Flames of Love Read online

  Flames of Love

  A Firefighters of Long Valley Romance Novel - Book 1

  Erin Wright

  Wright’s Reads

  Copyright © 2018 by Erin Wright

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be constructed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Thanks, Charles the Firefighter, for putting up with my endless newbie questions. You rock.

  Oh, and thank you for serving your fellow Idahoans. This world is better because of people like you.

  Chapter 1

  Jaxson

  January 2018

  Jaxson Anderson pushed the plate-glass door open, the overhead bell tinkling, announcing his entrance. The warmth, the yeast and sugar smell…it rushed over him, surrounding him, and he almost stopped dead in his tracks, wanting to do nothing but breathe it all in. He hadn’t been in an honest-to-God bakery in ages, and had forgotten how damn delicious they smelled.

  Before he could make a real ass out of himself by literally drooling just from the smell alone, though, a head popped up from behind the front counter. A cute brunette, her hair in a braid flopped over her shoulder, shot him a smile. “Welcome to the Muffin Man,” she called out, pushing some stray tendrils out of her face with the back of her hand. “You been in here before?”

  He’d hardly been in the town of Sawyer more than a couple of hours. “Nope, first time here,” he said as he walked closer to the front display case, and the adorable brunette behind it. She looked a little younger than him, with wide, innocent eyes that made her appear even younger as she peered up at him.

  She was this tiny little thing that he was sure he could tuck under his arm and run with down the football field. Between her tiny stature and her wide eyes, she gave off the impression that she was twelve.

  Except…he gulped. Those curves. No 12-year-old girl had those curves.

  “Well then, an extra welcome!” she said, sending him another dizzying smile. “I’m glad you stopped by. Are you a…tourist?” She looked a little puzzled at that idea, giving him a quick up-and-down glance.

  No, he probably didn’t look a damn thing like a tourist. Most fire chiefs didn’t.

  “Just new in town,” he told her. “What is good he–Sugar?!” he said. He was staring straight at her delectable chest.

  Which was probably not his best move. He knew he was being rude, but hey, she was the one who’d pinned her name tag on it. “Your name is Sugar?!”

  She rolled her eyes at him, which now that he was close enough, he could see they were a deep brown color. Like the color of the chocolate cake sitting in the display case between them. “Don’t bother making a joke,” she told him pertly. “I’ve heard every one of them that is funny, and a whole lot that aren’t. I promise you, you won’t be original.”

  He leaned on the clear glass goodies counter, content for a moment to ignore the copious amounts of sugar underneath his arms, and instead focus on the Sugar in front of him. “So…basically, your parents hated you.”

  “Pretty much!” she said cheerfully, shooting him a laughing grin. Right then, a guy came through the swinging doors from the back, and Jaxson nodded towards him.

  “Is his name Flour?” he asked dryly.

  “No, but I like how you think!” Sugar looked over at her co-worker and laughed. “Gage, he thinks you ought to change your name to Flour!”

  Gage looked up from off-loading a batch of muffins into a side display case. “Hey, my parents didn’t hate me,” he drawled in a deep voice, proving that he’d overheard their discussion. “Don’t drag me into this.”

  “I think I’m gonna start calling you Muffin,” Sugar mused, shooting her co-worker a grin. “Or maybe Baby Cakes.”

  Gage rolled his eyes. “That’s just what this town needs to hear,” he grumbled and disappeared into the back, carrying his empty tray with him.

  “Woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Sugar said in way of explanation, complete with a shrug, as she turned back to Jaxson. “So, what can I get for you? Coffee? Donuts? A…muffin, perhaps?” Her voice was a little too innocent.

  Jaxson’s eyes shot up to hers. Was she teasing?

  Her eyes were glinting with mischief. She was.

  “I was thinking that I might be in the mood for some baby cakes,” he said, his tone as innocent as hers. She burst out laughing.

  “I think I like you,” she said, shooting him a wide grin after she caught her breath.

  “You’d like me even more if I had some coffee and a donut in me,” he informed her. “I’m a lot more fun to be around when I’m awake.”

  “Even more fun?” she echoed, wrinkling her nose as she turned to grab a to-go cup. “Damn. I’m not sure if I can handle that much fun. Maybe I shouldn’t get your coffee after all.”

  “Never come between a man and his coffee,” he intoned, only three-quarters joking.

  More like half, really.

  “Fair enough,” she said, filling the cup from the dispenser. Tendrils of steam encircled her hand and then melted away. “So what brings you to Sawyer, if you’re not a tourist?”

  She turned back around, deftly grabbing a lid and pushing it into place even as she was sliding the cup across the counter to him.

  Yeah, she had some experience serving up coffee. He wondered for a moment how long she’d worked at the Muffin Man.

  “I’m the new fire chief in town,” he said, pulling the already warm cup towards him to sip at the life-giving liquid inside. He was staring down at the display case as he said it, contemplating which donut was the most deserving of being eaten, but even out of the corner of his eye, he could tell she’d stiffened up. His eyes shot up and caught her look. She was staring at him, mouth open. “What’s wrong?” he asked, confused. He looked behind him, thinking maybe someone had snuck up behind him who she didn’t care for, but no one was there.

  He looked back at Sugar and she was smiling again, although it didn’t appear nearly as natural as it had before.

  “Nothing,” she said. She cleared her throat. “What kind of donut did you want?”

  “Maple bar, please.”

  She nodded, slipping the long, golden donut into a brown paper bag.

  “Hold on,” he said, another sip of coffee helping his brain begin to actually do something useful, “why don’t you make that a dozen donuts? I’m meeting with the guys down at the station for the first time this morning – holding a little get-together, you know? I should probably bring donuts with me. Help break the ice.”

  She mumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, “You’re gonna need more than donuts,” but when he shot her a questioning look, she just smiled back innocently.

  “Do you care which kind?” she asked.

  “Variety,” he said, shrugging.

  She got to work, sliding some bear claws, a cake donut, some more maple bars, and a couple of sugar donuts into a cardboard box stamped “Muffin Man” on top. She rang him up quickly and after he slid his card into the machine, entering his PIN, she pushed the box across the counter to him.

  “Good luck today,” she said, sending him an overly brilliant smile. She followed it up by mumbling something else under her breath, and this time, he only caught the word “need.”

  “What?” he asked, irritated.

  “Nothing! Enjoy your donuts, sir.”

>   “Jaxson.”

  “What?”

  “I figured I knew your name; you should know mine. Jaxson. Plus, I’m too damn young to be called sir.”

  “Enjoy your donuts…Jaxson.”

  He slid the box onto his arm and, balancing his coffee cup in his other hand, made his way back towards the door. If every damn person in Sawyer was gonna take up mumbling underneath their breath while they were talking to him, he was gonna be stark-raving mad within the week.

  Chapter 2

  Sugar

  “Did I hear him right?” Gage asked as soon as the front door closed behind the newest resident of Long Valley. Sugar stared after him, the sight of his ass in his tight Wranglers not something she was gonna be able to forget for a long time.

  Maybe never.

  “Hear what?” she asked absentmindedly. She hadn’t seen a man that hot since—

  “Is he the new fire chief in town?” Gage asked, a note of impatience creeping in.

  She jerked her head back towards her boss. “Oh. Sorry. Yeah, he’s the new guy.” She wrinkled her nose.

  Gage walked up and stood next to her at the front counter, staring out into the early morning, sparkling frost covering every barren tree branch and frozen metal bench in sight. “Do you think he has any idea what he’s in for?” Gage asked rhetorically, wiping his hands on his apron.

  Sugar answered him anyway. “No clue,” she said with a shrug, and then nibbled on her lower lip. “Well, he probably wouldn’t have taken the job if he’d known, so I’m gonna say no, he has no idea.”

  “People don’t tend to take on new jobs where they’re the most hated guy in town, before they even start,” Gage said dryly.

  “Not usually.”

  “Think you should’ve warned him?”

  “Nope. He’ll figure it out on his own soon enough. Plus, this way, he might come back here and let me dry his tears with a jam-filled donut or two.” Sugar winked at Gage and he just rolled his eyes and laughed and sighed. All at the same time.

  It was a talent, truly.

  “If he wanted to ask you out, you’d just turn him down anyway,” he said matter-of-factly. “Poor guy doesn’t have a chance in hell.”

  Sugar opened up her mouth to protest, and then closed it again with a snap. She hated it when her boss was right. Or anyone was right, when she wasn’t also. “Being wrong” was on Sugar’s Top Ten List of Shit She Hated, right along with throwing up, discussing politics, or eating oysters.

  She shuddered.

  “You know why I can’t date,” she said tartly. “Hot, sexy fireman he may be, but that still doesn’t mean I’m gonna do it.”

  “So you have a thing for sexy firemen now, huh?” Gage drawled, raising one eyebrow as he looked at her.

  She sighed. She knew where Gage was going with this, and it broke her heart. Her best friend, Emma, had told her a long time ago that Gage was in love with her. Emma was probably right, considering she was Gage’s younger sister. The chances were pretty damn high that she knew what the hell she was talking about.

  But still…Gage?

  Objectively, Sugar could tell her boss was cute. Maybe even handsome. You know, when she closed one eye and squinted real hard, she could totally tell that her boss was attractive.

  For the 517th time, she wondered why she couldn’t just fall for him. A lot of her problems would be solved if she could dredge up something more than friendship for the guy standing next to her.

  Speaking of closing one eye and squinting real hard at her boss…She reached up to wipe the streak of flour off his nose that she’d just noticed, but he dodged out of reach. “Hey!” he protested.

  “You had flour on your nose,” she informed him. “You look like a chimney sweep, except in your case, the soot is all white.”

  Huh. That was probably it. She’d seen him with flour on his nose one too many times to think he was sexy. Otherwise, she’d probably be all over him.

  Yeah, that was totally it. She felt better already. She hated not understanding her own mind at times. Mysteries were fun to read, not to live.

  “Personal boundaries. They’re a thing!” Gage called out as he headed into the kitchen again, through the swinging doors. Sugar rolled her eyes and looked back out through the front door again, and the large picture windows showing the streets of Sawyer beginning to wake up to another day.

  “Good luck, Fireman Jaxson,” Sugar said softly to the empty bakery. “You’re gonna need all the help you can get.”

  Chapter 3

  Jaxson

  Jaxson pulled up to the fire station, his stomach a jumble of nerves. The city council had told him that he ought to start off with a sort of staff meeting to meet everyone, even though the term “staff” was taking it a bit far. He was the only fireman who was on payroll, the rest of them only getting paid when they were called out to a fire.

  For a town the size of Sawyer, it was pert near impossible to fund even a full-time fire chief, and anything beyond that was completely out of the question. To be honest, Jaxson had been surprised that the position they’d advertised for was full-time. Maybe they had deeper pockets in the City of Sawyer than he’d realized. A lot of fancy vacation homes with high property taxes to foot the bill? Perhaps.

  However they were doing it, it wasn’t really any of his business. He was hired on to do the job, and that’s what he would do. Before this, he’d worked for the Boise Fire Department, which had almost two dozen stations around the city and just under 300 firemen on payroll, so working in a town this size was gonna be…real different.

  He looked around at the other vehicles in the parking lot – all of which were trucks – spotting a few hunting rifles in back windows and mud flaps the size of Texas.

  Real different.

  He swung out of his SUV – a late-model Ford Explorer – and grabbed the box of donuts. He’d only intended to get a cup of joe when he’d gone into the bakery, since he had yet to locate his coffee maker in the boxes stacked in his tiny living room, but hell, donuts had become a better idea the more he thought about it. Who wouldn’t appreciate a few sugary carbs to start off their morning?

  He walked into the fire station, donuts in one hand, coffee in the other, smile firmly plastered on his face. No reason for nerves. He was the new fire chief of the Sawyer Fire Department, dammit. Every guy in the building was his subordinate. He was going to be just fine.

  The quiet chatter among the men died out as soon as he came walking in, every eye on him. “Hi!” he said, a little too loudly, his voice echoing in the cavernous space. He gulped. He sounded way too eager. “I’m Jaxson Anderson,” he said a little quieter, spotting a table and working his way over to it to set down the donuts. He needed to shake hands, and he couldn’t do it while juggling donuts and coffee like a goddamn circus clown.

  Hands free, he turned back to his crew.

  Who were all still just staring at him.

  Graveyards were louder than this group.

  He felt an overwhelming desire to flip a U and head back towards the door, to his SUV, and out of this town. His spidey senses were causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand straight up. There was something real wrong going on here but damned if he knew what it was.

  And if he didn’t know what it was, he was pretty damn sure he didn’t want to have to fix it.

  One of the guys, a tall, dark-haired man who looked about Jaxson’s age, cleared his throat and stepped forward. “Hi Jaxson, I’m Dear, but everyone just calls me Moose.”

  Jaxson stared at him for a moment, his hand automatically going out to shake Dear’s even as he tried to process what the man had said. “’Dear’? As in ‘Dear, would you fetch me some coffee?’”

  Dear shook his head, laughing a little. “No, Deere as in John Deere. My dad owns the John Deere dealership in town. Said our family owes everything to the brand, so he ought to name me after it.”

  “And then the nickname Moose…” Jaxson felt a smile creep over his face
as he put it together, and he laughed. “I just met a girl named Sugar and a guy named Moose. Let me guess, your name is Couch,” he said, jerking his head towards one of the men in the group gathering around him.

  The man’s mouth dropped open. “How did you know?” he whispered, his eyes wide. Jaxson’s heart stuttered to a stop – no damn way! – when “Couch” bust out laughing, the men around him laughing too and slapping him on the back. “Just kidding, sir,” he said around gasps. “I’m Levi. No animal or food name for me, not even as a nickname.”

  “No one calls you ‘Jeans’ for shits and giggles?” Jaxson asked, a smile tugging at his lips.

  Levi grinned. “Apparently, all of my friends just aren’t creative enough.”

  “Well, aren’t y’all just boring,” Jaxson drawled, grinning and sticking his hand out to shake Levi’s.

  “As white bread,” Levi confirmed with a firm shake.

  Jaxson felt a little weight lift off his shoulders. He didn’t know what he’d been worried about. Whatever was causing him to panic before was obviously wrong. He would get along just—

  “I’m James,” a man said as he pushed his way out of the small crowd to stand in front of it. The chuckles and cheeriness disappeared from the room and everyone just froze, eyes bouncing between James and Jaxson.

  “Hi James, nice to meet you,” Jaxson said with a forced smile, putting his hand out to shake. This was it. Whatever was going on here with James, it wasn’t pretty. Jaxson could feel it from the tension in the air – James was out for blood.

  The older man grasped Jaxson’s hand in a vice grip and he began squeezing. Hard.

  A dick-measuring contest, eh? Instead of squeezing back and dropping James to his knees like he really, really wanted to, Jaxson just jerked his arm back, forcing James to let go or be pulled up tight against Jaxson’s chest. He was pretty sure James would choose letting go, but he still let out a small sigh of relief when James actually did, ever so reluctantly.