Ignite (Firefighters of Montana Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

charming and interesting without me giving you a how to.”
    “But everyone has a different definition of charming and interesting.”
    “Isn’t flirting all about seeing if you have the same definition of those things? Seeing if you have the same…interests?”
    He leaned even closer; his eyes were a myriad of blues and greys, and she could smell whatever scent was on his skin. Woodsy and…smoky. Like soap and probably the air he existed in.
    She felt antsy all of a sudden, like she had to move, but he would read into that, so she forced herself to stay still. Just like when she’d had to train herself to be still during her surgery rotations.
    “And what are your interests, Lina?”
    She didn’t know why but something about the way he kept saying her name skittered along her nerves. It was both unpleasant and pleasant all the same time. It made her uncomfortable and nervous and yet she felt a little giddy thrill at it, too.
    She was really losing it.
    Focus, Lina . She was supposed to focus on flirting with him. Except now she couldn’t exactly remember what she had hoped to get out of that. A touch? A kiss?
    Information, you idiot. Right. “So, you grew up in Oregon?” she managed to ask, her voice not as steady as she’d prefer. But at least it softened her question from coming out like an interrogation.
    “Yes,” he replied, something in his demeanor changing so infinitesimally, she couldn’t read the change. Only that he somehow held himself differently.
    “Whereabouts?” She inwardly groaned. She sounded about as smooth as a middle-aged man trying to get information out of teenagers.
    “Portland,” he replied easily. “My dad had a mechanic shop and mom was a cafeteria worker at the elementary school. Just your average childhood.”
    He said it all so easily, as if it were simply true. Which meant he couldn’t be Dean. For as little she knew about Jess’s childhood, she knew that the Clarks had at least grown up in Montana—even when they’d gone from foster home to foster home.
    So, unless Ace had a very believable lie up his sleeve, he couldn’t be Dean. Of course, if he was Dean, and had been on the run from Jess finding him, surely he’d come up with a few lies.
    “You’re frowning,” he said, something like mocking in his tone. “Is that not what you want to hear? Usually people don’t frown about my lower middle-class two-parent childhood.”
    “I’m not frowning.” But of course she was giving herself away. Maybe this had been a mistake. Stupid to think fate of all foolish things would drop Dean Clark in her lap so she could offer him to Jess.
    Even stupider to think she could flirt or seduce anything out of him. Her. Icy, plodding, too-stern Lina McArthur.
    “You really need to work on your poker-face, sweetheart. If the whole idea was to come here and flirt me into revealing some deep dark secret you seem to think I have, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. So maybe you should scurry along home and leave this seat for the people who are actually interested in a little male-female companionship.”
    “Gross,” she muttered.
    “You think male female companionship is gross?” he asked, that mocking note to his voice growing, which caused her irritation with him to grow.
    “I think the word companionship is gross. I think the idea that a woman can only come to a bar for that is gross. It’s ridiculous for you to think people only come here for sex . I came with Cherrie to have a relaxing night with an alcoholic beverage.”
    “Your friend is over in that corner with a guy.”
    Lina jerked her head over to where Cherrie was indeed standing in the corner with a young, burly firefighter type. Lina felt a stab of envy that it could be so easy for her, that it could be so easy for, it seemed like, everyone but her.
    God, she was so tired of feeling like an outsider. Like someone who couldn’t just…be normal, have normal relationships. Suddenly, she didn’t really care if