BLAZE OF LOVE

A FIREFIGHTER WESTERN ROMANCE BOXSET (BOOKS 1 - 4)

BOXSETS & BUNDLES OF LONG VALLEY

BOOK THREE

ERIN WRIGHT

CONTENTS

Introduction

Flames of Love

Inferno of Love

Fire and Love

Burned by Love

The Other Half of My Life

A FREE Story For You…

Stampede of Love Blurb

Stampede of Love Preview

The story doesn’t end…

Also by Erin Wright

About Erin Wright

Copyright © 2019 by Erin Wright

Flames of Love – © 2018

Inferno of Love – Edited, expanded, & republished © 2021

Fire and Love – © 2018

Burned by Love – © 2018

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.

Cover Designed by Sunset Rose Books

INTRODUCTION

Howdy and welcome to Blaze of Love, the complete bundle of the Firefighters of Long Valley books. *waving* I really hope you love these guys as much as I do. 🔥

However, although this is the complete boxset of my Firefighter series and it can be read by itself without having read anything by me beforehand, I do encourage you to go back to the beginning of the Boxsets & Bundles of Long Valley series and read the first two boxsets, Miller Brothers in Love and Long Valley in Love, if you found Blaze of Love first. After all, everything I write takes place in this same world, which means my characters freely cross between series and between books.

With that, enjoy!

Erin Wright

March, 2020

FLAMES OF LOVE

A FRIENDS-WITH-BENEFITS FIREMAN ROMANCE

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

Quick Note: If you enjoy Flames of Love, be sure to check out my offer of a FREE Long Valley novella at the end.

With that, enjoy!

* * *

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 firefighter he may be, but that still doesn’t mean I’m gonna do it.”

“So you have a thing for sexy firefighters 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 firefighter 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 firefighters 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 damn 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” burst 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.

“How long have you worked here, James?” Jaxson asked. A non-confrontational topic was best; a good way to head off…whatever this was.

“I don’t. I’m a volunteer. You’re the only one who works here.” The sneer in his voice was almost palpable as he spat the words out.

Jaxson’s spine stiffened. This James guy needed to take it down a notch, and pronto. Jaxson wasn’t used to having people sneer at him, and he wasn’t about to start letting it happen now.

Outwardly, he concentrated on projecting an aura of calm. He couldn’t let James know he was getting under his skin. James would only needle harder if he got a rise out of him. All bullies operated the same way – they liked the reactions.

Jaxson wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of one.

“You’re right,” he said evenly, keeping his gaze firmly locked on James’. He had a scruffy, longer gray-white beard and a significant potbelly. In the right costume, James would make a perfect Santa. Well, in the right costume and with a personality change. “So how long have you been a volunteer here?”

“Twenty-two years. I was Chief Horvath’s right-hand man for pert near all of it.”

Oh.

It all snapped into place. Chief Horvath had retired, which was why the city had an open position for Jaxson to apply for, but instead of hiring the previous chief’s right-hand man, the city had chosen an outsider.

Oh Lordy. I’m in for it now.

“Then you’ll have plenty of knowledge you can share with me to help me learn the ropes,” Jaxson said calmly, trying not to let his worry show. He’d inadvertently walked into a personnel fight between the City of Sawyer and James the Right-Hand Man.

It wasn’t Jaxson’s fault, but it was about to become his problem.

James let out a bitter laugh. “If you think I’m gonna help you learn the job that was rightfully mine and stolen from me after years of hard work and dedication, you’re an even bigger dumbass than I thought you were. Robert, let’s go. We have deliveries to make. Some people have to work for a living.” He spun on his thick work boot heel and headed for the door, a skinny older man following right behind him. The door slammed shut behind them, the sound ricocheting off the rafters.

Well, at least he didn’t mumble his thoughts to me…

CHAPTER 4

JAXSON

Jaxson sat at his desk, staring at the mountains of paperwork in front of him. Somehow, when he’d been a kid and had daydreamed about fighting fires and wrestling with fire hoses, he’d skipped right past all of the paperwork that he’d have to fill out as a firefighter.

Correction: As a fire chief. As a regular ol’ firefighter in Boise, he’d been pretty paperwork-free. He wasn’t entirely onboard with this new way of life quite yet, honestly. Too bad he really had no choice in the matter.

He looked at the ticking, utilitarian clock on the wall. 7:17 a.m. He’d had the dumbass idea of showing up to work early so he could wrestle the stacks of paperwork that littered every available spot in the cramped office to the ground and win a round, dammit. He’d forced himself to start in on the dusty stacks of papers yesterday afternoon, until Moose had stopped by and casually mentioned that Chief Horvath had quit filing paperwork months before his retirement party, because he’d thought that the new chief would “need the practice.”

Pissed, Jaxson had lost all desire to continue the paper-sorting project after that announcement.

Now, Jaxson groaned in frustration as he looked around the dirty, small office. Chief Horvath was like every other red-blooded male out there – he hated paperwork, and so he’d chosen to use his upcoming retirement as an excuse to ditch his duties off onto someone else. Full stop. Jaxson was just the lucky soul who happened to be that “someone.”

Jaxson pulled a file folder off the top of a precarious stack that had “Grant” scrawled across the tab in what Jaxson was starting to recognize as Horvath’s distinctive handwriting. He flipped it open and began scanning through it. Apparently, the firetruck in the bay was a fairly new addition for the fire department. He scanned down the specs, his mouth twisting in disappointment as he read. The size of the tank seemed awfully small, as did the length of the hose. It didn’t even have a ladder on it. The department had bought brand-spanking-new – which was unusual for a small fire department to do, to say the least – and it looked like a whole lot of the money was spent on flash rather than substance.

He’d been told that the department owned another fire truck, but that it was down at the John Deere dealership, getting some repairs done to help limp it along. He was curious what kind of shape it was in. From what he could gather, it was quite old, but if the water tank was large, it might actually be more helpful in the case of a fire than the shiny new toy currently parked in the bay.

Hopefully, Moose would be able to bring it back to the bay soon so he could do a full inspec—

His black, handheld radio sitting on the counter squawked, startling Jaxson half out of his chair. “Fire down at the old Horvath mill,” said an older man, urgency clear in his voice. “Calling all EMTs and fire personnel to respond. Repeat, fire down at the old Horvath mill.”

Jaxson froze, half-in, half-out of his chair, staring at the radio. Horvath Mill? As in Chief Horvath? He shook his head, trying to clear it. Today was his third day on the job, and he’d only had the one get-together with the other firefighters that first morning. He barely even knew where the damn keys were at for the damn firetruck. This was not going to go well.

He’d been called out on countless runs as a firefighter in Boise. He knew just what to do there. There was structure and rules and a process in place. Here, he was the only full-time employee. Was he supposed to wait for the other firefighters to show up before he answered the call? Was he supposed to drive over right away and they’d meet him over there?

His mind raced through the possibilities. All of the other firefighters had full-time jobs. For all he knew, it could be an hour before they were able to get away and come to the station. If he sat there and waited and twiddled his thumbs…

He jumped to his feet, the chair shooting out behind him and crashing into a decrepit filing cabinet, sending a cloud of dust into the air. Apparently, Chief Horvath didn’t just ignore filing. Jaxson choked and coughed as he grabbed the phone off his desk and quickly dialed the city dispatch phone number that someone had conveniently taped to the wall above the phone. He heard a weird beeping noise, and then…nothing.

Oh. Dammit. He was probably supposed to dial 9 first. He slammed the phone into the receiver and picked it up again, this time dialing 9 and then the number.

“Sawyer City Dispatch,” an older male barked. It sounded like the same guy on the radio. Good. Jaxson could ask questions without broadcasting them to the whole city.

“This is Chief Anderson. Where is the Horvath Mill?”

“Main Street,” the man snorted, his disdain clear. He obviously thought he was dealing with an idiot. “Down by the high school. Big brick building. You can’t miss it. Especially with flames shooting out of it.”

Click.

The dispatcher had hung up.

Jaxson bit down hard on his cheek until he tasted blood. He wanted to call dispatch back and inform the man that just because he hadn’t lived in the same tiny, one-horse town all his life didn’t mean that he deserved to be treated like an idiot, and street addresses were a thing, and…

But he stopped himself.

He couldn’t do it.

Well, he could. But he wouldn’t. Antagonizing the grumpy dispatcher further would only exacerbate the problem.

He looked through his interior office window out into the bay, the small red gleaming truck sitting there, waiting for him to drive it to the rescue.

He felt that familiar adrenaline rush through him at the thought. This was why he’d become a firefighter. Not to fill out grant applications or file paperwork, for God’s sake, but to put out fires. To help people. Maybe it meant he had a hero complex. He didn’t know, and didn’t care.

All he knew was that it made him feel damn good. It was time to get to work.

As he was shrugging on his turnout gear, the bulk and weight of it as comforting as it was oppressive, the side door to the bay opened and in walked a younger kid – maybe 18 or 19? – who hadn’t said much at the meet-and-greet the other morning. Dixon? David? No, it was Dylan. Jaxson raised his hand in greeting, and the kid waved back, a grin breaking out over his face.

“I was on my way out to Luke’s place when my radio went off,” the kid said as he hurried over to where the turnout gear was stored. “I’ve never been called out to a real fire before! Oh, and my boss says he’ll be here shortly.”

“Who’s your boss again?” Jaxson asked as he slid his feet into his boots.

“Luke Nash. He’s a volunteer, too. He couldn’t come the other morning. I don’t know if you’ve met him yet or not. His foreman is Ol’ Willie. Ol’ Willie is my uncle. Luke hired me ‘cause Ol’ Willie is getting old and needed help on the farm. Ol’ Willie used to be a volunteer here too, but isn’t anymore. His back is getting bad. His hip is gonna need surgery soon, too.”

Jaxson’s head spun. The kid talked a million miles a minute. Keeping up with his story and who was related to what was probably going to require a flow chart.

And no adrenaline rushing through his veins.

Jaxson settled for nodding his head abruptly. “Do you guys normally meet up here and then head over to the fire? Or do you drive separately to a fire and just meet up over there?”

Dylan shrugged. “This is my first fire,” he reminded Jaxson. Right. He’d just said that. If Jaxson’s heart wasn’t racing so much, he would’ve caught that.

“Well, you’re here and I’m here. I say we get over there and put this fire out. Do you know where the mill is?”

“Of course,” Dylan said, shooting him a confused glance. “Down on Main Street. You can’t miss it.”

Jaxson nodded again, ignoring that last comment. If people in this tiny-ass town were going to continue to insist on treating him like an idiot because he didn’t know every nook and cranny of a town he’d just barely moved to, he was gonna have to spend his off-hours driving around town, trying to memorize every block of it.

The sooner the better.

He was an outsider, and it seemed like every soul in town was not about to let him forget that.

“Ready?” he asked Dylan, who nodded, helmet and mask tucked under his arm. “Then let’s go.”

Jaxson grimaced as he glanced up at the utilitarian clock ticking away on the wall as he headed for the gleaming row of keys. He’d have to focus damn hard on decreasing response times. Even if there were no full-time firefighters on staff other than him, and certainly no firefighters living at the firehouse 24 hours at a time, they still needed to be able to get out the door at a reasonable speed. This messing around shit wasn’t gonna work.

He snagged the keyring with the creative label of “New truck” and heaved himself up into the cab of the fire engine to start it. The diesel engine came to life, settling down into a dull roar after a few seconds. He hit the garage door opener, and the overhead bay door slowly began to rise, revealing a white, frozen wonderland outside. Dylan jumped up into the passenger seat, yanking the door shut behind him.

With a nod to Dylan, Jaxson shifted into first gear and pulled forward. At least the crew here was in the habit of backing into the bay when parking the truck, so he wasn’t forced to back out of the bay when rushing to get to a fire.

Some good habits were in place. That was a start.

He hit the siren switch, the lights and siren flaring to life. This. This was what he lived for.

CHAPTER 5

SUGAR

Sugar listened to the excited chatter of the customers, all comparing notes on the Event of the Year. Someone had set the old Horvath mill on fire, and that “somebody” appeared to be the mayor’s son. Sugar rolled her eyes as she listened to the gossip swirling around the little bakery.

“Angus was probably out smokin’ with his buddies,” Mr. Stultz said firmly, with a nod of his head, as if agreeing with himself.

Sugar wiped down the counter and then the coffee dispenser as she listened. All of the customers seemed to be highly caffeinated and sugared up, and weren’t in need of her services, at least for the moment. They were all too busy trying to one-up each other with “insider knowledge.”

“What’s the mayor gonna say about that?” Mrs. Hoffmeister asked, taking a swig of her coffee. “Do you think he’s actually gonna rein in his son for once?”

“Not damn likely,” Mr. Stultz grumbled. “I think it’s more likely that a unicorn appears in town square tomorrow, or the Shop ’N Go starts charging decent prices for their groceries, than it is that the mayor actually puts a check on his son.”

Murmurs of agreement drifted up at that one. Sugar had to say he was right. It was well-known that the mayor let his son get away with murder, turning a blind eye to it all. Angus wasn’t above taking advantage of that fact, not one little bit.

“Well, I think the new chief set the building on fire,” said Spittin’ Fred. A few of the customers within range covered the tops of their cups with their hands to protect them from the spray. “He wanted to prove to everyone that we actually need to pay more in taxes for his worthless ass to sit down at the station. Probably realized that if he don’t put out a fire real soon, we might realize that we can fire him. I betcha—”

“The building is starting to go!” Peter Cowell yelled, busting in through the front door of the bakery. “Shit’s flyin’ everywhere!”

The stampede of customers for the front door almost caused a natural disaster of its own, but Sugar found herself right in there with them. It wasn’t often that a building caught on fire, especially not an old historical building like the Horvath Mill.

She stood on the sidewalk with the rest of the gawkers, shivering in the cold wintry air. The sky was a leaden gray – dark and oppressive – and the wind whipped along Main Street, biting and needling her bare skin.

And also whipping the flames higher. They were shooting out of the windows of the mill, reaching into the sky, brilliant red and orange against the grays. Despite Peter’s warning, it didn’t look like the building was in any danger of collapsing, although at this rate, it might get there soon.

She looked around for the new fire chief. Why wasn’t he spraying the building? She didn’t know much about firefighting, but it seemed like spraying the fire with water was a pretty good place to start.

The murmurs around her grew louder as people began to ask each other the same thing. Sugar finally spotted him. He was just standing there, watching the fire burn, as the new fire truck idled beside him. A few firefighters milled around, talking to each other, but no one seemed to be much focused on actually fighting the fire.

Sugar spun around and headed back inside. Her thin t-shirt and jeans were fine for standing behind the counter in the bakery; not so fine for standing out in the street in the first week of January. The angry shouts of the crowd swelled up behind her.

Chief Anderson’s head was gonna be on a platter by the end of the day, and with that, he’d head back to wherever he came from.

Sugar allowed herself only a small sigh of regret. He was never going to be anything more than eye-candy for her anyway; although she had to admit, if only to herself, that he was damn fine eye-candy.

CHAPTER 6

JAXSON

Jaxson could feel his back teeth grinding together. He was pretty sure he’d have nothing but powder in his mouth if he kept this up.

But it was either that or really lose his shit.

He watched the building in front of him closely, since there wasn’t much else he could do. The flames were starting to die down, now that all of the easily flammable guts had been burnt out, so there wasn’t much for him to do except watch it burn and keep embers floating on the wind from starting fire to neighboring buildings.

Of course, he wouldn’t have to conserve every drop of water in the tank on the truck if the damn fire hydrants worked. He felt the anger begin to rise in him again. Who’d heard of letting fire hydrants fall into disrepair for years on end? It was enough to make him wanna—

“Hey, mister!” he heard an angry voice shout in his left ear as someone tapped on his shoulder. He spun around to confront an older man in blue-and-white overalls with a stained and dirtied Carhartt’s jacket over top. He had a big wad of chew in his lower lip that he spit and then glared up at Jaxson.

“Ain’t you the new fire chief?” the older man demanded. He barreled on, not giving Jaxson a chance to respond. “Last time I checked, flames came from fires. Ya oughta use this here fire truck to put it out!” His voice rose in pitch as he got angrier, his cheeks starting to flame red from anger or the cold, Jaxson couldn’t tell.

“Sir,” Jaxson said, trying to keep his voice an even keel and realizing that he was probably failing miserably, “the fire hydrant for this area is apparently in disrepair and has been for a while.” A lot longer than I’ve been fire chief! He managed to keep that thought to himself, although just barely. “The tank on this truck is on the small side. If I use all of the water in it to try to contain this fire and then the building next door catches, I’m out of luck. I need to save the water in case—”

“Sounds like a real good excuse to just stand around and do nothin’.” The man spat a black glob into the snow. “Damn lazy city folk. My taxes go up and my buildings burn down. Every last one of those damn city councilmen are gonna be run out of office for this one!”

Another older gentleman came up and put his arm around the shoulders of the man standing in front of Jaxson, cutting off whatever else he was about to say. “C’mon, Stultz, let’s go. We can talk to the city council about this later.”

“Damn right I’m gonna talk to the council ‘bout this!” Mr. Stultz practically growled, but he let his friend lead him away.

Jaxson turned back to the fire, trying to keep his face blank, even as anger and worry roiled in his guts. He hadn’t even been on the job for a week, and people were already talking about calling for his resignation.

He couldn’t be fired from this job. He just couldn’t. He had too damn much riding on it. He wasn’t going to let Kendra win. He wasn’t going to lose his kids. This job didn’t just give him a paycheck – it gave him a way to get his kids back. They’d have to pry it out of his cold, dead hands.

Once the fire died down, leaving just a shell of blackened bricks behind, Jaxson began winding the hose back up on the truck. The snow on every rooftop in town certainly helped in keeping the fire contained. If it’d been the middle of August when this fire had started…Jaxson shuddered to think about it.

He drove back to the firehouse, no sirens or lights flashing this time, his spirits equally as depressed and quiet. This was not how he’d envisioned his career would start out in the Sawyer Fire Department. Dylan was sitting in the passenger seat of the firetruck and in stark contrast to the excited babble on the way to the fire, Dylan was stone-cold quiet now. Jaxson snuck a look at the kid out of the corner of his eye, but Dylan was looking out of the passenger-side window. Was he hiding his face from Jaxson? Was he that angry or disappointed or whatever in his new chief?

Jaxson carefully backed into the open bay, hitting the garage door fob once he was squared away, the grinding gears of the closing of the overhead door the only sound in the dead silence of the fire station.

Jaxson was climbing out of the truck wearily when James started in on him. “What the hell was that?” the man shouted, his bushy mustache bouncing with every word. “We go to a fire so we can watch the building burn? If I just wanted to stand around and watch shit burn to the ground, I coulda skipped a whole lot of training hours!”

Jaxson advanced on the older man, his patience gone. Snapped. Disappeared along with the flames of the mill fire.

“Are you screwing with me right now? Whose brilliant idea was it to leave fire hydrants scattered around this podunk town that don’t damn work?!”

“Podunk town? You’re the one who applied for this job! If you don’t like it, you can just take your ass back to Boise, and don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!”

“I would like this job just fine if I had working equipment,” Jaxson ground out.

“I could’ve told you that the fire hydrant on that street corner didn’t work, if you’d bothered to ask! But noooooo…you have to run on down to the damn mill without me or anyone else who knows anything, so you could play hero!”

“I took the crew who was here and ready to go,” Jaxson growled. “Not my fault that you weren’t! Dylan managed to make it here on time. What’s your excuse?”

“Not all of us get to sit around at the firehouse all day, shuffling papers around. Some of us actually do something with ourselves for our paychecks. Speaking of which, there’s a whole lotta people right now who’d probably like their propane so they don’t freeze their asses off tonight. I still have to do deliveries for Frank’s. C’mon, Robert. Let’s get some real work done.”

The smaller man trailed behind James, the door slamming shut behind them. Jaxson turned to the rest of the crew. “Anyone want to tell me why on God’s green earth you have fire hydrants that don’t work?”

A man about Jaxson’s age with dark brown hair stepped forward. “That fire hydrant hasn’t worked for a while. Chief Horvath always said that the city just didn’t care too much about getting ‘em fixed, so…” He trailed off, shrugging.

“And you are?” Jaxson asked. He hadn’t met this guy at the meet-and-greet earlier in the week, he was pretty sure, although faces were starting to blend together on him.

“Luke Nash.” He shook Jaxson’s hand. “My worker Dylan rode over with you.”

“Well, Luke, do you or anyone else know why the hell the tank on this truck is so damn small?” Jaxson jerked his thumb at the fire engine.

A couple of the men shrugged, and then Moose spoke up. “The truck at the dealership has a much bigger tank. We use that one when we have to pump off the truck, and this one when we can access a fire hydrant.”

“A fire hydrant that actually works?” Jaxson asked dryly.

“Yeah, one of those.” Moose shot Jaxson an apologetic smile.

“When is the tanker due back from the dealership?”

“Tomorrow afternoon, probably.”

“Well, let’s hope that nothing burns down between today and tomorrow afternoon, then. Thanks for your help, everyone. I’m guessing that you have paperwork that you have to fill out to get paid for this fire?” At the nods of the men, Jaxson jerked his head. “Better get to it. Oh, does anyone have the time or inclination to drive with me ‘round town? I’d like a map of all of the hydrants, and I want someone who knows whether they’re in working order or not, so it needs to be someone who’s pretty damn familiar with them.”

Levi spoke up. “I’d normally tell ya to talk to James, but since that’s not gonna do you much good, I’d be happy to go with. I’ll tell you all I know.”

“Much ‘ppreciated,” Jaxson said. “Thanks, everyone.”

The men began to drift away, and Levi came up. “When do you want to do this?” he asked, leaning against the wall.

“Well, what does your work schedule look like? Where do you work, by the way?”

“The John Deere dealership,” Levi said.

“Hold on, I thought Moose worked there,” Jaxson said, confused. He could feel the tension begin to build between his shoulder blades. Too many men, and all of their stories were starting to get mixed up on him.

“He does. His dad owns it. Moose’s my best friend. I work as a TIG welder for his dad, Mr. Garrett.”

“TIG welder, eh?” Jaxson looked at Levi with new respect. Welding aluminum was damn hard work, and paid real well. Levi probably made as much as Jaxson did.

“Yeah, Mr. Garrett sent me to welding school on his dime. Said it was an investment so he could hire a reliable welder when I graduated.” Levi shrugged, a slight tingeing of red blossoming on his cheeks. “I’ve been working there ever since.”

“You got a vacation day you can put in for tomorrow? I’d like to get started on this as quickly as possible.”

“Sure do. January ain’t the time most farmers are wanting me out there fixing their tractors anyway, so it’s real slow right now. Might as well do something productive. I can only rearrange my tool bench so many times.”

Jaxson chuckled, the first time he’d wanted to even smile all day. “I’ll save you from boredom. In fact, meet me at the Muffin Man tomorrow morning at 8:30, and I’ll buy you some coffee and donuts before we head out.”

“Deal.” Levi shook his hand and then headed out of the bay, the echo of his footsteps fading away, leaving Jaxson alone.

And very, very worried.

CHAPTER 7

SUGAR

Sugar did a quick wipe down of a table, dumping trash into the garbage can by the door and then heading back to the kitchen with the tray. It’d been a busy morning, what with every Sawyerite in the area wanting to come in and give their personal opinion on the job Chief Anderson was (or was not, as the case may be) doing. Sugar wondered if Betty’s Diner was as busy as the Muffin Man had been. Somehow, she was gonna guess yes, although of course she hadn’t had a chance to make it over there herself.

“…stupid.” The front door swung open, letting the last word drift in on the breeze, as Robert, James, and Mr. Stultz came walking in. Sugar barely repressed a groan. This was gonna be a whole lot of no fun whatsoever. No more judgmental men existed on planet Earth than these three, Sugar was sure. If she sneezed right then, she was sure they’d tell her that she’d done it wrong.

“Now we have a fire chief who won’t hook a hose up to a fire hydrant or a tanker,” Mr. Stultz railed. He slammed his oversized coffee mug down on the counter with a jerk of his head towards Sugar. She obediently picked it up to do a refill on it while he continued on. “I can’t believe I’m paying more to this damn city in taxes so we can have a worthless fire chief who stands around and watches buildings burn down.”

“I told him that, I did,” James told him, and then turned to her. “A bear claw and coffee. Black.” He turned back to his shadow and his sycophant.

Just what a man like James needed – two men egging him on and telling him he was right. Even if he was right, James wasn’t the kind of guy who should be told that. Absolutely no good could come of it.

As Sugar began filling up two coffee cups and grabbing two bear claws – since Robert would eat exactly what James did – James began railing on the new chief. “He told me that I could help him learn the ropes because I know so much shit. I told him I wouldn’t teach him anything. Didn’t I, Robert?”

“He did,” Robert said, nodding seriously. “Everyone heard ‘im.”

Sugar carried a tray over to the table the men had settled in at, and offloaded the coffee and donuts onto the table inconspicuously. No one even bothered looking up.

“He needs a lot more training than I could give him,” James announced. “I can’t believe that damn council picked him over me, and all because of some stupid-ass training levels. Why, I’ve worked in this fire department since Chief Anderson,” he sneered the name, “was in diapers, and the city thinks a few hours of training means he’s more qualified than I am? Idiots, the lot of ‘em.”

Sugar slipped into the back and leaned against the cool cinderblock wall, closing her eyes in frustration. No matter how right James was, he was also a dick. There was only so much James Lasley time that Sugar could handle before her right eyeball started twitching.

“Still dissing on the new chief?” Gage asked quietly, somewhere to her right. She nodded, keeping her eyes closed.

“It’s their new favorite past time. I imagine it’s gonna be for quite some time.” She heard the jingle of the doorbell over the front door and fading away of footsteps. Good. She was surprised they’d left so quickly, but damn happy. This would give her some time to relax before the next person came in to badmouth Jaxson.

She opened up her eyes as she pushed away from the wall, swinging around and heading back out front. She should probably do a sweep up of the dining area before another rush came in. She—

She stopped abruptly. Jaxson froze, his hand hovering over the small dinner bell that sat on the counter for customers to ring in case she was in the back.

“Oh!” she yelped. “I didn’t hear you come in!”

Levi was standing next to Jaxson, his cowboy hat off, quiet as usual. Levi didn’t say much, except to other guys, at least that Sugar could tell. Even though they’d graduated from high school together, Sugar wasn’t sure if they’d ever exchanged more than a hundred words in the twenty years of knowing each other.

“We came in when the…other guys were leaving,” Levi finally offered up, when Jaxson didn’t say anything.

“Oh,” Sugar repeated weakly. I bet that was awkward as hell. I wonder if they even bothered to stop badmouthing him long enough to say hello.

She decided to keep that thought to herself.

“Levi here is going to show me ‘round town and we’re gonna inspect fire hydrants,” Jaxson said with an easy smile. Sugar felt her insides flutter, like freakin’ butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach.

She smiled back faintly. She couldn’t let her nerves show. He didn’t need to know that he affected her because any minute now, she was going to get her nerves under control and he wasn’t going to affect her anymore.

Any minute now.

She scrambled for something to say, when Jaxson’s words finally registered. “Inspect fire hydrants?” she asked, confused. “Why would you need to do that?”

“So that next time someone sets fire to a historical landmark in town, I can actually use the fire hydrant and put the damn fire out,” Jaxson growled, his easy smile disappearing.

“Hold on, you couldn’t use the fire hydrant yesterday?” Sugar was openly staring at him now, which was probably rude, but dammit all, she was totally and thoroughly confused at this point.

“Of course not; otherwise, I would have. But, it was broken. Apparently, it’s been out of repair for years now. As it was, I had to conserve the water in the tank on the truck in case the sparks set something else on fire. I sure as hell didn’t have enough in that tank to put out the mill fire and another fire, if it came to that.”

“Ohhhh…”

She knew she was repeating herself. She knew she sounded like an idiot. But things were finally making sense. Pieces were clicking into place as she stared at him, her mind whirling.

James knew this. He had to have known this. He was at the fire yesterday. And yet, he came in here and was badmouthing Jaxson to Robert and Mr. Stultz and probably anyone else within a ten-mile radius. He’s an asshat, but this is low, even for him.

There were words being spoken, and then Sugar shook her head. “Sorry, what?” she asked blankly.

“I asked if you’re okay. You look…off.” Jaxson was staring at her intently. She wanted to laugh and brush him off, but she couldn’t.

“You need to watch out for James,” she said impulsively, and then gulped. Why was she sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong? Jaxson was a big boy. He could take care of himself.

Jaxson’s face shut down, a guarded, quiet look settling over him. “In here talking shit ‘bout me?” he asked, his voice hard.

She nodded, the tension in her stomach growing. She tried real hard to stay out of city politics; it was safer that way. But she couldn’t stay on the sidelines this time. She could warn him once and then get out of the middle of it. He could take care of himself after that. “He…may not have mentioned that the hydrant was broken.”

“Left that part off, huh? Anyone else bother to bring up that fact?” He was practically growling at this point.

Sugar just shook her head. “No. I’ll be honest – I didn’t know that. No one does. Everyone just thought that you were…”

“Standing around and watching buildings burn to the ground because it’s fun?” he cut in.

She nodded, her face flushed, eyes glued to the ground. She hadn’t helped spread those rumors, of course, but she had listened to them all, and had thought that they were right. People had been crucifying him, and no one had stood up for him.

Not even her.

She couldn’t have known the truth, but still, it made her sick. She knew what it was like having people spread shit about you and not having any control over what they said or thought.

Her face flushed warmer still. She would’ve made a joke about needing to call the fire department to put out the flames in her cheeks, if she wasn’t dying of embarrassment.

Jaxson let out a few choice swear words that made her eyes pop back up to his. She gaped at him.

“Sorry, miss,” he ground out. “I…shouldn’t have said that.” He took a long, deep, shuddering breath and then said, “Coffee and donuts for the two of us, please.”

Sugar nodded and quickly got to work, filling to-go cups and grabbing jelly donuts for them both. After Jaxson paid, he jerked his head in Sugar’s direction. “Thanks, Sugar. Sorry again for…for letting off steam. It wasn’t appropriate.”

They headed for the door, the bell jingling behind them as they crunched their way through the light skiff of snow on the sidewalk. It was snowing just enough to ice everything up.

January was a damn depressing time of the year. Dark and dreary and gray…the holidays were over, and now there was nothing to do but settle in and wait for spring to come.

Sugar sighed. Waiting was never her strong suit.

“You should’ve asked him out,” Gage said at her elbow.

She whirled around, her hand over her heart. “Good Lord!” she said. “You could stop sneaking around, you know.”

He gave her a long suffering look. “I wasn’t. I clomped up here like I always do. You were just off in la-la land.”

She sniffed. She wasn’t about to dignify that with a reply.

“He likes you,” Gage continued bluntly. “And based on how much you blush around him, I’m gonna guess that you like him.”

Sugar glared at him. “I do not like him,” she announced, a little too forcefully. “I just…it’s hot in here. We should turn down the heat.”

“You were freezing last week,” Gage pointed out.

She glared at him even harder. “I cannot date him. I cannot date anyone. You know that.”

“I know that you believe that. I don’t believe that it’s true.”

“What?” she snapped back. “I think I know that better than you do! I can’t date you, Gage!”

The words were out before she could stop them. Her hands flew up to her mouth and she stared at him, wide-eyed. She hadn’t meant to say it. She was never going to be able to suck those words back in and stuff them deep down in her soul where they belonged.

“Sugar…” Gage breathed her name softly. His face was inscrutable as he stared at her. “Why did you say that?”

“No, I’m sorry,” Sugar gasped, shaking her head. “I didn’t mean to. Forget I said anything.” She’d broken the number one rule of working at the bakery: Ignore the fact that Gage was in love with her. It wasn’t ever spoken out loud or acknowledged at all, and…

She’d broken that rule. Stomped it into the ground, really.

“Why did you say that?” Gage repeated, a steely edge to his voice.

“Emma told me a long time ago,” Sugar whispered, broken. “I just…I don’t feel the same way. I’m sorry.”

Gage started laughing. Sugar’s head snapped up and she stared at him. Gage let out a howl of laughter. “You…she…” Gage was wheezing.

Sugar stared harder. Gage laughed more.

“I’m not in love with you!” he finally got out.

“You…you’re not?”

“No. My sister…” Gage wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands. “Oh Emma. Always the matchmaker. I think she’s spent her whole life trying to hook me up with someone. I knew that when we moved here, you’d become friends with her, but I didn’t know that she’d decided that we oughta date.”

The Dyer family had moved back to Long Valley when Gage’s father had retired from the Marine Corps, but Gage had happened to graduate from high school the day before the big retirement, and he’d gone off to culinary school, rather than moving back to Long Valley with the rest of the family. This had put Sugar into the awkward position of being close to Emma, the younger son Chris, and even the parents, but Gage…

Well, he’d been a virtual stranger until Emma had pushed Sugar into applying for a position at the bakery. She had insisted that Gage needed her help after moving back to Long Valley himself to take over their grandparents’ bakery. It wasn’t long after Sugar had started there that Emma had started telling her that Gage was in love.

With her.

Which Sugar had believed.

Because…she was full of herself and thought that men would throw themselves at her?

No, that wasn’t it. Sugar was many things, but cocky about men was not one of them. Emma had just been so believable, so earnest.

Sugar was mortified. She’d made an ass out of herself, she really and truly had. No thanks to Emma. Why, she was gonna wring her neck the next time she—

“I’m sure Emma thought she was telling you the truth,” Gage said softly. “She’s tried to set me up on more dates than I can count. She seems to think that I’m going to end up a bachelor for life. I remind her that I’m 29, but you’d think I was saying 59 instead.”

“I’m so–sorry,” Sugar stammered, staring at the floor. “I really thought…”

“That I’ve been waiting two and a half years to make my move?” She could hear the laughter in Gage’s voice. “I may be a patient man, but that seems pretty damn long, even for me.”

Sugar looked up from studying the tiles of the floor to glare at him. “You don’t have to laugh at me, you know,” she informed him.

“I’m not laughing,” he protested. At her incensed glare, he added, “Okay, fine, I’m laughing, but not at you. Just this whole situation. Sugar, I’m glad that you don’t like me, because if you were spending your days wondering when I was going to ask you out, I’d feel real bad. So let’s be happy that this finally came out in the open.”

She pressed her lips together. “Fine.” She nodded her head abruptly. As her embarrassment subsided, though, she started to feel relief pour through her instead. Gage doesn’t like me! The worry she’d had niggling at the back of her mind for months at how she was going to let him down gently when he finally got up the guts to ask her out…it all whooshed out of her, sucked away into the world, leaving behind peace and relief.

“We were talking about why you think you can’t date,” Gage said quietly.

And in flowed the worry and stress again. Sugar’s back stiffened. “You know what happened with Dick. You know why I’m working here. I can’t date someone else, for God’s sake. One major catastrophe per lifetime. It’s a rule. I read it somewhere.”

She picked up her spray bottle and washcloth and began wiping down counters and the cash register and then started in on the display cases that seemed to show every smudge and fingerprint ever impressed upon them.

“I think you oughta rethink that rule,” Gage said softly. “I can’t tell you what to do, but as your friend, I want to say that I think you’re making a mistake. It doesn’t have to be Jaxson, of course – with the way things are going, he’s not gonna be around for long anyway – but someone. You can’t close yourself off from the world forever.”

Sugar refused to look up from the display case she was wiping down and eventually, his footsteps faded away, towards the back again. She let out a huge sigh, slumping against the display case, smudging it and ruining all of her hard work. She couldn’t bring herself to care, though.

She stared off into the distance, worrying her lower lip. Was Gage right?

No. He wasn’t. He didn’t know. He didn’t know everything. He knew most of it, but not all.

Someone like her didn’t deserve love or second chances.

She knew the truth, even if she’d never tell another soul.

CHAPTER 8

JAXSON

Jaxson pulled up in front of his ex-wife’s house.

A house that was suspiciously dark.

He stared at it for a moment. This was not a good sign.

He heaved himself out of his SUV and through the snow to her front door. He knocked on the door once. Twice. He raised his fist to pound a third time, but with a sigh, he instead pulled his phone out of his back pocket. He could continue to pound on Kendra’s front door, or he could give up and call her.

“Hello?” she answered on the fourth ring. It was noisy wherever she was at, and Jaxson could hardly hear her over the shouts of laughter and loud music.

He did an about-face and marched back to his SUV. Wherever the hell she was, it was not her house. He might as well get back into the car and warm up while having this conversation.

“Where are you?” he demanded, sliding into the driver’s seat and slamming the door behind him. He probably shut it a little too hard, but he was too pissed to care at the moment.

“At Jumping Off.”

“With the boys?”

“Of course with the boys,” she snapped. “Do you think I’d come to this godforsaken place for fun?”

Jumping Off was a roller-skating rink, arcade, bouncy slide, pool of balls “funhouse” that served over-priced and over-cooked food at astronomical prices.

In other words, a place that every child would absolutely love, and every parent would absolutely hate.

“It’s my weekend to have them, Kendra. Why are you at Jumping Off?” He tried to keep the anger out of his voice, but failed miserably. If his ex-wife was trying to intentionally piss him off, she was doing a damn good job of it.

“It’s their friend Isaac’s 9th birthday party. What was I supposed to do – tell Isaac that he was born on the wrong damn weekend?”

“No, but you could’ve told me. I drove 90 minutes, in the dark, to pick them up. You—”

“I put it into the calendar,” she snapped. “Maybe you ought to learn how to read one of those!”

Jaxson ground his back teeth together as he started the engine. If he told her once, he’d told her a hundred times to tell him when she added shit to the shared custody calendar. She always somehow “forgot.”

“I’m coming over there,” he told her. “I can hang out and watch them play and then take them back to Sawyer for the weekend.”

“Don’t you dare. Ivan is here. You two would end up in a fistfight in ten minutes flat.”

Jaxson ground his teeth together harder. She was right. He and Ivan…didn’t get along. It might have something to do with the fact that he was drunk about 75% of the time. Or how he snapped his fingers whenever he wanted Jaxson’s attention, like Jaxson was his puppy dog. Or maybe it was when he’d found Ivan and Kendra in bed together, signaling the end of his marriage to her.

No, he most definitely could not sit next to Ivan for hours on end without someone having a bloody nose by the end of it.

And it wouldn’t be Jaxson.

“Fine. Tell the boys I love them.”

He hung up before she could say anything else, and stared into the darkened residential street ahead of him.

He might as well go grocery shopping while he was there. Every time he went into the Shop ’N Go in Sawyer, he had a minor heart attack at the prices. He was going to drop dead at age 52 from grocery prices if that kept up.

A good run through Winco and Costco would be good. He could stock up on the essentials, then head back to Sawyer.

Alone.

* * *

Jaxson heaved the last of the groceries out of the backseat of his SUV. It was his eighth trip into the house, loaded down each time like a pack horse, which meant he’d had way too much fun grocery shopping.

It was possible that the sight of reasonably priced groceries may have made him go a bit overboard. Just maybe.

Turning to head to his apartment, he heard the jingle of a collar and looked up the street to see Sugar walking toward him with what looked like a small horse beside her. He did a double take. What the hell? He squinted.

Nope, Sugar wasn’t taking a shetland pony out for an evening walk; just a Great Dane. Jaxson was willing to bet next week’s paycheck that the dog weighed more than she did. Setting the grocery bags on the ground, he waved in greeting. It was surprisingly nice to see her; it felt like ages since he’d seen her last, even though it’d just been that morning.

It’d been a hell of a day, between inspecting fire hydrants and being stood up by Kendra and buying enough groceries to feed a small country…

“What are you up to?” he called out.

She smiled, her teeth reflecting the scant streetlight. “Taking Hamlet for a walk,” she called back. Hamlet wagged his massive tail and began pulling her towards him, no doubt seeing Jaxson as another source of affection and attention that he could enjoy.

“Hamlet?” He blurted out the question. “You mean as in Shakespeare’s Hamlet?”

They were now close enough that the Great Dane could begin nosing his way through the grocery bags. Hmmm…Maybe Jaxson wasn’t a source of affection and attention, but rather, raw meat. Hamlet had gone straight for the bag with the t-bone steaks in it.

Sugar didn’t ignore his behavior, nor did she yell at him. Instead, she simply tugged nearly imperceptibly on the thick leash and the giant dog responded obediently by immediately sitting down.

Jaxson was impressed.

“Yeah, Shakespeare’s Hamlet,” Sugar said, once her massive dog had heeled. “It comes from—”

“Hold on, don’t tell me,” Jaxson interrupted. Their breaths were coming out as puffs of fog in the brisk winter air. As he paused, the mist dissipated, allowing Jaxson to see those beautiful brown eyes sparkling in the dim light. “Is Hamlet the one where he says, ‘There is something rotten in the state of Denmark’?”

“Good guess!” Sugar said. “Wowsers. A man who knows Shakespeare and how to fight fires.” Even as she was saying the words, though, her body convulsed in a full-blown shiver, shaking from head to toe. She looked about a half-step away from having her teeth chatter loudly.

Before he could second-guess himself, Jaxson asked, “Wanna come up for a cup of coffee and warm up?”

Why had he said that? He shouldn’t have said that. She was a girl, and last Jaxson checked, girls had cooties. Or at least cheated on you with the next-door neighbor and then made it out to be your fault.

Which was pretty much the same thing as having cooties.

But still, inexplicably, he held his breath.

She bit her lower lip, her eyes flicking towards the ground before she looked back up into his eyes.

“I would love to,” she said, the regret obvious in her voice, “but Hamlet has been cooped up all day. I can’t force him to go sit in your apartment after spending the day sitting in mine. Hey, actually, why don’t you walk with us?” Her voice was eager with excitement at the idea.

“Well, I have to get the last of these groceries into the apartment,” he said, suddenly realizing how complicated it was to be spontaneous. “Do you walk Hamlet every night?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I have to walk him every day after work. In the wintertime, I end up having to bundle up in a snowsuit worthy of a snowshoeing trip in Antarctica so I don’t freeze to death, but hey, it does get me out and about.”

“Welllll,” Jaxson said, thinking quick, “if you can wait for just a moment, I’ll run these upstairs,” nodding towards the bags laying in the snow and ice, “and then I can join you two.”

With a shy nod, she softly said, “Okay.”

Bounding up the stairs two at a time, Jaxson realized that he was feeling happier than he had all evening. He snatched the thickest coat he owned from the hook, swapping it for his lighter jacket he’d worn to Boise, and then on a whim, grabbed his Elmer Fudd hat. He looked ridiculous in it, but being warm was what really mattered. Plus, he figured it’d be a good test to see if Sugar was willing to be seen in public with him with it on. If she told him to march back inside and change hats, well, he might just march back inside and not come back.

He clattered back down the stairs. When Sugar caught sight of him, she immediately began laughing.

“Hey, Mr. Fudd,” she called out through her giggles, “wanna go on a walk with me?” She bent over, gasping for air as she laughed, and of course, Hamlet took that to mean that it was kissing time, since she’d conveniently put her face within range. He began slobbering all over her face as she continued to laugh.

Jaxson struck his best bodybuilder pose when he reached the bottom of the stairs. This only made Sugar laugh harder as Hamlet laid on even more kisses.

Yeah, Sugar was pretty okay. Maybe she didn’t have quite as many cooties as other girls.

Maybe.

CHAPTER 9

SUGAR

Sugar straightened up from her laughing bout, wiped her face clean with the sleeve of her jacket – damn, Hamlet was good at giving kisses – and shot Jaxson a smile. “Ready?”

She tried to hide the twerking butterflies in her stomach. She wasn’t sure why Jaxson made her so nervous, but she’d be damned if she was going to let those nerves show.

He fell into step beside her while Hamlet proceeded to sniff every bush and dormant tree along the way, stopping to mark about every third object they passed. He was such a boy sometimes.

Sugar cast about for something to say.

“So…grocery shopping in Boise, huh?” she asked knowing full well that it was the lamest topic of conversation ever, but it was all she could come up with at the moment.

Jaxson smiled, but his shoulders seemed to tense up at the same time. She wondered what was going on in his head. She didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

“I went to Boise to pick up my boys for the weekend,” he started explaining. “My ex-wife made other plans with the kids and didn’t bother to tell me. So I went shopping instead.”

They had made it to the park and Sugar fished a ball out of her coat pocket. Throwing the ball into the darkness, Hamlet took off like a shot. Sugar figured Hamlet could see every ball within a mile radius. She used the time to think of what to say to Jaxson. He had kids?

He wouldn’t want anything to do with her, then. People tended to shun baby killers. Especially people with children of their own.

She forced herself to smile.

“How old are your boys?” she asked, trying desperately to cover her inner turmoil.

“They’re six and four,” Jaxson replied promptly. “They’re actually the reason I am here.”

Hamlet returned the ball, now covered in slobber. Sugar bravely picked up the wet mess and threw it into the darkness once more.

“Wait a minute…” she said, surprised. “You moved to Sawyer for your kids?”

“Strange, I know,” he said with a small chuckle. “My ex dragged me through the courts, telling the judge the whole time that I shouldn’t have any rights at all because I’m a firefighter. I got called away quite a few times over the years. Boise is just too big and too busy, you know? She told the judge that if I had custody and I was called away on a fire, I wouldn’t have anyone to watch the boys.” He let out a bitter chuckle that was as icy as the air. “She was right, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. The judge told me I had to find a more stable job. I figured a small town like Sawyer would have a lot less call-outs, and I don’t have to sleep at the station when I’m on duty. The judge said that after six months of stability, he’ll revisit the issue. Until then, I get the boys every other weekend.”

“Except when your ex stands you up?”

“Yeah, except then,” he replied dryly.

Hamlet returned with his ball, dropping the sodden mess at her feet. He flopped down, finally admitting that he was worn out.

Pulling the ziplock bag out of her pocket that she carried for just this reason, she slipped the frozen chunk of slobber and ice into the protective bag before placing it back in her pocket.

“You must love your sons a lot,” she commented softly while clipping the leash to Hamlet’s collar.

“Yeah, I do,” Jaxson said, equally as softly. “I’ll do anything for them. Including moving to the ass-end of the earth to impress a damn judge.”

They walked for a while in silence. As they got closer to Jaxson’s place, she felt her steps shorten. She wanted to stretch this time out as much as possible before Jaxson found out the truth about her and didn’t want to be around her anymore.

Despite her sluggish pace, they reach the front steps of his apartment building all too quickly.

“Thanks for walking with me,” she told him quietly. Dammit all, it was a hell of a lot more fun to go with Jaxson than it was to go by herself.

That was not something she was willing to spend too much time dwelling on.

He looked down at her in the semi-darkness, the sun having set long ago. The street lamp on the corner cast deep shadows across his face, making him look mysterious.

A stranger.

Which he was, really. In all the ways that mattered, he was.

He reached up and stroked his fingers across her cheek, and then ran his thumb across her lower lip. She wanted to nibble on his thumb. She wanted to flick her tongue out and touch it.

Actually, she wanted to do a lot more than that.

“You want that cup of coffee now?” Jaxson asked huskily. “I’m sure you could use a warm-up.”

“No,” she said, some part of her still sane. Still rational. Shaking her head and backing away from his hand, she pulled on Hamlet’s leash. “Bakery hours are awful early. I need to get to bed.”

Which was a lie; she didn’t work on the weekends. Holli, a high school student, picked up all of those hours. But she needed something to protect herself, even if it was a small white lie.

She spun around, half walking, half jogging away from Jaxson. Away from temptation. Away from the pain that lay in choosing to be with someone.

CHAPTER 10

JAXSON

Jaxson stared at the list in front of him. Hydrants with low pressure, or no pressure, or too much pressure that blew out fire hoses and caused damage…they all made the list. In comparison, the list of fully functioning hydrants around the city was…depressingly small.

Of course, it was all hearsay, based on what Levi told him. Fire hydrants couldn’t exactly be tested in the dead of winter. Shooting streams of water out into the street so he could turn everything into an ice skating rink didn’t seem like a great way to ingratiate himself with the locals.

And if there was one thing he needed help on, it was definitely befriending the locals. Moose, Dylan, and a few of the others were friendly enough, and after spending two days driving around town with Levi playing tour guide/hydrant inspector, Jaxson felt fairly confident that at least Levi was firmly on his side.

But the rest of the firefighters and townspeople…Jaxson just wasn’t sure what to think about them, or what they thought about him. Probably nothing positive.

With a groan, he stood up. He was sick of going in circles in his head. He was a doer, not a thinker. If he didn’t do something soon, he’d go stir-crazy.

With a half-formed idea swirling around in his mind, he headed for the door, credit card in hand. It was time to go shopping.

* * *

He dropped the bags into the passenger seat and walked around to the driver’s side, sliding in and consulting the map in front of him. Hmmmm…Since he was parked in front of the hardware store, that meant that the closest hydrant was just up the block.

Directly in front of the Muffin Man Bakery.

He ground his teeth in frustration. Dammit! He’d been doing a fine job of avoiding Sugar and the Muffin Man since she’d practically taken off running last week. It was hard not to take it personally when a girl was so intent on getting away, she ran like the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels.

It wasn’t exactly good for a man’s ego, that was for certain.

Well, he might as well start there first and get it over with. With any luck, she would stay inside and he’d stay outside and they could pretend the other one didn’t exist. It was either that or march inside and demand to find out what the hell was going on in that head of hers.

He wasn’t entirely sure that was a grand idea. He was real tempted to use some choice words as part of that questioning, and even he knew that wouldn’t help.

He pulled his SUV forward a block and then began the preparations, laying out tarps to protect the ground and grabbing a few loose bricks piled against the storefront to hold the tarps down in the winter wind. It was miserable work, but he knew that if he didn’t make sure to protect the sidewalk and benches, there’d be hell to pay for it, and rightly so. No one wanted black streaks of spray paint all over everything.

As Jaxson worked, he heard the bell above the bakery door tinkle, and then a whoosh of warm, wonderful smelling air washed over him. He stiffened even as he breathed in deep. That smell was the smell of heaven on earth…

And Sugar was the devil here to tempt him.

He turned, a smile shoved into place, when he saw it was Gage standing there, two cups of coffee in his hands.

“Thought you might want a little somethin’ to warm you up,” Gage said, holding one of the cups out.

Jaxson felt his shoulders relax as he sent Gage a real smile. “Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.” He cupped his hands around the to-go cup, sipping at the warmth and letting it run through him. Oh, that felt good.

“What’s up with the black spray paint?” Gage asked, jerking his head towards the pile stacked around the hydrant.

“This hydrant doesn’t work,” Jaxson said ruefully. “Honestly, half the hydrants in town don’t work right. Too much pressure, not enough pressure, no pressure at all…It’s the Goldilocks story of hydrants, except the ones that are just right are few and far between.”

Gage cocked an eyebrow at him. “You trying to say that if my bakery caught fire, you wouldn’t be able to use this here hydrant to put it out?”

“Yup, I’m saying exactly that. So do your best not to burn down your bakery before spring hits.”

“Damn, there goes my plans for next week,” Gage said dryly.

They both chuckled quietly as they stared at the worthless hydrant in front of them.

“I have to say, that makes me a bit twitchy,” Gage finally said, taking another sip of his coffee. “You say most of the hydrants in town are dead?”

“About half have some sort of problem. Now, this is all based on hearsay, but it was Levi telling me, so I don’t have any reason not to believe him. I can’t test them myself till spring comes. Opening up a fire hydrant and spraying down Main Street, turning it into one big ice skating rink…Well, I think that sounds like more fun than it really would be. Especially when people came after me with pitchforks.”

“Sounds like you already know Sawyer,” Gage said with a small laugh. “Truth be told, I’m still learning my way around it. My grandparents started this bakery; it was the Dyer’s Bakery before I took over. I was the only one in the family who wanted it. I graduated high school the day before my dad retired from the Marines. He moved our family back here to Long Valley while I took off for culinary school. I’d only visited Sawyer during the summer and holidays until my grandparents retired and sold the bakery to me. Suddenly, I was living here full-time and dealing with all of the bullshit that comes from living in a town where everyone knows your name, and your business. I will say this about Sawyerites – if they don’t like you, they don’t pretend otherwise. They’ll tell you that you’re an awful son of a bitch to your face.”

Jaxson grimaced, remembering over the past couple of weeks. It was true that James and Robert hadn’t exactly tried to hide their disdain for him. Didn’t really make it easier to like ‘em, though.

He shivered so hard from the frigid air whistling down the street, he scalded his bare hand with the piping hot coffee. “Shit!” he exclaimed, trying to suck the hot liquid off the back of his hand.

“Come on in. Might as well clean up in the bathroom and warm up a bit before you start into your painting project.”

Jaxson looked down at the worthless hydrant and then back up at Gage.

It wasn’t a real tough choice.

“Much obliged,” he said.

They hurried into the warmth of the bakery. Prickles of heat shot through him, and Jaxson shivered again. He was gonna need to up his winter gear at this rate. Boise’s winters just weren’t as severe as Long Valley’s. Even his warmest jacket and socks weren’t cutting it.

“Oh, there you are!” Sugar said to Gage. “I’d wondered where—”

Jaxson looked up and their gazes caught. She sputtered to a stop, just staring at him, her chocolate eyes seemingly swallowing up her whole face.

Gage cleared his throat, mumbled something about his mixer needing cleaned, and disappeared into the back. Not exactly subtle, but Jaxson appreciated it all the same. He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation ahead, and he sure as hell didn’t want an audience for it.

CHAPTER 11

SUGAR

Sugar wasn’t quite sure she was breathing right. After three days of jumping every time the bell over the door jingled, here was Jaxson. In the flesh. Staring right at her.

She gulped.

She’d spent since last Friday debating whether she’d been an idiot or a genius for running away. Because that was the only thing she could truthfully call it – she’d quite literally run from Jaxson, and more specifically, the desire in his eyes. She’d been afraid of that desire. Still was. Nothing good could come from it, and yet…

She walked around the counter, telling herself not to but her feet were moving anyway and then she was standing in front of the display case, staring up at Jaxson.

Like most men who were not midgets, he was much taller than her, and she had to crane her neck to meet his gaze. For the 4,278th time in her life, she cursed her parents, both of whom were on the short side of the measuring stick. She’d really had no hope of growing to a decent height, but even still, she couldn’t say that she was thrilled that she’d only made it to a paltry 5’3”…and a half, when she was feeling particularly picky.

Which was most days.

She stared up at him. He stared back. Finally, he raised a to-go cup up in the air. “Gage was just tryin’ to help me warm up,” he said. “Mite bit chilly out there.”

“It’s a warm day for January,” Sugar protested. It’d even gotten up past freezing at one point, although the light was fading fast and the thermometer was no doubt going to begin to drop like a stone.

“Standing outside in it, I beg to differ. Some things in this valley are real cold.”

Her breath caught as he towered over her, glaring down. She had the sneaking suspicion that they weren’t talking about coffee or the weather any longer.

He moved closer. Her neck craned up more. “Why did you run away the other night?” he asked. He set his coffee cup down on a nearby table and used his free hands to pull her up against him.

She struggled against him, resisting and fighting to break free.

Okay, fine, that was a lie.

She wanted to resist his pull, but didn’t. She knew she should, but…somehow couldn’t. She snuggled up against him instead, cradled in his arms. “I…I can’t date someone,” she told him breathlessly, every part of her burning that touched him. “Even fire chiefs.”

He cracked a smile at that. “No exceptions even for fire chiefs, eh?” he said so softly, she probably wouldn’t have heard him if his mouth wasn’t inches away from hers.

Which really it shouldn’t be and she was going to stop all this real soon. Any minute now.

Just not this very second.

She shook her head. “No exceptions,” she whispered back.

“Funny, I have the same rule,” he breathed.

“You can’t date fire chiefs?” she said with a breathy laugh.

His eyes darkened with desire. “No room in my life for a girlfriend.”

“Well, at least we’re on the same page,” she murmured, as his mouth swooped down to cover hers. She shivered as he pulled her hungrily towards him, his mouth and tongue working in concert to drive her crazy with desire. Some part of her brain was screaming for her to stop, but it was getting drowned out by the much louder part of her brain that was applauding every moment.

She ran her hands up his arms and across his shoulders as she groaned. She’d stopped being able to breathe years ago, it seemed, and yet, she wasn’t missing the oxygen. She just wanted Jaxson. Nothing existed in the world except them.

He pulled back just a tiny bit, until only a piece of paper could slip between their lips, but not two.

“I’ve been thinking about this problem of ours,” he whispered, as he began to kiss his way across her cheek and over to her ear. He nibbled on her earlobe as he murmured, “I think we ought to be friends. With benefits.” He sucked her earlobe into his mouth and she felt a jolt of electricity shoot through her, setting her body on fire. She moaned.

“Real good friends, with lots of benefits,” he whispered as he began pressing kisses against her jaw, his tongue flicking out and setting her skin ablaze as he kissed his way down her neck.

“I like…friends…” she gasped. “A girl…always needs…friends.”

He pulled away and smiled down at her, his eyes lit up with passion and desire. “I like how you think,” he growled.

Then he was dropping his hands and moving away towards the door. She stumbled and grabbed onto the back of one of the chairs, holding herself up as she watched him walk away.

“Best get back to work,” he said over his shoulder, and then he was disappearing outside, the bell jingling overhead as he left her alone to stare after him.

CHAPTER 12

JAXSON

“We’ve got to go after Angus,” Jaxson said bluntly, staring at the chief of police, the muscle in his jaw twitching sporadically. “I don’t care if he is the mayor’s son. Smoking before school is one thing. Smoking before school and setting fire to a local historical landmark is quite another.”

The police chief laughed. “Listen, you’re new here, and by all accounts, you aren’t gonna last long anyway.” Jaxson’s spine stiffened so fast, he may’ve given himself whiplash. At the look on Jaxson’s face, the police chief raised his hands in surrender. “Don’t get all pissy with me. I’m just saying things the way they are, and one of those things is, you don’t go ‘round, arresting the mayor’s son. Not if you still want a job next week. I happen to like my job, and screwing it all up to prove a point ain’t gonna happen. That’s a hill I ain’t gonna die on.”

“The thing is, Chief, people are blaming me for that damn fire, that I didn’t put it out and instead watched it burn. You know that the hydrant didn’t work and that’s why I didn’t do anything, but most people aren’t getting the full story. If we charge the kid for smoking, maybe people will stop paying so much attention to what I did and did not do, and more attention to what the mayor’s son did. If something doesn’t change and soon, you’re right, I won’t have a job much longer.”

He felt the panic build inside of him at the thought. It’d only been a couple of weeks since he’d started as fire chief. It was still half a year until the family court judge would hear his case again. He couldn’t get fired. He couldn’t let Kendra win.

He couldn’t give up his boys.

“Well now, I don’t see as how that’s my problem,” the police chief said, rocking back on his heels. “The mayor’s my boss. He’s your boss. I don’t think endearing myself to him by arresting his only son is gonna be my smartest move.”

“I don’t give a damn what you think!” Jaxson shouted, slamming his hand down on the chief’s desk. “You’ve got to do your job – that’s what I think! And arresting underage kids for smoking a cigarette before school and causing massive property damage to a historical landmark in town is most definitely your job.” He was breathing heavily by the time he was done, glaring at the chief, wishing that somehow, looks really could kill.

“Listen, kid,” said the pot-bellied chief, hooking his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans, “you’re already in a heap of trouble in this town. Not only did you stand around and do piss-all to put out the mill fire, you’ve also been painting hydrants around town every color under the sun—”

“Each color means somethin’!” Jaxson burst in. “I’m not just picking random colors ‘cause I think they’re pretty! Black means—”

“All I know,” the chief said, steamrolling right over him, “is that we here don’t like our hydrants painted anything but red. A hydrant is supposed to be red, dammit. I don’t know how y’all do it in your big city with your fancy rules, but here, a hydrant is fire-engine red. End of story.

“Also,” he stood up a little more and glowered down at Jaxson, “you don’t go around kissin’ other men’s girls.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jaxson stared at the chief, completely confused. He’d only kissed one girl since he came into town, and that was Sugar. She sure as hell wasn’t somebody else’s “girl.”

“Sugar Stonemyer down at the bakery. Everyone knows that she’s sleeping with Gage. You were kissing her last night. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gage chose to rearrange a few of your teeth and frankly, I’m not sure if I could arrest him for it. A guy moving in on another guy’s territory…well, it just ain’t right.”

“Sugar? Gage?” Jaxson stared at the chief wide-eyed, his mind spinning. That couldn’t be right. Why would Gage leave them alone to talk if he were dating Sugar? Why wouldn’t he have said anything to him? “Hold on a moment, how do you know I was kissin’ Sugar?” Jaxson blurted out.

“The whole front of that bakery is nothin’ but glass,” the chief said with a shrug. “I think if Sugar sneezes, most of the town knows by noon. That’s how we know they’re datin’. I’ve seen ‘em going at it more than once when I’ve driven by on patrol.”

Jaxson staggered back, staring at the chief. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He had to go.

He nodded once, then spun on his heel and headed for the door. He had to talk to Sugar. He had to talk to her right now. He felt the anger rolling off him in waves, although truth be told, he wasn’t real sure why, because dammit all, they were just friends with benefits. The “benefits” thus far had only been a kiss in the bakery, but why the hell would she even want that if she and Gage were dating? Was Gage not man enough for her? Was she lookin’ for more? Did Gage know?

His mind spun with questions that had no answers.

The chief may be wrong about a lot of things, but he was right about this. Movin’ in on her, even if it was just as friends with benefits, wasn’t right. Not if she was with Gage.

He slammed his way into his SUV and threw it in reverse, tires spinning on the snow and ice before gaining traction and shooting him backwards into the street.

None of it made any sense, and Jaxson was gonna find out the truth if he had to shake it out of Sugar.

CHAPTER 13

SUGAR

Sugar shifted from one foot to the other, smiling gamely at Mrs. Gehring as the elderly lady dithered over the choices. “Well now, I just don’t know if I want another jelly donut or a cinnamon-and-sugar donut,” she said, patting at her perfectly coiffed gray hair in distress. “They’re both so good.”

“You could always get one of each,” Sugar suggested, putting a little extra oomph into her smile. It was either that, or jump over the counter and strangle the genteel older woman.

“Oh no, I couldn’t do that,” Mrs. Gehring protested. “I’ve got to watch my figure, you know.” She patted her painfully thin waist with a little smile. “A girl can’t lose her figure. Why, the men stop paying attention to you then!” She let out a cackling laugh, which made Sugar snort with laughter. Mrs. Gehring had to be pushing 90. Her husband had died years ago, and Mrs. Gehring had made it clear after his passing that she wasn’t going to settle down with just one man after that. She was happy to play the field, and she played it well.

Just then, Sugar felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle. Like what happened when she was scared and creeped out while watching a horror flick, but this time, it was a good prickle. Which she didn’t even know could happen, but there it was all the same. Her eyes shot up as the doorbell jingled and her gaze caught Jaxson’s as he walked in. Like touching a live wire, her whole body lit up and her breath caught in her throat.

“Like that new fire chief fella that you’ve been kissing,” Mrs. Gehring continued on, still studying the donuts in front of her intently. “He’s a handsome one.”

Sugar flushed a brilliant red as her gaze volleyed back and forth between Mrs. Gehring and Jaxson. Please, don’t let him know what she’s saying. Please, let him be suddenly deaf and dumb.

As she watched, a laughing grin spread over Jaxson’s face.

He had not, in fact, gone deaf or dumb in the last 20 seconds.

Argh!

Sugar’s face flamed an even more brilliant red, which she also didn’t know could happen. Dammit all to hell and back. He probably thought that she’d been the one to bring his name up with Mrs. Gehring and had been drooling all over him while doing it (figuratively speaking, of course), and how exactly was she supposed to explain to him that she hadn’t done any of that, without being inexcusably rude in the process?

“A maple bar,” Mrs. Gehring said decisively. “I’ll take a maple bar.”

Sugar quickly bagged the donut, deciding to ignore the fact that a maple bar hadn’t even been one of the choices Mrs. Gehring had been debating. She’d finally chosen something, and for that, Sugar was grateful. Maybe Mrs. Gehring would leave, the earth would open up and swallow the city of Sawyer whole, and then Sugar wouldn’t have to talk to Jaxson ever again.

It could happen. It could totally happen.

Mrs. Gehring slid the money across the counter to her. “Good luck with your beau,” she said in a stage whisper, loud enough for someone in the next county over to hear.

“Ummm…thanks,” Sugar whispered back, a painful smile glued to her face.

She was pretty sure that the space under the counter wasn’t big enough to actually crawl into and die, but that didn’t keep her from wanting to try.

Mrs. Gehring turned to head out, cane in one hand and her donut in the other, when she spotted Jaxson. Her spine stiffened in surprise with a crack of old bones that made Sugar wince in sympathy, and then she began slowly making her way towards the door as if nothing had happened. She nodded her head regally in greeting as she passed Jaxson, and then ruined the effect by leaning over and whispering conspiratorially, “Good luck with your sweetheart.” That time, Sugar would swear she was loud enough for all the world to hear.

Both of them watched Mrs. Gehring walk out the door, the bell jingling merrily behind her. Sugar hoisted a smile back onto her face. “How are you this morning?” she asked Jaxson casually. Yeah, she was cool. No awkwardness here.

None whatsoever.

Jaxson’s smile for Mrs. Gehring slipped into a scowl as he stared at Sugar. “So I was down at the police station and talking to the chief about Angus setting fire to the mill.”

Sugar nodded as she listened, a bit confused about where this was going. He seemed agitated, angry even, but it seemed directed at her, and that just did not make sense. She’d had nothing to do with that fire. He knew that.

Jaxson continued, “So while I’m there, the chief tells me that I’m making an ass out of myself by hitting on a girl who’s already dating someone else. Is that true? Are you and Gage dating?”

Sugar’s mouth gaped open in shock. “Now hold on a moment here, how did he know you were hitting on me?” she demanded. Which now that she thought about it, how did Mrs. Gehring know they’d been kissing? She’d been so embarrassed while Mrs. Gehring had been talking, it hadn’t occurred to her to ask, but she was asking now.

“That was my question, too,” Jaxson said, disgruntled. “Apparently, the next time we choose to make out, the bakery is not the place to do it.”

At that, their gazes shot over to the huge plate glass windows lining the front of the bakery, and then back to each other.

Whoops. Well, shit. That was stupid, Sugar.

Dammit all, she could berate herself on the intricacies of dating – or not, as the case may be – in a small town later. For now, she was crossing her arms and glaring at Jaxson. She wasn’t about to give an inch. “Well, I’m not dating Gage,” she informed him tartly. “He’s my boss, and he’s my best friend’s older brother, and he’s even my friend, but he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Shit, Sugar!” Jaxson growled. “The police chief was real sure about this. Why would he lie?”

“Because the police chief is a gossiping old man who has nothing better to do with his time,” Sugar shot back, “since he sure as hell isn’t arresting people who’re burning down old mills!”

“And he’s prone to seeing things, too?” Jaxson retorted. “He said he watched you two make out plenty of times as he’s driven by on patrol. He doesn’t strike me as someone who sees shit that plain isn’t there.”

Sugar felt Gage at her elbow just as he spoke up quietly but forcefully. “Sugar and I aren’t dating, Jaxson. We never have, and we sure as hell haven’t kissed. I think that rumor is the product of the fevered imagination of a whole lot of people in this town. People just don’t seem to believe that you can be simply friends with a member of the opposite sex.”

Jaxson and Gage stared at each other for a few long moments, and then Jaxson slowly nodded. “I haven’t been here very long and I can already see that,” he acknowledged grudgingly.

“Now hold on just a moment here!” Sugar exclaimed, jamming her hands onto her hips and glaring up at Jaxson. “I tell you something and you don’t believe me, and then Gage here tells you the exact same thing and finally, it’s true? What, you only believe people with dicks?” That last part may or may not have come out in a half-shout. Sugar felt the color rising in her cheeks again, but this time, it was from anger, not embarrassment.

“I—” Jaxson started when Gage interrupted them with a fierce whisper.

“I think you two outta take this outside to discuss it further. In fact, Sugar, go home for the night. It’s close to closing time anyway. You two need to discuss things, minus an attentive audience.”

Sugar looked up to find half the bakery quickly looking away guiltily, while the other half were still openly staring at them, not embarrassed at all to be caught in the act. The bakery was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

This discussion of theirs was gonna be all over town by morning, and it’d only take that long because of the shitty weather.

Sugar groaned, burying her face in her hands. She contemplated crawling under the counter again. It was stuffed full of straws, to-go boxes, and napkins, but right then, Sugar didn’t care. She wanted to be anywhere but there. With a sigh, she jerked her head once in acknowledgment of Gage’s advice, spun on her heel, and headed to the back to grab her jacket.

She jerked it on angrily, storming back up to the front as she announced to Gage, “I’m leaving. I’ll be back tomorrow.” She wasn’t quite sure why she felt compelled to tell him that, other than to feel like she had some semblance of control over the situation.

She stalked out past the counter and the gawking stares, and through the front door. Jaxson followed on her heels and they stomped down the sidewalk, side by side, both angry, and neither one saying a word.

“I—” they both said at the same time. Sugar blew out a breath in frustration.

“You go first,” Jaxson said graciously.

Sugar wasn’t about to lose her chance to talk, and let loose on him. “Why is it that you believed Gage and not me? I’ve had it up to here—” she gestured above her head, “—with men only listening to other men, like women don’t matter.” She folded her arms defiantly across her chest as she waited for his response, stomping down the street through the snow.

He grabbed her arm and spun her to a stop. “I – I’m sorry,” he said softly. “It wasn’t the fact that Gage owns a dick that made me listen to him.”

The edges of Sugar’s lips turned up momentarily at that. She was pretty sure the people of Sawyer were not going to let her forget that particular turn of phrase anytime soon.

“It was just…I guess it was hearing it from a second person, owner of a dick or not.” They began to wander again down the street, this time at a more leisurely pace. “I know I have no right to say anything at all. We had agreed to just be friends with benefits, although, I’m putting this out there – one kiss does not equal a true ahem benefit in my mind.” She laughed a bit at that as he continued, “Anyway, I don’t know what came over me, honestly.”

He heaved a sigh, and she could tell he was debating what to say, and what to leave out. She kept quiet, giving him the space to think things through.

Finally, he said quietly, “I should probably tell you that Kendra and I got a divorce because…” He sighed and then plunged in, “I came home early one day and found her in bed with our neighbor, Ivan. I’d thought something was going on between them for months, but she’d always denied it so believably, she made me feel like I was just seeing things; making up stories to make her feel bad. That is, until I caught them, of course. There wasn’t much point in denials then. I guess I’m just a bit more touchy on that topic than I realized I would be. Even if I have no right to be when it comes to you.”

They stopped for a moment in front of the hardware store and Sugar stared sightlessly at the display in the window as she said softly, “That makes sense. People have been thinking for a long time that Gage and I have been dating, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that the rumor made its way to you. Honestly, his sister pushed it more than anyone else. She had me convinced that Gage was desperately in love with me, and I was damn worried that she was right. I just don’t see him that way,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve tried, but…he’s like the older brother I never had, you know?”

They began to wander down the street again when Sugar blurted out, “It’s the flour.”

“Flour?” Jaxson repeated blankly.

“I was thinking about it the other day and realized that it was the flour,” she said with a firm nod. “He’s the messiest baker I know. He spreads flour around like he’s a damn fairy with fairy dust or something. It’s hard to be attracted to someone who perpetually has a streak of white across his nose.”

“What about charcoal from a fire?” Jaxson asked her softly as they came to a stop in front of her apartment.

“Well, I just don’t know,” she said teasingly. “I guess I’ll just have to find out, won’t I?” She opened up her front door to the joyous greeting of Hamlet.

Jaxson looked around, surprised. “Hold on, we’re at your apartment?” he asked.

“Where did you think we were going?” Sugar asked, laughing, as she knelt to give Hamlet a big belly rub and chin scratch. He rolled over onto his back, growling in pleasure.

“Your car? I guess? I wasn’t paying much attention, I suppose. Did we leave your car back at the bakery?”

Sugar shot him a grin as she continued to love on Hamlet. It was her favorite time of the day, and she was pretty sure it was Hamlet’s, also. “No. I walk to work.”

“Even in a blizzard?”

“Especially in a blizzard. Driving on snow and ice is a real pain, even more so because I only have to go a few blocks. It’s easier to walk than it is to scrape off a car every morning, especially as early as I have to leave.”

She got to her feet and Hamlet sprung up beside her and headed over to Jaxson for some lovin’. Traitor. She ignored that for a moment. “It’s dog walking time. Want to head out with me?”

He hesitated for a long moment, and she started to panic. After the disaster that was their bakery discussion, he probably wanted nothing more to do with her. She hurried on before he could bluntly tell her that. “You don’t have to, actually. It’s pretty cold out there. I just thought I’d ask. No worries, truly. I’m just gonna bundle up a little more and then head out, so I guess I’ll just see you arou—”

“It’s all right!” he exclaimed with a small laugh. She sputtered to a stop. “Really, I’d love to. I was just trying to decide if I’m dressed warm enough or not. I got pretty cold just walking from the bakery to here.”

“Oh. Right. Of course.” She shot him a smile, trying to hide her unease.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like being around Jaxson. Quite the opposite, and that was the cause of her distress. The last time she’d liked being around a guy – well, she’d been branded as a whore and forced to marry him.

It did tend to make a person a little jumpy about trying it a second time, that was for sure. Even with someone as sexy-as-sin as Jaxson Anderson was.

Especially with someone as sexy-as-sin as Jaxson Anderson was.

CHAPTER 14

JAXSON

He walked next to Sugar as they headed for the city park again, her shoulders hunched against the biting wind as Hamlet trotted just ahead, his golden coat bright against the gray slushy snow and gray sky. His tail wagged with every step as he looked around, alert for any intruders into his domain.

Of course, Hamlet was so damn big, Jaxson wasn’t sure any intruders would dare challenge him. It was a good thing Hamlet had a gentle soul. He was so gigantic, Jaxson was pretty sure he’d get knocked flat on his back if Hamlet chose to jump up on him. Turns out, his first thought upon seeing Hamlet – that Sugar was walking a miniature horse – really wasn’t that far off the mark.

Jaxson’s mind wandered back to what he’d told Sugar on the way to her apartment. As much as he didn’t want to, he should tell her everything. He’d left out a few key details that she should know before she could make an informed decision about having a relationship with him of any kind, even the friendship kind.

It was only fair, even if the thought sort of – okay, totally and completely – terrified him.

They reached the edge of the park, lit up by street lamps and the fading sunlight from the setting sun. Sugar unclipped Hamlet’s leash, pulled the well-worn tennis ball out of her pocket, and threw it as hard as she could across the park. Hamlet went bounding after it, chunks of ice and snow flying as he ran. They both laughed quietly; Hamlet chasing a ball was the very textbook definition of excitement and happiness.

“Sugar…that wasn’t all that happened that night,” Jaxson said quietly into the still of the evening. A car passed the park, the headlights catching the auburn streaks in Sugar’s hair and then they were past and Sugar’s face was in shadows once again.

As Jaxson stared down at her, he realized that this somehow made it easier to talk to her. If he couldn’t see her huge brown eyes or the way she bit her full bottom lip when she was thinking, well then, he could pretend that he was just talking to a tree.

A very short tree.

A very short tree wearing the perfume of baked bread and glazed sugar.

Then she slipped her hand into his and squeezed, saying without words that she was listening, and that movement broke the short-tree illusion he’d been trying to sell himself on, but the comfort of her hand squeeze somehow made up for it anyway. She pulled her hand free to throw for Hamlet again, the dog’s huge body streaking away in the dim lighting, and Jaxson found himself wishing for her hand back.

Instead, he made himself talk. The sooner he told her everything, the sooner he could put this behind him and pretend it never happened.

“I’d known for a while that Kendra wasn’t happy,” he started. “She’s not exactly a subtle person, and she’d made it known that I wasn’t there for her the way she wanted me to be.”

He looked up into the dark blue sky, rolling his head from side to side as he studied the barren tree branches stretching up into the evening sky, trying to catch the sparkling stars but never reaching quite high enough.

“She wanted to date a firefighter. That’s sexy and dangerous and exciting. We’d only dated three months before we decided to get married. I’d really thought she was the one for me. Now, I realize that it was just hormones talking. I’d never had someone in my bed who was quite as…adventurous as she was. I saw what I wanted to see, and she saw what she wanted to see.

“Neither of us saw the truth.

“We’d only been married a month and already, we’d begun fighting almost daily. She didn’t like me being on call all the time; being pulled away from date nights and family dinners on a moment’s notice. She didn’t like me sleeping at the firehouse for 24 hours at a time. She liked the danger I was in, in theory. Not so much in practice.”

The evening light was completely gone now, but along with its disappearance, the wind died away, too. Strangely, despite it being pitch black except for the street lamps lining the edge of the park, it felt warmer than it had all day. Sugar threw the ball again and then looked up at Jaxson quietly, waiting for him to talk it all out. He could hardly make out her face in the semi-darkness, and was glad for it.

She was back to being a very short, amazing-smelling tree, thank God. It was safer that way.

“Then, she announced she was pregnant with Aiden, and I tried to be excited about it. I’m one of those rare guys who actually wants kids of my own. My marriage wasn’t working out the way I thought it would, but I could still raise a child to be good and kind and help others, like I do when I go out to a fire. Our second boy, on the other hand, was a complete oops – the product of a makeup session fueled by alcohol, and so condoms didn’t occur to us. I was even less thrilled with Frankie than I was with Aiden, but as soon as he arrived, squalling and face all red and fists balled up, I just fell in love with him. Newborn babies are some of the ugliest creatures on the planet—” Sugar let out a little chuckle at that, and Jaxson smiled as he continued, “—but you somehow love them even more because of that. Don’t ask. Parenthood makes no sense.”

She let out a full-throated laugh at that, and he pulled her up to him, wrapping his arms around her as she buried her face against his chest. The world felt so right in that moment, and he was about to destroy all of that, but he had to, and so he kept going, because he had to.

Because he must.

“But that night…the night…I’d arranged for another firefighter to cover the last of my shift, and arranged for a babysitter to come watch the boys. I was going to take Kendra out for a night on the town. Try to bring that spark back that’d gone missing years earlier.”

“You’re a firefighter,” Sugar murmured against his chest. “You’re supposed to be putting flames out, not lighting them.” Sugar said it so deadpan, it took Jaxson a moment to register what she’d said.

He let out a belly laugh and said dryly, “Well, if I was an arsonist, I’d have even more job security.”

“That’s true! Hmmm…don’t know what I was thinking.”

He snuggled her tighter against him as Hamlet rested by their side for a minute, his panting and Sugar’s breathing the only noise in the world at that moment.

“When I came home, the boys were sitting in front of the TV, watching some Disney channel show, and I asked them where Mom was. Aiden had a funny look on his face, but he told me up in our room and so I snuck up the stairs, trying to surprise her. When I saw them in bed together…well, let’s just say that the surprise part was accomplished. I couldn’t believe she’d been lying to me for months; that she was cheating on me; but most of all, that she’d do it with the kids in the house. She’d been telling the boys that she and the neighbor were planning a big secret party for me, so they shouldn’t tell me that the neighbor had been over at the house, or that’d ruin it all.

“It’d been a well-kept secret, all right, although I can’t say I exactly enjoyed the party.”

His bitter words drifted out into the dark of the night and he just stood there, running his hands up and down Sugar’s back as he stared unseeingly into the darkness. He felt her shiver, which yanked him out of his reverie. Wow, he was such a jackass; here he was, freezing her to death while he whined and complained about his ex.

He jerked back. “I’ll take you home now,” he said gruffly. The spell was broken. It no longer seemed like a good idea to finish the story. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking. He didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t a good guy after all. He liked to think of himself that way, but he knew the truth, even if he didn’t admit it to others, and certainly not to Sugar.

He quickly began walking back towards her apartment, away from her, away from the embarrassment of it all, until she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. “I’m gonna make a guess,” she said quietly, “that you’ve never told anyone else this story. Am I right?”

He stared off into the distance above her head, unwilling – unable – to look her in the eye as he jerked his head once in acknowledgement of her comment. “No one.” The words were so soft, he could hardly hear them himself, but she understood them anyway.

“Then I’m honored that you’ve chosen to tell me. I’ve done some things that I’m not proud of. I’m not gonna judge you, I promise.”

Jaxson let out a snort of disbelief. If Sugar had done anything more awful than kill a spider, he’d eat his shorts.

She didn’t respond to his snort, but instead just stood there, her hand on his arm, waiting for him to speak.

He didn’t know Sugar well; it wasn’t like they’d been dating for years, or even at all, really. But somehow, his gut told him that she could out-wait him – that if he didn’t start talking, they’d still be standing still as statues on the edge of the park come morning.

He stared out into the darkness, willing his lips and tongue and lungs to do what he never wanted to do – talk about that night.

“I was angry when I found them. That sounds so blasé – people get angry all the time. Yell a little. Stomp around some. It wasn’t like that. I was so mad, there was this film of red that covered the world. I could hardly see straight. I was operating purely on instinct. I picked Ivan up, who was a little larger than me, and tossed him out of the bed. He flew across the room and hit the wall, knocking a hole in the drywall. I hadn’t even meant to throw him that hard. I was just trying to get him out of the way. I wanted to reach my wife. I wanted to hit her. To hurt her as much as she’d hurt me.

“A tiny part of my brain heard the neighbor on the phone, calling 911, but it didn’t register. Looking back, there’s this filmy haze over everything, like trying to remember a dream when you wake up the next day. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t think, I only wanted to hurt.”

He pulled Sugar into his arms again, needing her warm, slim, calming presence against him, to help him make it through this. She slipped into his arms as if she were meant to live there, as if she’d always been there, and leaned her cheek against his chest. Hamlet settled down at their feet, curling up around them, sharing the warmth. A small part of Jaxson knew that they should go indoors to finish this conversation, but he instinctively rebelled against that thought. If they were inside, then he’d be looking at Sugar as he talked, and then…

He wouldn’t talk at all. He knew it. There was no question in his mind about that fact.

This had to be done before he could wimp out.

“I’m crawling across the bed to get to my wife, to punch her or strangle her or something, I don’t know, I didn’t really have a plan in mind, and then…” He let out a shuddering sigh. “I heard my boys. They’d overheard the ruckus and had come running upstairs to see what was going on. It was quite the sight, I’m sure. The naked neighbor, slumped up against the wall, pleading with dispatch to hurry. My equally naked wife, clutching the sheets up tight, screaming at me – I still don’t know what she was saying. I just saw her mouth move.

“And then me. There I am, about to murder their mom.”

He let out a guttural laugh of pain and anger and hatred and surprise, but no humor.

There was nothing funny about this story.

“My boys saved me. They saved me from jail time, from the damn electric chair. If they hadn’t shown up just then, Aiden shouting for me to stop, Frankie crying…I can’t think about it. I just can’t.

“The cops finally arrived but I was lucky, because the only person I’d even touched was the neighbor, and my wife – who was still in shock at the time – told him that under the circumstances, he probably shouldn’t press charges. So nothing really happened, except it all got back to my chief at the fire station. I got pulled in and given a stern talking to about the proper behavior of firefighters. Part of being a public servant is that even private disputes aren’t private. If I pulled another stunt like that, they’d start the proceedings to get me fired.

“Meanwhile, my wife quickly got over her shock and used that whole scene during the divorce proceedings to paint me as a violent man who couldn’t be trusted; that I might harm or even kill one of my boys if left alone with them. She also emphasized how I was called out a lot, and how active the Boise Fire Department was. Basically, I wasn’t a fit parent. The fact that she was screwing the neighbor, who was a drunk, while the kids were downstairs, and then asking them to lie about it to me…that didn’t seem to matter much.

“Finally, the judge told me that I needed to get a more stable job that would take me away from the kids less often, and that I needed to take anger management classes. I signed up for the classes that day, and started looking for a new job that night. I wasn’t about to screw around with this. These are my boys. I love them more than life itself. I wouldn’t harm a hair on their head for all the money in the world, and Kendra knows that. But that doesn’t play well in court for her, so she conveniently forgets it every time we step into the courtroom. If she had her way, she’d get a check in the mail each month, and I’d never see Aiden and Frankie again.

“So I’m not going to let her have her way. I won’t give them up. Not ever.”

The conviction in his voice rang out strong and true. He may sometimes wonder if he really was the good guy that he liked to think of himself as being, but he never questioned being a good father, or how much he loved his boys. That was beyond reproach. Beyond doubt.

“All of that to say,” he said with a small laugh, “that the idea of someone cheating is…a rough topic for me. There’s a lot of things that I’d be just fine with, or at least calm about, but cheating ain’t one of ‘em.”

Sugar mumbled something against his chest that he didn’t quite catch. “Come again?” he said.

She pulled back with an exasperated sigh. “For a guy who only wants to be friends with benefits, you sure are possessive,” she informed him. “That is, unless you’ve changed your mind?”

The words hung between them in the crystal cold air.

CHAPTER 15

SUGAR

She stared up at him, her gaze steely-eyed even as her heart raced. She couldn’t believe she’d actually had the balls to say that out loud to him. She hadn’t meant to – it’d just slipped out, and then he’d wanted her to repeat it and she’d actually had the guts to say it twice.

Which was probably more surprising to her than it was to him. Jaxson didn’t know that she’d gotten this far in life by being the most agreeable person in the room; by never causing waves, no matter the situation. The fact that she was trying to change this about herself didn’t mean that the change was easy; only that she realized that she needed to try.

Although why she started with this particular topic was a mystery, even to her. As she stared up into his face, worrying her bottom lip as she waited for a response, she began to question her life choices. She shouldn’t have said anything. It was a dumb comment to make. Why, he probably—

“Oohh!” she half shouted, getting dragged sideways by Hamlet. He’d apparently decided that he was done waiting for them to be ready to go home, and was going to take them there himself, whether or not they wanted to go. She stumbled for a few feet, finally regaining her footing and pulling her Dane to a stop. “You goofball,” she said affectionately, patting his massive head. He wagged his tail, tongue lolling out of his mouth happily. “You could warn a girl before you take off walking, you know.”

They started off, together this time, down the street towards her apartment and warmth and light. She didn’t say anything, even as Jaxson took her hand and held it as they walked. It was a very un-friendlike thing to do, but since she was enjoying it, she wasn’t about to complain.

It took another block before Jaxson broke the silence. “I think we oughta just stay friends,” he announced. “There’s a lot going on in my life, and you say that dating isn’t a good idea for you either, so…friends with benefits it is. If you’re okay with that.” He pulled her to a stop and looked down at her, the street lamp throwing his face into shadows and light, his eyes dark and burning as they peered into her soul.

She didn’t know what she’d wanted him to say in response to her probing question, but she was sure she didn’t want him to say that. Some stupid part of her wanted…

Well, it didn’t matter what she’d wanted. Friends with bennies was what she was getting. She smiled gamely up at him. “Of course,” she said softly. “I just wanted to make sure that we’re on the same page, is all.”

“Good,” he breathed, his mouth swooping down to cover hers. “I’d hate to think we weren’t.” And then he was kissing her and she wasn’t breathing or thinking but only feeling as his firm lips pressed and molded against hers, and then his tongue was sweeping inside and electrical shocks were pulsing through her as she moaned, pressing herself against his hard body.

This may not have been exactly what she wanted, but for now, it was good enough.

He pulled away slightly, brushing a few strands out of her face lightly before saying with a teasing grin, “I do believe you’re gonna be more fun than any other friend I’ve ever had.”

She let out a belly laugh as they turned to walk the last block to her apartment.

Yessiree, this was good enough for her.

CHAPTER 16

JAXSON

Jaxson opened the front door and his two boys tumbled inside like puppy dogs, shouting and laughing as they went. His apartment wasn’t much, but it had two bedrooms – albeit small ones – which met the court’s requirement of giving the boys their own room. In a tight rental market, it was the most he could hope for.

“It’s small,” Aiden observed, his hands on his hips as he surveyed the minuscule living room. Jaxson had crammed a couch and entertainment center into it, but had to leave his coffee table behind in storage. There was no room for extraneous furniture here.

“It is,” Jaxson agreed. “But, you guys have your own bedroom back here. Come check it out!” He led them down the short hallway to the bedroom across from his, and pushed the door open. A bunk bed was against the wall, one mattress covered with a Batman bedspread and the other with Power Rangers.

“Cool, Dad!” Frankie yelled, cannonballing into the lower bunk, directly on top of Red Ranger’s face. “You bought this for us?”

“I sure did. I wanted you guys to have something here that you loved. Plus, check it out!” He flipped on the Batman desk lamp, casting the bat logo on the ceiling and they both cheered.

“Wow!” Aiden yelled, throwing his arms around his dad’s knees. “Wait until I tell Isaac about the lamp!”

Jaxson grinned. It felt good to give his sons something that they loved. It made him feel a little more like a dad, and a little less like a family friend or uncle just taking care of some kids for the weekend. “You guys put your stuff in the drawers and I’ll go get started on dinner.”

He headed back towards the kitchen/living room combo as they began arguing over who got which drawers in the dresser. He laughed quietly to himself. Some things never changed.

He pulled out the boys’ favorite – mac ‘n cheese out of a box and a package of hot dogs. He’d tried making high-end mac ‘n cheese one time, thinking that real cheese surely had to have more nutritional value than orange powdered shit, but the boys just pushed the creamy, delicious noodles around on their plates, refusing to believe that this was also mac ‘n cheese.

After that, he stuck with the fifty-cent boxes from the grocery store.

Just as the pot of water began to boil on the stove, he heard a knock on the door. The boys came running out, excitement boiling over at the idea of someone visiting, and Jaxson jerked his head towards the door. “You guys wanna open it?” he asked as he began dicing up the hot dogs. It was probably the neighbor, wanting to borrow a cup of sugar or something; whatever it was that neighbors borrowed from each other in small towns.

“Oh hi!” came Sugar’s surprised voice, accompanied by a howl of arctic air swirling through the room. Jaxson spun and stared at the front door as Sugar stared back, her face white, her eyes wide with panic. “I’m so sorry, I thought you were supposed to have them next weekend…” She stumbled to a stop, just staring at Jaxson, clearly pleading for help.

He wiped his hand on the hand towel and hurried over, plastering a smile on his face. “Since Kendra kept them last weekend, she let me have them this weekend,” he said. “Come in and meet them, and let’s close the front door.”

Already, he could hear the furnace kicking on, struggling to keep the apartment a decent temperature against the onslaught of frigid air. Sugar hurried in, Hamlet trailing behind her obediently.

“Scooby-Doo!” Aiden and Frankie shouted in unison.

Sugar and Jaxson both watched closely as the boys threw themselves at Hamlet, making sure that he stayed calm throughout. Not surprisingly, he was gentle as always, letting them stroke his head as he wagged his tail, clearly thrilled to be the center of attention. He was sitting so he didn’t tower over the boys, although Aiden and Frankie’s faces were right within licking range, something Hamlet was happily taking advantage of.

Their squeals of delight could probably be heard a block away, and Sugar used the cover to whisper urgently, “I really am so sorry. I didn’t mean to…I mean, your boys might think something else, and we’re not dating, and I really shouldn’t be meeting your children, and—”

He cut off whatever else she was about to say. “It’s okay. Really.” Which was a lie – a huge lie – because nothing about this felt okay. It felt exhilarating and terrifying and wonderful and puke-provoking.

The one thing it did not feel was simply “okay.”

He sucked in a deep breath. “Why don’t you hang out with the boys while I finish up dinner? It’s nothing fancy—” which was the understatement of the century, “—but my boys don’t exactly have refined palates.”

She nodded, her eyes still wide with panic, her face still white, but she turned back to the boys and sat down on the ground with them, her diminutive size helping her to fit right in. Hamlet, overjoyed that Sugar was within licking distance, began giving her a thorough face bath.

Jaxson turned back to the rapidly boiling water on the stove, listening to his boys and Sugar chat as he finished up.

“So why did you get Scooby-Doo?” Frankie asked. “Do you like him?”

Sugar’s laughter tinkled out. “Well, his name isn’t actually Scooby-Doo,” she informed them, to a chorus of, “Why not?”

“His name is Hamlet. But I do like Scooby-Doo. I grew up watching that show too.”

“Really?” Aiden asked, surprised. “I thought you were old.”

“Aiden!” Jaxson shouted from the stove, frantically trying to keep the mac ‘n cheese from burning while also shouting sternly over his shoulder. “That is not polite!”

“It’s okay,” Sugar said with a laugh. “I am old, compared to you. But Scooby-Doo has been on TV for a long time.”

“Ohhhh…” the boys said in unison, clearly surprised by this information. Jaxson grinned to himself. It was a lot of fun seeing his boys’ minds blown.

“So you got Hamlet because you like Scooby-Doo?” Frankie persisted, clearly wanting to figure out why an adult would pick such a large dog. Kendra had always put the kibosh on getting any kind of dog, but was especially adamant about not getting a dog larger than a rat. Which was why they could never agree on which dog to adopt, and thus never got one. A small, yappy, obnoxious ankle biter? No thank you.

“Uhhhh…” Sugar stammered, clearly trying to buy herself some time to put her thoughts together. “Truthfully, I got Hamlet because my ex-husband is allergic to dogs, and I figured that after our divorce, if I was going to get a dog, I’d get the biggest one I could find. I figured it was only fitting. He used to come by my house a lot, but after I got Hamlet, he stopped by one time, couldn’t breathe, and had to leave. He hasn’t been back since.”

“Are you Daddy’s girlfriend?” Aiden asked. Inquisitive little buggers. For the first time – but probably not the last – Jaxson cursed having such smart, observant children.

“Oh no!” Sugar exclaimed, a little too loudly. Jaxson was setting the table, and looked up to see that her face had flushed a brilliant red. He grinned to himself. There was something about watching her squirm that was greatly entertaining. “No, we’re just friends,” she assured the boys.

“Friends with benefits,” Jaxson said under his breath. They should definitely get around to the “benefits” part of this equation, and soon.

“What does it mean to be friends with benefits, Daddy?” Aiden asked. Jaxson’s eyes shot up and he saw his son standing directly in front of him. He’d just been over by Hamlet! How’d he moved so damn fast?!

“Uh, just that we go on walks together with Hamlet,” Jaxson said quickly. “That’s a big benefit to both of us. Sugar gets to have someone to walk with and Hamlet gets to have two people who will throw a ball for him.”

He heard Sugar’s laughter pour out of her, and decided to ignore it. There were some things just not worth dignifying.

“Oh,” Aiden said, clearly confused. “Does that mean that I can be your friend with benefits too?” His eyes lit up as he looked at Sugar, doing everything but clasping his hands together in his begging efforts. Sugar was busy trying to decide whether she wanted to die from laughing, or die from embarrassment. “You’ll let us take Hamlet for a walk, right?” Aiden persisted. He was not one to get sidetracked easily, which was both a blessing and a curse.

It was more on the curse end of things tonight.

“I’m okay with it if your dad is,” Sugar said hesitantly, after her giggles finally subsided, looking up at Jaxson from her place on the floor.

“Dinner first,” Jaxson decreed, “and then we can go for a walk with Hamlet.”

The boys shot over to the table and threw themselves into their chairs, clearly determined to eat their dinner in the quickest time possible. “Don’t make yourself sick,” Jaxson scolded, as Frankie began shoveling the orange-and-red conglomeration into his mouth. A four-year-old boy chewing with his mouth open was not something Jaxson could see and still have an appetite afterwards. Frankie slowed down just the tiniest bit, which made Jaxson want to sigh and laugh at the same time.

He caught Sugar’s eye and they smiled together, and his stomach did flips at the sight of Sugar and his boys all sitting at the dinner table together, like they all belonged there.

No, he’d describe this terrifyingly wonderful situation with a lot of different adjectives, but okay was definitely not one of them.

CHAPTER 17

SUGAR

Once the last of the noodles were gone from the plates, Frankie and Aiden shot out of their chairs and down to their bedroom to put on their warmest winter clothes. “It’s going to be cold out there!” Jaxson called down after them. “Put on your scarves and hats!”

He began clearing off the table. “Here, why don’t I do that?” Sugar said. “I’m already all bundled up and ready to go.” Truthfully, she was a little too warm, which had to be a first for her. She was almost always freezing, so being hot was a feeling she wasn’t exactly used to. Her thermal underwear clung to her sweaty skin and she tried to discreetly pull it away from her thighs. This had to be the least sexy move on the face of the planet, but Jaxson thankfully didn’t seem to notice.

“Oh, sure!” he said, surprised. “I’m so used to doing everything by myself. Thanks!” He shot her a heart-stopping grin and then headed to his bedroom to change. Sugar loaded up the tiny dishwasher, trying to pretend that it was totally normal for her to be doing dishes at Jaxson’s house.

Totally normal.

This was totally not normal.

She turned around to find Frankie had grabbed his plate from the table and was placing it on the floor in front of Hamlet, who was eagerly licking it clean. “No, no!” Sugar yelped, hurrying over and snatching the plate off the floor. “Hamlet gets…gassy if he eats human food.” Hamlet’s massive head was following the arc of the plate as she tried to take it away – now that he’d had a taste, he wasn’t about to let it go easily.

“Gassy?” Frankie repeated, confused. Hamlet sank down in despair when Sugar held the plate up over her head. He gave her a mournful look. She ignored him.

“Yeah. Ummm…” She searched for a delicate way of saying it. “You know…”

“She means that Hamlet farts a lot,” Aiden announced as he came back from the bedroom, bundled up like an Eskimo, clearly having overheard the conversation. The boys broke down into giggles and Sugar rolled her eyes as she turned back to the sink to finish up. Turns out, boys were exactly the same, no matter the decade.

“You guys ready?” Jaxson asked as Sugar loaded the last of the dishes. She searched underneath the sink and found a box of dishwasher detergent, starting it before beginning the process of getting bundled up herself. She’d shed her hat, scarf, jacket, and gloves when she’d gotten there, but her Carhartt overalls had stayed on. She was so warm from the hot water, she was almost painfully thrilled to go outside. Anything to cool her flushed skin.

Jaxson smiled at her and she felt herself flush even warmer. Being around Jaxson wasn’t good for her sanity, she decided. She should just go home and hide far, far away from this addicting man.

Before she could force herself to do it, though, she realized that if she left, the boys wouldn’t be able to walk Hamlet. She knew they’d be horribly disappointed by that, so she decided for their sakes, she’d stay.

No other reason, of course.

After Frankie and Aiden argued over who got to hold onto Hamlet’s leash – which Aiden won, by virtue of being the oldest – they set off down the street, Frankie hurrying to keep up with his older brother. “I really am sorry,” Sugar said softly under her breath to Jaxson, her words puffing out into the bitter cold, sending clouds upwards. “I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine, really,” he reassured her. “After Kendra pulled her stunt last weekend, she felt guilty enough that she let me have them this weekend instead. She’s right – I do need to get better about checking the custody calendar. I shouldn’t have gotten frustrated with her for doing exactly what the courts said for her to do. I just got busy with everything happening here.”

“Do you have kids, Sugar?” Frankie asked, slipping his hand into hers. She looked down at him, startled, but he was clomping through the snow, stomping every little pile of white stuff into poofs of white stuff. He’d obviously given up on being given a chance to hold Hamlet’s leash. Sugar made a mental note to let Frankie do it on the way back. Hamlet had slowed down once he’d realized it was Aiden carrying his leash, matching his pace to Aiden’s, and so the usually brisk walk to the park was taking a lot longer. Sugar was happy to see it, though; she hadn’t been sure how Hamlet would react to children since he wasn’t normally around them.

Which led her back to Frankie’s question. “No, no kids,” she said softly after a long pause. She felt, rather than saw, Jaxson stiffen beside her, and she knew he’d caught her hesitation. She knew he’d want answers.

She knew she wouldn’t want to give them to him.

Finally, thankfully, they’d made it to the park, where throwing the ball for Hamlet could distract Jaxson from asking any questions. With any luck, he’d forget he ever had any to ask.

CHAPTER 18

JAXSON

Jaxson frowned at a form the state was wanting him to fill out. Did they want the total training hours for each man on the firefighting team, or just the hours completed in the last year? He sighed. This was going to require yet another phone call to the Idaho State Fire Commissioners’ Association. At this rate, he might as well put them on speed dial. As fire chief, firefighting seemed to involve more paperwork and less flames, which yeah, that was the whole point of moving up here – so he could tell the judge he had a more stable, less stressful job – but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

The man door to the station opened and Jaxson looked up through the office window out into the bay, happy to have something to take his mind off the paperwork spread out in front of him. It was Moose, and he looked…upset.

Dammit. Maybe Jaxson wasn’t happy to be distracted from the paperwork after all. Whatever was going on, it didn’t look good.

“Hey, boss,” Moose called out as he neared Jaxson’s office door. He popped his head around the doorframe. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure. Of course. Anything to save me from more paperwork.” He pushed the papers away and settled back in his chair as Moose sank down into a chair across from him.

“Well…ummmm…Listen. I have something to tell you that you aren’t gonna like.”

Jaxson nodded slowly, his eyebrows creasing as he stared at Moose. The pit of dread in his stomach was growing by the moment.

“It’s…well, it’s James. James and Robert, of course, but since Robert doesn’t eat breakfast in the morning without James’ say-so, I think we can safely pin this just on James.” They both grimaced at that all-too-true statement.

Jaxson hadn’t told anyone this, but he’d started calling the pair JimBob in his head. He’d never once seen one without the other, and had never seen Robert speak without James’ permission. He was fairly sure that medically, Robert was in possession of a spine – mostly because he was capable of walking – but emotionally, he wasn’t quite so sure.

“What’s JimBob doing?” The question slipped out before he’d realized it, and Jaxson bolted upright in his chair. “Shit!” he hissed. “I didn’t mean to say that.”

“JimBob, eh?” Moose sat back in his chair with a laugh. “Damn, I have to say that I’m jealous I didn’t think of that myself!”

“I shouldn’t be talking about the men on the force that way. Please forget I said anything.” No matter how true it is.

Moose’s smile slipped from his face. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Chief. I don’t think you want James or Robert on the force any longer. They’re…they’ve gone around to all of the guys and told them to stop carrying their radios with them. That way, if a fire happens, you’d be the only one to respond. They said that this would make you just look like an even bigger ass in front of everyone after the mill fire, and that it ought to get you fired, since you’re not capable of fighting fires or even convincing other men to show up to fight fires with you.”

“Oh damn,” Jaxson said softly, as his mind whirled through the possibilities. People could get seriously hurt or even killed from a stunt like this, and the fact that JimBob seemed to think that it was okay to do this was disturbing, to say the least. Shit. There was no way Jaxson could continue to ignore the situation. He’d hoped that by giving JimBob the space and time necessary to get used to the idea of Jaxson being the chief, he could head off any problems. He thought they’d eventually work through this.

Instead, he was going to have to fire the pair. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

He looked back up at Moose. “Thanks for telling me,” he said softly. “I appreciate it.”

Moose jerked his head. “Sure thing. Good luck.” He headed back out of the fire station, leaving Jaxson alone with his thoughts.

This could be laid squarely at the feet of James, no question about it. He could call them both in at the same time, but what was the point? It was a volunteer position. If James were forced to quit, Robert would too. It’d be better to just confront James without a sycophant nearby to egg him on. That’d only make a tough situation even tougher.

He’d start with James and go from there. He could always call Robert in tomorrow and talk to him. Alone. If such a thing were possible.

But for now, he’d better call James in tonight. It was better to just rip the bandaid off and be done with it. If he left it alone for the night, he wouldn’t be able to sleep as he just lay in bed and worried about the coming confrontation. It wasn’t going to be pretty, he was damn sure of that. He picked up the phone, hit 9 and then dialed the phone number for Frank’s Farm and Feed. He got ahold of the secretary, who informed him that James was still out making deliveries.

“Tell him that he needs to come by the fire station tonight, before he goes home.”

“Well, I’m supposed to be going home soon—” the woman protested.

“Then clip the note to his damn timecard!” Jaxson barked. He tried hard never to lose his temper – not after that night – but this whole situation was pushing him dangerously close to the edge. “And tell him that this is an order, not a request.” He slammed the phone back down into the cradle before the woman could protest further. He stared at the stack of paperwork in front of him, forgotten now. Dammit all, he wished that his biggest worry was over how to count training hours for his men. Although it’d been just 30 minutes earlier when he’d been working on that problem, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

This was his first time in a leadership position like this. An insurrection…he’d never imagined his new job, his ticket to getting his sons back, would end up like this. Were all small towns this backwards? This stubborn? This difficult? Or had he just picked an extra special one that truly hated outsiders with a passion?

James showed up at 8:42 that night. Jaxson knew this because he glanced up at the clock on the wall just as the man door opened. There was exactly zero chance that James had actually been out delivering propane this late into the evening, and sure enough, he more stumbled than walked towards Jaxson’s office. Jaxson watched the progress, his back teeth grinding together with every step. James must’ve hit the local bar before coming over, maybe hoping that a bit of liquid courage would help him out.

Shit. The last thing Jaxson wanted was a drunk-as-a-skunk employee in his office, especially a drunk-as-a-skunk employee who Jaxson then had to fire. This was shaping up to be epic, in a truly horrific way. The first time Jaxson had ever fired someone, let alone fired someone from a volunteer position, and the guy had to show up wasted.

He silently began questioning all of his life choices, beginning with his choice to be born.

He stood back and let James stumble into his office, shutting the door behind him. James didn’t bother sitting down, and Jaxson didn’t bother offering him a chair. They both knew what was coming, society’s niceties be damned.

“Tell me about the radios, James,” Jaxson said quietly, the ticking of the clock and James’ labored breathing the only sound in the small office. James’ eyes were bloodshot and half-lidded, as if he were barely able to keep them open as he glared at Jaxson from beneath his bushy eyebrows.

“This was supposed to be my job!” James slurred in return, completely ignoring Jaxson’s question. He jabbed his finger into his chest. “Mine! I worked for 22 years for this damn department, and then you come along and steal the job, just like that!” He tried to snap his fingers for emphasis, but he couldn’t get them to work right and after a moment of staring at them in confusion, he forgot all about it and looked back up at Jaxson. “Do you know what the money would’ve done for me and my family? And I would’ve been able to retire in style in five years! Instead, I’m gonna be stuck delivering damn propane until the day I die, and it’s all—” he poked Jaxson in the chest, “your,” poke, “fault!” poke.

Jaxson felt himself slipping back into it – that same haze that’d come over him the night of the fight with Kendra. The night. That same red film slipped over his eyes as he stared at James, anger pouring out of every cell. Before he could swing a punch and knock some teeth out, though, James began wandering away.

Jaxson took the space to remember what he’d been taught in his anger management classes. Deep breathing. They only have the power over you that you give to them.

He felt his overwhelming anger begin to subside. Just a bit.

“This! All of it! S’posed to be mine. Chief Horvath told me so when he retired. He said I was a shoo-in. And then the city council worried about some damn training hours through the state, as if what really matters is how many hours you pretend to be a firefighter, versus the number of hours that you actually are a firefighter! Stupidest damn thing I’ve ever heard!” He turned back towards Jaxson, stumbling a bit in the rotation. He steadied himself, staring at Jaxson through bleary eyes. “I’m gonna kill you, you son-of-a-bitch!” he roared, charging across the small office.

Time slowed down as Jaxson watched him come, debating his choices. He wanted so badly to swing a nice upper-hook and take the drunk man down. It would be so satisfying…Just one punch. That’s all he wanted. It would be self-defense, right? Every jury in the land would see it that way.

And then the faces of his boys flashed through his mind. He couldn’t take the chance. He couldn’t lose them.

And so at the last moment, he stepped to the side and James plowed into the filing cabinet behind him in a spot-on linebacker tackle, which managed to knock him out and send a cloud of dust up into the air at the same time.

He dropped like a rock to the floor as Jaxson coughed and waved a hand in front of his face, trying to clear the air. He really needed to clean that filing cabinet, if only for the health of his lungs.

He stared down at the passed-out man at his feet for a moment, and then picked up the phone in his office, calling city dispatch.

“Sawyer City Dispatch,” came a crisp female voice.

“Hey, it’s Chief Anderson over here at the fire department,” he said. “Can you send an officer over? I have an ex-volunteer who needs to be escorted from the building.”

“Oh. Sure.” The surprise was clear in her voice, but she didn’t ask any further questions. “Officer Knittle is in the area. I’ll radio him now.”

Jaxson hung up, staring down at James as he waited for Officer Knittle’s arrival. He knew what he was doing. He knew that calling the police over meant that this would go onto James’ record. If Jaxson was going to be a nice guy, he’d carry the man out to his SUV, throw him in the backseat, and drive him home.

Jaxson was not going to be a nice guy, though. He’d been a nice guy since he’d moved to Long Valley, and what did that get him? A passed-out, drunk, ex-volunteer who had done his level best to take out the one and only filing cabinet in Jaxson’s office.

No, he was going to let James suffer the consequences. After putting the city of Sawyer and its citizens at risk just because his pride was hurt and he wouldn’t enjoy the retirement he thought he was owed, yeah, James deserved a little suffering.

That and the headache he was going to wake up with would be plenty of punishment, Jaxson figured.

Officer Knittle stepped through the man door and came over to Jaxson’s office, whistling when he saw the prone figure on the ground. “What happened?” the cop asked, circling James and staring down at him.

“James has been causing some severe problems within the fire department. I called him over here tonight to let him go, and…he didn’t take it well. Charged me. I stepped to the side and he rammed into the filing cabinet, taking a pretty hard blow to the head. Knocked him out cold.”

Knittle looked at the cabinet and let out another low whistle. “Damn. You can even see where he hit it.” Jaxson peered closer. Yup, there was a dent all right. He hadn’t even noticed with everything else happening.

“Shit. No wonder he’s still out for the count,” Jaxson said, wonder in his voice. “Maybe you should take him down to the hospital instead of over to the jail; have him checked out. He might’ve given himself a concussion.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Officer Knittle asked quietly. “If I take him in, I have to file a report on this. I imagine he was none too happy with you getting hired, but he has been a dedicated firefighter for years in the valley.”

“He was staging a revolt among the men,” Jaxson responded, looking Knittle straight in the eye. “Told everyone not to carry their radios with them so that when a fire happened, I’d be the only one to respond. He thought this would make me look bad, maybe prove I wasn’t capable of being the head of the fire department. If a fire really had broken out, though, he could’ve put someone’s life at risk. I don’t care what kind of vendetta you’re carrying around; letting other people die to prove your point ain’t right.”

Knittle’s eyes grew big. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry to hear it. I always thought he was a good guy beneath all the gruff. I wouldn’t have thought…well anyway, grab his hands and I’ll grab his feet. We’ll carry him out to the car and I’ll drive him over to the hospital, then book him after that. You willing to press charges?”

“I am. I think it’s the only way to get through to some of these men that they may not be happy to see me, but they can’t pull this kind of shit.”

Knittle nodded. “Yup. Someone’s gotta stand up to them. Are you gonna fire Robert, too?”

“I am. I have to. Even though I’m sure he didn’t start any of this, he did go along with it.”

Knittle nodded again. “I always did wonder where Robert stored his backbone when he left for work in the morning,” he said casually as they hefted James’ dead weight up and through the office door, Jaxson walking backwards, craning his neck to look over his shoulder so he didn’t do something truly dumbass, like run into a wall or something.

After they got James into the backseat, snoring softly, apparently taking the deepest, most restful nap of his life, Jaxson looked at Knittle over the top of the squad car. “Thanks for your help. ‘Ppreciate it.”

Knittle jerked his head. “Hope your talk with Robert goes better.”

Jaxson grimaced. “I’m sure it will.” Which it would. Robert didn’t have it in him to cause problems without James around, but all the same, it just wasn’t going to be any fun. In fact, he was pretty sure that this job had a serious case of non-fun.

He walked back into the office and began turning everything off for the night – the buzzing overhead fluorescent lights, the ancient computer, the tired printer – and then locked the door behind him. He should go home, drink a beer, watch some TV, and pretend today never happened.

He stopped just as he began to climb into his SUV, one foot inside, the other still on the ground, his breath coming out in puffs of white.

No, no, as a matter of fact, he wasn’t going to go home. He had a friend with benefits, and he’d never actually taken her up on the benefits part.

It was time to rectify that situation.

CHAPTER 19

SUGAR

Sugar snuggled down beneath the covers, the weight of Hamlet causing the whole bed – including her – to shift to the left. She sighed. She could argue with Hamlet about where he slept, or just try to go to sleep. Considering she’d argued with him before and lost every time, she should just lose gracefully again tonight. Hamlet was a real sweetie, but he was damn sure of where he wanted to sleep, and it was not on the floor.

He shifted, causing the whole bed to shake and Sugar found herself snuggled up against his furry body, whether or not she’d wanted to be there. Happy to have her company, Hamlet lapped her face with his tongue and then settled back down. She stared up at the ceiling into the darkness, willing her mind to let her go to sleep.

Waking up at 4:30 in the morning was not natural to Sugar, and neither was going to bed at 9:00. Her biological clock dictated that she be a night owl, which meant that despite having worked at the bakery for coming up on three years, she still felt like she was being tortured every time her alarm clock went off. Getting up at 4:30 in the morning just wasn’t natural, and she didn’t care who thought otherwise, or told her that she’d eventually get used to it. Her body never would. Thank heavens she worked at a bakery that sold coffee. Gage let her drink as much as she wanted for free. It was pretty much the only perk that came with working at the shop, but Sugar was grateful for it anyway.

Just as her body began to relax into the mattress – and into Hamlet’s warm side – she heard a knock on the door. She bolted upright, staring into the darkness. Who was knocking on her door at this time of night? Everyone knew she worked at the bakery, and not to come by her house after eight.

She pulled on her robe and then headed to the front door, Hamlet padding sleepily beside her. If it was Dick, coming over to argue with her again about her “poor life choices” that she’d been making lately – the one where she decided to divorce him, in particular – she’d be real tempted to sic Hamlet on him.

Which in Hamlet’s case, just meant licking every inch of skin he could reach, but since Dick was severely allergic to dog hair, she figured that was revenge enough under the circumstances.

She pulled the door open. “What do–oh!” she said, staring at Jaxson. Instantly, her hands began tightening the robe around her body further. She patted at her hair. She probably looked like she had a rat’s nest on top of her head. “What are you doing here?” she asked, surprised. “I have to get up in the—”

And then he was through the door and closing it behind him, and kissing her.

His movements were frantic as he pressed his lips to hers and explored. She felt overwhelmed, but in a good way that was completely foreign. She waited for the urge to panic and shove him away to wash over her, but it never came.

She let him guide her backward into the apartment. She let go of the death grip on her robe, instead wrapping her arms around him both as a response to her growing eagerness, and the need for his stability.

In a strange moment of clarity, she heard Hamlet’s toenails clicking against the tile of the kitchen floor as he let out a little whine. Instinctually, she recognized the sound as his disappointed whine. Apparently, Hamlet was ready for bed and not happy about this interruption. She tried to feel guilty about keeping him from his sleep, but then Jaxson was kissing her, setting her body on fire, and she forgot all about it.

Jaxson finally stopped walking her backward and instead shifted his hands so that one arm encircled her around the waist, pulling her even closer to him, while his other hand held the side of her face.

Although she normally wore a nightgown to bed, tonight she’d just been wearing a pair of panties when she’d crawled in to sleep, and then, of course, the robe she’d pulled on when he’d knocked on the door. His hand snaked through the opening of her robe, pushing it off her shoulders and chest as he pulled her tightly to him. Her cheek warmed, the sensation perfectly outlining the shape of his hand on her face.

Sugar sank deeply into the moment. It pained her to admit how much she’d missed these feelings. Realistically, it hadn’t been that long since she’d last felt the touch of a man, but this…this was completely different.

With Dick, it’d always been about him and the fact that she was the woman most readily available – the most convenient to help him take care of his physical needs – but she was never more than that. Never special. She’d often wondered if he cheated on her, but if he had, she’d never heard about it, and she would’ve only been grateful that his attentions were turned elsewhere.

Tonight, Jaxson sought her out. She was the woman he wanted. Sugar admitted, if only to herself, that there was something amazing about being the subject of his desire. Being special and wanted by a wonderful man was what she’d longed for her entire life, and tonight – if only tonight – it was true.

She melted into the feeling.

His thumb caressed her cheek as they continued to kiss. His lips massaged hers, adding pressure, enticing her to open her mouth. It didn’t take too much convincing for her to let him in. His tongue was warm and soft, but forceful at the same time. She felt herself getting swept up by the intensity, and only wanting more.

With painful perfection, Jaxson held the kiss long enough that Sugar was feeling lightheaded when he finally released her.

“Hello,” she managed to breathe out.

“Hi,” he said quickly, before catching her mouth with another shorter but equally as intense kiss.