Page 1 of Spark
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Firefighter Tyler Gates was surrounded by love, and not in the good way.Yeah, he was standing in the middle of a fire house full of first responders who would risk their lives to have his back, and he’d have theirs without thinking twice.But the love in the air at Station Seventeen wasn’t of the deep fellowship, I’d-follow-you-into-Mordor variety.Nope.It was full on, weapons-grade relationship love, and as far as Tyler was concerned, that shit was like glitter.It might be pretty in the moment, but it made a holy mess after the shine inevitably faded, and even a little bit was dangerous.
No matter how many people around him were throwing themselves headfirst into the stuff, and grinning ear to ear as they did.
Straightening his shoulders beneath his dark gray Remington Fire Department T-shirt, Tyler shook off the thought.As a single guy who was determined to stay that way, he knew he was in the vast minority at Seventeen.All the firefighters on Engine were either blissfully married or in forever-and-ever-amen relationships with the same level of sanctity, with their two paramedics deciding to up the relationship ante by marrying each other a few years ago.His best friend and rescue squad-mate, Ryan Dempsey, was getting hitched in six months—hell, even fellow squad-mate Sam Faurier, who’d been unrepentantly single for the more than half-decade that Tyler had known him, had recently shocked the crap out of everyone when he’d fallen ass-over-teakettle in love.
But Tyler was never going to partake in anything other than mutually agreed upon hookups that had a shorter shelf life than a gallon of milk.Anything more had the potential to lead to feelings not of the in-my-pants variety, and on those, Tyler took a hard fucking pass.Romantic feelings meant strings to get tangled in down the line.Complications that made people unpredictable.Uncontrollable.Vulnerable.No shade to his friends—they were happy, and Tyler was happy they were the exception.But as far as he was concerned, life was so much safer without feelings of that particular brand.Between the camaraderie he had with everyone at the fire house and the close bond he and his mother had always shared, he had more than enough happiness to fill his quota.
Tyler was perfectly fine sticking with one-time-only encounters he could enjoy drama-free, which meant never sleeping with anyone he would see again.Even casual sex between people who knew each other had the potential to become sticky—or at the very least, become awkward after both parties put their clothes back on—and the risk was never worth it.Someone always ended up catching feelings, and that person was never going to be him.So, yeah.Not having sex with someone he knew was right up there with honor thy mother and always have your fellow firefighters’ backs on his list of rules.He never broke it.Ever.
Except for two months ago on St.Patrick’s Day when he’d come thiiiiiiis close to not just breaking that rule, but obliterating it, with the one person he had the least business wanting.
His best friend’s little sister, Chloe Ferguson.
Tyler’s chin snapped up, prompting him to spin his gaze around the engine bay where he was supposed to be doing his final squad vehicle inventory before shift change.Ryan, Faurier, and their lieutenant, Gabe Hawkins, were all thankfully occupied with their own morning shift duties.Tyler had an ironclad constitution and the poker face to match—not getting rattled in stressful situations was part of what made him a good squad firefighter.But the memory of the kiss he’d shared with Chloe, of what it had almost led to, of what he’dwantedit to lead to, made it damn near impossible to stay calm.
Her mouth on his like wildfire, hot and searching and so fucking good.The need that had burst through him like a firework when she’d moaned in the back of her throat.Her hands knotted in his hair as she’d kissed him so hard and deep that he’d felt it in his balls.
How he’d wanted her so badly that if they hadn’t been interrupted, he’d have taken her home and fucked her every way they could imagine, then slept with her in his arms, only to wake up and fuck her again before their time was up.
Damn it, he needed to banish the memory from his brain, once and for all.Chloe was Ryan’s little sister.Tyler had been on the wrong side of buzzed that night, hopped up on too much green beer and residual adrenaline from a close call he’d had earlier in the day on a hairy search and rescue.Chloe was the complete opposite of someone he’d never see again—for Chrissake, he’d known her for over a decade.He’d sat next to her at countless Dempsey family dinners, where he and his mom had always been included as extended family.He knew she’d been adopted by Lou and Carleen Dempsey at fifteen, making her the youngest of their five children, all of whom had been in the foster care system.He knew she’d been through hell two years ago when she’d been targeted by a serial stalker/killer.And he also knew she’d worked tirelessly to heal from that trauma, graduating from culinary school and using her talents to move up the ranks as the pastry sous chef at Sweetie Pies, one of Remington’s most popular bakeries.
He and Chloe weren’t just say-hi, small-talk, I’ve-made-you-come-but-can-forget-about-that-in-public acquaintances.If ever there was a woman Tyler couldn’t cross the line with, it was her.Granted, denying his attraction to her had become increasingly difficult over the past year or so, and the kiss had been as mutual as it had piping hot.But it had also been wildly impulsive.After they’d been interrupted by Ryan’s (thankfully tipsy and therefore oblivious) fiancée, Addison Hale, coming to try to rope them both into karaoke, they’d stared at the floor, the ceiling, and anywhere other than each other’s faces as they’d stiffly agreed the kiss had been a mistake and promised to forget it.They’d gone out of their way to mutually avoid each other since then—which just proved his point about shit getting awkward after a hookup, thanks—only getting within ten feet of each other when it was totally inevitable, and limiting themselves to perfectly polite exchanges like “please pass the green beans”/“thank you” at Dempsey family dinners.
But what Tyler had wanted to do to her hadn’t been polite, at all.He’d wanted to kiss her and not come up for air.He’d wanted to explore her mouth to find out what made that moan turn into a scream.He’d wanted her hands back in his hair, this time pulling hard as he put his hand between her legs, pressing his fingers deep inside of her so he could feel the second she started to come.He’d wanted her sweet mouth doing sinful things to his cock so he could beg her not to stop.He’dwanted?—
“Dude, are you okay?”Ryan’s voice wrenched Tyler back to the present tense of Station Seventeen’s engine bay, sending his heart halfway up his throat and a shot of guilt slamming down his spine.At least his buddy’s presence was enough to douse Tyler’s brewing hard-on, and the fact that their squad-mate Sam Faurier, and Engine firefighter Lucy de Costa were hot on Dempsey’s heels sealed the deal.
“Absolutely,” Tyler said, slinging on his very best status-quo smile as he blotted out his thoughts of Chloe and gestured to the squad vehicle in front of him.“These storage compartments are just kind of a disaster after our last call, is all.”
Not untrue, thank God, and de Costa’s black brows jumped upward at the sight of the mess.“Oh, my God.You guys are barbarians,” she said, reaching out to help straighten the jumble of equipment in the wide-open storage compartment in front of him.“Seriously.None of these axes and Halligans are married.They’re all just thrown together with the hooks.And don’t get me started on the state of these chainsaws.It’s downright criminal!”
She started to rummage in earnest.de Costa had never met a reg she didn’t follow to the letter.How the hell she had ended up moving in with Faurier last month was seriously mind-boggling, considering Tyler was decently sure the guy hadinventedflying by the seat of his pants.Tyler definitely hadn’t had de Costa and Faurier hooking up and going all heart-eyed and happily-ever-after for each other on his bingo card.Then again, he’d never have called Ryan and Addison tying the proverbial knot after a two-year relationship that had defied the odds and only grown stronger over time.But as much as Tyler thought romantic relationships all ended up in red-hot garbage fires, he’d be a dick if he wasn’t at least happy that Ryan and Faurier were both happy.Plus, it presented loads of opportunities to give them both oversized portions of (fairly good-natured) shit, and he was never, ever going to pass that up.
Especially when Faurier, the big fucking softie, gave de Costa a look that was nothing short of adoration before lifting his auburn brows at Tyler and Ryan.“She’s got a method,” he said, adding a goofy-ass grin to his expression, “and she knows the Remington Fire Code, like, by heart, so I don’t suggest messing with it.”
de Costa put her hands on the hips of her navy-blue uniform pants like she meant business, but the smile twitching at the corners of her mouth was unmistakable.“Rules are important, Faurier.Now, are you going to just stand there, or are you going to help me fix this trash fire?”
Faurier laughed.“I’m going to help you fix this trash fire.”
He gestured for the tablet in Tyler’s hand, which Tyler was smart enough to pass over without complaint.
“Guess I’ll go change and clock out.”He turned to head into the fire house so he could hit the locker room, but Ryan edged his way into Tyler’s path, not budging.
“Actually,” Ryan said, rubbing a palm over the back of his neck.“Do you have a second?I wanted to, ah, talk to you about something.”
“Sure,” Tyler said, leaving de Costa and Faurier to finish enthusiastically organizing the hooks, Halligans, axes, and chainsaws (alphabetically, then in size order, if he had to guess).He followed Ryan a dozen or so steps toward the open bay doors, which wasn’t a hardship since today was pretty much the most perfect May morning Mother Nature could rustle up.“What’s up?”
Ryan grinned sheepishly, which wasn’t quite on-brand for the guy, and Tyler’s intuition twanged to life.“I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, and, well, you’ve been my best friend for literally half my life.”
“Yeah,” Tyler said, almost like a question, and oh, shit, how transparent had Tyler been the last time Carleen had insisted he sit right smack next to Chloe at Sunday dinner?He’d channeled a lot of energy into acting perfectly normal while keeping as much distance—both literal and emotional—from her as possible, but the Dempsey dinner table was always packed.His knee had accidentally brushed against Chloe’s three times, and his composure had been nearly incinerated by the end of the night.Was Ryan onto him?
The guy continued, “We work together.We’ve known each other since high school.I trust you more than anyone other than Addison.You’re practically my brother.So, I was wondering…hoping, I guess…that you would be my best man.”
Tyler’s jaw hit the concrete.“At yourwedding?”
“Well, yeah.”Ryan laughed.“That’s typically where one has a best man.”
