Ablaze: A Steamy Grumpy Boss Firefighter Romance FREE Prequel Novella

He's her mean boss, and they don't know their first meeting is going to change EVERYTHING.

Fire Chief Noah Baker knows he rules his fire department with an iron fist. His subordinates quake in their boots under his piercing silent glare. It's necessary because it's up to him to make sure the city doesn't burn down.

He doesn't need a distraction like getting stuck in a supply closet with the most delicious and kissable woman he's ever met... who happens to be one of his rookie lady firefighters.



Fall for Fire Chief Noah Baker and firefighter Erin Hudgens in this fun, steamy prequel to their first book Smolder.

Noah was one-hundred percent aware he was violating the etiquette rules of yoga class: Straight guys were not supposed to ogle the women in class.

Even if they were super-hot and half-naked in skin-tight yoga gear.

Even if said super-hot and half-naked cute woman might have fallen asleep in class.

He shifted from sun salutations into the vinyasa meditation pose as instructed, willing his blood to not rush lower. His spandex shorts would betray him in an instant, especially now that he’d seen her downward dog pose.

Don’t think about her the way those tights outlined the muscles of her legs and butt. Stop imagining leaning into kiss the bronze skin of her neck or twirling the fizzy curls escaping from the pouf of her hair.

The teacher asked if anyone wanted to get water from the storage room.

The woman’s hand shot up, and Noah couldn’t help volunteering to help.

Okay, this wasn’t exactly the distraction he needed before an important debrief. Still he was unable to deny the magnetism drawing him to her.

Her brown eyes met his, and then she gave his body a long look before grinning at him.

Thank fucking God she like what she saw. Noah kept his body in shape. Too many firefighters landed at a desk and let themselves go.

Not Noah. He tackled his work-outs with the same discipline he did everything else.

They padded, barefoot, into a storage room with a propped open door. The door swung closed behind them.

The woman, setting down her water, tried the handle. It’s stuck.”

“Stuck?” Noah set down his twenty-four-pack of water.

“Yes, stuck.” She tried it again with more force.

“Maybe together?” He came up behind her and pushed while she struggled with the handle.

“I guess that’s why they leave the door propped.” The woman stepped back, evaluating the door. “Pound on the door?”

“Or in ten seconds, someone will let us out.” Noah sized up the door, suggesting they simply wait.

“True. Hopefully, your wife won’t be mad at you for being stuck in here with me.” She leaned back against the wall, snickering slightly.

The bottom of his stomach twisted, and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. Should the Force actually exist, his senses were zeroing in on her blatant attempt to gauge his single-hood.

He very much needed her to know he was available. “No wife. Divorced. You?”

“No wife or girlfriend,” she said and quickly amended her statement when he startled. “Or boyfriend. In high school, this is where you play Seven Minutes in Heaven. Don’t you think?”

“I was five-foot-three and scared of girls,” he replied wryly. It has taken him almost to his senior year to gain any height.

“That’s the problem with high school boys. I was taller than almost all of them, and not one tried anything. If anybody made a move, I’d have been game.”

“Not one?” Noah asked, noting he was about six inches taller than her. Her long limbs didn’t disguise her quite feminine curves. “Beautiful woman like you, and no one made a move?”

“See, if one of them had your confidence and had said that—he could have gotten lucky.” She might not have been aware she licked her lips, and Noah wanted nothing more than to have a bite of this temptation.

What would her body feel like against his? The blood was leaving his brain, heading southward.

“Confidence?” He took a few steps closer to her.

“A confident guy would try to cop a feel and ask for my phone number.” She didn’t retreat, if anything, she was daring him keep coming.

“That guy might also be creepy,” he said, having to be certain she understood what he thought she was offering.

“Only when it’s not encouraged.” She had no problem setting him straight. “A confident-not-creepy-one would steal a kiss.”

Thank god he wasn’t this far out of practice. “Then it’s not stealing, is it?”

She sidled up to him, pursing her lips. He matched her movement, unable to stop. In seconds he’d claim those ruby lips, tasting the succulence that he hadn’t realized he needed until now.

His pulse was running out of control. Seven minutes in heaven with her, pressing their bodies together, wrestling this attraction into submission.

Or would she submit to him and let him steal more than a kiss...

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