Taming Fire (Braving the Heat #2) Read online

  Steam

  Yoga instructor Louise Pine is the ultimate caretaker. Everyone around her seems to have an emergency, but Lou hasn’t met a fire she couldn’t put out—until she’s faced with the hunky, bossy firefighter who crashes into her own backyard—and her life. No one tells Lou what to do, yet somehow the guy’s take-charge style makes her tingle . . .

  Simmer

  Phoenix “Nix” Jones is used to calling the shots, whether he’s dealing with his family or taking on a dangerous blaze. Luckily, the fire at Lou’s is a false alarm. But the heat the fit and feisty woman ignites is far from dying out . . .

  Afterglow

  As the sparks turn into 5-alarm passion, can two strong-willed people end up engulfed by love—or will they crash and burn?

  Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com

  Books by Leora Gonzales

  Braving the Heat Series

  Melting Snow

  Simmering Heat

  Taming Fire

  Published by Kensington Publish ing Corporation

  Taming Fire

  Braving the Heat Series

  Leora Gonzales

  LYRICAL PRESS

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  Contents

  Books by Leora Gonzales

  Taming Fire

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  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

  Epilogue

  Meet the Author

  Sneak Peek

  Chapter 1

  Copyright

  To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

  LYRICALSHINE BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2018 by Leora Gonzales

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  All Kensington titles, imprints, and distributed lines are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotion, premiums, fund-raising, educational, or institutional use.

  Special book excerpts or customized printings can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write or phone the office of the Kensington Sales Manager: Kensington Publishing Corp., 119 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018. Attn. Sales Department. Phone: 1-800-221-2647.

  Lyrical Shine and Lyrical Shine logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off..

  First Electronic Edition: November 2018

  eISBN-13: 978-1-5161-0690-5

  eISBN-10: 1-5161-0690-3

  First Print Edition: November 2018

  ISBN-13: 978-1-5161-0693-6

  ISBN-10: 1-5161-0693-8

  Printed in the United States of America

  Dedication

  This one is for my girls.

  Acknowledgments

  Juggling family life and the writing world is never easy. I would like to thank my husband Richard, who not only helped pick up the slack, but also took the lead when I wasn’t able to do so.

  I also want to take the time to recognize my incredible support system. My lifelong best friend, my family, and all my author friends...your involvement in my life is priceless.

  Chapter 1

  “Lou, I think you may have bitten off more than you can chew with this one…” Louise said to herself as she stared into the flames starting to catch fire in her small fire pit.

  Louise reached for the bag of chocolates on the chair next to her. While unwrapping a morsel, she took in the backyard that had become her oasis these last two weeks. Now that Junior was living with her, she couldn’t catch up on her shows in the evening. She was afraid of him walking in and getting an eyeful of zombies. The poor kid had enough on his plate without adding flesh-eating walkers to his bedtime worries. That meant that she had been sneaking into the backyard after his bedtime and lighting a small fire as she sipped, or gulped if she had to be honest, a bottle of wine.

  Swirling her sweet red wine in her glass, Louise leaned back in her patio chair. The familiar squeak of the old metal base was comforting as she tried to shake off the day’s stresses.

  Her yard was the perfect size for the house. A small wooden deck came off the backdoor with a staircase that flowed down into the yard where her fire pit was centered. Mismatched patio chairs, aka garage sale finds, circled the pavers surrounding the pit, and a tall wooden privacy fence surrounded the entire yard.

  It was cozy and perfect and all hers.

  Louise washed the chocolate down with the rest of her wine, smacking her lips at the deliciousness of the combination. Using her fireplace poker, she stoked the fire a bit before propping her feet up at the edge of the stones to absorb the warmth. Even though it was early October, they had already had a few cold days in Larryville this year. The fire, combined with the leaves rustling from the crisp breeze, made her wish for spiced cider and Halloween movies.

  It was perfect…until she heard the sirens. Sirens that sounded like they were getting closer and closer to her house at the end of her block. Was there a fire next door?

  Louise tried to turn a bit in her chair to peer over the fence, but she couldn’t see anything besides darkness. The neighborhood had only one streetlight, and most of the other houses on the block were unlit. Her neighbors usually weren’t outside much once it cooled down in autumn, which meant quiet nights for Lou by the fire.

  Louise worried for a moment that Harold, her elderly neighbor, may have hurt himself and made a 911 call. Relaxing, she remembered that Harold’s daughter had picked him up for a trip to an out-of-town family reunion for the weekend.

  Sending up a silent prayer that the sirens wouldn’t wake Junior, Louise refilled her wine glass, pouring all the way to the rim.

  Carefully holding the glass as steadily as possible, she was just getting ready to sip the excess off the top when a huge crash knocked down her back gate. The large wooden door fell haphazardly onto her mismatched potted plants that edged the walkway into the backyard.

  Startled by the noise, she jerked her hand, sloshing over half of the red wine out of the glass and down the front of her white robe.

  “Mother—” Louise yelped as she tried to figure out what was going on.

  Firefighters streamed into her yard, stumbling over the now broken and knocked down wooden gate. Hauling gear that she had no idea the purpose of, they stopped and stared at her as she sat next to her cozy little fire pit.

  “What the he—” One of the firefighters scratched his chin under the fastening on his helmet strap as he looked around the backyard.

  Louise stood up, somewhat unsteadily, clutching her wet robe closed. “What’s going on? Why did you break down my gate? Can you turn
off that siren?” she demanded, rapidly firing her questions at the group of men still standing around staring at her. When no answers were given, she snapped her fingers to get their attention and raised her voice. “What’s going on?” Louise held out the hand still holding her glass and pointed at the gate, “I sure as hell hope you guys plan on fixing that!” The big guy in front jerked his head toward another fireman. The action must have been some unspoken command since the other fireman immediately spoke into his walkie-talkie, “Cut the siren.”

  “Ma’am.” The man who had been leading the charge on her poor defenseless gate stepped forward and pointed at her fire. “We received a call from this residence saying there was a fire at the back of the house.”

  Louise gestured to the pit as if she were explaining it to a person hard of hearing. “Of course there is. I have a fire pit.”

  “We can see that—” He moved closer to her. “Is that blood? Are you injured?”

  Not waiting for her to answer, the man walked right up to her and opened the front of her robe. A robe that was covering her pajamas. Pajamas that consisted of a thin tight tank top and some booty shorts that had seen better days.

  Whipping open the front of her robe, he looked for a reason the entire front of her body would be covered in red. Using large but gentle hands, the mystery man probed her chest, his hands sweeping over her now hard nipples.

  “You’re not hurt.” His voice husky, the firefighter pulled her robe closed, making sure not to let the men behind him see what he had uncovered.

  “Wait, did you say that you received a call from this residence?” Louise asked in a hushed whisper now that her small street was once again quiet.

  “Yes, ma’am.” The man nodded before taking off his helmet and sending her a crooked smile.

  Louise felt her mouth go dry at the sight of the gorgeous man in front of her. Damn. Firefighters were apparently the stuff that calendars were made of if this guy was anything to go by. The sight of his dark wavy hair and twinkling eyes was almost enough to distract her from what he had said.

  Almost, but not enough.

  “Junior,” Louise said quickly, before rushing up the deck stairs and through the back door.

  After walking into the living room, she noticed that the cordless phone she usually kept on the center table was missing. Moving into the hallway, she stopped at the doorway to her guest room, now Junior’s bedroom, and listened at the door.

  “I think they are here now, I heard the sirens.” Junior’s voice was clear as he reported what he thought was a fire. “No, my dad isn’t home. He’s sick.”

  Louise put her hand over her mouth to stop from crying at her nephew’s statement. His dad was sick, that much was true. What Junior didn’t understand was that his dad was an alcoholic and had come really close to losing custody of his only son because he had let his drinking get out of control. As if the kid hadn’t had a rough time of it already, with his mom bailing not long after he was born, after she realized she didn’t necessarily like children—even her own.

  “My Aunt LouLou is watching me….” In a soft voice, Junior went on to explain to the operator that he was staying in her guest room, and even though there were flowers on the blankets, he was still able to sleep.

  Louise opened his door softly, not wanting to startle him. “Hand me the phone, sweetie.”

  Louise ruffled his hair and spoke into the receiver. “I’m so sorry. I was having a small fire in the fire pit in my backyard and I guess he thought there was an actual fire. Instead of finding me, he called 911.”

  After assuring the operator that the crew had arrived and knocked down her gate, but nobody was hurt or injured, Louise hung up the phone.

  “Am I in trouble?” Junior rubbed his eyes, looking on the verge of crying.

  “No, sweetie, I should have explained that I was taking a break in the backyard. The fire you saw was under control and not dangerous. There was no need to call for help.” Louise sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the blanket over his legs to tuck him in. “Why were you up?”

  “I had to go to the bathroom. Then I was thirsty. I saw the fire on the back windows when I went to the kitchen.” Junior twisted his fingers in the blanket. “Are they mad?”

  Louise smoothed her wavy shoulder-length hair and sighed, “I don’t think so. Let me go and tell them everything is fine. You go back to sleep and no more calling 911. Deal?”

  When Junior gave her a high five, Louise left the bedroom, making sure to take the phone that he had snuck into his temporary room. Leaning against the hallway wall, Louise breathed deep, expanding her ribcage the way she instructed her students in her yoga class. If there was ever a time for her to find inner peace, it was now.

  Two weeks.

  Aaron Jr., or Junior as he liked to be called, had been living with her for only two weeks and she was already over it. The cute nephew she played with at family functions had turned into the devil the moment she picked him up for an extended stay at her house. She couldn’t really blame him either.

  She wasn’t used to being responsible for another human and it showed.

  Junior moving in with her had not been in the plans and now both of them were struggling with the situation. Her poor nephew was dealing with it the only way a four-year-old knew how.

  He was acting out.

  It wasn’t like she could blame him either. He was just a kid who was used to routine and that routine had been blown to bits. Louise just hadn’t expected the changes to make it seem as if she were feeding gremlins after midnight.

  Everything she did was wrong. She bought the wrong type of mac and cheese, the bathwater she ran was too cold, and she forgot to grab his favorite pair of sneakers from his dad’s house.

  Earlier at daycare drop-off, he had thrown a tantrum that would act as birth control for a year to anyone watching. His angry screams had hit a pitch so high that she wouldn’t be surprised if she had permanent hearing loss. The reason behind the fit, Louise still couldn’t figure out. The boogers running down his face, his high-pitched squeals, his legs thrashing, she thought they were because he didn’t want yogurt raisins for his snack, but honestly, she couldn’t be sure. It had been chaos.

  Complete and utter chaos.

  Between Junior crying as if he were mortally wounded, the raisins he had stomped to smithereens, and every parent in the parking lot staring at her, Louise had wanted to scream herself.

  Was that what she had to look forward to when she had kids? Were the other moms talking about her as they stood in their workout clothes twirling their perfect ponytails?

  She had been so completely embarrassed that her tires almost squealed as she fled the parking lot.

  And now she had an entirely different situation to deal with thanks to her unexpected roommate.

  Firefighters and a broken gate. The firefighters were a welcome distraction, but the broken gate was bound to be a pain in the ass.

  After moving quickly to the back of the house, she jogged down the deck stairs where the men were still lingering next to her chairs.

  “Sorry, guys. I explained what happened to the lady on the phone,” Louise said, noticing that none of the men seemed to be in a hurry to move out of her yard.

  “Things like this happen all the time. We recently had a fire safety day at the local schools. We’ve received quite a few false-alarm calls lately from the kids we spoke to.” The explanation came from the man that had checked her out earlier.

  “Now that you say that, I remember Junior coming home with a sticker and little red fire hat. That was you guys?” Louise snapped her fingers, remembering it was earlier this week that he had come home with a detailed explanation of the stop-drop-and-roll procedure.

  “That was us. I’m assuming your son thought he was being a hero tonight?” he asked, a couple of the guys smiling behind him.

  “Nephew,” Louise corrected. “He’s my nephew, and yes, he thought he was saving lives. We’re not in trouble, are we
?”

  “Nah,” one of the other men said. “But, we did bust your gate down. Sorry about that, ma’am.”

  Louise turned and looked at her gate with sad eyes. “Yeah, my poor gate.”

  A hand touched her shoulder, and the man who had practically undressed her earlier said, “I can fix that.”

  Chapter 2

  Nix couldn’t hold back the smile that was fighting to take over his mouth. The woman in front of him demanded his attention. That alone was something that he hadn’t experienced lately. There was something about Louise that made Nix want to bundle her up and take care of her. Yet, he also wanted to swat the fleshy bottom that moved beneath her robe when he got a sneak peek earlier as she ran into the house.

  The first thing he had noticed about her was how deliciously curvy she was, curves that made his fingers itch to feel for themselves. She had more meat on her bones than he normally preferred, actually. But, for some reason, when he had opened her robe earlier there had been an instant attraction that had surprised him. He knew that the cold air was to blame for her nipples showing themselves through her tank top, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to pinch the nubs that were practically begging for attention. He could tell that she was all natural as well, something he had been missing since banging the easy pole bunnies that hung around the firehouse. There was something to be said for flesh that gave underneath his fingers and bounced when a woman breathed deep.

  He watched her lick her lips and look back to the gate before settling her brown eyes on him again.

  “Keep your eyes on me, sweetness,” he instructed softly, not sure she would even hear the words.

  “You’ll fix my gate?” she asked quietly, cocking her head to the side, but showing no indication that she had heard him.

  “Yes,” Nix answered her question shortly, knowing the guys behind him were listening to every word they spoke, or at least trying to overhear. “I can be here tomorrow morning. That work for you?”

  “Ummm…okay,” she mumbled, meeting his eyes, her fingers tightening on her robe as if remembering that he had seen what was under it.