“We hardly ever lock our doors inside, since the outside doors are always locked. But we all have keys to one another’s apartments just in case. I’m in this unit all the time working on it. But I’ll try not to get in your way.”
She nibbled her bottom lip. “Jamie told me you’re still working on this place. I knew that was part of the deal.”
Right, right. Apparently she’d had to sell her house. Jamie’d told him that she’d discovered after her husband had died that he hadn’t exactly been in good financial shape.
She moved past him to the kitchen and reached into a cupboard for a bright yellow mug. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Got some, thanks.” He picked up the travel mug that had bounced off the floor minutes ago. Luckily the lid had stayed tight.
He watched her pour coffee into the mug. “You haven’t changed at all,” he blurted. Maybe she had a bit—that smile she’d beamed around seemed to have dimmed a little.
Her lips curved up reluctantly and she curled her hands around the mug. “Thank you. You sure have.”
He rubbed his face. “You really didn’t recognize me?”
“I think you were sixteen the last time I saw you. You weren’t even shaving, probably, and you had braces.” Her gaze swept over him, lingering on his chest and shoulders. “And you’ve…filled out.”
The air in the apartment thickened, and Tyler’s blood heated at her perusal of his anatomy.
Then she blinked and added, “You were a pretty scrawny kid.”
Okay, maybe that hadn’t been sexual interest and a flirtatious comment. And her reminder that she’d viewed him as a kid was even more deflating. “Huh. Yeah, I guess I was. I work out a lot now; we kind of have to stay in shape to do our job.” He scratched the side of his neck.
“You’re a firefighter, Jamie says.”
“That’s right.”
“That’s a hard job.”
“Sometimes. Sometimes it’s also boring as hell.” One corner of his mouth cranked up. “But I work with a great group.”
“I understand I have you to thank for getting my stuff unpacked.” She waved a hand.
“Partially.” He grimaced. “I helped. Mila’s the one you should thank. She was all concerned about you feeling comfortable when you get here. I’m afraid Jamie and I were kind of clueless males.”
“Well, it did help, so thank you.” She sipped her coffee.
He wanted to say something about her husband, but fuck, this was awkward. He swallowed. “I’m sorry for your loss…of your husband. Jamie told me about it.” He cleared his throat. “Of course.”
Yeah, he was smooth. As smooth as Lake Michigan in a winter windstorm.
“Thank you. It’s been a tough year.” Her mouth tightened and her eyes flickered, but she kept her head high.
“I’m sure. But you made the right decision to come home. Family’s important.”
She blinked at him and nodded. “That’s true.”
“Jamie’s been worried about you.”
“Aw.” She rolled her eyes and lifted her mug to her lips again. “Yeah, I know. Truthfully, I’ve been worried about myself.” The corners of her mouth quirked up.
Her humor in the face of adversity made his chest warm.
“But I’m fine,” she added. “So…you said you needed some measurements…?”
“Right.” Christ. He was distracted watching her, kind of blown away by the fact that he was standing there with Arden Lennox. Er, Arden Hughes, now. “Yeah, I can do that.” He set his cup down and grabbed his other things, then booked it into the bathroom.
Here that scent was even more evident…warm and feminine and sexy, the air still slightly steamy from her shower. He paused a moment to breathe it in. Damn. Letting out a long, slow breath, he checked out the room. Yeah, it would be good to get this done. He started measuring and jotting notes, ignoring the dripping pink puffy sponge, the bottles of shampoo…his gaze fell on the body wash. Bombshell. That was the scent. Jesus Christ.
He scrubbed a hand over his face and refocused on work.
The sound of thudding feet up the stairs reached his ears, then voices in Arden’s apartment as Jamie and Mila returned. He heard Jamie shout, “Hey, Ty! You up?”
“He’s here,” Arden told her brother. “In the bathroom. Measuring something.”
Seconds later, Jamie appeared in the bathroom door. “Dude. You want waffles?”
“Hell yeah.” Tyler slid the pencil back behind his ear. “I was afraid you forgot about me.”
Jamie grinned. “Nah.”
Tyler followed the scent of bacon back to Arden’s kitchen, where Mila was making herself at home per usual, pulling out plates while Arden opened the bags of food.
“From the Waffle Shack,” Mila announced. “Best waffles in town. And bacon. We don’t go there every Sunday, but…”
“We go there a lot,” Tyler said.
Arden smiled, but seemed a little bemused by the people who’d invaded her kitchen as they all filled plates with food and moved to her small dining table.
“I don’t have any napkins,” Arden said apologetically.
“No worries! We got some.” Mila pulled paper napkins out of a bag and handed them around.
“You don’t want that butter, do you?” Mila asked Jamie, reaching for his plate.
Jamie pretended to stab her hand with his fork. “Yes, I do.”
Tyler handed over a small container of whipped butter. “Here you go, butterball.”
“I love butter,” Mila confessed to Arden. “I probably shouldn’t have it, but thank you, Tyler.”
“You don’t look like someone who likes butter,” Arden said.
“She eats like a goddamn elephant,” Jamie said. “And yet still looks like a stickman.”
“Stickman! Seriously?” Mila scowled at Jamie.
Tyler ignored their insults. “Who wants to go to the beach today? I feel like some beach volleyball.”
“Sure,” Mila said. “It’s a nice day. I’ll need to shave my legs.”
“Thanks for sharing that.” Jamie shook his head and forked up more waffle. “Yeah, the beach sounds great.”
“Arden?” Tyler looked at her, trying to make his expression friendly and casual. “You want to come?”
She stared back at him for a moment, and he wondered what was wrong. Did he have bacon in his teeth? She nodded slowly. “Okay.” Then she gave her head a shake and looked down at her plate.
“Hey, let me text Olivia and book a cabana at the Beach Ball Café.” Jamie pulled out his phone.
“You’ll never get a cabana at this short notice,” Mila said.
“Pfft.” Jamie bent his head as he texted.
Tyler’s own phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. “Norton.” He made a face. “Should I invite him?”
His cousin Norton was close to their age, a couple of years younger, and hung out with them sometimes. He was a good guy, but easiest to handle in small doses.
“Sure, invite him,” Mila said easily. “Arden’s going to have to meet him some time.”
“I apologize in advance, Arden,” he said as he tapped in a text message. “He has a good heart.”
Arden laughed. “Ooookay.”
“And I’ll see what Garth is doing.” Mila turned to Arden. “Garth’s my boyfriend.”
“Got a cabana,” Jamie announced triumphantly a moment later.
“That’s so cool!” Arden looked more animated than she had all morning.
“Norton will meet us there,” Tyler added.
“Perfect. Let’s clean up this mess and get going.”
“It’s okay—” Arden started.
“Hell no, we invaded your apartment and made the mess, so we’ll help clean it up.” Jamie began picking up dishes.
“Maybe next weekend I can make you all waffles,” Arden said. “I make pretty good waffles, if I do say so myself.”
“You can cook?” Mila and Jamie both said at the
same time, staring at her as if she’d just announced she’d cured cancer.
“Yeah. I like cooking.”
“Me too,” Tyler said. “I cook for the guys at the station all the time.”
“You don’t cook for us,” Jamie complained.
“You can definitely make us waffles next Sunday,” Mila said to Arden.
“I’ll drive to the beach,” Jamie offered. “There’s room for all of us in my Jeep, and since you have tomorrow off, Ty, that means you can drink.”
“Hey, how was your date Friday night?” Tyler asked Jamie as he too carried dishes into the kitchen.
Jamie’s lips thinned and his gaze slid away. “Uh. I had fun.”
Mila started choking and leaned against the counter. Was she laughing?
“Do I need to Heimlich you?” Tyler asked her.
She waved her hands and shook her head. “I’m okay,” she wheezed.
“What’s so funny? And why are you looking so weird?” he said to Jamie.
“The date didn’t turn out like he expected,” Mila said.
“You met this chick on Spark, right?” Tyler said, naming a popular dating app. “You thought she was amazing.”
Mila collapsed onto the counter in a fit of giggles.
“What?” Tyler demanded, grinning too.
Arden looked back and forth among the three of them, wide-eyed. “Oh we have to hear this. Come on, Jamie.”
“Tell them, Jamie,” Mila choked out.
“Okay, okay. This chick seemed really perfect on Spark—hot, fun, a little geeky. Sounded perfect. So we met for a drink on Friday…turns out she’s a drag queen.”
“You mean he,” Mila corrected.
“Well, he’s Honey Deville onstage, but he introduced himself as Danny when I met him.”
Tyler and Arden burst out laughing at the same time.
“How did that even happen?” Tyler asked.
“It was totally my bad.” Jamie waved a hand. “That’s the embarrassing part. I’ve never used Spark before, and I didn’t read the whole bio or swipe through all his pictures, so I just saw the Honey picture.”
“But here’s the best part.” Mila waved a hand at Jamie to go on.
“He was a really nice guy,” Jamie said. “So I stayed, and we had a few beers. It was a fun evening.” He hitched one shoulder and shut the door of the dishwasher, looking around at them all earnestly.
Tyler laughed. “Are you seeing him again?”
“Not on a date. But we might hang out and play Call of Duty sometime.”
“Oh, Jamie.” Arden shook her head, an affectionate smile brightening her face.
Tyler looked at her across the small room. There it was—the smile. The one that had made his knees weak and his heart stutter. It lit up her eyes and transformed her face from girl next door to glamour queen.
And goddammit…it still made his heart stutter.
Firecracker is available at all major retailers!
Acknowledgments
This book would not have happened if it weren’t for my friend, author PG Forte. I wanted to write a story about a witch for a long time, and when my brain got “pandemic stuck” it seemed like a good time to try something new. But as I got into the story, I totally doubted myself and my ability to pull this off. PG read my rough partial draft, gave me fabulous feedback, and encouraged me to keep going. I couldn’t have done this without you, PG!
As always, it takes a team to do this. Thank you to my assistant and rock Stacey Price, who stays steady and positive even when I screw up release dates and turnaround times for edits. Thanks to the gang at Social Butterfly PR for getting this book out to reviewers, bloggers, and bookstagrammers. Thanks to all my fellow authors who also helped get the word out by allowing me to post in your groups and sharing! Thank you to Victory Editing for the quick line edits when I messed up dates, and for the positive feedback! And once again, mega huge thanks to Kristi Yanta for her amazing editing skills. You totally got what I wanted to do with this story and helped bring that out.
And special thanks to you—thank you for reading! I tried something new and different, and I had fun doing it even knowing it might not be for everyone. I am deeply grateful to readers who took a chance and read Big Witch Energy.
Other Books by Kelly Jamieson
Heller Brothers Hockey
Breakaway
Faceoff
One Man Advantage
Hat Trick
Offside
* * *
Power Series
Power Struggle
Taming Tara
Power Shift
* * *
Rule of Three Series
Rule of Three
Rhythm of Three
Reward of Three
* * *
San Amaro Singles
With Strings Attached
How to Love
Slammed
* * *
Windy City Kink
Sweet Obsession
All Messed Up
Playing Dirty
* * *
Brew Crew
Limited Time Offer
No Obligation Required
* * *
Aces Hockey
Major Misconduct
Off Limits
Icing
Top Shelf
Back Check
Slap Shot
Playing Hurt
Big Stick
Game On
* * *
Last Shot
Body Shot
Hot Shot
Long Shot
* * *
Bayard Hockey
Shut Out
Cross Check
* * *
Wynn Hockey
Play to Win
In It To Win It
Win Big
For the Win
Game Changer
Bears Hockey
Must Love Dogs…and Hockey
You Had Me at Hockey
Talk Hockey to Me
* * *
Stand Alone
Three of Hearts
Loving Maddie from A to Z
Dancing in the Rain
Love Me
Love Me More
Friends with Benefits
2 Hot 2 Handle
Lost and Found
One Wicked Night
Sweet Deal
Hot Ride
Crazy Ever After
All I Want for Christmas
Sexpresso Night
Irish Sex Fairy
Conference Call
Rigger
You Really Got Me
How Sweet It Is
Screwed
Firecracker
Big Witch Energy
About the Author
Kelly Jamieson is a best-selling author of over fifty romance novels and novellas. Her writing has been described as “emotionally complex”, “sweet and satisfying” and “blisteringly sexy.” She likes coffee (black), wine (mostly white), shoes (high heels) and hockey!
* * *
Subscribe to her newsletter for updates about her new books and what’s coming up, follow her on Twitter @KellyJamieson or on Facebook, visit her website at www.kellyjamieson.com or contact her at [email protected].
Big Witch Energy Page 27
