Her dad had invested in the place—becoming a partner to help out the guy who owned it—almost ten years before his heart attack hastened his retirement from fighting fires, and he’d bought the original owner out when he was back on his feet. Once it was solely Tommy’s, he’d changed the name to Kincaid’s Pub, and Ashley and Lydia had assumed their places behind the bar.
After taking a deep breath, she pulled open the heavy door and walked inside. All the old brick and wood seemed to absorb the light from the many antique-looking fixtures, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust.
It looked just the same, with sports and firefighting memorabilia and photographs covering the brick walls. The bar was a massive U-shape with a hand-polished surface, and a dozen tables, each seating four, were scattered around the room. In an alcove to one side was a pool table, along with a few more seating groups.
Because there wasn’t a game on, the two televisions—one over the bar and one hung to be seen from most of the tables—were on Mute, with closed-captioning running across the bottom. The music was turned down low because Kincaid’s was loud enough without people shouting to be heard over the radio.
Lydia loved this place. And she hated it a little, too. But in some ways it seemed as though Kincaid’s Pub was woven into the fabric of her being, and she wasn’t sorry to be there again.
“Lydia!” Her father’s voice boomed across the bar, and she made a beeline to him.
Tommy Kincaid was a big man starting to go soft around the middle, but he still had arms like tree trunks. They wrapped around her and she squealed a little when he lifted her off her feet. “I’ve missed you, girl.”
She got a little choked up as he set her down and gave her a good looking over. Their relationship could be problematic at times—like most of the time—but Lydia never doubted for a second he loved her with all his heart. Once upon a time, he’d had the same thick, dark hair she shared with her siblings, but the gray had almost totally taken over.
He looked pretty good, though, and she smiled. “I’m glad you missed me, because it sounds like you’ll be seeing a lot of me for a while.”
A scowl drew his thick eyebrows and the corners of his mouth downward. “That sister of yours. I don’t know what’s going through her mind.”
She gave him a bright smile. “Plenty of time for that later. Right now I just want to see everybody and have a beer.”
A blonde woman who was probably a few years older than her smiled from behind the bar. “I’m Karen. Karen Shea.”
Lydia reached across and shook her hand. “We really appreciate you being able to help out.”
“Not a problem.”
Lydia went to the very end of the back side of the bar and planted a kiss on the cheek of Fitz Fitzgibbon— her father’s best friend and a retired member of Ladder 37—who was the only person who ever sat on that stool. She supposed once upon a time she might have known his real first name, but nobody ever called him anything but Fitz or, in her father’s case, Fitzy.
There were a few other regulars she said hello to before getting a Sam Adams and standing at the bar. Unlike most, the big bar at Kincaid’s didn’t have stools all the way around. It had once upon a time, but now there were only stools on the back side and the end. Her dad had noticed a lot of guys didn’t bother with the stools and just leaned against the polished oak. To make things easier, he’d just ripped them out.
About a half hour later, her brother, Scotty, walked in. Like the rest of the Kincaids, he had thick dark hair and dark eyes. He needed a shave, as usual, but he looked good. They’d talked and sent text messages quite a bit over the past two years, but neither of them was much for video chatting, so she hadn’t actually seen him.
And right on Scotty’s heels was Aidan Hunt. His brown hair was lighter than her brother’s and it needed a trim. And she didn’t need to see his eyes to remember they were blue, like a lake on a bright summer day. He looked slightly older, but no less deliciously handsome than ever. She wasn’t surprised to see him. Wherever Scotty was, Aidan was usually close by.
What did surprise her was that the second his gaze met hers, her first thought was that she’d like to throw everybody out of the bar, lock the door and then shove him onto a chair. Since she was wearing the sundress, all she had to do was undo his fly, straddle his lap and hold on.
When the corner of his mouth quirked up, as if he somehow knew she’d just gone eight seconds with him in her mind, she gave him a nod of greeting and looked away.
For crap’s sake, that was Aidan Hunt. Her annoying younger brother’s equally annoying best friend.
He’d been seventeen when they met, to Lydia’s twenty-one. He’d given her a grin that showed off perfect, Daddy’s-got-money teeth and those sparkling blue eyes and said, “Hey, gorgeous. Want to buy me a drink?”
She’d rolled her eyes and told him to enjoy his playdate with Scotty. From that day on, he had seemed determined to annoy the hell out of her at every possible opportunity.
When her brother reached her, she shoved Aidan out of her mind and embraced Scotty. “How the hell are ya?”
“Missed having you around,” he said. “Sucks you had to come back for a shitty reason, but it’s still good to see you. I just found out about an hour ago Ashley had called you.”
“She just called me last night, so it was spur-of-the-moment, I guess.”
“It’s good to have you back.”
“Don’t get too used to it. It’s temporary.”
She’d always thought if she and Scotty were closer in age than four years apart, they could have been twins, with the same-shaped faces and their coloring. Ashley looked a lot like both of them, but her face was leaner, her eyes a lighter shade of brown and her hair wasn’t quite as thick.
Scotty was more like Lydia in temperament, too. Ashley was steadier and liked to try logic first. Scott and Lydia were a little more volatile and tended to run on emotion. Her temper had a longer fuse than her brother’s, but they both tended to pop off a little easy.
They caught up for a few minutes, mainly talking about his fellow firefighters, most of whom she knew well. And he gave her a quick update on their dad’s doctor not being thrilled with his blood pressure. It didn’t sound too bad, but it was probably good Ashley had called her rather than let him try to take up her slack.
Then Scotty shifted from one foot to the other and grimaced. “Sorry, but I’ve had to take a leak for like an hour.”
She laughed and waved him off. “Go. I’ll be here.”
He left and Lydia looked up at the television, sipping her beer. She only ever had one, so she’d make it last, but part of her wanted to chug it and ask for a refill. It was a little overwhelming, being back.
“Hey, gorgeous. Want to buy me a drink?” What were the chances? She turned to face Aidan, smiling at the fact she’d been thinking about that day just a few minutes before. “What’s so funny?”
She shook her head, not wanting to tell him she’d been thinking about the day they met, since that would be an admission she’d been thinking about him at all. “Nothing. How have you been?”
“Good. Same shit, different day. You come back for a visit?”
“I’ll be here awhile. Maybe a couple of weeks, or a month.” She shrugged. “Ashley wanted to take some time off, so I’m going to cover for her. You know how Dad is about having one of us here all the damn time.”
His eyes squinted and he tilted his head a little. “You sound different.”
“I worked on toning down the accent a little, to fit in more at work, I guess. Even though it’s only the next state over, people were always asking me where I was from.”
“You trying to forget who you are?” It came out fuh-get who you ah. “Forget where you came from?”
“Not possible,” she muttered.
; He gave her that grin again, with the perfect teeth and sparkling eyes. They crinkled at the corners now, the laugh lines just making him more attractive. “So what you’re saying is that we’re unforgettable.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “You’re something, all right.”
Aidan looked as if he was going to say something else, but somebody shouted his name and was beckoning him over. He nodded and then turned back to Lydia. “I’ll see you around. And welcome home.”
She watched him walk away, trying to keep her eyes above his waist in case anybody was watching her watch him. Her annoying brother’s annoying best friend had very nice shoulders stretching out that dark blue T-shirt.
Her gaze dipped, just for a second. And a very nice ass filling out those faded blue jeans.
Don’t miss HEAT EXCHANGE
by Shannon Stacey,
available now wherever
Carina Press books are sold.
www.CarinaPress.com
Copyright © 2015 by Shannon Stacey
Author’s Note
The processes and organizational structures of large city fire departments are incredibly complex, and I took minor creative liberties in order to maintain readability.
To first responders everywhere, thank you.
To find out about other books by Shannon Stacey or to be alerted to new releases, sign up for her monthly newsletter here or at bit.ly/shannonstaceynewsletter.
Acknowledgments
As always, a huge thank-you to Angela James and to the Harlequin and Carina Press teams for your constant support and encouragement.
The Kowalski Series from Shannon Stacey
Suggested reading order
Exclusively Yours
Undeniably Yours
Yours to Keep
All He Ever Needed
All He Ever Desired
All He Ever Dreamed
Love a Little Sideways
Taken with You
Falling for Max
Also available from Shannon Stacey
and Carina Press
Holiday Sparks
Mistletoe & Margaritas
Slow Summer Kisses
Snowbound with the CEO
Her Holiday Man
Heat Exchange
Controlled Burn
A Fighting Chance
Also available from Shannon Stacey and Harlequin
Alone with You
Heart of the Storm
About the Author
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Shannon Stacey lives with her husband and two sons in New England, where her two favorite activities are writing stories of happily-ever-after and driving her UTV through the mud. You can contact Shannon through her website, shannonstacey.com, where she maintains an almost daily blog, or visit her on Twitter at Twitter.com/shannonstacey, her Facebook page, Facebook.com/shannonstacey.authorpage, or email her at [email protected]. To find out about other books by Shannon Stacey or to be alerted to new releases, sign up for her monthly newsletter here or at bit.ly/shannonstaceynewsletter.
Tough. Dedicated.
Meet the men of
“This is the perfect blend of sweet and sexy for those who love a bit of firefighter action!”
—Heroes and Heartbreakers
HEAT EXCHANGE (Boston Fire, book one)
CONTROLLED BURN (Boston Fire, book two)
FULLY IGNITED (Boston Fire, book three)
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Fall in love with the New York Times bestselling The Kowalskis series from Shannon Stacey, available now at CarinaPress.com and wherever ebooks are sold.
The Kowalskis
EXCLUSIVELY YOURS (The Kowalskis, book one)
UNDENIABLY YOURS (The Kowalskis, book two)
YOURS TO KEEP (The Kowalskis, book three)
ALL HE EVER NEEDED (The Kowalskis, book four)
ALL HE EVER DESIRED (The Kowalskis, book five)
ALL HE EVER DREAMED (The Kowalskis, book six)
LOVE A LITTLE SIDEWAYS (The Kowalskis, book seven)
TAKEN WITH YOU (The Kowalskis, book eight)
FALLING FOR MAX (The Kowalskis, book nine)
“Books like this are why I read romance.”
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If you love Shannon Stacey’s happy-ever-afters, you won’t want to miss
A FIGHTING CHANCE!
A FIGHTING CHANCE
All work and no play makes Adeline Kendrick a dull girl, so when she heads to a casino resort for a friend’s bachelorette weekend, she’s ready to have a good time. Until she runs into Brendan Quinn, professional fighter and the one who got away—the one her family drove away—and things take a turn for the interesting.
Running into his ex won’t shake Brendan. Even if it brings up the old pain of loving her when she was only slumming. Even if she looks really good. In fact, what better way to get over the past than to take advantage of the still-sizzling chemistry running hot between them? He’s there to win an MMA fight, but he won’t say no to a little physical relief of a different kind.
But when the weekend is over, Adeline isn’t ready to give up on her second chance that easily. Brendan is still the one for her, no matter what her family thinks. Now, if only she can convince him of that…
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If you love romantic comedies with British flair, you’ll love ACT LIKE IT by Lucy Parker—available now!
ACT LIKE IT
by Lucy Parker
A sharp-witted heroine and an infuriating-but-swoon-worthy leading man bring down the house in this utterly charming contemporary romance debut.
“I liked this book so much, I read it twice.”
—Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
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We think you have a good book in you!
Do you write in the below genres? Harlequin’s Carina Press wants to see your manuscript.
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ISBN-13: 9781459290297
Fully Ignited
Copyright © 2016 by Shannon Stacey
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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Fully Ignited (Boston Fire #3) Page 26
