The Last of The Red Hot Firefighters (Red Hot Reunions Book 1) (2 page)

The rest of the older women giggled, and Naomi and Maddie took their seats. Naomi plucked her auction card from next to her slice of chocolate cake and clenched it in her slowly thawing fingers.

Lucky number fifty-eight.

At least she hoped it would be lucky and that she’d brought enough cash to secure Jake as her date for the month. She didn’t imagine anyone else would be willing to go above fifteen hundred dollars. The proceeds from this fundraiser were going to a good cause—a badly needed new firehouse—but most women in Summerville weren’t CEOs of multi-million dollar companies.

Naomi’s cooking show was in reruns on two different cable networks, and
Naomi Whitehouse: Gourmet Foods and More
was making a mint. Her gourmet products were flying off grocery store shelves, and she’d just developed a line of cookware for a major department store chain. Naomi had more money than she knew what to do with, especially considering she was currently living in her parents’ house and Maddie refused to let Naomi pay more than a third of the start-up costs for the bakery they were opening in downtown Summerville.

Naomi had tried to convince Maddie and her business partner, Aria March, that it was absolutely no big deal for her to foot the bill for the renovation, as well as the first year’s worth of expenses, but they wouldn’t hear of it.

Then again, both women were more focused on the bottom line than Naomi was.

Naomi had been well off for years, and she knew first hand that when it came to happiness, money truly couldn’t buy you anything even close. Aria March, with her sexy, devoted husband, adorable little girl, and new baby due next year, was richer than Naomi in every way that mattered.

No, money couldn’t buy happiness, but maybe it could buy her a foot in the door to forgiveness. If she was going to make a life for herself in Summerville—a happy, authentic life filled with love and laughter—she had to make peace with Jake. Since coming home, she’d only seen him for a few minutes, but that had been long enough to make it obvious that he hated her.

When Naomi spotted Jake in the A&P’s frozen food aisle yesterday, she’d smiled and headed toward him with every intention of starting over as grown-up friends. But before she’d made it out of the ice-cream section, Jake shot her a glare that would melt a glacier, spun on his heel, and walked out of the store without a backward glance. Considering the size of Summerville, it would be impossible for her to avoid her old flame. She and Jake had to find a way to harmoniously co-exist, for both their sakes.

“Are you going to eat your cake?” Maddie whispered as the lights dimmed and Mitzy Chambers, the city councilwoman who was sponsoring the fundraiser, walked down the catwalk, microphone in hand.

“No, you take it. I’m too nervous,” Naomi said, pushing the cake toward her sister.

Maddie had put on a few pounds since moving back to Summerville, but she was still gorgeous. Besides, after being left for a lifeguard named Craig, Maddie had the right to eat her feelings. Naomi figured they could both start making healthier choices once they had the bakery up and running and had started their new lives off on the right foot.

For Naomi, that first, right-footed step would be taken tonight.

“Welcome, ladies,” Mitzy said, laughing as she was greeted with a cheer from the assembled women. “First of all, let me tell y’all how glad I am to see you here tonight. Our hardworking firefighters have been in desperate need of a new firehouse for years. Since the last ballot initiative didn’t pass, we’ve decided to take things into our own hands. With your help, we’re hoping to make Hunk-for-a-Month the biggest fundraiser Summerville has ever seen.”

Her words were met with a hearty round of applause.

“I’m sure y’all are ready to see the men you’ve come to bid on,” she said, laughing as the room echoed with more cheers and a few squeals. “But before we get started, I want to make sure y’all understand how this works.”

Mitzy held up an arm and the image projected onto the wall to her left changed from a greeting to a list of the month’s upcoming events—a holiday fair, a dinner and silent auction, a hayride and bonfire, and a holiday ball.

“Tonight you’ll be bidding on a date to the rest of our fundraising events,” Mitzy said. “Each Friday, you and your firefighter escort will enjoy the festivities we have planned, culminating in the Fireman’s Ball, where you’ll be guests of honor and we’ll announce how much we’ve raised. We hope the entire town will turn out to support these events, and we know seeing our brave men—”

“And woman!” a feminine voice called out from behind the curtains separating the back stage from the catwalk, eliciting a wave of laughter from the audience.

Mitzy smiled. “Yes, and woman. I hope you ladies brought some money to bid on behalf of your sons and grandsons because we also have one lovely lady firefighter up for auction tonight.”

“She’s a girl, anyway—not sure about the lady part,” a male voice from behind the curtain called out, getting an even bigger response from the crowd.

Mitzy laughed. “It seems the natives are getting restless,” she said with a bright smile. “So, without further ado, I invite you all to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Let our brave firefighters entertain you and get ready to start bidding!”

As Mitzy descended the steps to the catwalk, pulsing club music began to throb from the speakers, and disco lights spun across the stage. A moment later, the curtain at the back of the stage parted and an olive-skinned hunk strutted out. He was wearing skin-tight jeans and a fireman’s jacket open at the front to reveal his washboard abs.

The man winked and paused to do a slow turn at the center of the catwalk, and Naomi’s stomach lurched miserably.

CHAPTER THREE

Naomi

Crap.

Naomi knew that hunk, knew him almost as well as she knew his brother.

She swallowed hard, trying to ignore the way her pulse beat frantically at her throat as Jamison Hansen, Jake’s little brother, worked the catwalk like a male model. His cocky grin remained firmly in place as he slid his coat slowly off his shoulders, revealing the to-die-for body beneath, and Naomi’s mind reeled.

What the heck was going on?

Jamison Hansen didn’t live in Summerville anymore. Naomi had it on good authority—a friend of a friend who was working her way through the police force after dating half the firemen in town—that Jamison had left two years ago to work for a fire department in Atlanta. He wasn’t supposed to be here. This could ruin everything!

Naomi leaned over to whisper in Maddie’s ear. “I thought Jamison moved.”

Maddie pressed her hand to her mouth, but she was giggling too hard to stop. Her eyes were glued to Jamison with a mix of horror, appreciation, and embarrassment that would have made Naomi laugh if she wasn’t suddenly feeling nauseous.

“Forget it.” Naomi settled back in her chair, nibbling on her lip as Jamison reached the end of the catwalk and did a booty-shake dance that was ridiculous enough to be funny, but still sexy enough to have all the ladies making noise.

Jamison was the perfect first man out—gorgeous and friendly, but silly and gregarious enough to put everyone at ease.

Everyone, except Naomi.

As Mitzy started the bidding and women shouted out dollar amounts from different corners of the room, Naomi slid lower and lower in her seat. The chances that Jamison would see her from fifty feet away were slim, but she wasn’t willing to risk it. In fact, she planned to make her escape from this table of frisky old ladies as soon as Jamison disappeared behind the curtains.

This had been a dumb idea. She’d be better off writing Jake a “let’s be friends or at least politely ignore each other” letter, sending him a singing telegram, or maybe having a fruit basket and a month’s worth of venison steak delivered to the Hansen family compound as a peace offering.

Or maybe, if she put her mind to it, she would be able to avoid seeing Jake in person ever again. Considering the firehouse was directly across the street from
Icing
, her new bakery, that could be difficult, but Naomi would find a way to manage. She was a resourceful woman, especially when it came to avoiding things she would rather not face head on.

She’d been willing to tackle Jake, but Jake
and
Jamison were a different kettle of fish.

She seriously doubted Jamison had told Jake what happened Naomi’s last night in Summerville—Jamison would have been in as much hot water as she herself—but it didn’t matter if Jake knew the truth. She knew, and Jamison knew, and that was enough knowing to create problems. They had all been so young and so much time had passed since then, but the Hansen brothers weren’t the kind to let the past stay in the past.

Mitzy ended the bidding—awarding Jamison to a gorgeous young blond at a table near the front, who had shelled out eight hundred dollars for the privilege—and Naomi leaned closer to her sister.

“I’m not feeling well,” Naomi whispered as Jamison spun and strutted off the stage to thunderous applause. “I’ll wait in the car. Come out whenever you’re ready. No rush.”

“No, you can’t leave,” Maddie said, gasping for breath as she grabbed Naomi by the wrist, her eyes filled with tears from laughing so hard. “I’m sorry I couldn’t answer before. Jamison moved back a few months ago.”

“You didn’t tell me,” Naomi said, keeping her tone light. She’d never told anyone, not even Maddie, about what had happened with Jamison, so she couldn’t fault her sister for not spilling the beans.

Maddie wiped her eyes. “Sorry. I’ll catch you up on all the gossip later, but you have to stay. This is so much fun. Stay. Have fun with me.”

Naomi hesitated. She hadn’t seen Maddie enjoying herself this much in ages. A part of her wanted to stay and giggle with her sister, but the part of her that was reeling from seeing Jamison again needed out of here—ASAP.

She was getting ready to order Maddie to have fun without her and make a run for the exit, when the curtain parted again and Naomi lost the ability to form words.

There, wearing nothing but black jeans and a black Summerville Fire Department baseball cap, was the man she’d come for.

Naomi’s breath caught and a horrible, excited-but-miserable feeling filled her chest. It was same feeling that had overwhelmed her when Jake had turned and walked away from her at the store yesterday, but this time, he didn’t know she was watching. Naomi was able to let her eyes linger, taking in every inch of the stunning man her high school sweetheart had become.

Jake didn’t strut down the catwalk like his little brother; he owned the stage like the captain of a ship, like a Roman commander leading his army into battle.

With his tanned, olive skin, broad shoulders, chiseled chest, and deliciously narrow hips, Jake was every bit the beefcake his little brother was. But that wasn’t what made the crowd suck in their breath in appreciation as he reached the end of the catwalk and took off his hat, his tousled brown hair flopping over one eye as he bowed to the ladies on either side of the stage.

No, it wasn’t his muscles, the strong planes of his face, or those dark brown eyes that glittered with intelligence that made it impossible for Naomi to take her eyes off of him. It was the way he held himself, the way he moved like a creature that was completely at home in its body. Jake was a man who walked, talked, and prowled the catwalk with innate confidence.

He knew who he was and where he was going. He was a man who worked hard and loved harder, who believed in the value of a man’s word, and never gave a woman a second chance to make a bad impression.

He was
never
going to let her apologize, let alone forgive her.

Jake wasn’t that kind of man. He only let down his guard for a select few. Once his trust was betrayed—even if it was years ago by an eighteen-year-old girl who wasn’t grown up enough to know who she was, let alone who she wanted to be with for the rest of her life—an impenetrable wall went up and it was impossible to get through to him. She might as well try begging a block of ice to give her a second chance.

The only shot she had was to appeal to Jake’s sense of honor. If she purchased him fair and square, he would feel obligated to spend the next four Fridays by her side. He would be forced to remain in her presence long enough for her pleas for them to make peace to have a shot of slipping through his defenses.

And that’s why she thrust her auction card into the air—even though she was afraid, even though the logical part of her insisted that having Jamison in the picture meant her plan was doomed from the start.

But sitting there, seeing Jake dazzle the crowd with his smile, Naomi couldn’t resist. She had been dying to see that smile again, ever since the day she’d walked away from her best friend, back when she’d been a kid with a head full of dreams who had no idea that brown-eyed boy would be the only man to ever make her feel completely loved.

CHAPTER FOUR

Jake

Jake gritted his jaw and kept his smile firmly in place as Mitzy opened the bidding for his month of Fridays at two hundred dollars. He didn’t enjoy walking around shirtless in front of a bunch of giggling women—half of whom were his former teachers, peers from school, or members of his extended family—but Summerville needed a new firehouse yesterday.