Volatile: A Steamy Grumpy Sunshine Small Town Medical Romance

Deputy Brandon Smith likes his quiet small-town life the way it is. His corner of peace and quiet doesn’t need complications, or a big city girl stranded at his HOUSE.

Jennifer Bayani thought flirting with the sexy tattooed deputy wouldn’t be a problem. She’d been living out every girl’s bad boy gone good fantasy . . . right up until he arrested her!

Now this grumpy deputy and his new found sunshiny partner are paired together to solve the mystery of several deadly fires.

Except, the real fire is the smoldering passion between them, and if they kiss . . who knows what might ignite. . .

Karma had decided Jennifer Bayani, nurse and part-time assistant to the Assistant Fire Marshal, needed to pay for her sins.

There could be no other explanation for why, while driving on these back roads, her GPS went blank, and she had zero bars on her cell phone.

Crud, crud, crud. The GPS had gone from its helpful little voice advising her to ‘turn here’ to a black screen and red searching for signal message. Why did it insist on ‘searching for signal’?

“This isn’t happening. How am I supposed to find the hospital?” Jennifer tossed the printout with the hospital’s phone number and her stupid cell phone back into the front passenger seat.

Fabulous. Without a signal, she couldn’t call the hospital to find out how to get there, either. Now ninety minutes outside of Cleveland, her drive around the back roads of who knew where had been interrupted by geese, cow, and horse crossings thus far.

This didn’t include trying to stay awake after working the past two weeks on the night shift, but before she could contemplate needing a nap alongside her other problems, a high pitch noise behind her called for her attention.

This particular noise included flashing lights and a patrol car.

Jen tried to find a safe spot to pull off. The route she was on was only a two-lane road with a speed limit of sixty. Every once in a while, another car whizzed by.

By then, the patrol car had settled directly behind her. In her rearview mirror, she saw the officer point to the side several times.

Finally, after at least a half mile, she saw an empty field with a driveway. She had to make a sharp turn to pull off into that driveway before she parked.

This day only got better. She checked her reflection in the mirror and confirmed her dark hair was still neatly tied back and braided. Her navy-blue scrubs were immaculate, and her makeup was appropriately understated.

At least she would look nothing like her life had suddenly spun out of control in the last forty-eight hours, and she was running on fumes.

The officer parked behind her, leaving his lights on, and approached from the side. She rolled down her window, and he said, “Good morning, ma’am. Do you know why I pulled you over?”

“I was speeding?” Jennifer guessed, since she probably had alternately sped.

“No, ma’am.” The officer took off his sunglasses, revealing eyes even darker than Jennifer’s, light skin, and a smile. “You were weaving in and out of your lane. Driving somewhat eccentrically. I was concerned for your safety and those around you.”

Also a reasonable explanation. “I’m sorry, sir, my GPS and my cell phone quit.”

He chuckled. “Cuyahoga County, right? The plates.” He waved a hand at her car.

“Yeah.”

“And where were you headed?”

“Geauga Regional Hospital. I’m a nurse from MetroGen ER.”

“Ah, must be one of their traveling nurses,” he commented. “License and registration?”

“Absolutely.” She fished through the glove compartment to find her registration under a fire safety magazine. Her license was easier to find in her purse. “Here you go, officer.”

“Deputy.” He smiled and her eyes caught his. She scrambled to put the requested items into his hand, which connected to his tattooed forearm.

There was a shiver of awareness because Deputy Whoever was darn cute. He filled out his black uniform quite trimly, and, even though his face was shaded by his wide-brimmed hat, she got the sense he was giving her a similar once over.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Jennifer Bayani.”

“Miss,” she volunteered, a grin forming behind her lips. Perhaps today would not be totally terrible.

“Bayani. Interesting name.” He tilted his head. Goodness gracious, did he have dimples? Tattoos and dimples?

“It means 'hero' in Tagalog,” she said. She fit right in with the rest of the MetroGen ER, and her sister was a nurse. The most unique thing about her was the four years she’d been a firefighter and her part-time job in the fire marshal’s office.

“You won't find that much in Geauga County,” he said. “But if you want to own me, can’t say I’d complain… when I’m not working, of course. What do you think I should do now?”

“Let me off with a warning. And meet me later for a drink, maybe?” She batted her eyes and was too slap-happy-tired to recognize that she was flirting outrageously with the hot deputy.

He let out a low chuckle of good humor. “Aww shucks. What have we here? A proposition by a lovely lady for me to abandon my moral framework.” He clicked his tongue and shook his head. “For shame.”

Their eyes held briefly, and, for all they were playing, Jennifer would not have been sad to meet the deputy for a drink.

“Oh, darn it, you don’t have bars in this county to let the deputy get dirty after hours?”

“The deputy was going to let you off with a warning, cuz I’m not going to ticket everybody who is a bit lost. Besides, if the deputy decided to take leave of his senses, I wouldn’t ask for a drink to forget the ticket. I’d ask for a quickie in the back of your car.” He winked at her and mock turned to her back seat.

“I don’t have a seat big enough,” Jennifer quipped as she was driving a 2005 Saturn S-class.

He didn’t respond for a second, and she peeked backward. “You okay, Deputy?”

“Ma’am,” his tone was now completely different. “Please step out of your vehicle and keep your hands where I can see them.”

She got out. This was an unusual way to flirt; she could play along. “Are you off of work already?”

“Put your hands on your head.” He patted her down in an official, businesslike way.

“I think it’s a little early for this,” Jennifer said with amusement.

“Place your hands behind your back.” When she obeyed, he actually cuffed her.

This didn’t seem like a game. “Umm, I definitely don’t do this before the first date.”

“Miss Bayani, please follow me to my patrol vehicle, and we’ll be having a long discussion at the Geauga County Safety Center.”

“What’s going on? I didn’t do anything.”

“You didn’t? Can you explain to me why you have a bomb in the back of your vehicle?”