by Jaci Burton
PRAISE FOR JACI BURTON AND HER NOVELS
“Jaci Burton’s stories are full of heat and heart.”
—#1 New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks
“A wild ride.”
—#1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh
“Jaci Burton delivers.”
—New York Times bestselling author Cherry Adair
“One to pick up and savor.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Jaci Burton’s books are always sexy, romantic, and charming! A hot hero, a lovable heroine, and an adorable dog—prepare to fall in love with Jaci Burton’s amazing new small-town romance series.”
—New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis
“A heartwarming second-chance-at-love contemporary romance enhanced by engaging characters and Jaci Burton’s signature dry wit.”
—USA Today
“Captures everything I love about a small-town romance.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Delivered on everything I was hoping for and more.”
—Under the Covers Book Blog
“A sweet, hot small-town romance.”
—Dear Author
“Fun and sexy.”
—Fiction Vixen
“The perfect combination of heat and romance.”
—Heroes and Heartbreakers
“Plenty of romance; sexy men; hot, steamy loving; and humor.”
—Smexy Books
“An extraordinary novel—a definite home run!”
—Joyfully Reviewed
“Lively and funny . . . intense and loving.”
—The Road to Romance
“An invitation to every woman’s wildest fantasies.”
—Romance Junkies
“Burton is a master at sexual tension!”
—RT Book Reviews
Titles by Jaci Burton
Brotherhood by Fire Series
HOT TO THE TOUCH
Hope Series
HOPE SMOLDERS
(an eNovella)
HOPE FLAMES
HOPE IGNITES
HOPE BURNS
LOVE AFTER ALL
MAKE ME STAY
DON’T LET GO
LOVE ME AGAIN
ONE PERFECT KISS
Play-by-Play Series
THE PERFECT PLAY
CHANGING THE GAME
TAKING A SHOT
PLAYING TO WIN
THROWN BY A CURVE
ONE SWEET RIDE
HOLIDAY GAMES
(an eNovella)
MELTING THE ICE
STRADDLING THE LINE
HOLIDAY ON ICE
(an eNovella)
QUARTERBACK DRAW
ALL WOUND UP
HOT HOLIDAY NIGHTS
(an eNovella)
UNEXPECTED RUSH
RULES OF CONTACT
THE FINAL SCORE
SHOT ON GOLD
Wild Rider Series
RIDING WILD
RIDING TEMPTATION
RIDING ON INSTINCT
RIDING THE NIGHT
Stand-Alone Novels
WILD, WICKED, & WANTON
BOUND, BRANDED, & BRAZEN
Anthologies
UNLACED
(with Jasmine Haynes, Joey W. Hill, and Denise Rossetti)
EXCLUSIVE
(with Eden Bradley and Lisa Renee Jones)
LACED WITH DESIRE
(with Jasmine Haynes, Joey W. Hill, and Denise Rossetti)
NAUTI AND WILD
(with Lora Leigh)
NAUTIER AND WILDER
(with Lora Leigh)
HOT SUMMER NIGHTS
(with Carly Phillips, Erin McCarthy, and Jessica Clare)
MISTLETOE GAMES
(Holiday Games, Holiday on Ice, and Hot Holiday Nights in one volume)
eNovellas
THE TIES THAT BIND
NO STRINGS ATTACHED
WILD NIGHTS
A JOVE BOOK
Published by Berkley
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
Copyright © 2019 by Jaci Burton, Inc.
Excerpt from Ignite on Contact copyright © 2019 by Jaci Burton, Inc.
Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.
A JOVE BOOK, BERKLEY, and the BERKLEY & B colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Burton, Jaci, author.
Title: Hot to the touch / Jaci Burton.
Description: First Edition. | New York : Jove, 2019. | Series: Brotherhood by Fire
Identifiers: LCCN 2018053523 | ISBN 9780399585180 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780399585197 (ebook)
Subjects: | GSAFD: Love stories.
Classification: LCC PS3602.U776 H68 2019 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018053523
First Edition: May 2019
Cover photo by Claudio Dogar Marinesco
Cover design by Sarah Oberrender
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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This book is dedicated to all the firefighters who put their lives on the line in order to save others. Thank you for what you do.
CONTENTS
Praise for Jaci Burton and Her Novels
Titles by Jaci Burton
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Excerpt from Ignite on Contact
About the Author
PROLOGUE
AUGUST 2005
They’d gotten separated from the rest of the group when the downpour sta
rted, but that happened sometimes. Jackson hoped the rest of them were okay in the tents. For tonight, it was just him, Rafe and Kal.
They’d been lucky to find this abandoned piece-of-junk house so they could have a roof over their heads during the storm. Jackson was on lookout tonight, because you never knew who might be prowling for space, or the cops might come and bust them and the last thing they needed was to be dragged back into some shitty foster home worse than the last one.
Foster homes were a crapshoot. Sometimes you got lucky and they were decent. More often than not you got people who were in it for the money, or the system was so overburdened with kids you ended up shuffled from one home to another and you couldn’t even remember anyone’s names. They sure as hell didn’t remember yours. And then sometimes you got the mean ones. At fourteen, Jackson could handle himself. Rafe was getting there at thirteen, but Kal was only twelve. As the oldest, Jackson was responsible for looking out for the younger ones. His brothers. Not by blood, but they were still his brothers.
No, they were better off on their own where they had each other’s backs and no one could ever hurt them again.
Tonight they had gotten lucky and had a place to sleep out of the rain. They’d scored a whole pizza some jerkoff had left uneaten on his back porch while the dude was inside having an argument with his girlfriend, so they had full bellies. Rafe and Kal were asleep on the floor in another room while Jackson stood watch. He gazed out the living room window of the old beach house, watching lightning arc across the Atlantic Ocean. The storm was a bad one tonight and the rain was coming down hard.
He walked away from the water view and made his way to the front of the house. He scanned the street out front to make sure it was still clear. Because of the rain, no one was wandering around, which made him feel more secure.
Not that you could ever feel completely safe. Not when you lived like they did.
He pushed off the wall to wander around. Lots of windows in this place. He’d bet it was killer when the sun was out. But tonight the rain made it cold, so they’d shut all the windows earlier. His boots creaked on the worn wood floor. As he moved from room to room he could imagine a family with a couple of kids and maybe a dog running this joint. They’d probably have nice furniture, some cushy-looking couch where they’d all cuddle together and read at night.
He could still remember what it was like to have a family, though that had been a long time ago and there was no point living in the past. He wasn’t gonna get that life back.
Anyway, this was a decent beach house, and maybe someday it would get fixed up. Or maybe torn down. But tonight, it was their shelter, and they didn’t have one of those very often.
Having made a circuit of the place, he returned to the living room and sat down in the corner. He leaned back against the wall and settled in.
* * *
• • •
Jackson woke up coughing, something burning his lungs so badly he couldn’t breathe. He tried to open his eyes, but when he did they burned.
He fought to suck in air, found his voice so he could call out for Rafe and Kal. They didn’t answer. His stomach tightened as he saw flames lick up the wall across the room.
Oh, shit. Fire. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want his brothers to be dead. Tears pricked his eyes as he tried to see through the thick, black smoke. He pushed himself onto his hands and knees, trying to remember where the door was, what room the boys were sleeping in. Had they been right next to him, or had he moved into another room? His brain was fuzzy and he couldn’t remember.
He coughed, the smoke entering his lungs with every breath he took. He pulled his raggedy T-shirt over his mouth, trying to stifle the smoke. He had to get to Rafe and Kal. He was the oldest. It was his job to save them.
He called out to them, rasping out a cough with every few words. But he kept at it. They had to hear him. If he could hear them, he could get to them. Then they’d figure a way out. Because no way were they dying in this piece-of-shit building today.
Finally, he heard voices. The sound was faint, but he wasn’t imagining it. He’d definitely heard it. It was them. It had to be them. Which meant they were alive. He crawled toward the sound, his own voice hoarse as he yelled out in response.
“I’m here! Hang on.” The smoke grew thicker and he could feel himself slipping away, but sheer determination kept him conscious. He was their brother. They’d been through so much together, had survived so much together. This fire wasn’t going to get them.
When he saw the light and the tall shadow looming over him, he thought maybe it was too late. He was dead and this was some dark angel come to take him away. But then strong arms scooped him up.
“It’s okay, buddy,” the dark angel said. “I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”
Jackson shook his head and gripped the angel’s arm, barely able to stay conscious. “My . . . my brothers.”
“They’re safe, too. They’re outside. Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
Jackson sighed in relief and let himself fall into the darkness.
CHAPTER 1
PRESENT DAY
Jackson Donovan was having the best dream of his life. It involved his favorite spot on the beach, a spectacular blonde in a barely-there bikini, and hot sex on a Jet-Ski. He was just about to maneuver her onto his lap while they were simultaneously bouncing across the waves, because, hey, in a dream anything was possible, when a loud noise sent him jolting off the sofa in the firehouse.
He’d thought it was the firehouse alarm, so he was instantly alert.
“Calm down,” Rafe said, not even looking up from the video game he was playing. “Just Rodriguez dropping shit in the kitchen.”
Jackson blinked, that sweet dream vanishing instantly. He rubbed his eyes and stretched. “Oh. Okay.”
“So, good dream?” Rafe asked, grinning as he kept his attention on the TV.
Now that he knew he didn’t have to gear up, Jackson leaned back in the chair. “None of your business.”
His other brother, Kal, laughed. “That means it was about a girl.”
Sometimes working with your brothers was great. Other times it was annoying because they knew him too well.
They’d been together for longer than Jackson could remember. Jackson had hit the streets at ten. It didn’t take long to grow streetwise when you were running from either cops or social services, or whatever other dangers lurked out there for kids. You found yourself a homeless community, which he’d done, and then found other kids. He’d hooked up with Rafe a few years later, then Kal. After that, the three of them had been inseparable. They might not be real brothers, but they had all shared similar circumstances. And all those years they’d lived on the streets they’d looked out for each other, had each other’s backs and had vowed to never be separated.
That had never changed.
Which didn’t mean his brothers weren’t a constant pain in his ass.
“You three intending to spend this shift sitting on your asses?”
Their father, Battalion Chief Josh Donovan, glared down at them. Off duty he was loving and protective and fun. Everything Jackson had always wanted in a father. Off duty he was Dad. The guy who’d saved their lives that night in the house fire.
And the man who’d adopted them, along with his wife, Laurel. Their mom.
But on shift? On shift he was their battalion chief—demanding and strict. He expected a lot of every firefighter who worked at Station 6. His own kids got no preferential treatment.
“No, sir,” Kal said, giving their father the respect he was due.
“Good. Because the fridge smells like something died in there. Go investigate.”
“Oh, come on, Chief,” Kal said. “Let the probies do that.”
Dad shot Kal a look that said there’d be no argument.
Kal sighed. “Yes, sir. I’
m right on it.”
But just at that moment the alarm went off, calling for both Ladder and Engine 6, along with the EMTs, who were at the hospital but acknowledged they’d be on their way. It looked like cleaning the fridge would have to be put off—at least until after the call they were headed out to.
They all ran out to the engine room. Jackson climbed into his bunker pants and jacket, grabbed the rest of his gear and scrambled into the truck. Despite having been on this engine for the past seven years, he felt a thrill every time he heard the sirens, every time the engine roared out of the house. The sounds and vibrations filled him with a sense of belonging, of knowing that this was right where he was supposed to be.
All those years he lived on the streets, he never thought he’d feel this way.
The night that firefighter Josh Donovan rescued him and Rafe and Kal from that house fire changed his life. Changed all their lives.
“Dude, you even listening?” Rafe asked.
He blinked. “What?”
“You dreaming about that girl again?”
Jackson shook his head. “No. Just thinking.”
“No wonder you looked so pained.”
He glared at his brother. “Fuck off.”
This was one of those times he was glad both of his brothers didn’t ride the same fire truck with him. One was bad enough.
They arrived at a strip shopping center a couple of blocks from the beach. Smoke poured out of the open door of a tattoo shop with a sign on the window that said Skin Deep. He didn’t see smoke rising from the second story.
Yet.
“No flames visible.” Jackson did a quick review as they pulled up in front of the building. Nothing shooting out of the roof, which didn’t mean the place wasn’t fully involved on the inside, or ready to burst into flames any second. Smoke was sometimes more dangerous than flame. It held secrets that could explode any second.
They’d have to be on guard.
Jackson gave out assignments, even though everyone already knew their jobs.
