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He was quiet for a minute, then sighed. “That must be the one the woman and her kid moved into.”

“Uh, yeah. You know about that?”

“Vaguely. Do you know the contractor restoring some of the houses up there? His foreman had done some work for a candle maker or something. She was looking for a house somewhere outside of Atlanta, and it all fell into place, so I let her rent it.”

A candle maker?

“No, West,” I shook my head even though he couldn't see me. “This woman wasn’t a Yankee Candle. Shewasthe whole flame. A fucking bomb.”

“Please don’t tell me that house burned to the ground. Please don’t tell me she blew my house up, Easton.”

“No,” I began pacing the length of my living room. My brother was missing the point, and maybe that was for the best. I needed to keep him confused because he didn’t need to know that a woman who made candles for a living had practically lit my life on fire with one glance.

Which was ironic since I was a damn firefighter.

And it wasn’t because I saw her nearly naked. It was how she dove after her son, not caring about anything except making sure he was safe. Then, the way she processed what happened and straightened her shoulders in fortitude. Her dark hair was wet, and her green eyes were wide. She looked like a goddess.

She immediately made me want to know more. Every single detail about her was vital, and I had hoped my brother knew more than he apparently did.

“So what happened?” West finally urged. “Is the family okay?”

“Yeah,” I snapped back, a new mission in my mind. Maybe West wasn’t completely useless. “But there are still some thingsthat need to be fixed on that house, or you’re gonna be considered a slumlord, man.”

“Like what? I’ll call Robert back to the house.”

“No, no. I’ll handle the issues. Just wanted you to know and wanted the story on who and why she was living there.”

“You don’t have time to do anything to that house.”

“I work one day and have three days off, I think I can handle it.”

He was quiet for a minute, but then sighed. “Whatever. Just let me know what I need to do. Having someone live there was not in my plans. I wanted to sell the damn house after repairs were made, not be someone’s landlord.”

“Well, you’re a good man, big brother.”

“Do me a favor, and don’t call me nine times unless something is seriously wrong.”

“Deal. I think we both know that Pluto sucks. It's wishy-washy. Unpredictable. Next time, I’ll make it an even ten without hesitating to overthink it.”

On that note, Westhungup, probably thinking I was joking—or in desperate need of a strait jacket. I didn’t need a sweet goodbye from him, anyway. I had gotten exactly what I called for. At least enough to get started on a plan to learn more about Jesse, the naked candlemaker from Atlanta.

The fool in me was about to use my brother’s position as her landlord to get closer. And I didn’t seem to care that she probably didn’t need me in her business.

“Too bad, so sad,” I laughed, considering for an instant that I may have lost my mind.

Grabbing my tools, I loaded them into my truck and made my way to her house. I was going to tell her that my brother owned the house, and after the emergency call the night before, he wanted me to fix the old steps. Not that the steps and a falsealarm 9-1-1 call went hand in hand, but I would bullshit and tell her it just came up in conversation.

“Ugh,” I groaned as I turned onto the main highway through town. “What happened to you last night? And when did you start talking to yourself?”

And why her? Of all the women I had ever laid eyes on, why did it have to be a woman that clearly had more important things to do than fuck around with me?

Chapter Five

JESSE

What better way tomeet your new neighbors than to give them a reason to stick their nose where it didn’t belong? The following morning, they started filing in one by one wanting to know if I needed a casserole. In my old, worn-down part of town, most of my neighbors were elderly, and I became their newest town fodder with one false call to the fire department.

The new girl in town with a young child and no husband was Harmony Haven news everyone would want to report on.

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