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  Lucy swung her legs, one of her heels bumping my calf, and looked to me. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes bright. She was so damn beautiful, I lost my breath for a beat.

  “We always lose. Why do we keep doing this?” she asked as she traced her fingers idly along my forearm.

  I still wasn’t quite accustomed to how easily she affected me. The light touch of her fingertips on my arm—my arm for crying out loud—and I was half-distracted. I forced my attention to her question.

  “Because it’s fun,” I replied with a chuckle, catching her hand in mine.

  She laughed and glanced to Maisie. “Someday I’ll beat you.”

  At that moment, Lucy’s mother paused by the table. Lucy looked up at her mother. “Are you leaving?”

  “Oh yes. You know me, I like to get to bed early,” Jody replied.

  Lucy slipped off my lap and gave her mother a hug. They’d come to more of a relaxed peace over the last year.

  After Lucy hugged her mother goodbye, she slipped back into my lap and glanced over at Maisie, picking up where she’d left off. “It’s a good thing we don’t play for money. At this point, you’d have enough for a down payment on a house.”

  Maisie laughed, while Beck flashed a grin and sifted his fingers through the curls on Maisie’s shoulder. It was beyond nice—the feeling of relaxing with Lucy and our friends.

  Cade said something, but I wasn’t paying attention. Rather, I’d gotten distracted by Lucy’s musky scent and was dusting kisses along the side of her neck. The taste of her skin was a straight shot of lust to my groin.

  “Levi?” Cade asked, just loud enough to remind me we were in public.

  I glanced his way. “Oh, were you talking to me?”

  He rolled his eyes. “I was.”

  “Need something?” I asked.

  “Just asked if you’d like the good battery back.”

  Lucy’s fist thumped my shoulder. “I knew something was up with my battery! I just had it replaced a few months ago.”

  “Hey, that wasn’t my plan. It was Amelia’s idea.”

  “Absolutely. I knew if Levi wasn’t driving, you’d never stop here. I have no shame,” Amelia said firmly.

  Lucy threw a balled up napkin at Amelia, her eyes catching mine again.

  “It wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked.

  She held my gaze, and for a flash, everything else fell away. We might as well have been alone. The air hummed around us as she shook her head slowly. “No, it wasn’t bad at all.” She dipped her head, dropping a kiss at the base of my neck. “It’s all worth it because I love you,” she murmured.

  And then I was kissing her, our tongues tangling. I truly forgot where we were until the voices around us punctured my haze.

  I drew back, thinking I needed to get her out of here as soon as feasibly possible. I needed her bare naked and skin to skin with me.

  “I can’t believe you ever teased me for being whipped,” Cade said.

  I glanced to him and shrugged nonchalantly. I was far past giving a damn that anybody knew I’d do anything for Lucy.

  Lucy said something to Amelia and then settled against me. Her gaze canted up to mine, her sky blue eyes taking my breath away.

  “Should we go?” she asked.

  “Let’s.”

  I pulled her close, catching her lips in a kiss. I stood, lifting her with me, and carried her out in my arms—into the late summer night with stars scattered like diamonds across the plum colored sky.

  ***

  I hope you enjoyed Burn So Bad. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter to get a free copy of another one of my books!

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  Please enjoy the following excerpt from Hot Mess, the next book in the Into The Fire Series.

  Excerpt: Hot Mess by J.H. Croix; all rights reserved

  Ward

  I stared across the room, unable to keep my eyes off of Susannah Gilmore. She was leaning against the polished wooden bar, her strawberry blonde hair spilling out in a mass of curls around her shoulders. I didn’t know what the hell the bartender was saying to her, but I was instantly annoyed. The look in his eyes was one of blatant appreciation.

  Not that I blamed him. Susannah was fucking gorgeous. Strong as hell, feisty as hell, and so damn sexy, it was a miracle I’d managed to keep my hands to myself the last few days.

  I was in Willow Brook, Alaska to meet the hotshot firefighter crew I was about to join as superintendent. I was only here for one more night before returning to visit my mother. I’d almost rescheduled this trip because the original plan had been for me to start this week. That was before my mother was moved into hospice care earlier this week.

  In the meantime, I intended to do one thing before I left for the month tomorrow morning—have another night with Susannah, a repeat of our last night when we both finished our hotshot training in California four years ago. That night was seared into my memory. I hadn’t known what to expect when I learned she worked on the crew I’d be leading.

  Four years was long enough for both of us to forget each other. Yet, I’d stepped into the station here and known she was in the room before I even saw her. My body was a tuning fork tuned solely to her. I’d been here for three days since, and the lust simmered on high the entire time. We couldn’t be around each other without practically catching on fire.

  I knew pursuing her wasn’t smart. Hell, I was about to become her boss. Yet, I didn’t particularly want to think smart right now. I wanted to forget everything else, and Susannah could help me do that.

  I watched as the bartender turned away from Susannah to serve another customer. The crew had brought me with them to Wildlands Bar & Lodge, apparently a popular place, judging by how crowded it was. It was late, and most of the crew had left for the night. When it was clear the bartender was keeping busy, I took that moment to make my approach.

  Leaning against the bar beside Susannah, I glanced to her. Simply being close to her, my body tightened further and my cock twitched. She didn’t have to do a fucking thing to turn me on. All she had to do was exist.

  Her blue eyes caught mine as she looked over, a pink flush staining her cheeks.

  “Ward, I thought you’d left for the night,” she said.

  I leaned on the bar with both elbows, if only to mask my aching arousal. Shaking my head, I held her rich blue gaze. “Not yet.”

  We stared at each other, the air humming around us, snapping and crackling with electricity. A few years back I’d been called up to help with a fire in the backcountry here in Alaska. I’d heard stories about the eruption of Mount Augustine back in the nineteen-eighties. According to a fellow firefighter I met, the ash had been thick, and it occasionally formed small clouds in the air where the particles from the volcano rubbed against each other, creating a mini electrical storm within the clouds.

  I’d never seen anything like that myself, but the memory of it stuck with me. That was what it felt like when I was near Susannah.

  She didn’t say a word, but she didn’t look away either. Her tongue darted out, swiping across her bottom lip.

  After a moment, she spoke. “We’re gonna have to figure this out.”

  “Figure what out?” I asked.

  Her breath drew in sharply. I took the moment to just soak her in. She had freckles scattered across her porcelain cheeks, and her nose tipped up at the end. She was so damn gorgeous and endearing at once with this tomboy vibe I loved. I couldn’t say why she hit me so hard. Hell, it wasn’t as if I hadn’t met other beautiful women. There weren’t many female firefighters, yet she wasn’t a complete anomaly. For me, she was. One look at her, and it was like a swift kick straight to my gut and my heart. She was a living, breathing shot of adrenaline and lust in my veins.

  I understood her question. The bald truth was I was about to become the superintendent for her crew. As one of the crew foremen, she would answer directly to me once I was in my official capacity. Although I knew the reas
oning behind her question, I wanted to make her say it. Because I wasn’t in my official position yet and wouldn’t be until I returned. I wasn’t above admitting that the knowledge I’d be her boss only made me want her more. The fact our attraction shouldn’t be happening only fed into its fire.

  Susannah lifted her chin, not backing down or looking away. “You’re taking over as superintendent for my crew. We need to forget about that night.”

  I held her gaze and shook my head slowly. “You can’t make me forget anything, and I know you haven’t forgotten either. In fact, I think maybe we should have another night like that. Tonight.”

  Her lips parted and her breath hissed through her teeth. I suppose she expected me to be proper. Fuck that. I knew who and what I wanted. Her. Bare naked and tangled up with me.

  Her eyes darkened as she stared at me. For a moment, I thought she was going to tell me to fuck off, but she didn’t. She nodded, just barely.

  Snagging her drink off the bar, she downed it quickly. “Follow me.”

  “Lead the way,” I replied.

  She spun away, her cowboy boots striking on the hardwood floor as she strode quickly in front of me, her hips swinging with every step.

  Susannah

  I could feel the heat of Ward’s gaze on me as I walked ahead of him. I threaded my way through the tables, barely registering the hum of voices around us. The bar was crowded, yet we might as well have been alone in a room. I turned into the hallway at the back, not waiting to see if he was behind me. My body knew he was with certainty. The air around us snapped with the force of the attraction between us. Any hopes I had that this yearning, burning fire between us would have dissipated had been dashed the moment he walked into the station the other day.

  Ward Taylor had somehow managed to become even more attractive than the last time I’d seen him. I didn’t know if that was a factual observation, but that was sure as hell how my body felt. Black curls, always slightly tousled, and those silver gray eyes, like the sky on a stormy summer day. One look from him, and it seared through me. His body was honed to perfection. I’d thought myself immune to men like him. As a hotshot firefighter, I spent my days with men in their physical prime. Yet, not a single man affected me the way Ward did.

  Ward carried himself with an edge of danger, quiet strength, and simmering power under the surface. Back when I trained with him, he kept his distance from all of us. Oh, he was a good teammate, but there was a part of him that he kept under wraps. I sensed something or someone had hurt him. I’d never scratched beneath the surface to understand more.

  Despite trying damn hard to erase it from my memory, I’d never forgotten the night we’d had together. It was so far and above any other sexual experience I’d ever had, I couldn’t imagine anything coming close. Three days with him around the station, passing by each other like flint to stone again and again—each pass striking another spark into the fire that just wouldn’t die.

  I’d been obsessing about how to handle the fact he was about to become my boss, while I nearly melted at his feet every time we were anywhere near each other. A respite was on the horizon because Ward was leaving for a month since his mother was sick. Cade and Levi were going to help out until Ward could return. That was what they been doing all along since Al’s retirement.

  As it was, we had one cranky as hell crew member who was flat pissed he hadn’t gotten the job of superintendent. The rest of us on the crew had been relieved. Chad was an asshole. As far as I was concerned, Al should’ve fired him, but he hadn’t. Ward was going to inherit that problem, although I felt like he was better suited to deal with it than our last superintendent.

  Ward took no bullshit. It was all business at all times out in the field, and that was what we needed. Sad as I was to learn his mother was in hospice, even though Ward barely showed any emotion over it, it gave me some breathing room to figure out what the hell to do.

  Yet right now, tonight, I was doing the craziest thing I could imagine. The moment Ward walked over and looked at me, I was a goner. I wanted him so fiercely. I was flat crazy for giving into it, but my need for him was rushing through me with such force, I couldn’t ignore it. I was busy telling myself we could do this and then move on.

  I knew little of Ward’s personal life. He had a few friends when we were in training together. He was quiet and bordered on brooding. Unlike some of the other guys who liked to party and have a good time, he laid low. He certainly didn’t do romance. In fact, our epic one-night stand had started with him pointing out it was perfect because we would never see each other again.

  I couldn’t even contemplate what he thought tonight might mean. As I walked down the hallway, which felt like forever, I could already feel the slick moisture soaking my panties. Just thinking about the memory of him sinking into me, every hard, thick inch of him, was enough to make me wild.

  Ward knew how to use his hands, his lips, and his tongue so well, he’d left me boneless. He’d acquainted himself with every inch of my body, including my now dripping wet pussy, before fucking me until I forgot where I ended and he began.

  Maybe one more round with him would burn my need to ashes.

  As I passed by the restroom, I paused, turning to see him behind me. He ambled, his long stride eating up the distance between us with little effort.

  “I’m going to use the restroom really quick, okay?”

  His eyes burned through the distance between us as he nodded. He stopped in the hallway as I stepped inside, leaning against the door to catch my breath.

  I didn’t need to go to the bathroom, but I needed a moment to get a grip. I stared at myself in the mirror. My hair was a bit wild tonight, and my cheeks were flushed. I had a full body flush just from Ward’s presence. Taking a deep breath, I splashed cool water on my face and washed my hands. My body was nearly humming in anticipation.

  When I stepped out, Ward was leaning against the wall across from the door, one hand hooked in his pocket and the other hanging loose at his side. He wore faded black jeans, battered leather black boots, and a navy T-shirt that outlined his sculpted chest and broad shoulders. My mouth went dry and my pulse took off, skittering wildly.

  My breath came in shallow pants and my sex clenched as I stared at him. Perhaps two feet separated us. From across the hallway, he reached out and hooked his finger in my belt loop, pulling me flush against his body inside of a quick breath.

  I liked to think of myself as a woman in control of her life, of her destiny, of her body and her mind. Most of the time, I was.

  Except when it came to Ward. All of my defenses burned to nothing in the searing heat of his presence.

  When my body bumped against his, I almost moaned aloud. I hadn’t forgotten how good he felt—all hard strength, coiled energy and power. Even his face was strong with a square jaw, sculpted cheekbones, the dark slash of his brows over those silver gray eyes, and a nose that looked if it had been broken once, giving him a roguish charm.

  Ward wasn’t much for smiling, which made it dangerous when he did. Like now. His lips curled at one corner with his eyes locked to mine.

  My breath caught and my belly clenched.

  He didn’t say a word. One hand slid around to cup my bottom and pull me tight against him, the hard ridge of his arousal pressing into my belly and sending a gush of moisture into my panties. I didn’t know if it was actually possible to orgasm simply from standing beside someone, but if anyone could make that happen, Ward could.

  He lifted his other hand, brushing a loose curl off my cheek and tucking it behind my ear. Goose bumps ran in a shiver down my side.

  I could barely breathe, my body pulsing with anticipation. In a flash, he claimed my mouth with his. He kissed as boldly as I remembered, his hand palming my ass as he rocked his arousal into me, hard and insistent at the apex of my thighs.

  Kissing him was like getting caught inside of a flame. His hand tangled roughly in my hair as he devoured my mouth. Deep sweeps of his tongue, drawing bac
k to nip at my bottom lip. Inside of a matter of seconds, I was so caught up in our kiss, I completely forgot where we were, nudged out of my madness only when I heard the door to the hallway open from the parking lot.

  My panties were drenched and my breath came in rough gasps. I broke free and stumbled away from him. My gaze swung wildly to the back doorway to see a cluster of people I didn’t recognize entering. Thank God. The chances it could be someone I knew were high. I’d been born and raised in Willow Brook and knew most everyone local. But it was early spring, and the tourists were already crowding into town.

  The group filed down the hallway between Ward and I. His eyes never left mine, my gaze drawn back to his like a magnet. The force of his gaze was so powerful, it felt as if he were actually touching me. After the customers made their way past us, their footsteps echoing on the hardwood floor and the sounds from the bar filtering into the hallway, he reached across the space between us again, catching my hand and reeling me close.

  My brain tried to fire off a thought. But it was as if all of the signals were crossed, haywire in the heat of the desire between us. Flush against him again, my nipples tight, need pounding inside of me, and my breath barely under control, I couldn’t manage a word.

  “Let’s go,” he said, his gruff voice sending a prickle down my spine.

  I nodded wordlessly. He turned, my hand held tight in his. I suddenly remembered what it felt like to be held by him—beyond the pounding need, there was more. This man, so handsome, so sexy he was dangerous, somehow made me feel safe. Though there was a distance to him, a wall I didn’t know how to scale, I felt safer with him than I’d ever felt with anyone in my life.

  Susannah

  One month later

  The little blue line stared at me, distinct and clear. There were three of them sitting in front of me on the bathroom counter. Three blue lines, all telling me the same thing. I had a fourth pregnancy test with me. Maybe I was crazy, but I wanted to be sure. Plus, I liked the number four, it was nice and even. I pulled the last test out of the box. With my heart pounding and anxiety spinning through me, I was almost sweating. I squatted over the toilet again—another undignified moment where I tried to direct my pee onto the little plastic stick.