Chapter One
Josie Moore was surrounded by a dozen handsome half-naked men, and not a single one of them was hers. Story of my life. When it came to the opposite sex, she didn’t have any luck at all. Which was why, yet again, she was available on a weekend to do this favor for the mayor.
At least, thanks to this video-shooting gig, instead of sitting at home alone she was filming the behind-the-scenes look at the firefighter calendar shoot. She’d joked with Mayor Bridges that watching hot guys strip down was going to be a sweet job, and it would have been had she not been so crazy worried about the Big Fat Lie she’d told her mother.
She didn’t like lying. But “Josie-you’re-so-deficient” remark #109 had pushed her over the edge of truth into the murky waters of half truths, which then so easily slid into the BFL. There was a way out of it…she just hadn’t found it yet.
Her mother was still angry with her for giving up her counseling practice to start the video business. But Josie didn’t care. That life had never fit her. It had been the one her parents had wanted for her. She loved the creative freedom she had now, but it wasn’t what her mother considered a “real” job, which made their phone calls a little…heated lately.
They were usually filled with her constant disappointment about how Josie was never enough. She was too picky, too curvy, too strong. She threw away a perfectly good career. She wouldn’t ever be in a serious relationship.
Which is how, after a few too many glasses of wine and a lot of frustration and hurt, Josie had ended up telling her mother that actually she wasn’t hopelessly single—she was dating a firefighter. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, likely due to the aforementioned alcohol. She’d done damage control a few days later by revealing they’d “broken up,” but by the end of the call, she’d somehow told her mother they were trying to work things out.
Telling herself it was okay, she’d fix it in time, she’d put it out of her mind. Her parents hadn’t lived in Morganville in years, so what were the odds that they’d suddenly decide to move back? Apparently, pretty high.
Now they were rolling into town in a matter of days and she was going to have to tell Lincoln Bradford, her once upon a time crush, what she’d done. Preferably before he heard it through the gossip grapevine. But how did one tell a man that he was supposed to be her breakup boyfriend?
She glanced at the front of the fire station where the object of her thoughts stood. She’d grown up idolizing her best friend Casey’s older brother. The first piece of her Star Trek memorabilia collection had come from Lincoln. It was on her eleventh birthday and it had only been a keychain with a replica of the Enterprise on it, but she had treasured it.
Birthdays weren’t celebrated at her house with gifts or cake. Instead, her parents deposited money into her college savings fund every year and had done so from the time she was five. While she appreciated that, her young heart had always longed to have the experiences and celebrations that other kids did.
Josie brought her thoughts back into focus when Judge Doyle’s son, who owned a photography shop in town, called out instructions for Lincoln to turn and flex that hard body of his.
Lincoln did, directing those dark eyes of his her way.
Josie coughed to keep a breath mint from going down the wrong way. “I’m fine,” she said in a strangled voice when Mayor Bridges thumped her on the back. She peered into the lens again and Lincoln filled the view.
He wore his yellow turnout pants hooked to red suspenders on either side of his impressive chest. In the crook of his arm, he cradled a small brown mutt that wouldn’t stop wriggling. Lincoln spoke quietly to the dog, then flicked his gaze to her again.
Her heart sped up. Turning her back to the group of men, Josie pretended her video camera stabilizer needed her immediate attention. She was doing great getting the pitter-patter of her heart under control when someone tapped her arm.
Beside her, Warren Doyle looked up at the bright blue October sky. He squinted, turned to Josie, then pointed at Lincoln. “The makeup girl seems to have disappeared, and Lincoln has a shine on his chest that’s giving off a glare. Can you take care of that?”
“You want me to…”
“Put some anti-shine here”—Warren patted his own chest impatiently—“on Mr. Muscles.”
Josie looked at Lincoln. Despite having crushed on him for years, he’d never seemed to see her as more than his little sister’s best friend until recently. After Casey had gotten engaged, Josie and Lincoln had been thrown together to help with the planning and they’d grown closer. Then, suddenly, Lincoln had started pulling away.
If they were still friendly, she’d be able to laugh with him and even tell him about her lie and it probably wouldn’t be a big deal. But she wasn’t so sure now. Straightening her shoulders, she nodded at the photographer. “Not a problem.” Liar.
She picked up the sponge and the tube of makeup and marched toward Lincoln, the guilt of her lie pecking at her subconscious like a flock of annoyed birds. When she reached him, she cleared her throat. “You have a glare,” she said in what she thought was a great nothing’s-going-on voice. She unscrewed the makeup lid, squeezed a little onto the sponge, and then dabbed it against his chest, careful not to let her fingers come into contact with his skin.
“I heard about your date,” he said. “Are you okay?”
She frowned, wondering at the concern in his voice after he’d been so distant lately. “I’m fine,” she said, even though the date had been anything but. She’d been shocked when Lex Burton had continued to consume drinks until he’d reached the point of falling out of his chair. She’d called a friend of his to give him a ride home, then she’d left. Lex had been her third miserable date of the month and that fact wasn’t a secret.
Living in a small town like Morganville, Georgia meant her entire pitiful dating life was on display.
“Are you sure?”
“What’d you hear? That I ducked out halfway through?” Come on, sponge, cover this glare so I can move away from Lincoln.
“No, I heard Lex showed up at your house at three in the morning to drunkenly serenade you.”
If that was all he’d heard, that wasn’t so bad. “I handled it.”
He flashed a smile that transformed his serious expression into one of teasing, and for a second, the Lincoln she knew was back. “You locked yourself out of your house.”
She had, while wearing a long-sleeved shirt and her underwear. But in her defense, she’d only caught the first few strains of the serenade and thought her neighbor’s not-too-bright cat had his head stuck in the opening of her gutter drain again. Feeling sorry for him, she’d rushed out only to find a barely able to stand Lex. She’d waved her hands in a shooing motion, trying to get him to go home, just as Mr. Williams had driven by her house on his way to work. The older man had gaped at her and then accidentally plowed his pickup into the mailbox next door. It wasn’t one of her better moments.
“Mr. Williams is telling anyone who’ll listen that you mooned him.”
Josie searched his face. After months of speaking to her as little as possible, he was awfully chatty now. “I was wearing flesh-colored underwear. I did not moon him.”
“I also heard you ended up with a warning ticket for indecent exposure.”
Josie lowered the sponge, exasperated at the town gossips. “That’s not true, either.” Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and looked into Lincoln’s eyes. “So…I kind of—”
Warren called out Josie’s name, giving her the what gives? palms-up gesture at the same time.
“Sorry!” Josie acknowledged, turning and giving him a nod, not sure if she was thankful for the interruption or not. She glanced back at Lincoln. “I should go. I need to get home and edit the footage. It was…good to see you.” She spun on her heel and managed to calmly walk back to her equipment. There had to be a way for her to fix things that didn’t include completely humiliating herself—she’d done enough of that already.
I still have some time…everything will be fine.
…
Lincoln watched Josie’s long brown hair bounce lightly against her back as her hips swayed. Look away. He swallowed and redirected his gaze. His sister’s best friend was off-limits, and even if she weren’t, after one too many painful breakups, Lincoln had sworn off love. Nothing good ever came from it.
His last girlfriend, Savannah, had been the closest thing he’d had to a long-term relationship. Then she’d broken up with him via text message less than a week after a terrible fire at work had left his best friend Kent horribly scarred, and another firefighter, Aiden, dead. Her reasoning had been that Lincoln wasn’t the guy “you spent forever with.”
He’d locked away the sting, and just when his heart had stopped aching, he’d noticed Josie, as if seeing her for the first time.
Standing in her ripped jeans, with curves that would make any man have trouble concentrating, it was like lightning had struck when he’d looked at her that night at Casey’s, months after his breakup. It was an awareness that had led him to take drastic measures.
He’d made a plan.
His perfect, no failure, no heartbreak plan for his life meant no relationships and absolutely no falling in love. So step one had been pulling back from Josie. But keeping his distance didn’t stop him from worrying about her.
He couldn’t help but look over at Josie again. As she talked to the photographer, the wind whipped her hair, and he remembered the feel of it across his arm when he’d hugged her last. Damn it, this was why he’d come up with his plan. This attraction to her would only lead to trouble.
The puppy in his arms raised his head and yipped at the same time the photographer announced they were through for the day. Lincoln handed the puppy back to the woman from the animal shelter. He hoped the calendar shoot helped the little guy find a home. If Lincoln didn’t already have his brother Grayson temporarily crashing at his place, as well as two dogs who thought they were human, he’d take the pup himself. But between his schedule and his brother’s crap everywhere, he didn’t have the extra time or the room a puppy deserved.
His other brother, Rafferty, who was also a firefighter, walked over and tossed Lincoln a T-shirt. He tilted his head to indicate a handful of women gathered at the edge of the field. “Thought I was going to have to turn the hose on a couple of them.”
“They’re here for you,” Lincoln said. Rafferty was the playboy in the family, not him.
Rafferty looked in Josie’s direction. “Saw you talking to Josie. Did you two kiss and make up?”
After jerking the shirt over his head, Lincoln sent his brother a dark look. “There was never any fight to kiss and make up from.”
“There’s something. What’s going on between the two of you?”
“Nothing.”
“Ah. You want it to. That’s why there’s frost in your relationship.”
Sighing, Lincoln strode toward the fire station, intending to grab his jacket and then have a word with Josie. “You need to quit reading Cosmopolitan.”
“Dude, it was one article.”
Lincoln tuned him out. He had enough on his mind without letting his brother nag him about Josie. The last town board meeting had hinted budget cuts might be on the way for the station. The funds they needed to buy more equipment wouldn’t be there if the already tight budget was slashed. He knew from personal experience how faulty equipment could make a rescue go bad, and he’d tried to come up with ways to raise money for the station. So far, no luck. The things he and the rest of the crew had done in the past—pancake breakfasts, car washes, and the like—rarely raised enough to make the expenditure of the events worthwhile.
“Hold up, Lincoln.” Mayor Bridges approached, frowning at Rafferty the entire time. “Can you excuse us a moment?”
Lincoln raised his eyebrows at the mayor’s unusually chilly tone, and Rafferty whispered, “Took her granddaughter out for dinner last week to celebrate her twenty-sixth birthday.” He winked after saying the word celebrate, and then giving the mayor a jaunty wave, disappeared inside the station.
Lincoln didn’t like the regretful expression that came across the older woman’s face, or the sorrowful look in her eyes. This wasn’t going to be good news.
“I fought to get the fire department the extra funding, but the council wants to spend it on building tourism.”
That figures. Tourists who visited the area did bring in revenue, but none of it went to help the services that mattered. “Don’t they understand that they’re not just hurting the station with their tightwad ways, but the entire town?”
“I know.”
Lincoln ran a hand through his hair. He loved Morganville, but he hated the way the council nickel and dimed every cent the station received. “They’re putting tourism dollars over public safety.”
The mayor nodded. “I agree.” She arched her eyebrows, then tipped her head toward Josie. “What if we can help them see why that money is needed?”
Lincoln looked at Josie, not understanding what part she could possibly play in this. “How?”
“You could team up with Josie to do a documentary about the station for the Heart of Morganville contest.”
Every year, the town held a photo and video contest to showcase what was great about life in the town. Though the prize money wasn’t a lot, what there was could make a dent in buying that equipment. And like the mayor was saying, a video about the fire department could also help with the council, and maybe inspire some much-needed donations, too. But teaming up with Josie…
“Well?” Mayor Bridges prodded.
“No,” Lincoln said firmly. It was a good idea, but not with Josie involved. They were already forced to spend time together since they’d agreed to help his sister, Casey, with her upcoming wedding. The last thing he needed to do was add more hours to that.
“No?” the mayor sputtered. “Teaming up with Josie is an obvious solution and there’s a greater good to consider here. The station needs the funds. It needs you.”
Of course the mayor would think that. She knew he’d always done what was right by the place he loved—including paying for things out of his own pocket at times.
He glanced back at some of the other firefighters milling about, laughing and talking, and his gut twisted. His crew needed air packs with lighter masks and better air consumption indicators along with an updated integrated communications system—just to start the list. The people who squeezed the station’s budget until it barely covered salaries and fuel costs didn’t understand the difference those items could make when seconds counted.
Lincoln rubbed the back of his neck to ease the tension. He’d just have to find a way to get the money. For now, he was going to talk to Josie about her dating habits. He bid the mayor a quick goodbye after telling her he’d figure something out, and strode toward the parking lot.
Josie was bent over, reaching into her car, and Lincoln tried not to notice how shapely she was, how her sweet and fun-loving personality made her outer beauty even more appealing. Her hips wiggled enticingly as she pushed something across the driver’s seat. Better try a lot harder.
She straightened and started to pick up her equipment but stopped when she saw him. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from hers. Lincoln had always thought she had the prettiest blue eyes in all of Georgia.
When he’d first met her, she’d been a scrawny little kid who looked like she needed a world of hugs to erase the worries in her eyes. He’d recognized that I-want-to-belong expression and he’d done his damnedest to make sure she was included as much as possible in his family. “You shouldn’t go out with guys like Lex.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Why not?”
“They’re not good enough for you.” Like me…
“Oh.” She bit her lower lip, seeming surprised.
When he didn’t say anything more—because he didn’t know what else to say—she arched her eyebrows. “Is that it?”
“Uh…yeah.”
“Glad we could have this heartfelt chat and clear the air between us.” She moved around him to pick up her tripod case at the same time he reached for it. His hand closed over hers and she went as still as he did. The clock turned back and he was thrust into a past memory of when he’d helped out on her great-grandmother’s farm.
Josie, wearing jean shorts and an infectious smile, had worked alongside him and his brothers repairing fences until it got too dark to see clearly enough. They’d ridden back to the main house together in the back of a pickup truck. She was right beside him on the tailgate, swinging her legs back and forth and smelling like sunshine and the strawberries they’d eaten. His head had spun when she’d leaned into him to brush a streak of mud from the side of his face.
Then Josie pulled her hand from beneath his and the memory dissipated. “I can get it, thanks.” Her jaw was tight as she climbed into her car. With a reproachful glance, she waited the space of several beats of his heart before she backed from the parking space and drove off.
Lincoln slowly let out the breath he felt like he’d been holding since Josie had first arrived at the shoot. Rafferty came up beside him and clapped his hand on his shoulder. He held scraps of paper in his hand and waved them around. “Got several new numbers. Want a date?”
“No.”
“You don’t even know who the numbers belong to.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
His brother sighed. “I’m trying to help you out. This morning, Grandma and Mom were having coffee and dissecting your love life.”
“Let me guess how the conversation went. I’m not dating, I’m about to turn thirty- five, which means I’m going to end up all alone without anyone to help take care of me when I’m too old to do it myself.”
“Pretty much,” Rafferty said as he stuffed the slips of paper into his pocket. “They both looked at me and I told them not to worry, that I’d pick a decent nursing home to stick you in.”
“You’re all heart.”
Rafferty nodded and smacked his chest. “I have your back, man.”
“I’m going on a senior citizen check tonight. You in?”
“Yep. I’ll grab my stuff.” Rafferty walked backward, then stopped. “We could invite Josie. It’d be just like old times.”
“Rafferty…”
His brother held his hands up. “All right, but one of these days, you gotta tell me the truth about her.”
“The truth is she’s just Casey’s best friend,” Lincoln said.
Rafferty let out a scornful laugh. “I saw the way you looked at her when she was putting that anti-glare stuff on your chest.”
“I didn’t look at her any differently than I usually do.” Lincoln turned his back to his brother and headed for his truck. He hadn’t looked at Josie any differently. That would only lead to complications that might derail his no failure, no heartbreak plan, and there was no way in hell he was gonna let that happen.