by Marie Harte
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Books. Change. Lives.
Also by Marie Harte
All I Want for Halloween
The Kissing Game
The McCauley Brothers
The Troublemaker Next Door
How to Handle a Heartbreaker
Ruining Mr. Perfect
What to Do with a Bad Boy
Body Shop Bad Boys
Test Drive
Roadside Assistance
Zero to Sixty
Collision Course
The Donnigans
A Sure Thing
Just the Thing
The Only Thing
Veteran Movers
The Whole Package
Smooth Moves
Handle with Care
Delivered with a Kiss
Turn Up the Heat
Make Me Burn
Burning Desire
Copyright © 2021 by Marie Harte
Cover and internal design © 2021 by Sourcebooks
Cover design by Eileen Carey/No Fuss Design
Cover image © Ninestock/Claudio Marinesco
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks is not associated with any product or vendor in this book.
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks
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Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Excerpt from Hot for You
About the Author
Back Cover
To DT and RC.
Chapter One
Eight months ago
Seattle, Washington
It was one of those lulls in the surrounding noise that happen right before a most embarrassing discussion fills the silence. The firefighters in the station house had been talking and laughing, cooking in the kitchen, and coming in from the weight room to check out the kitchen’s good smells. Then suddenly, everything seemed to stop, as if the world slowed down in time to hear Mack shoot off his big mouth.
“So, let me get this straight. On your big date last night, the chick straight up tossed a glass of water in your face?”
All eyes turned to the conversation happening a stone’s throw away in the television area.
“Would you keep your voice down, damn it?” Tex McGovern glared at his buddy and prayed the others on B shift kept their big noses out of his business. He tossed the rest of them a scowl until they finally went back to their own boring lives.
Mack grinned then had the nerve to laugh. A lot.
Texan, firefighter, and former U.S. Marine, Tex sank deeper into the reclining chair, not seeing the game on TV as he relived his pitiful date. He reached for the comfort of his cowboy hat but tugged down the brim of a Seattle FD ballcap instead.
“Yeah, my life sucks.” His twang sounded more pronounced, and he did his best to regroup, not wanting the others to know how much he hated what had gone down with a woman he’d grown to like way too much.
“Your life never sucks. You just move on to the next honey.” Mack paused. “Why’d she throw water all over you? What did you do?”
Tex glared at his partner, a guy who should have had his back. “Why is this my fault?”
Mack raised a brow.
“I did nothin’. Not a thing. And it wasn’t my date that splashed me, moron. It was the girl I broke up with two freaking months ago that drenched me. I finally got that date with Bree—”
“Bree of the sunny-blond hair, heavenly blue eyes, and body worshipped by men everywhere? That Bree?”
Tex frowned. Mack sure seemed to have memorized her picture from one shot on Tex’s phone. “Yeah, she—”
“The woman you’ve been dying to go out with finally said yes? I thought she had better taste than that.”
Tex flipped him off but lowered his voice when he saw two guys he’d rather not talk to right now glancing over at him. “Yeah, well, after the stunt my ex pulled, I doubt I’ll ever see Bree again.” He was miserable. “Mack, I’m tellin’ ya, I broke it off with that woman two months ago. I had to block her from calling and texting me just last week. I didn’t want to, but she wouldn’t leave me alone.”
Mack shook his head. “Tough being so tall, dark, and dynamic, eh?”
“It really is.”
Mack rolled his eyes.
“Woman just wouldn’t take no for an answer. Then she shows up outta nowhere at a place it took me weeks to get reservations at and loses it. She calls me a two-timer and a whore and throws my own glass of water on me! All while Bree is watching—”
“In shock and horror.”
“—from right across our cozy little table.”
Mack shook his head. “Man, that is just… Man.”
Tex groaned. “I know. The ex takes off. Then Bree looks at me and tells me I should feel ashamed of myself. She left without letting me explain.”
Mack coughed but didn’t quite hide his laughter.
“It ain’t funny!” Tex wished the rest of his crew could hear him. He knew they’d have given him the compassion and pity he deserved. “I mean, I’ve been trying to get Bree to go out with me forever. We texted and talked, but I had to beg her to meet in person. She has a thing against firefighters, for some reason. And now she probably thinks she was right when she was so wrong.”
Mack opened his mouth to respond, but closed it when two of the other guys on their eight-man shift beat him to it. Hell, the two approaching were idiots Tex rarely had patience for on a good day.
The ringleader, a guy they called Narc because he never
kept anything to himself, smirked. “So, Tex, I hear you blew it with the chief’s daughter.” Next to him, Narc Jr., a guy who shadowed Narc’s every move, laughed like the giant goon he was.
Tex blinked. “What?”
“You know, Brianna Gilchrist, hot as fuck, blue eyes, blond hair, big, ah, dimples?” Narc cleared his throat and looked around. Not seeing their lieutenant, he leaned in closer. “You had my respect for getting a date. God knows we’ve all wanted to. Couldn’t close the deal, though, could you?” He held his phone to Tex, who watched a video of himself getting doused.
Tex leaned forward. “Motherfu—”
“What are you all doing over there? Slacking off?” their lieutenant boomed.
They all jumped. The LT had a mouth that didn’t know the meaning of the word “whisper.”
Narc turned with a smile. “Not much, LT. Just bonding with the second-best unit in our squad.”
“Suck it, Narc.” Mack glared.
That earned a scowl, followed by a mean grin. “Say, LT.” Narc and Narc Jr. approached the lieutenant and a few lingering guys who gathered to see what the fuss was about. “Check this out.” Tex heard him play the video.
Mack shook his head and in a lower voice said, “Seriously, Tex? The battalion chief’s daughter?”
Tex felt ill. “I didn’t know who she was! Hell, I never even got her last name! I swear. We’d just met in person for the first time last night.” First time and last time. Tex swore under his breath. As pathetic as it was, he wanted another shot at Bree Gilchrist. He’d had the hots for her since first seeing her picture on a dating app. She’d been sweet and funny online, their conversations never boring. But she’d been even better in person, as brief as their date had been. Just thinking about her made his heart race.
Too bad a petty ex had screwed him over. God, he should have blocked her as soon as he broke off with her.
His LT scowled at him.
Shit.
“McGovern, let’s have a talk in my office.”
Narc and Narc Jr. laughed at him. The others offered their condolences.
“It won’t be so bad,” Mack murmured. “Just tell him you’re done with her.”
Tex stood and sighed. “Not like I’d even started with her to begin with.”
He hoped this would all blow over without any major repercussions from his chain of command. And that he’d manage to get over his small infatuation.
Even after the ass-chewing he got from the lieutenant to make better decisions, he still regretted that he’d never gotten a chance to show Bree how charming he could be. But her dad—the battalion chief? He shuddered, knowing his track record with women.
Better that it ended way before it had a chance to begin.
***
Five months ago
The Lava Lounge, Seattle
Hanging with the guys at a bar in Belltown, Tex enjoyed a cool pineapple margarita while his buddies Mack and Reggie razzed him for drinking something fruity. But come on, it was a tiki bar. How could Tex not have something with pineapple somewhere in the title? Brad sipped from a concoction mixed with rum and coconut milk and didn’t say much.
The crew of four got plenty of second looks, some friendly and others not so friendly.
As firefighters, they had to stay in shape. But Tex and the guys liked to take it to another level. All prior military men, they knew the value of a good piece of gear on a mission. Hauling around equipment while wearing the fireproof suits and self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) that helped them breathe through smoke and ash had shown that having a fit body could mean the difference between life and death. For them as well as the public they served.
While they had bonded as brothers, both as firefighters and ex-military, they certainly had their differences. Tex and Brad had served in the Marines, Reggie in the Navy, and Mack in the Air Force. Tex did best with women, though Brad and Mack never seemed to be hurting. For two years Reggie had been in a long-term relationship with a woman. But recently things had grown rocky between them, so they’d gathered for a morale booster for the sarcastic bastard.
They were their own small family, supporting one another through everything, good and bad.
Which made it difficult to remember the good when the idiots continued to throw up to his face the fact that he’d dissed the battalion commander’s precious daughter. Damn, but he’d thought that might have died down by now.
“Imagine,” Brad said, a grin on his stupid face as he swirled his coconut mambo, or whatever the hell he’d ordered. “In an alternate universe, Tex gets her to go out with him. She ends up bringing him home to meet the parents and he’s all, oh, hey, Chief Gilchrist, how’s it hangin’?”
Mack chuckled. “So pleased to meet you and the missus. Oh, and I’m sleeping with your daughter. She really is the hottest woman in town. And did I mention I brought my own raincoat to protect my hose? No worries on that score, chief.”
Tex glared at Mack. “That was disgusting.” To the others he said, “Can we let it go already? How about instead we talk about—” Brad and all the women he’s not dating? Reggie and his ballbuster of a gal? Tex paused, hearing all that in his head, and knew they needed to change the conversation from women to something else. Reggie didn’t look so happy.
Brad must have sensed the same thing, because he slapped Mack in the back of the head. “Idiot.”
“What? Oh, come on. I’m kidding.” Mack nodded at Tex. “He’s been moping for months and needs to get over it.”
Brad changed the subject. “You guys still okay with moving to the new station?”
Tex nodded. “Station 44 will be manned by the best and brightest our city has to offer. Of course they wanted us in the new place.”
Mack agreed. “Well, that’s true. I photograph well.”
Tex saw Reggie’s look of disgust and agreed. “I still don’t know how your ugly face got on all the media stuff for Station 44.”
Mack sipped from his beer. “What can I say? The public loves me.”
“I mean, I’m much better lookin’.” Tex flexed and tilted back his cowboy hat. He liked to think his bronze skin, a shade darker than Brad and Mack’s but lighter than Reggie’s medium-brown, glowed with sex appeal. His muscles clearly overpowered his buddies’… Well, if he ignored Reggie’s huge neck, arms, and chest on account of all his obsessive weight lifting.
Behind him, a few women tittered.
Reggie finished off his beer. “You two make me want to drink.”
“Right? God, I feel ill.” Brad shook his head at Mack and Tex.
“Probably ’cause you’re drinking all that sugar.” Tex finished off his margarita and decided to slow down. “I’m with you though. This thing was good but way too strong.”
“It’s the tequila.” Reggie nodded. “We should go work out and burn this off.”
“Relax, fun-killer.” Mack dodged the play swipe Reggie made. “It’s Friday, and—”
“—trouble has once again found us.” Brad sighed. “Bridal party, six o’clock.”
They turned, and Tex saw what Brad meant. A group of six women wearing feathery boas and a mishmash of headbands showcasing tiaras and one set of demon horns had gotten into a verbal altercation with three large, aggressive men.
Tex could hear the suggestive comments across the bar from the three guys, and as if that weren’t bad enough, the bouncer was dealing with two of their friends as well.
“Ah, hell.” Tex decided to take one for the team. “I’ll do it. Brad, you got into trouble last time.”
“By all means.” Brad waved him toward the mess.
“I’ll go along to help if you need it, lightweight.” Reggie smirked.
“This is why no one likes you.” Tex walked through the crowd growing around the troublemaking jocks and bridal revelers. “What’s up with
all the noise?” he asked the woman closest to him.
The bride-to-be—who wore a Bride-to-Be sash that hugged her ample chest—was a sexy redhead who looked livid. “These assholes keep trying to take us home. I’m just here with my girlfriends to celebrate my upcoming wedding. Giving blow jobs is not on tonight’s agenda.”
At the word blow job, the bar erupted into whistles and shouts of encouraging men, while several of the women in attendance shouted their support for the bridal party.
“I take it a blow job ain’t a reference for a drink?”
The redhead scowled. “No, it is not.”
Tex turned to the nearest asshole smelling like a brewery. “Look, man, it’s obvious the ladies want you to leave them alone.” He crossed his arms over his chest, saw the three inebriated fools eyeballing his biceps, and wondered if common sense would win out over lust and alcohol, always a poor mix.
The biggest drunk, a beady-eyed, bald guy who seemed the most vocal of the bunch, shook his head. He either worked out for a living or did some major steroids. He was huge. “Look, hayseed, nobody asked what you thought. Fuck off.”
“Yeah, fuck off,” one of his gym rat buddies seconded.
“You heard ’im,” said the third.
A husky, feminine voice swore. “Oh, hell.”
He turned to see a familiar blond demon. She wore tiny, red horns in her hair and sported a red feather boa.
Tex smiled widely. “Hey, Bree.”
“This is not going to go well,” Reggie muttered.
“I said get lost,” Bald Guy said again. “Oh, I like red better than white.” He goggled at Bree.
“No, you fuck off,” the bride-to-be said, poking the big guy in his chest. Not exactly a smart move, because the man wrapped his arms around her and tried to get a kiss.
Before Tex could separate them, Reggie was there and shoved the inebriated man from the bride-to-be while steadying her. Tex quickly put himself between Bald Guy’s buddies and the ladies before anyone could even think to grab Bree.
“Fellas, I really think you should reconsider,” Tex advised in a polite voice, his arms loose, his fists clenched in warning. “Because I have no problem putting you down if you don’t.”
