Read Playing With Fire: inspirational romantic suspense (Montana Fire Book 2) for Free Online

too far from where she’d sat with Conner, her tray of graphite pencils sharpened, a fresh board on her lap. Began to sketch.
    Not her usual medium, but to Liza, an old habit, one that filled her soul.
    She started with the hard line of the water, then the circle of light just lipping the horizon, kept her movements whisper soft. She didn’t look at the paper, but drew by gestures, the flow of what she saw as the morning exploded around her.
    When she looked down, she’d drawn the outline of the ribbons of color. She switched to her darker B pencils, began to add the layers of color.
    The sunrise took life, and she didn’t hear footsteps until pebbles shifted beside her, a few trickling down to the water’s edge.
    She looked up and her heart stopped for a full second when Conner—looking like a medieval hero, complete with sooty face, bloodshot eyes, blond hair in sweaty tangles, and smelling like he’d fought a dragon—smiled down at her. “Hey, Donut Girl.”
She managed to not dissolve into a puddle and smiled casually up at him. “Hey, Smokejumper. How are you?”
    Oh, stupid question, Liza. He looked like he’d been dragged by a horse through live coals. Especially when he looked up at the sunrise, stared at it a long moment, something vacant in his face. Then he inhaled, long, and gave a small nod.
    “What are you—I mean—really, you look like—”
    “I just came off the fire line?” He hunkered down next to her, as if he belonged there, and only then did she notice he held his bandanna, pock-marked with burns and ash.
    It scared her a little to see him so wrung out. She put down her sketch. “What happened?”
    He blew out another breath, a little shaky, and she had the crazy urge to reach out, touch his hand. His muscled arm. Maybe draw him into a hug.
    A just-friends-but-I-prayed-for-you hug.
    “We nearly got overrun tonight—or this morning, rather. I just dropped off one of my crew at the hospital—he’s got a pretty banged-up ankle.”
    She wanted to ask how he’d ended up with her on the beach but said nothing as he seemed to be working out his words.
    “I saw the sunrise from the hospital parking lot and...I just couldn’t go back to the resort. Not quite yet. So, here I am.” He looked at her. “With you.”
    And then he smiled again, something sweet and gentle in it. As if he might be glad, even relieved, to see her.
    Huh.
    “You do this every morning?” he asked, gesturing to the sketch.
    “No. I was...well, this is going to sound crazy, but God sort of woke me up to pray for you. So, I was. I did.”
    His smile vanished, and he looked almost pained, his eyes closing then. He looked away, back at the lake.
    “Conner, are you okay?” Now she did touch him, just a hand, gentle on his shoulder. His shirt was sweaty, grimy, and nearly black with ash.
    He blew out another breath. “Now I am.”
    Liza sat in silence, the waves raking the shore, not so sure.
    Then, “We came pretty close to disaster today.”
    She didn’t want to hear that but kept her face unmoving, her emotions locked inside.
    “And I just keep remembering…”
    His jaw tightened, and Liza just about took his hand. Folded hers instead over her updrawn knees.
    “Yeah, well, okay...I told you my parents died in a car crash. But what I didn’t mention was that the car flipped, and they were trapped. I got out, and got my brother out, but...” He swallowed, his mouth a tight line. Then, “They burned to death.”
    Oh. No. “Conner, I’m so sorry.” ’ ’
    “Yeah. And it’s usually just there, lodged in the back of my brain, but days like this...” He gave a silent chuckle, nothing of humor in it. “Shoot. I didn’t mean to come down here and unload on you—I was just trying to clear my head.”
    “Clear it with me. Maybe that’s why God brought me out here.”
    He looked at her then, a quick frown, then another noise that sounded terribly like amazement. “Maybe.”
    “For sure, Conner. God’s