Slow Burn Read online

  Table of Contents

  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 23

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  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

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  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

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Table of Contents

  Slow Burn

  Copyright

  Slow Burn

  Dedication

  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 23

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  More from J.H. Croix

  Excerpt: Burn So Bad by J.H. Croix; all rights reserved

  Find My Books

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Slow Burn

  Into the Fire Series

  By J.H. Croix

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 J.H. Croix

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10: 1974552993

  ISBN-13: 978-1974552993

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Slow Burn

  I put out fires for a living.

  I can take some heat.

  But Maisie drives me crazy.

  She’s smart-mouthed, sarcastic and argumentative.

  This town’s too small for both of us.

  But she works for me. Unfortunately.

  It’s a big no-no for me to f*ck her.

  Every time I lay eyes on her, I want to throw her over my shoulder and find the closest place to get my hands all over her curvy body.

  Her eyes flash, her sweet a** swings, and her smart mouth makes my c*ck so hard it aches.

  There are different kinds of fire, and this one will make her panties melt.

  There’s only one problem: this fire might be too hot for both of us.

  *This is a steamy, full-length standalone romance with a guaranteed happily-ever-after. No cliffhangers. Nothing but steamy romance & HEA!

  Dedication

  This one goes out to LM, my friend—always there in heart and soul and with lots of laughter!

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  Chapter 1

  Maisie

  “Let me see if I understand you. Your cat got stuck in a tree, so you used your excavator to get him out?” I asked.

  “Yes, that’s what I said,” Carrie Dodge explained, her tone exasperated.

  I only knew Carrie’s name because that was the second order of business whenever I answered a call at Willow Brook Fire & Rescue. Sadly, I still wasn’t clear on what the nature of Carrie’s emergency was.

  “So, is your cat okay?”

  Carrie’s sigh came through the line. “Herman is fine. It’s my excavator that’s the problem.”

  When I answered a minute ago, Carrie had spoken so quickly, all I’d been able to piece together was something to do with a tree, a cat, and an excavator.

  “Tell me what happened to your excavator.”

  I waited to hear the excavator had a name. Because this was Alaska and people named their tools and things like that here. I’d only lived here about two years, but I’d quickly come to learn some things were more important than others. Shiny cars—not so much. Excavators or fishing gear—worth their weight in gold.

  “Oh, well, it was all fine at first. I got it right up by the tree, and Herman hopped in the bucket no problem. I lowered him to the ground and when I was turning it around, I forgot how close the ditch was and it fell in. I’m stuck inside,” Carrie explained.

  Rather calmly, I might add. This was the first mention a human was involved in this emergency beyond the role of an observer.

  I tapped the alarm button on my desk. That would alert the crew on duty while I kept Carrie on the line until they arrived at her location. I’d already lin
ked her GPS coordinates to our system. With rapid fire typing, I filled in a summary for the crew to see.

  “Are you injured?” I asked Carrie, thinking to myself as long as she was okay, it was almost funny she’d neglected to mention her predicament this far into our call. I’d started out worried about the cat, then the excavator, when lo and behold, she was trapped in an excavator that had fallen in a ditch.

  “I think so,” Carrie said with a sigh. “Herman’s looking at me through the window. My shoulder hurts a little.”

  “Do you mind if I get some basic info from you while the rescue crew’s headed your way?”

  “I suppose not,” Carrie replied with another sigh.

  I heard the garage doors opening on the back of Willow Brook’s Fire & Rescue building and the sirens blare. Within seconds, an ambulance was racing past the front windows with a fire truck in its wake.

  Carrie was remarkably calm and gave me her information with a few huffs here and there. I sensed she was more annoyed with her situation than with me.

  I heard one of the crewmembers radioing to report they were within three minutes. I was the sole dispatcher for Willow Brook Fire & Rescue. Though Willow Brook was a small town in Alaska, nestled in a valley in the foothills of the Alaska Range, its proximity to Anchorage and central location in the state had resulted in its Fire & Rescue crews being one of the hubs in the state. Two interagency hotshot crews ran out of Willow Brook, along with a local crew. All three crews were fully trained for hotshot firefighting, which required intensive training and grueling work. Hotshot teams were sent to the most dangerous, remote fires in the country. Alaska’s sprawling geography lent itself to plenty of fires. The Willow Brook teams mostly served Alaska, however they went wherever they were called. When they weren’t deep in the wilderness fighting wildfires, they handled whatever came up here.

  I chatted with Carrie until I heard the crew arrive. As soon as I ended my call with her, my other line beeped, indicating someone from the crew was calling in.

  “Yes?”

  “Hey Maze, what’s the emergency? The cat or the excavator?” Beck Steele asked.

  The moment he spoke, I got annoyed. Beck invariably annoyed me. I could practically see him grinning. I gritted my teeth and told myself I’d stay calm and professional.

  “Neither. Carrie, the woman calling, is stuck in the excavator. Aren’t you there?” I asked, proud of myself for keeping my voice perfectly level.

  “Not yet. Crew says she’s fine by the way. Mind telling me what this has to do with a cat?”

  “Her cat was in a tree. She used the excavator bucket to get him out, and then the excavator tipped into a ditch,” I explained.

  “Of course. Because it makes perfect sense to use an excavator to get a cat out of a tree,” he said with a low chuckle, his tone dry.

  No matter what, Beck managed to get under my skin. Next thing I knew, I was arguing the point.

  “It’s not the worst idea. I mean, she got Herman out of the tree,” I countered.

  “Herman?”

  “The cat. His name is Herman,” I explained.

  Another low chuckle from Beck sent my belly into a tailspin of flutters. I was hot and prickly all over and inanely arguing about the sensibility of using an excavator to get a cat out of a tree.

  “Do you need anything else from me?” I snapped.

  “Nah. Nice chatting, Maze,” he replied.

  The line went dead in my ear. I swore he called me like this just to piss me off. I shook my thoughts off of him, adjusted my headset and quickly entered everything from the call in our data system. I was unusually curious to see how Carrie was. Carrie’s unflappable attitude got to me and made me want to know for certain she’d be okay.

  I fielded a few more calls in the time the crew was out. They were still out when the top of the hour rolled around, and the call center in Anchorage took over duty for me to take a break. I still hadn’t heard back from the crew and hoped Carrie was okay. I’d learned it wasn’t the least bit helpful for crews to have me calling to check in, so I’d just have to wait. I powered down my computer and headed into the back area.

  Two of our crews were out in the middle of freaking nowhere dealing with two different backcountry fires in Alaska. With the remaining crew out, the back of the station was deserted. I was feeling grubby after a morning changing the oil on the old truck Gram had left me. A side benefit to working at Fire & Rescue was access to the massive garage bays and tools galore. The crews handled all of their own maintenance. Amongst the three crews, there was a single female firefighter, Susannah Gilmore. She was also one of the few friends I had. Lately, she’d taught me how to change the oil in my truck, so I’d tried it this morning when no one was around. I kind of wished she wasn’t out in the field because I didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask any of the guys if I’d done it right.

  Whether I’d changed the oil properly or not, I could use a shower. I’d been trying to figure out what to do about my broken hot water heater for over a week now. Cold showers sucked, so I’d been taking advantage of the showers here whenever I could. I preferred not to do so when anyone was around, so I planned to make it quick. The crew hadn’t radioed they were on their way back yet, so I figured I had a little time.

  Inside of a few minutes, I was savoring the steaming hot water pouring over me. The industrial hot water pressure here was phenomenal. I wondered if I could find a way to get this kind of pressure at Gram’s house. My heart gave a little squeeze. It was technically my house because Gram had left it to me when she passed away, but I still couldn’t seem to think of it as mine. It felt too much like her. I gave my head a shake and grabbed the soap, quickly soaping myself all over. I was rinsing the shampoo from my hair when I heard a voice.

  “What the…”

  I opened my eyes to see Beck standing in the entryway to the showers. I might’ve forgotten to mention Beck was the sexiest, most handsome man I’d ever known in person. There he stood in all of his glory. He still had his gear half on, but he’d taken his shirt off. His black curls were a wild mess, and he had dirt streaked on his cheeks and arms. His chest was a work of art—all glistening muscle, every inch of it practically carved from stone. His heavy-duty coveralls were hanging at his waist, tempting my eyes to look further down.

  I was so stupidly staring at him, I momentarily forgot I was completely naked. Beck’s eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open. He snapped it shut, and his eyes—those gorgeous, sinfully green eyes raked over me. If I didn’t know better, I might’ve thought his gaze darkened with desire. But that was crazy, and I was naked.

  Chapter 2

  Beck

  Maisie Rogers stood in the showers—her delectable body bare for me to see. I couldn’t have kept my eyes from taking a detour along every curve if I’d wanted to. Soap bubbles ran down her skin. I wanted to be those bubbles, caressing every inch of her skin.

  Holy smokes. I was stuck right where I was. Her dark brown curls were wet and fell down around her shoulders, the water almost straightening them, but they were so wild, they couldn’t be tamed. Her big brown eyes were like saucers. Oh, I’d have guessed Maisie had a body to die for, but she kept it hidden behind her t-shirts and jeans. Her breasts—oh my fucking God her breasts. They were round and bouncy with dusky pink nipples. I was perhaps ten feet away from her, so I couldn’t be certain, but I was pretty sure her nipples got tight as I stood there and gaped at her.

  Her waist curved in and then her hips flared out. My cock was hard inside of a second. I could instantly imagine gripping those hips, the soft flesh giving way, and sinking inside of her. Suddenly, she squeaked and spun around. If she thought that would help matters, nope. Her bottom was just as delectable as the rest of her. I’d never been one to love thin women. They were too, well, thin. I liked something to hold onto. Maisie had curves for days, plenty to hold onto.

  “Do you mind?” she snapped, keeping her back to me.

  Her voice was muffled by
the water, but her snippy attitude came through loud and clear. Whenever she got like that with me, the urge to tease her was impossible to resist.

  “I don’t mind at all. Not one bit,” I countered, letting my words drag out.

  I was speaking the plain truth. I could stand there all day and stare at her. If my cock had anything to say about it, I’d been doing a lot more than staring.

  “Oh my God,” she muttered. “Beck, please.”

  Just now, she didn’t sound pissed. She sounded distressed, and it wasn’t funny anymore. It suddenly occurred to me the rest of the crew would be in here any second. I didn’t want anyone else to walk in on her like this. While I had always felt protective toward Maisie when she wasn’t busy driving me nuts, now I felt territorial. I didn’t want anyone else to see how fucking gorgeous she was.

  “On my way out. I’ll hold the crew at bay,” I called as I forced my feet to move and walk out.

  A while later, after I’d showered along with the rest of the crew, I made my way out front. I figured it would be best if Maisie and I went ahead and got the requisite awkward moment out of the way. I pushed through the swinging door out front to find her with her eyes studiously focused on her computer.

  When she first started working here, she’d been pretty bitchy with the crews, but she was steady and professional on calls. So we kept her on, in part for that and in part out of loyalty to her grandmother. Carol Rogers had been our main admin person for decades. When she’d asked the police chief to hire Maisie, he’d immediately agreed. Maisie was an incredibly hard worker, and I respected her. I’d managed to keep the undercurrent of desire I felt for her at bay for a good two years now. Seeing her the way I just had wouldn’t help matters.

  I leaned my elbows on the counter surrounding her desk. “So Carrie Dodge is doing okay,” I said, figuring if I started with something neutral and normal, perhaps it would just let us skip right past any awkwardness.

  Maisie glanced up. “Oh good! You guys were there a while. What happened?”

  I chuckled. “Most of the work was getting the excavator in a safe position so we could get Carrie out. She broke her collarbone and her elbow, so they transported her to the hospital. I’m still not sure how she pulled it off, but that damn excavator was on its side. If she hadn’t been inside, it would’ve been no biggie, but she was pinned in the corner of the cab, so we had to be careful. Took some finagling.”