Arson & Ache: A MFM Firefighter Romance (Surrender to Them Book 8) Read online

  Arson & Ache

  A MFM Firefighter Romance

  Kelli Callahan

  Copyright © 2018 by Kelli Callahan

  All rights reserved.

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

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Marissa

  2. Kincaid

  3. Marissa

  4. Donovan

  5. Marissa

  6. Kincaid

  7. Marissa

  8. Donovan

  9. Marissa

  10. Kincaid

  11. Marissa

  12. Donovan

  13. Marissa

  14. Donovan

  15. Marissa

  16. Kincaid

  17. Marissa

  18. Marissa

  19. Donovan

  20. Kincaid

  21. Donovan

  22. Marissa

  23. Kincaid

  24. Donovan

  25. Marissa

  26. Donovan

  27. Marissa

  28. Donovan

  Epilogue

  Join My Mailing List

  Kelli’s Voracious Vixens

  Small Town Seven: Sneak Peek

  About the Author

  Marissa

  “She’s coming!” Hannah, one of the girls that sat near my desk looked at me with concern in her teal colored eyes. “Those are heavy steps—she’s not happy.”

  “I have her coffee!” I stood up and grabbed the cup sitting on the edge of my desk. “Hopefully it will be enough to save us from her wrath.”

  “Maybe we should say a prayer just to be safe.” Hannah folded her hands in front of her chest and started muttering.

  “Too late!” I hissed across the aisle and darted around my desk as Ms. Stone approached with her ear-length brunette curls bouncing with every step she took.

  “Good morning, Ms. Stone!” Hannah hopped to her feet and brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear.

  “I have your coffee, just the way you like it!” I tried to be as cheerful as possible as I presented her coffee like it was my most prized possession.

  “Good.” Ms. Stone took the cup from me and her nostrils flared like she was about to shoot fire from both of them. “Okay, get back to work—both of you.”

  “Yes ma’am!” Hannah nodded quickly.

  Ms. Stone walked towards her office and I let out a long sigh of relief. Hannah looked like she had been shook to her core as she sank back down into her chair and her hair fell out from behind her ear. I had only been working at Livingston Capital for two months, but I was already looking forward to retirement. Ms. Stone wasn’t just a horrible boss, she was the personification of true evil in a designer dress and red-soled shoes. I was just glad none of her anger was directed at us—but the day was still young. She had plenty of wrath to go around, so if she didn’t find someone to yell at over the phone, our time would probably come. I returned to my desk and prayed that her door wouldn’t open. I had more than enough work to do without having more piled on top of me, and the phones were already starting to ring.

  “Livingston Capital—Veronica Stone’s office. How may I assist you?” I answered the phone with my normal dose of cheerfulness.

  I spent most of my morning answering the phone, taking messages, sending the relevant ones to Ms. Stone, and directing the rest of them to the file at the bottom of my trash can. Ms. Stone got a lot of phone calls. Livingston Capital was a stock trading company, and Ms. Stone was the CEO, so all new investments required her approval. That meant that the phone rang off the hook with people who wanted to pitch opportunities she just couldn’t miss. All of those went directly in the trash can, but not before I promised them that Ms. Stone would be happy to return their call—which was obviously a lie. She had more investment opportunities than money to spend, and she only picked winners. That’s why she was so good at her job—and why everyone tolerated the fact she was the biggest bitch on Wall Street.

  “I need a vacation.” Hannah sighed and leaned back in her chair once the phones settled down some.

  “You just came back from vacation—and you can’t do that to me again.” I shook my head back and forth. “She’s even worse when you aren’t here!”

  “Trust me, it can get a lot worse.” Hannah stared at her computer with tired eyes, despite the fact that it wasn’t even lunch yet. “You don’t even want to see how bad it gets when one of her investments doesn’t pay off.”

  “I can imagine.” I nodded and reached for the phone when it started to ring.

  “Marissa, I need to see you in my office—now.” Ms. Stone opened her door, demanded my presence, and slammed her door so hard the glass on the windows next to it shook.

  “I’ll get the phone.” Hannah motioned for me to go.

  I was a little scared when I got up from my desk and walked towards Ms. Stone’s office. She rarely called either of us into her office. She was usually content to just yell at us without the courtesy of a closed door. I hoped that she wasn’t going to fire me. As bad as it was at Livingston Capital, the job did pay really well. I was also learning a lot about investing, even if I was just a secretary. I applied at Livingston Capital because I wanted to be an Account Manager and was initially offended when I was offered a job as Ms. Stone’s secretary. Getting my foot in the door seemed more important than my pride, especially when I found out that the last three girls who worked for her had been promoted to Account Manager in less than a year. Hannah was the exception, but she didn’t have those aspirations—or maybe she just secretly liked being tortured.

  “What can I do for you, Ms. Stone?” I walked into the large office and tried to keep my knees from knocking together.

  “Have a seat.” Ms. Stone motioned to the chair in front of her desk.

  “Yes ma’am.” I nodded and walked over to the big plush chair that felt like I was sinking into a pillow when I sat down.

  “What do you know about our philanthropic endeavors?” Ms. Stone tilted her head and stared at me.

  “I know that you give a lot of money to charity.” I raised an eyebrow and tried to think of a better answer. “Oh! And the company has a blood drive for the Red Cross every year.”

  “Yes, we do our best to give back.” A rare smile spread across Ms. Stone’s lips. “One of our endeavors is sponsoring the annual Firefighter Auction. Do you know what that is?”

  “No ma’am.” I shook my head back and forth.

  “Basically, we host an auction where wealthy people can bid on the firefighters that pose for the Heated Hunks calendar.” She opened a drawer and pulled out a calendar. “We always pay a million dollars for one of the firefighters that goes up for auction.”

  “They get auctioned?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise as I took the calendar and flipped through it.

  Whoa. These guys are definitely hunks—and smoking hot!

  “The auction is for a date.” She nodded as if I should already know that. “It’s all for show, but it gets a lot of media attention, and good publicity never hurts.”

  “Definitely.” I smiled as I continued to flip through the calendar. “So, what do you need me to do?”

  “I need you to find me a date.” She pointed towards the calendar. “You’ve got twelve to choose from.”

  “Okay, I can do that.” I closed the calendar and smiled.

  I thought it
would be an easy job, but once I got back to my desk and started flipping through the calendar, a worrisome realization hit me—I had no idea what kind of guy Ms. Stone liked. They were all hot, but some had tattoos, some had beards, some were more muscular than others—I didn’t want to pick a guy that didn’t meet her expectations. I asked Hannah for help and she seemed to remember that the guy Ms. Stone went out the previous year was nice—unfortunately I couldn’t figure that out by looking at their pictures. Any of them would have been a wet dream for me, but I didn’t date much. I was probably the only girl at the University of New York that walked across the stage with her cherry intact after four years at a school. Most of my classmates minored in partying and some of them majored in it. I just never got into it because I was too busy with my actual schoolwork—sometimes I regretted the decision.

  One night of drunken debauchery wouldn’t have been that bad—I’m not even sure I would look back at it as a mistake.

  “So, which guy are you going to buy for Ms. Stone?” Hannah looked up at me as we started packing up our stuff at the end the day.

  “I don’t know.” I looked down at the calendar. “I really like Mr. February, but Mr. December—he’s got a lot of gorgeous tattoos.”

  “Oh? Do you like bad boys?” She giggled under her breath. “They can be a lot of fun—until you need to introduce them to your parents.”

  “I’m not sure.” I sighed and shook my head.

  “Just pick a guy that you would date. It’s not like she’s going to do more than pose for a few pictures with them and go to dinner.” She shrugged and stood up from her desk.

  Yeah—so what kind of guy do I like to date? Do I even know?

  Three months later

  “Marissa, can you come into my office for a moment?” Ms. Stone peeked her head out and then immediately slammed her door.

  I knew what Ms. Stone wanted even before I walked to her office. The charity auction was later that day, and I still hadn’t decided if Mr. February or Mr. December was the best choice for Ms. Stone. They were both sizzling to the point that I thought they were going to set the calendar on fire if I stared at them too long. Mr. February was a clean-cut guy, with shoulders that barely fit on the page, and eyes that seemed to stare into my soul. Mr. December was tattooed, hot-as-sin, and looked like he was the kind of guy who would pull your hair while making you beg for more—not that I knew much about any of those things. I had to make a decision, and while it might not mean much to Ms. Stone, I felt like the choice did matter. A date meant something, even if it was just for charity. What if she didn’t like the guy? I would be the one who set her up on the date, and she didn’t seem to be the type to just brush it off as a mistake.

  “The charity auction is in a few hours.” Ms. Stone looked up at me as I closed the door behind me.

  “Yes ma’am.” I nodded quickly. “I think you should…”

  “No.” Ms. Stone interrupted before I could tell her which guy I picked. “I’ve got an emergency with one of our biggest accounts and I can’t go to the charity auction today.”

  “Oh, okay. Do you want me to call and let them know?” I tilted my head to the side.

  At least I don’t have to choose—that’s sort of a relief.

  “Not at all. You’re going to go in my place.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “We are sponsoring the event. We can’t just not show up. You’re going to represent Livingston Capital.”

  “What?” I blinked in surprise.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be done in time to go on the date with them tonight, but I need you to go handle the bidding.” She lifted her head. “Which guy did you choose?”

  “Well, um…” I swallowed hard. “I am torn between Mr. February and Mr. December.”

  “You know what?” Ms. Stone exhaled sharply. “I don’t have time to talk about it. Just buy them both—we’ll make it a double date.”

  “Seriously?” I felt my eyes immediately get as big as saucers.

  “You’ve been working hard, and I notice that sort of thing. You deserve a fun night out. We should get to know each other a little better anyway if you’re going to be one of my Account Managers one day.” Ms. Stone nodded quickly.

  “Thank you, Ms. Stone!” My heart started racing in my chest.

  “Wear something nice.” Ms. Stone dismissed me with a wave of her hand.

  I walked out of Ms. Stone’s office and felt like I was floating on air. It was the first real compliment Ms. Stone had ever given me, and she mentioned me becoming an Account Manager. That put a smile on my face that wouldn’t have been erased if the building started falling down around us. Not only that, but she was going to trust me to spend two million dollars? Sure, I’d never actually see the money, but it was still going to be surreal. I picked up the calendar once I got to my desk and flipped through it again. I didn’t have to choose between Mr. February and Mr. December. I could buy both of them and let her decide which guy she liked. I would be happy with either one. It was just a date for charity. I wasn’t going to fall in love or anything. I just needed to make sure I didn’t look like a fool in front of my boss. Impressing her was much more important than a date with Mr. February or Mr. December.

  I guess Ms. Stone will get the first pick, and I’m not going to complain either way.

  Kincaid

  “You have to be fucking kidding me!” I shook my head angrily at Chief Vance and growled under my breath. “I thought you were going to get one of the other guys to take my place!”

  “I tried, but you’re Mr. December. It’s hard to have a charity auction without the guy people have been staring at all month.” Chief Vance shrugged and sighed. “It’s just one night. I think you can pull yourself away for a few hours.”

  “Says the guy who’s on my ass to catch this fucking arsonist.” I growled again and narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Do you have any leads?” He raised his eyebrows inquisitively.

  “No, that’s why I need to keep working on the case.” I reached over and picked up my coffee that was sitting on the edge of his desk. “I want to go over everything from the beginning—there has to be something I missed.”

  “That will have to wait until tomorrow. I’m sorry, but you know how much money this auction brings in. Remember that purchase order you turned in for new equipment? If this auction does well, I’ll be able to get everything on your list.” He leaned forward and nodded.

  “Fine.” I twisted my lips into a look of disdain and took a sip of my coffee. “I’ll do the damn auction.”

  Like I have a fucking choice.

  I had been a firefighter at the New York City Fire Department for eight years, and an arson investigator for six months. Before I got my promotion, I agreed to be one of the twelve guys featured in the Heated Hunks calendar. Every December, the guys in the calendar were auctioned off, and the proceeds went to the fire department. It was for a good cause, and I was fine with it until I got my promotion, but I had better things to do than take some horny woman out on a date because she had money to burn. Most of the women who came to the auction were just looking for a few likes on social media because they donated money to the fire department. I felt like any of the other firefighters could have taken my place and they wouldn’t have noticed, but Chief Vance’s word was law—even if I disagreed with it.

  “How did it go?” My former partner, a firefighter named Donovan, walked up to me as soon as I slammed Chief Vance’s door on my way out. “Did he give you a pass?”

  “No.” I growled angrily. “I’ve got to do the fucking auction.”

  “Damn, that sucks.” Donovan exhaled sharply. “I figured he would be happy to keep you behind a desk since the feds are threatening to take over the case if you don’t get a lead soon.”

  “Yeah, me too.” I walked over to my desk and sat down. “We definitely don’t need the station crawling with a bunch of FBI agents.”

  “Or worse—they’ll just take everything you’ve been working on down to
the police station and cut you out completely.” Donovan shook his head in disgust.

  “Like hell they will.” I drained the last few drops of coffee out of my cup and crushed it in my hand. “This is my fucking case.”

  “Hopefully you’ll come up with something soon.” He sat down across from me. “But for now, we get to go be someone’s fantasy for the evening.”

  “Just fucking kill me now.” I leaned back in my chair and sighed. “I’ve got a few hours to kill—want to help me look through some stuff?”

  “Sure.” He nodded and took the folder that I handed him.

  My first major assignment after becoming an arson investigator was a serial arsonist who called himself Fireball. I had been at the scene of multiple fires that he set while I was a firefighter, so I couldn’t wait to tackle the case once I became an investigator. Fireball loved to taunt the media, which intensified the pressure I was under to catch him. A task force had been established and I was supposed to be working with a detective from the police department, but he didn’t seem to be very invested in the case.

  Detective Lewis believed the FBI would come in and take over the case at some point, regardless of what we did, so he felt like it was a waste of his time. I didn’t share that sentiment. I wanted to be there when they finally slapped the handcuffs on Fireball, just so I could look him in the eyes—and probably punch him in the face before they took him to jail. That wasn’t going to happen if I didn’t get a lead, because it seemed like every piece of evidence that could possibly point us to him went up in flames before we were able to put out the fire. Donovan and I looked through the files we had for a couple of hours, combing through them for any piece of information that might have been missed, but we didn’t uncover anything new.