Reliving the past…or letting it go?
Lily Ashden is finally ready to have fun again. It’s been a year since she survived a deadly house fire, and she wants to celebrate being alive. Enter Garrett Mateo—gorgeous, funny and extremely capable of arousing her flirtatious side. He would be perfect…if only he wasn’t a firefighter. After what happened to her, she refuses to consider him.
Too bad Garrett is suddenly everywhere, tempting her to look beyond his job. His charm proves irresistible, and Lily lets herself fall…until she learns his devastating secret. Now she must decide if her future happiness depends on giving him another chance….
“What are you doing?”
Lily’s palms flattened against his chest. Garrett felt his skin heat under her touch. She’d been the last woman to touch him, that night in the gazebo, and his body remembered the sensation of her hands now. His fingers crept into her soft, smooth hair.
“Thinking about kissing you.”
“Just thinking about it?” The admission in that statement cost her; he could tell by the way her shoulders stiffened and her neck went tight. So there was heat under the ice. It was foolish to act on this attraction between them, but right now there was no listening to sense.
Garrett cupped the back of her head in his palm. “Should I be thinking about it?” He tipped his head just right, moved in until her sweet breath touched his lips. “Or acting on it?”
As a career emergency medical technician of fourteen years, who is also married to a firefighter, I can tell you that I’ve had some scary moments on the job. Day after day of helping people through some of their worst life moments gets pretty stressful, and in a way, can make you very afraid of the world around you. In fact, a couple years ago, I reached my tipping point and started to become unusually anxious and afraid of everyday things, like driving to the grocery store, or catching a horrible disease. I was afraid of letting my children out of my sight, because I was so certain that something bad was going to happen.
This type of fear-related stress is not uncommon for emergency workers and firefighters. Hence, in The Firefighter’s Appeal, our hero, Garrett, is dealing with the very real fear of something bad happening to those he loves.
Luckily, with a bit of rest, relaxation and time away from the job, this problem can be overcome, and for most of us, it is. It’s always good to remember the good things in life to balance out the scary parts. The best cure of all? The love of friends and family to pull you through.
I hope you enjoy The Firefighter’s Appeal.
Elizabeth Otto
The Firefighter’s Appeal
Elizabeth Otto
Elizabeth Otto grew up in a Wisconsin town the size of a postage stamp where riding your horse to the grocery store and skinny-dipping after school were perfectly acceptable. No surprise that she writes about small communities and country boys. She’s the author of paranormal and hot, emotional, contemporary romance, and has no guilt over frequently making her readers cry. When not writing, she works full-time as an emergency medical technician for a rural ambulance service. Elizabeth lives with her very own country boy and their three children in, shockingly, a small Midwestern town.
To those who run in when everyone else runs out.
To my critique partners and besties who never let me give up and cheer me every step of the way. And to my real life firefighter for the inspiration, and looking good in turnouts.
Contents
“HOW DID YOU talk me into wearing this?” Lily Ashden pulled at the itchy straps that held her coconut bra in place. Combined with the grass skirt she wore over khaki shorts and the plastic lei around her neck, she was about as novelty Hawaiian as a girl could get. The outfit was considerably skimpier than Lily was accustomed to, and she still wasn’t sure how her friend Macy had conned her into it.
Macy snorted. “Please. It matches your tattoo, so stop complaining.” Macy leaned over the table, grabbed Lily’s right hand and dumped bingo chips into it. “Just put your chip on B 14 and stick your coconuts out. How else do you expect