Fiery Read Online Free PDF Page B

thinking, instead of flowers and plants for every picture, we could alternate.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “In one section we could dye the mulch from the bushes we pulled and use it around the base of a large rock with one of your pictures painted on it. Then the next section would be plants or maybe a few flowers at the base of the rock statues.”
    “What about the border?”
    “I liked the white in your drawing, so I was thinking a white turtlehead outline around each section.”
    She nibbled on her slice of pizza and watched him steadily. “It doesn’t sound like you need my help planning what to use.”
    “No, but you deserve a say. It’s your design.”
    “I drew the strip of pictures around the gazebo because I thought it would be a cool way for people to see the history of Whispering Cove without feeling like they were in a museum.”
    “You didn’t have any thought on how it would look if it was done?”
    “No, and frankly I wish I hadn’t let Byron talk me into entering and I wish I hadn’t won.”
    “I can handle the materials, Carmen. And the heavy lifting. I’m not an artist, though.”
    “I sketch a little.” She shrugged her shoulders. “That doesn’t make me an artist.”
    Her shoulder shrug spoke louder than any words she chose. She didn’t want to think of herself as an artist any more than he wanted to be a landscaper. What he’d failed to notice while fighting the idea of working with her was that she’d felt a connection to her subject.
    Her feelings for Whispering Cove had come through in each stroke she’d laid on the page, but what she didn’t realize, or maybe she did, was that she was gifted. She may enjoy the life she’d created for herself, but she could have more than a small apartment and a job cutting hair if she allowed herself to believe.
    “I did some traveling in the Corps. Saw some things. Toured some museums.” To make his mother happy. Carmen rolled her eyes, but Ryan continued. “Woman, you’re an artist.”
    She tensed when he called her Woman, but she didn’t comment on it. “Why plants instead of flowers? And why dye the mulch instead of smaller, colored rock?”
    “Rock is more expensive than the mulch and flowers die and have to be replaced more often than plants.”
    “So you want to do something that’s basically maintenance free.” She served him another slice of pizza. He hadn’t even realized he’d eaten, he was enjoying her company so much. 
    “It’s easier on the town’s budget.”
    She shrugged, again minimizing herself. He’d thought her to be a strong and confident woman when he’d watched her with the friends she’d made in town. Her friends had been a few years behind him in school, but he knew them well enough to know they’d never lacked confidence. She seemed to fit in smoothly with them; it was when she was alone she seemed different.
    The unexpected side of her drew him faster than a bowl of cookies called to a sweet tooth. Maybe it was how clearly he remembered her reactions. Her touch. Her taste.
    “Carmen.”
    She glanced sideways, looking leery. “What?”
    Ryan risked rejection and leaned close. “You never answered my question earlier.”
    “What question?”
    “Were you pissed that I kissed you or that I stopped? Or was it something else entirely?”
    Her throat bobbed as she turned her head to him. Her hands flattened on her legs before her. “I wasn’t mad about the kiss.”
    “That we stopped?”
    She shook her head.
    “So it was the comment about the non-natives.” He leaned a fraction closer, close enough now to catch the scent of shampoo and hair product she’d used during the day at work. “You thought since I had that view on plants it would transfer to you.”
    She nodded.
    He angled his head, watched her. “You weren’t too far off base.”
    “Ugh.” She lunged back. “The women in the salon were right.”
    “Yeah?” He didn’t move. Carmen would relax soon and when she did she’d