Dallas Fire & Rescue: Chasing Flames (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Fiery Fairy Tales Book 1) Read online

  Text copyright ©2016 by the Author.

  This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Paige Tyler. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Dallas Fire & Rescue remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Paige Tyler, or their affiliates or licensors.

  For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds

  Chasing Flames

  Dallas Fire & Rescue

  (Kindle Worlds)

  Bestselling Author

  Siera London

  CHASING FLAMES

  Cover art by Lena Hart, Maroon Ash Publishing

  Images licensed via DepositPhoto and iStockPhoto

  Edited by Rebecca Martin of Bare Essentials Publishing

  Edited by Sue Soares of SJS Editing

  .

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  About This Book

  Waitress, Symphony Porter’s obsession with fire has made her a target for distrust and rejection. She’s broke and with her home weeks away from foreclosure, she’s eager to drive to Key West to claim an unexpected inheritance. Symphony arrives in town expecting a quick exit, but soon stumbles into trouble—to include six feet three inches of scorching hot danger to her heart. With time running out, the last thing Symphony needs is a handsome investigator hot on her trail.

  Fire investigator, Nathan Zachary has had enough relationships crash and burn, that he knows at first sight that Symphony is the woman for him. He’s ready to make the saucy waitress a permanent part of his life, but a series of random fires puts Symphony on a collision course with Nathan’s case. As the spark of attraction ignites between them, so does the danger and suspicion.

  Nathan is everything Symphony’s ever wanted, but she’s learned good things don’t last for long. To make matters worse, someone in town knows her secret. As the evidence mounts, how will these two fiery lovers learn to trust and uncover the truth before their happily ever after goes up in flames?

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks to Paige Tyler for creating the Dallas Fire & Rescue world filled with kick-butt heroines and sexy firefighters. I had a lot of fun letting my imagination run wild with Nathan and Symphony’s story.

  —To Fire Captain D. Austin, your input has been invaluable.

  —To DesaRae and Courtney, thanks, ladies, for helping me assemble my research team.

  —To Kate and Lanie, Symphony and I thank you for sharing the scoop on what it’s like to be a firefighter’s lady.

  —As always, to Mr. Awesome, Michele, Rebecca, Tammy, you are my sounding board, my support network, my critique partner, my editor; in other words, you are amazing.

  —To Him who is able to keep us from falling, both now and forever, thank you, God.

  Sincerely,

  Siera

  Chapter One

  Her anxiety arrived just in time for happy hour. Symphony Porter swallowed the lump of desperation crowding her throat. A hand over her stomach did little to squelch the internal churning. Would she make enough money tonight? Closing her eyes, she thought about what she stood to lose. Her mother’s legacy had become her sanctuary. Without the money, it would become a padlocked monument to Symphony’s failure. Ten days was all she had to earn sixty- five hundred dollars or she’d be homeless.

  A toilet’s swish and gurgle pulled Symphony back to the present. She glanced around the small space, inhaling the humid October air. The low rattle of the air conditioning unit mounted in the locker room’s window waged war against the South Florida heat. A woman exited the stall. The strawberry-scented freshener that dispensed each time the door opened hung in a visible cloud, a sweet contrast to the liquor and smoke twang that filled the bar beyond the flamingo pink door. Where was Symphony’s lighter?

  The bar and grill, wedged between Key West’s Duval and Eaton Streets, was Symphony’s primary means of support. The infamous two-mile strip was a gathering place for last-ditch efforts…and she had joined the ranks. Hobo Alley was a reputable establishment with decent pay despite the name. After weeks of pulling overtime and selling breakfast plates every morning to the fishermen on the waterfront, a thousand dollars lay under Symphony’s mattress. Every day brought her closer to the cliff’s edge and she wondered how far would she fall if she just let go. Releasing the hold on her middle, she ran her hands along her thighs before checking her jeans pockets. There was little to be proud of when she replayed her twenty-three years. She really needed her lighter.

  Cognizant of her rising anxiety, Symphony conjured an image of a large hearth with glowing embers to disrupt her elevator ride to the emotional basement. Like cool water over a fresh burn, she felt immediate relief. Breathe. Customers fill her tables soon. The Friday night crowd kept her hands and thoughts occupied. Growing up on the road, Symphony belonged nowhere and to no one, so she welcomed the camaraderie of the staff and patrons.

  “Stop squirming,” Rachel chided, while her hands cupped and adjusted Symphony’s ample cleavage for the tenth time.

  Symphony frowned at the woman standing before her.

  Rachel Hoberstein, the sole proprietor of the bar believed in taking care of people. With her burnt orange-red curls, courtesy of a drugstore box, sun-darkened skin, and generous disposition, she was a fairy godmother making dreams come true over ice-cold beer and a home-cooked meal.

  “Push ’em higher while I adjust the saddle strings,” Claudia suggested in her classic Southern drawl.

  The senior waitress, if the title existed, from her position behind Rachel, moved toward Symphony with outstretched hands. Claudia bumped Rachel with a swing of her ample hips to get her out of the way. With the finesse of a cattle roper, the older woman yanked Symphony’s bra straps until her boobs could double as a second pair of lips beneath her chin.

  “I’m giving you Claudia’s tables, so you’ve got to look the part,” Rachel offered in justification of Claudia’s actions.

  Well, that explained the roping maneuver. Claudia had obviously been a trail bunny in a former life and knew what cowboys liked.

  “Rachel’s right. My customers like a side of boob with their beer. You’re a squirmer, so that might work in your favor…giggle in the direction of the dollars, suga’.”

  Both women nodded their heads in agreement. Symphony shook her head, turning away from grabby hands.

  “How am I supposed to position the girls on the premium liquor shelf when you, little Miss, keep dropping them to the ice bin?” Claudia complained into Symphony’s boobs.

  “Squirming would be a non-issue if you took your paws off my naughty girls,” Symphony retorted. She didn’t recall asking for a lift, temporary or otherwise. She never asked anyone for anything. She depended on número uno. Herself.

  Rachel sucked air between her teeth, making a soft whistle. “Your girls haven’t been naughty in the two months you’ve been in town.”

  Two months, instead of the planned two weeks, and not a cent of her inheritance had reached her bank account. Weeks of phone calls and cancelled office visits had dwi
ndled to ten days.

  “That changes tonight. The twins,” Claudia pointed a rhinestone appliqué nail at Symphony’s boobs, “will earn you every cent you need to keep your home out of the, my mama was too proud to beg auction. Maybe you’ll find a piece of hardwood to light your fire.”

  Claudia winked at her last comment.

  Sexual suggestion was the final straw. Symphony pulled Claudia’s eager-to-help hands from the mounds of flesh spilling over the top of her bra, erupting from the deep V in her T-shirt.

  “Fine, refuse our magic touch, but your girls could take you from a “Good Times” episode to George and Wheezy Jefferson’s big league,” her boss said, raising her hands in the air before taking two steps backwards.

  “I doubt that.” Thanks to the Porter genes, Symphony was no slouch in the looks department, but men noticed her eccentricities and portable lifestyle long before they discovered the woman beneath.

  “There’s a prince out there with your name tatted across his a—”

  Symphony interrupted Claudia, “I have to serve food. I don’t need that visual in my head.”

  Claudia chuckled. “I’m just saying.”

  Rachel turned toward the pink exit door.

  “Prince Charming does exist, Symphony.” Rachel’s voice sounded dreamy and far off.

  “I’d probably get a warty toad dressed in prince clothing.”

  “Maybe.” Rachel inclined her head, a wicked grin making a slow trek across her nude-glossed lips. “But if you’re kissing in the right spot…”

  Symphony brought her arms up, forming a giant “x” with her forearms in front of her body, “You two are impossible. Enough, already,” she laughed, shooing both women out the door.

  “I know where I’m not wanted,” Claudia said as she walked out the door.

  “I’ll go, if you leave your chest where we put it.”

  Rachel’s casual lean against the wall told Symphony her boss had every intention of following through on her threat.

  “Okay, okay,” Symphony conceded.

  “You’ll thank me when every firefighter tonight starts offering to hose you down while dropping twenty-dollar tips in your hand.”

  Symphony gave a long exhale. “I’m uncomfortable playing the Tips-for-Titty game.”

  Symphony knew the dire state of her finances better than anyone, but could she use her body to make money? Could her psyche withstand another compromise?

  Rachel’s gaze flicked to Symphony’s face. “Is hunger and homelessness more acceptable to you?”

  “No, but—”

  “Create the fantasy, Symphony. Men love the chase. Play the stack,” Rachel pointed at her racked and stacked boobs, “you’ve been blessed with. The men will spend every dime in their wallets, hoping to get a chance with a beautiful woman like you.”

  Symphony dropped her head afraid Rachel would see the joy on her face at the compliment. “I’ll try.”

  Rachel opened her mouth, and then closed it.

  “What is it?”

  “You look a little wound up. Do… you need a smoke break?”

  Confession had condemned Symphony in the past, but Rachel had been different. When Symphony disclosed to her boss that she was a fire starter and stressful situations sometimes overrode her control, instead of calling her a freak or threatening to have her arrested, Rachel had asked how she controlled the impulse.

  “No worries, boss.”

  With a nod of acceptance, Rachel grabbed the brass handle on the door, and then disappeared into the narrow hall leading past the stage. The clang of musical instruments filled the room before falling silent behind the closed door. A rock band opened the live performance at nine. That gave Symphony four hours to get the dinner crowd fed and out the door before her appointment. Glancing at herself in the wall-length mirror, she quirked a brow at her flying-high boobs.

  A knock sounded at the door, making Symphony jerk. “The toads are getting jumpy. Time to get to work,” said Claudia without showing her face.

  “Coming.” Stuffing her blue crystal lighter into her jeans pocket, she grabbed her starched apron from its hook. She looked around, the counter was clear of her belongings, so she secured her locker.

  Eager to fill her apron with tips, she bolted out the door where she met with a solid wall of hard muscle. Her body was already moving backwards when large hands gripped her waist, steadying her.

  Before Symphony realized her intentions, her hands gripped sculpted biceps, granite hard, and held on. Her skin tingled at the contact.

  “You okay?”

  A jolt of heightened awareness assailed Symphony. His deep voice flowed over her with the caress of smooth jazz. She looked up and met with smoky gray eyes. His eyes were stunning, and…his full lips and chiseled jaw. Well, pumpkin pie in the sky, she loved jazz and gray-eyed gorgeousness. Symphony licked her lips, already tasting his toasted skin between her teeth. The instant attraction surprised her. Somewhere in the back of her lust-hazed brain, a saxophone blew Mariah Carey’s “Shake It Off.”

  She cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’m okay.” Neither of them moved. His dark hair curled up close to his shirt collar and was too long to be considered professional. His penetrating stare could be considered impolite, but she liked it. His hands tightened around her waist and on instinct, she moved closer.

  “You’re gorgeous.” She heard him say.

  His lips. They moved again, the sound of a musical note that resonated in her bones. A life-sized Pied Piper was in her midst and she had to break the spell.

  “Bold and charming,” she chided. “Aren’t I a lucky girl?”

  “Glad to hear you like me, too.”

  He smiled and her pulse put on track shoes.

  “We haven’t been introduced, I’m—”

  She interrupted, not wanting him to take her any farther down this road.

  “No, you’d… remember me.” Her voice sounded strangled to her own ears.

  When he laughed, the skin around his eyes crinkled at the corners, and those gorgeous lips stretched wide to reveal just shy of perfect dimples. They were shallow as if God changed his mind about bestowing excessive good looks to one man. Symphony’s breasts grew heavy beneath the thin T-shirt material.

  The fingers he had at her waist did a slow back and forward motion along her torso. Unable to stop herself, Symphony glanced down just in time to see her nipples harden and peak. The T-shirt she wore must have had press and cling fibers because her nipples were in 4-D and the hottie in front of her tracked her gaze down to Titty Town Center.

  “I’m Nathan,” he rasped, eyes riveted to her breasts. “Nathan Zachary.”

  Symphony opened her mouth, but only a whimper escaped. She expected her rapid beating heart to jump higher than lottery balls next. A tiny voice in her head made the introduction she hadn’t. Hello, My Name is O Ye Foolish Woman. Symphony could have sworn under oath Nathan’s nostrils flared and his body began to expand. Or maybe, she shrank beneath his, me Tarzan, you Jane vibe. Nathan radiated danger and his touch was downright criminal.

  “And your name would be,” he prompted, holding her in place with his stare.

  There was laughter behind his words.

  When Symphony looked at Nathan full on, her fingers ached to sink deep, touch every inch of his tanned skin. He looked like he could be a billboard model for Rugged Man Roll-On, Outdoorsman Outfitters, and Body Paint for Boyfriends. You name it and he could sell it. He was every woman’s fantasy—translation, he was all wrong for her. Normal guys belonged with normal girls. Symphony held a permanent address in IBeAbnormal, USA.

  “I’m… ah… Nathan Zachary, don’t you think you should let me go?”

  He chuckled, revealing straight white teeth.

  “Odd name for a pretty woman, but I don’t think I should let you go, little Blue.”

  Oh gosh, he was a man with a sense of humor. Symphony kept her dark tresses colored with a blueberry rinse. Oftentimes, the color went unnoticed u
ntil sunlight hit the strands.

  Nathan was a desperate woman’s kryptonite. One night in his arms and she’d forget about her troubles, well, until she was living out of a hi-jacked grocery cart. He was a walking, talking distraction she couldn’t afford to even window shop.

  Nathan pulled her in closer to his very warm, big body. His eyes took a languid stroll down to her breasts. When their eyes met once more, his were lit with an undeniable burn of desire. Symphony’s breath hitched.

  Well damn, the girls were on the job.

  ***

  Nathan lifted the longneck beer bottle to his lips and took a slow pull of the icy liquid down his throat. The refreshing salt taste lingered on his tongue, mixing with the honeyed scent of the curvy beauty who’d wiggled out of his arms moments before. In his twenty-nine years, the earth had never moved under his feet when he looked at a woman… until today. His entire world shrank to a freeze frame on the breathtaking midnight-blue-haired beauty with warm amber eyes that hinted at being naughty and nice. If he hadn’t felt her presence in his hands, he would’ve sworn she was an aberration of the erotic kind.

  Visions of her thick tresses covering his chest, while he sucked those full berry lips of hers in his mouth, had him salivating. Raw desire and an unexpected spark of anticipation flowed through his veins at the thought of pinning Little Blue against the wall and making her body sing to his tune. At the lengthening below his belt, Nathan inhaled a deep breath while he let his gaze drift in the direction of the hallway leading to the bathrooms. He checked his watch. Where was she?

  “How goes it, Nate? We missed seeing you on the regular.”

  Vibration and the aged quality made the male voice recognizable to Nathan’s ear. Disinclined to abandon his watchful waiting routine, he tipped his bottle to Shaky, the world’s oldest bouncer. Rachel had a soft heart. The only thing the wiry, sometimes employee could bounce with any efficiency was a ball.