.

“No, that’s the joy of living in a small town your entire life. Eventually we’re going to have that six-degrees-of-separation thing,” Delilah said with a nonchalant wave of her hand.

“More like two degrees,” Harper muttered as the waitress approached again, a local newspaper folded in her hands.

“You gals want to look this over? The people that just vacated left it behind.” When they both nodded the waitress dropped the paper in the middle of the table, startling them both. “Your breakfast is almost up,” she said before she walked away.

They e

ach grabbed for a section, Harper grabbing the front part. Yeah, most city newspapers were a dying art, but the Wildwood Guardian was still a staple among the townspeople. They loved their news and local gossip.

“My favorite section is the Daily Blotter,” Delilah said as she flipped through the paper to find it. “Ah, here we go. Monday, 2:22 a.m., Phyllis Corneal at 1147 Woodland Drive reported a break-in. Turned out it was the neighborhood bandit raccoons digging through her trash cans yet again.” Delilah glanced up, a smirk on her face. “Direct quote.”

The Daily Blotter was a full list of police and medical calls. They were mostly ridiculous. It was everyone’s favorite section.

Harper scanned the front page, her gaze snagging on a headline.

Possible Arsonist in the Wildwood Lake Area.

Frowning, she read the article, but it didn’t say much. Just talk of a few miscellaneous fires, a quote from Lane, along with one from Tate. Neither were encouraging talk of an arsonist, but they weren’t denying the possibility either.

West had never mentioned an arsonist to her, though it wasn’t like they’d talked much last night.

Again her cheeks went warm at the memory of exactly what they’d done. No way could she give Delilah details. How he kissed like a dream. How amazing his hands were as they roamed all over her body. The way he’d torn off her panties and shredded them into bits. How he made her come with his magical mouth and the ridiculous things she said to him and the sexy things he said to her . . .

“Oh, crap. They’re here,” Delilah whisper-hissed from across the table. She held her newspaper up in front of her face, rattling the paper so it made an annoying crinkling noise. “Put your paper up!”

Harper did as she commanded, holding the front section of the Guardian up so it covered her entire head. “Who’s here? Who are we hiding from?”

“Freaking Lane and Weston! What are they doing here? Only tourists come to this dump.” Delilah sounded about as panicked as Harper felt. “God, he’s wearing his uniform too.”

Harper swore she heard Delilah whimper.

Taking a deep breath, she told herself to focus. So West was here. So what? He was allowed to go out to breakfast the day after they’d had the most amazing sex of her life. She’d known she’d run into him eventually, she just hadn’t thought the moment would come so soon.

Carefully, she peeked around the edge of the newspaper, watching as the waitress escorted them to their table. She was young, her smile was big, and her chest was thrust out, as if she was desperately showing off her boobs. Lane was in his uniform, looking like he was about to go on duty, and he flashed the woman a polite smile but otherwise didn’t pay her any mind. West didn’t either. He seemed distracted. The relief that Harper felt at seeing this shouldn’t have made her so happy.

But it did.