Taming Fire (Braving the Heat #2)

by Leora Gonzales

  “Why?”

  “I guess I wanted to see if anyone else would offer first. They all gave a reason they couldn’t help before saying, ‘Don’t worry, Lou will do it.’ I guess after I heard that, I didn’t feel so guilty anymore.” Louise shrugged. “It’s just so exhausting all the time to be the one who picks up the pieces.” Louise paused before pulling her foot out of his grip and climbing into his lap. “Then, you showed up and you helped me pick up the pieces.”

  “I am a pretty good helper. Aren’t I?” Nix settled farther into the cushion using his hands to cradle her hips.

  “The best,” Louise assured him. “I mean, yeah, you were getting keys to my stuff and taking over a bit, but it was to help me, and not give me more work.”

  “I’ll always be here to help you, darlin’.”

  Louise wiggled, feeling the cock under her legs starting to harden. “That’s what I love about you.”

  It wasn’t until she felt Nix stiffen—and not in a good way—underneath her that she realized what she’d said. “I mean—”

  Nix placed a finger over her lips gently. “I’ve fallen for you too, darlin’.”

  Louise thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest. “Really?”

  “Really,” he reassured her with a grin she had come to adore. “It’s just a bonus that you put up with my bossy ass.”

  “You are super bossy, but it’s such a nice ass,” Louise teased before breaking into a fit of giggles when Nix scraped his short beard on her neck.

  “I’m trying to be serious here, Lou,” Nix admonished with a mock glare and squeeze of her hip.

  “Sorry.” Biting her lip, Louise hugged him close.

  Nix wrapped his arms around her. “Am I scaring you with this shit?”

  Louise shook her head, mumbling a muffled, “Nope,” against the front of his shirt. “Wait, normally guys are the ones avoiding this talk.”

  “Lou, I’m not a pussy. I can talk about shit like this, especially when it concerns the most important person in my life.”

  His words made Louise feel dizzy. “I’m the most important person in your life?”

  “Well…yeah. If Mom was still around it would be you and my mom.” Nix cupped her face in his hands. “She would have loved you.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so,” he said, his tone sure.

  Epilogue

  “Are you having a good time?” Nix asked before he pulled out her chair.

  Louise nodded, a big smile on her face. “I love that they rented the Tinderbox for their engagement party.”

  “I’m just amazed that Jazz’s folks went along with it.” Nix tilted his head toward an uptight-looking couple greeting people by the bar. “They can be a little bit stuffy, but, according to Leo, they’ve gotten better over the past few months.”

  Sipping her cider, Louise caught sight of Leo and Jazz as they were making their way around the tables decorated for their party. Jazz gave her a big smile and wave as they moved past groups of people.

  “Hey, you look fantastic,” Louise gushed as she hugged her friend close. “Your lipstick is smudged though.”

  Jazz pulled back from the hug with a secret smile on her face as she ran a finger around her lips trying to catch any stray color. Leo moved close behind her and tried to hide his chuckle against her hair while Jazz smacked the arm he snuck around her waist.

  Nix tipped his beer at the happy couple. “You two look like you’re enjoying your party.”

  Louise bit her lip to hide her own smile when Jazz turned bright red at Nix’s words.

  “Oh, shut it,” Jazz said as she signaled for one of the waiters carrying drinks around. “Have you tried their winter brew yet? It’s one of the featured drafts for tonight.”

  “Not yet,” Louise answered as she took another drink. “I would have never thought to rent this place. What made you guys think of it?”

  “Other than the fact that these guys basically live here?” Jazz tapped Leo’s chest with affection. “Well, we didn’t want to have it at a banquet hall since that seemed a little too formal for us.”

  “We thought about having it at Jazz’s parents’ estate, but that would have been worse, and I wasn’t looking forward to fighting their housekeeper for my fiancée’s affections,” Leo teased with a smile wide enough to show his dimple.

  “Wait, what?” Nix asked, confused.

  Jazz rolled her eyes at the men. “Long story that’s not worth going into.”

  “Has the date been set yet?” Louise asked, not having talked to Jazz in the last couple weeks.

  “Not yet. Honestly, I am about ready to let Leo have his way and just go to the courthouse and get it over with.”

  “What’s the hold up? I thought you guys had a couple dates narrowed down.” Nix settled his hand on Lou’s hip as he asked the question.

  “We did,” Jazz mumbled before giving her parents across the room a pointed look.

  “Parental issues?” Nix questioned, catching the look between the women.

  “Kinda sort of.” Jazz sighed. “They want Jameson to be able to come, which I would love to happen. The only problem is coordinating a wedding with a groomsman who lives and breathes his work for Doctors Without Borders.”

  “Yikes.” Louise grimaced. “That’s a tough spot to be in.”

  “It is.” Jazz smiled, although it didn’t seem as genuine as before.

  “What does Jameson say about it?” Nix asked the question Louise had been thinking.

  “He offered to Skype in for the ceremony, if needed, but we would like to at least try to have him here,” Leo answered, rubbing Jazz’s shoulder.

  “Is there a private party over here we don’t know about?” Winter’s voice broke through the group mere seconds before they spotted her.

  Will, Winter’s husband, slapped Leo on the back and nodded hello to Nix. “Hey man, did you hear the news?”

  Nix shook his head and cast him a puzzled glance. “What’s going on?”

  “Word is that they found some evidence at the last fire, and we’re hoping it leads us to our little firebug,” Will relayed, his face hopeful.

  “Thank God,” Louise muttered, keeping one ear trained on the conversation that the girls were having as well as the one the guys were having at the same time.

  “The chief said you were going to be back on duty next week?” Leo signaled to a waiter walking around with some sort of cheese piled on a cracker.

  Grabbing a couple of crackers for himself, Nix nodded with a grin. “I’m just waiting for the final medical release, and I’ll be good to go. I would have been back this week, but the specialist wouldn’t sign off without a final X-ray and they were packed until Monday morning.”

  “It will be good to have you back.” Will raised his glass in a toasting gesture.

  “It will be good to be back, man.”

  Louise tried to hide her smile at Nix’s admission. He was beyond excited to be able to get back to the station. It surprised her that he hadn’t been camping outside his doctor’s office just in case they had a cancelation. The man was not meant to be a bum, and that’s what he had been forced to do for the last six weeks. Not only was he driving her crazy, he was also driving himself crazy.

  Taking it easy hadn’t been easy for her man, and once he had been feeling well enough to test out the strength of his foot, he had been determined to get right back to where he had been before the accident. Working out in a small space that he had cleared in her garage, Nix was probably the only person she knew who could bulk up while home on temporary disability. At first, she had worried he was just going to reinjure himself, but Nix had proved her wrong. Not only had he been extremely careful, he also avoided putting undo stress on his foot. The majority of his fitness had been core and arm work, which explained why his shirts were fitting tighter around his shoulders and arms…a sight that made her mouth water every damn time she looked at him.

  “Get your mind out of the
gutter, lady,” Jazz whispered.

  Louise almost jumped in surprise. “What?”

  “Don’t give me that innocent look, I saw you licking your chops and staring at your hunk of man-meat.”

  Jazz wiggled her eyebrows at Louise, the comical leer nearly making her choke on her beer.

  “You look like a crazy person.”

  “And you look like a hornball,” Jazz muttered, a sly smile gracing her face. “Don’t worry. I’m not judging. I just recognize that look well. It’s the same one I have when I watch Leo mow the yard.”

  “Our men are fucking hot, ladies,” Winter agreed with a tap of her glass against Jazz’s. Winter gave Louise a strange look before asking, “What ever happened with your sister?”

  “Winter!” Jazz gave Louise an apologetic smile.

  “Don’t act like you’re not curious as fuck, Jazz,” Winter deadpanned with an eye roll.

  “Well…if you really want to know,” Louise took a deep breath and tried to keep from sounding like a Debbie Downer. “I haven’t heard from Maggie, or my parents for that matter, since I came home and kicked her and her boy toy out of my house last month.”

  “Your parents are giving you the silent treatment too?” Jazz asked wide eyed.

  “Yep,” Louise said.

  “Not entirely,” Nix interrupted. “They still text to tell her what they need her to do, as if that’s going to fucking happen.”

  Louise bumped his hip with her own. “Oh hush, nobody wants to hear about my weirdo family.”

  “Oh we do, we really do.” Winter nodded emphatically. “What are they texting about?”

  “Random shit mostly.” Louise recalled their last couple text messages demanding she run errands for them. “Last week, it was that their dog needed to be taken to the vet, and the week before was something about waiting at their house for a repairman, just random stuff they don’t want to be bothered with.”

  Jazz frowned and crinkled her nose. “That’s so weird.”

  “The only normal two in the bunch are your brother and Junior,” Nix added, a smile touching his lips when he mentioned her nephew.

  “Oh, how is Junior?” Winter asked.

  Nix pulled out his phone and showed the ladies a picture he had taken of Junior at his holiday play last week. “He’s great,” Nix answered. “In fact, I’m taking both Aaron and Junior out fishing the next weekend I’m off.”

  “And Aaron is…well?” Jazz asked awkwardly, stumbling over the last word as if she had planned on saying something else.

  “Yes, and more importantly he’s sober,” Louise said with sisterly pride. “He’s doing so fantastic. Honestly, I’m shocked at how focused he is on getting things solid for Junior. Aaron even asked me if I could help him out with taking Junior to T-ball on the nights he has to work late. It’s so different from the days he would call and ask me to babysit while he went out with the guys. He’s present , and that’s something that I haven’t seen from him in a long while.”

  “Didn’t you snap a picture of him in his T-ball uniform?” Nix asked.

  “Ohmygoshyes,” Louise exclaimed as she shuffled for her own phone. “He was so freaking adorable I almost died.”

  As the ladies oohed and ahed over the photos, Will asked the unspoken question, “Aren’t you the oldest of six? Why don’t your brothers and sisters step in and help out? I mean, do they go to his games or anything?”

  Louise gave him a stiff smile. “That’s something we’re going to have to work on.”

  “You guys should have seen my girl,” Nix said proudly, his chest puffing up. “Louise invited everyone over for pizza and laid down the law. She stood up for herself and told them she wasn’t going to be their errand girl anymore. They were so shocked, I’m amazed nobody choked or had a heart attack right there over dinner.”

  “Really! What did they say?” Jazz asked.

  “There was a little yelling, a lot of denial, and now nobody’s speaking to me. Well, except for Aaron and Junior, that is,” Louise replied with a shrug. Her tone echoed the fact that she didn’t really care one way or another. “Honestly, I’m over being the only one willing to help out. I’m just not going to do it anymore.”

  “Wow.”

  “Good for you.”

  “Don’t take any shit, girl.”

  Louise winked at Nix as their friends vocalized their support of her and her newfound backbone.

  “Do you all know anyone looking for a place to rent?” Nix asked, startling everyone with the change of subject.

  “Um…why?” Will asked, his face puzzled.

  “I’m moving in with Nix,” Louise announced, smiling wide when her friends squealed loud enough to get everyone’s attention.

  “That’s awesome!” Jazz gushed as Winter clapped her hands in agreement.

  “Thanks.” Louise’s cheeks were sore from smiling so much, but it didn’t stop her from showing everyone how happy she was. “We need to find a renter or two to take over the mortgage until the market picks up a bit. I want to at least get out what I’ve put into that house, but I have a feeling I’ll need to wait a year or two before that can happen.”

  “I have a buddy that’s looking to relocate but he was wanting something short term.” Leo offered. “I have a feeling that the rent you could get on that house would be more than Jack wants to spend though.”

  “Would he mind sharing the house with a roommate?” Louise asked. “Because I think I may know someone looking for a place, but she wouldn’t be able to cover the entire cost herself. I seriously just need it rented before my parents try to push for me to let Maggie move in.”

  The look on her friends’ faces at that idea pretty much summed up how Louise felt as well.

  “I’ll pass your number his way then,” Leo nodded. “He wants to have something ready to move into immediately instead of wasting money at some skeezy motel while he looks for a more permanent place.”

  “That would be great.” Nix nodded.

  “And tell him not to worry about the other renter. I’ll make sure that whoever he ends up living with passes a background check. He won’t be rooming with a serial killer, I promise.”

  Leo chuckled and assured her that if his friend Jack ended up taking half the lease, he was more than able to handle himself, since he was another one of his firefighter friends.

  It wasn’t long before Jazz and Leo had to move on and mingle with other guests, leaving Nix and Louise alone in their own little private corner of the bar.

  “Will you want to do something like this when we get engaged?” Nix’s question caught her so off guard she almost dropped her pint.

  “Wait, what?”

  “When we get engaged. Will you want a party like this, or would you rather do the whole banquet hall like Winter and Will?”

  Louise looked around to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Nope. Everything seemed normal and not like she was in an alternative dimension. “You’re getting ahead of yourself a little bit, don’t you think?”

  Nix watched her with a serious face. “Lou, I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I’m not asking you to marry me today. I do have a little romance in me so that shit will be planned. I’m just curious if we’re on the same page when it comes to wedding stuff like this.”

  “I’m sorry.” Louise shook her head as if to clear it. “Sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with you—”

  “Lou,” Nix interrupted, his smile warm and understanding. “Don’t panic, darlin’. We’re in this together. I don’t want to scare you off, but I am curious. Will and Winter had a nice park wedding before it got too cold. Leo and Jazz can’t decide because they are trying to please everyone. What do you want when the time comes?”

  “Just…” Louise licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry.

  “Just?” Nix probed, raising her hand in his own to kiss the back of her knuckles.

  “Just you.” Louise smiled softly, knowing that was the most honest thing she had ever said. �
��I just need you.”

  “Ditto, darlin’.” Nix whispered before bringing his lips close to hers. “Ditto.”

  Meet the Author

  Leora Gonzales is an original Kansas girl who misses the Sunflower State every day. She spends time reading, writing . . . and making sure her two kids don’t kill themselves or each other. She’s addicted to tattoos, good food, good company—and finding lots of reasons to laugh or smile every day.

  Visit her on the web at leoragonzales.com or follow her on Twitter @Leora_Gonzales.

  Sneak Peek

  Don’t miss the next book in Leora Gonzales’s Braving the Heat series,

  Coming soon from Lyrical Shine!

  Chapter 1

  Four years ago…

  Sasha leaned back into the strong arms of the man who was keeping her from falling, both literally and figuratively. The strength that he surrounded her with felt like a glimmer of sun shining on the darkest of days. The comfort of his arms soothed both her and the baby she held.

  She was out of tears.

  In fact, she was starting to feel an odd numbness that was both scary yet welcome at the same time. Anything had to be better than the despair that she was drowning in, right?

  Cradling her niece against her chest, Sasha watched as her brother’s casket was lowered into the ground. The creaking sound as the dark navy coffin lowered on its pulleys was the only accompaniment to the soft weeping of those gathered at the graveside.

  Closing her eyes, Sasha felt the cold breeze hit the trail of tears that were flowing down her cheeks, tears that she had been unaware were still steadily dripping from her eyes. The bone deep hurt that she felt in her soul wasn’t something she would wish on even her worst enemy. Her eyes were sore, her throat was raw, and her cheeks were itchy from being wiped over and over to mask some of the pain she felt. Watching the crowd, she noticed the range of emotions on the devastated faces of their friends and family. Some of them were still in obvious shock that Max was gone. Her poor sister-in-law, Annie, looked like she wasn’t really there , most likely due to the sedative their family doctor had given her. The soft sobs of her mother, seated in the front of the grouping next to her sister-in-law, was a stab to the heart.