Too Hot
Lauren Fraser
When it comes to her career, Josie Sharp sees things with perfect clarity, but her love life? Well, that’s completely out of focus. Coming off a rough breakup, she’s insecure and hesitant about men, especially ones as sexy as firefighter Marco Patelli. Although she may be wary of his intentions, she’d have to be a fool to pass up the chance to be with a man like him. And foolishness is not in her genes.
Josie is nothing like the women Marco normally goes for, but something about the shy photographer’s vulnerability calls to his dominant side. As he helps Josie explore her sexuality, Marco realizes there is so much more to Josie than meets the eye.
But when lies and insecurities collide, Marco is going to have to fight to prove to Josie that what they have goes so much deeper than sex.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
www.ellorascave.com
Too Hot
ISBN 9781419935695
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Too Hot Copyright © 2011 Lauren Fraser
Edited by Grace Bradley
Cover art by Syneca
Photos by Ramzi Hachicho, Michael Macsuga, CURAphotography and Aleksandr Petrunovsky, from Shutterstock.com.
Electronic book publication August 2011
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Too Hot
Lauren Fraser
Dedication
To my family, thanks for all your support.
Chapter One
Some days she really hated her job. Today was not one of those days.
Josie Sharp watched the men making their way into the abandoned warehouse and shivered in anticipation.
Taking the photos for the firefighter fundraising calendar was like a dream come true. This was the biggest shoot of her career and nailing this job would finally put her on the map. She couldn’t screw this up.
She’d been offered the job because of her family connections and there was no way she was going to make anyone regret their choice. She took a deep breath and silently chanted her mantra. You can do this. You have talent and a good eye. By the fifth run-through she felt as if maybe she was starting to believe herself.
Time to get to work. She pulled a clip out of her bag and grabbed a handful of her long, red hair and pinned it up. Being around all these gorgeous men, she’d be nervously fiddling with it all day if she didn’t get her hair out of the way. Not quite the look she was going for but it would have to do. She rubbed her damp palms on her jeans and scanned the interior of the building.
Throughout the old warehouse she’d created several makeshift scenes. She glanced at the fake fire hydrant prop she had set up. She could picture muscles bulging as a fireman screwed on the hose. It would look amazing on film. A large, red fire engine sat outside the building to be used for various shots. Fire hoses lay coiled in the corner to be pulled out for use, several axes rested against the wall, and she had a bucket of soot to dirty the guys up. She was all set.
She glanced over at the twelve men. Some watched her with arrogant mockery while others acted as if this were the last place they wanted to be. She eyed one guy already blushing to the roots of his ginger hair. He glanced at his watch and cringed. Poor guy looked like this day couldn’t end soon enough for him. Thank god she wasn’t the only one battling a case of nerves today.
A shy model she could work with. She looked forward to the challenge of making them all enjoy getting their pictures taken so she could get some fabulous shots. She took a deep breath and strolled over to the group.
Thankfully she knew a few of the guys already through her uncle. She grinned at her uncle and two of his firefighters, James and Scott, as she walked up to the group. She knew there were a couple of others from his station, but she’d never met them before since they’d transferred over from other firehouses recently.
Seeing the familiar faces eased some of her nerves about the job, making things a little easier. She had no doubt a couple of the guys would ham it up for the camera.
Her gaze landed on an unfamiliar face. And holy crap what a face it was. Dark hair framed chocolate-brown eyes. Mmm. His olive complexion highlighted a chiseled jaw and the most sensuous lips she’d ever seen. No wonder the Greeks and Romans had so many carvings of the male form. This guy looked like some kind of Mediterranean sex god.
Not good. She hadn’t even started photographing people yet and already this man had turned her brain to mush. She took a deep breath and forced herself to look away from Mr. Sexy. When she saw her uncle hovering in the background, the lust zipping around her body was immediately extinguished.
Well that would sure make it easier to work around sexy men. Having ol’ Hawkeye standing guard would keep her libido in check. She grinned at him.
Under the guise of doing his job as captain, he’d hang around all day to “supervise”, while in reality he stayed to offer her moral support. He flashed her a little chin-up sign and she grimaced. Guess she wasn’t doing such a great job of looking as confident as she’d hoped.
Pasting on a smile, she dug deep, praying for a little bravado to shine through. “Hi, guys, thanks for getting here so early. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Josie, and I’m the lucky lady who gets to take your pictures today.” She smiled at the men. “So, what I’d like to do is start off with a couple of group shots this morning, so umm…we’ll maybe start with all of you geared up with your jackets and helmets then we’ll kind of work back from there.”
“You going to heat things up a little in here for us, Josie?” James joked and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
She rolled her eyes. Typical James, all talk. If she ever actually took him up on his joking he’d probably swallow his tongue trying to backtrack.
“I don’t think you need any help from me, James,” she told the buff blond.
He grinned.
“All right, guys, so suit up and let’s get going.”
Josie looked around the group, mentally deciding how to pose each model. Her eyes were drawn to the sexy Mediterranean. Mmm, mmm, mmm, now that’s what people paid to see when they bought a calendar of firefighters.
A slow, sexy smile spread across his face as he looked back at her. She shivered beneath his stare. If she could capture that look on film that guy alone would sell every calendar printed.
The guy beside him nudged him and their connecti
on was broken. Josie laughed. Here she was a big puddle of hormones and he probably didn’t even realize. Who was she kidding? Guys who looked like him were used to women swooning at their feet as they melted into those deep, chocolate eyes. He probably looked at every woman that way. Hell, that was probably his normal look and he hadn’t even turned the heat on yet and she was a big pile of goo. Two years and thirty pounds ago, she would have known he was interested and reeled him in. But not now.
She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. When she glanced up, her sexy Mediterranean fireman and two of his friends had come over.
“Do you need any help?” Mr. Sexy asked.
She stared back at him, her mouth gaping. Wow, that voice should be illegal. She was such a sucker for that gravelly timbre. How many hours had she watched Sam Elliot movies over the years just to hear him talk? And now standing in front of her was a man that made Sam Elliot’s voice sound like crap.
At her blatant stare, he winked, his sensual mouth curled up in a panty-searing grin. “So did you need help?”
“Umm…yeah, sure.” Desperate to gain some composure, she scanned the room. Her gaze landed on her uncle. And she was back, lust gone. “Can one of you grab that screen over there?” She pointed to the screen she needed to control the glare for her shots. With the sun coming up she was counting on it creating a fantastic shadow but if the angle was wrong she could fix it with her equipment and create the look she was going for.
Mr. Sexy nodded to the other two guys to go grab the screen. “Anything else?” His eyes lingered on her face, his nostrils flared as he scanned her body. And it’s back. Lust zinged through her. Man, she needed to get more sleep because she seriously thought he looked interested.
Get a grip, Sharp. Heat raced across her breasts and up her face, making her painfully aware she was blushing. She laughed to herself. Real cool.
“What’s so funny?” he asked. His white teeth peeked through when he smiled. Geez, even his teeth were perfect. How was it possible for one person to be so well put together?
Tamping down her physical reaction to him, she shook her head. “Nothing, just my warped sense of humor. If you want to grab that bag there then I can get the rest.”
“Sure thing.” He picked up the heavy bag and slung it over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing. And man if she didn’t sigh just a little at the display. Yep, she definitely needed to get more sleep.
Desperate to gain control of her hormones and put things back on normal ground, she asked, “So what station do you work out of?”
“The sixth.”
“Sixth? Really? I’ve never seen you there.” And lord knows she would have remembered.
He grinned. “I just transferred from downtown at the beginning of the month.”
The other two men fell in line with them as they walked outside for the first part of the shoot.
The man beside Mr. Sexy slapped him on the shoulder. “Yep, our boy moved on to greener pastures.” He rolled his eyes. “You save some bigwig and suddenly the powers that be think you should be promoted,” the guy joked.
Everyone knew it took more than that to be promoted. Mr. Sexy must be one hell of a fireman. She glanced back at him and he shrugged as if the promotion was no big deal. Damn, gorgeous and modest. Oh hell yeah, she’d be fantasizing about him later tonight with her favorite toy.
His eyes darkened as his gaze ran across her body. Her breath hitched and it was all she could do not to clamp her legs together to ease the ache. He was looking at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and wanted to watch.
“So what’s the game plan for the group shot?” the blond on her right asked, pulling her attention from the sex god.
She flicked a glance at him. God, these men were fantastic. They were going to photograph like a dream. She itched to get her camera in her hands and start taking some shots. This was the part of her job she loved, finding just the right angle and lighting that would take a decent picture and make it utterly amazing.
She’d spent the entire weekend thinking about this shoot. When she’d walked in this morning, she’d had all kinds of ideas, but now that she was looking at the group of muscular men with the sun rising in the background, that plan went out the window. “Change of plans, guys,” she called out. “Lose the jackets and line up facing the sun with your backs to me.”
She needed to hurry or she would lose this amazing light. “Hurry please,” she yelled.
The men lined up in a row, their muscular backs displayed, some with tattoos, some bare. All absolutely fabulous. She looked through the viewfinder and grinned as she started rapidly taking shots. Perfection.
“That’ll do it for the group shot, guys.”
Twelve men spun around, mouths in various gaping displays of amazement. “Seriously?” the guy on the end voiced.
“Yep, I got what I need for the group shot and it is fabulous.” She looked around at the men. “So who’s up first for their solo run? James, you want to go and show them how it’s done?” She grabbed his arm as she spoke.
James grinned. “I knew you were anxious to get your hands on me, Josie,” he joked.
“Gunderson, knock it off,” Josie’s Uncle Jack told the younger man. She looked at her uncle and smiled. Jack Sharp had practically raised her after her dad left when she was ten. He’d used his power and influence at the station to help land her this job, but man, it was going to be a long day if he was going to get in the way every time a guy pretended to hit on her. She’d been around enough firemen over the years to know that telling them they couldn’t do something just made them want to do it that much more. Which meant the more her uncle told them to stop flirting with her, the more they’d do it.
A smirk kicked up the corners of James’ mouth. “So, Josie, where do you want me?” He widened his stance, putting his body on full display while he pretended to leer at her. The mischievous twinkle in his eyes kind of ruined the effect and she snickered in amusement.
Uncle Jack snarled, making every other man in the building burst out laughing.
Josie sighed and walked over to her uncle. “Uncle Jack, seriously, you need to lighten up a little. Better yet, take off and I’ll call you when we’re done.”
He watched her with that protective papa-bear look of his and shook his head. “Not happening, kiddo.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine then, can you at least watch from a distance and keep the commentary to a minimum? I’m a big girl. I can handle these guys, so let me just do my job, please.”
“Okay, I’ll try to shut up. But if any of these yahoos hit on you, they’ll answer to me.”
Josie couldn’t help the snort that slipped out of her. “I don’t think you need to worry,” she said and patted him on the shoulder. God bless him, somehow her uncle looked at her and seemed to see the woman she wished she was rather than the one she saw every day when she looked in the mirror. Being around all these buff men made her painfully aware of the extra weight she was still packing. Two years ago, she’d barely been a size two. Thirty pounds later, she hardly recognized herself when she looked in the mirror most mornings. She cursed her ex-boyfriend. Putting on the weight was bad enough, but being made to feel disgusting because of it had destroyed her self-confidence when it came to men. The very idea of allowing a man to see her naked made her cringe. Not that it mattered. She couldn’t remember the last time a man wanted to see her naked anyway.
She adjusted the edge of her sweater to make sure it was hanging properly then picked up her to-do list. “All right, James, let’s get you on the ladder. I need you about halfway up.”
She eyed the ladder leaning against the building and the open warehouse window. That was going to work perfectly.
Josie looked at the other men. “The rest of you can watch TV or just kick it until I’m ready.”
She turned back to James who was still standing in the same spot. She clapped her hands. “Up you go, James. Let’s get ’er done.”
He shook his head. “You know, Jos, I kind of liked you better when you were all shy and sweet, bringing your uncle cookies. Gotta say, not a fan of this new, bossy you.” She swatted at him. He laughed and jumped out of reach and started up the ladder.
“Well, get used to it,” she told him.
Josie grabbed her camera, the weight comfortable in her palm. She relaxed her shoulders and let the calm she always felt when she was taking pictures settle over her. James was right, when it came to her work, she was boss.
* * * * *
Reaching over her head, Josie stretched out her back. The group shot this morning had been so easy, she’d stupidly expected the rest of the day to be just as smooth. Now here she was several hours in and only halfway done with the shoot.
“Where do you want me?”
Josie turned around at the sound of that rich, gravelly voice.
Mmm, Mr. Sexy. Her camera shook visibly in her hand. So much for that relaxed feeling she had going. She’d been in the zone with the other men, a couple of minutes of wow, but overall completely professional. But just looking at the man in front of her made her feel like a twelve-year-old girl meeting Justin Bieber. She clamped her palm down on the camera to stop her nerves and took a deep breath. Be cool, Jos.
“Marco, right?” Josie asked the gorgeous man in front of her.
He nodded and grinned. “That’s me.” He ran his hands through his thick, dark-brown hair and pushed it off his forehead. “I have to admit, I’m a little out of my element here.”
Yeah right. The camera was going to eat him up.
“No problem, that’s what I’m here for, to help make things easier for you.”
“So you going to hold my hand and walk me through all this?” he asked, a slight smile curved the corners of his mouth, drawing her eye to his full bottom lip. A lip she wanted to sink her teeth into.
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