In Too Deep

By Kathryn Shay

Kathryn Shay spent five years riding fire trucks with a large city fire department, eating in their firehouses and interviewing hundreds of America’s Bravest. Read the novellas that resulted from her intense relationship with firefighters!

“Shay’s powerful characters and emotional topics strike a chord with her readers and have earned her a well-deserved place among the top romance authors.” Waldenbooks Romantic Reader

IN TOO DEEP is the first novella in Shay’s powerful, new anthology, AMERICA’S BRAVEST. (All six novellas are available in a boxed set.)
In the Hidden Cove Fire Department, Gabe Malvaso is a favorite among firefighters. He’s tough, fair, has a good sense of humor and loves his work. But for eighteen months, he’s avoided a member of his crew, Firefighter Rachel Wellington, despite his knife-sharp attraction to her. She is also drawn to him but is equally determined to keep things professional between them--until they’re trapped in a basement for a day, thinking they’ll never be rescued. Then, their feelings for each other explode like the building around them.
Praise for Kathryn Shay’s Firefighter Books
“Readers will appreciate the powerfully written, tense emergency situations. The Malvaso clan and the other key characters seem genuine in and out of emergency scenarios. Kathryn Shay pays homage to rescue workers with this exhilarating tale.” Amazon Reader

“Powerhouse author Shay follows up After the Fire with another dramatic and dynamic thriller. Her complex and unforgettable characters breathe life into this truly intense novel.” Romantic Times Book Club

“Superb contemporary romance that grabs you in the prologue and won’t let go until you’ve read the final page. Bravo, Ms. Shay!” The Romance Readers Connection

“One of the best running collections on the market today.” Amazon Reader

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kathryn Shay
• Release date: Nov 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452484563

Kathryn Shay

A NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author, Kathryn Shay has been a lifelong writer and teacher. She has written dozens of self-published original romance titles, print books with the Berkley Publishing Group and Harlequin Enterprises and mainstream women’s fiction with Bold Strokes Books. She has won many awards for her work: five RT Book Reviews awards, the Bookseller’s Best Award, Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year and several “Starred Reviews.” One of her firefighter books hit #20 on the NEW YORK TIMES list. Her novels have been serialized in COSMOPOLITAN magazine and featured in USA TODAY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and PEOPLE magazine. There are over ten million copies of her books in print and downloaded online. Reviewers have called her work “emotional and heart-wrenching.”http://www.kathrynshay.comhttp://www.facebook.com/kathrynshayhttp://www.twitter.com/KShayAuthorhttp://www.amazon.com/Kathryn-Shay/e/B000APY3GW/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1463655985&sr=1-2-ent

Book preview

Author’s Note: In 1997, I published the first of seven firefighter novels. Since that time, I’ve received hundreds of requests for more firefighter books. AMERICA’S BRAVEST is my answer to these loyal fans. In trying to infuse some continuity, I decided to go back to the Hidden Cove Fire Department Rescue Squad first developed in AFTER THE FIRE, ON THE LINE and NOTHING MORE TO LOSE. I’ve started the new tales with the cousin of the Malvaso clan, Gabriel Gabe Malvaso, and and went on to tell the stories of the individuals in his group. You’ll meet six new firefighters, and hear their stories in a different way: each character has his or her own novella, where the love story is told in full, and other themes continue over the entire six novellas. In Too Deep is the first in the series. Try the book and see if you like it. If so, you can buy the whole package in a specially priced boxed set called AMERICA’S BRAVEST. Truthfully, I think this is some of the best work I’ve ever done. Kathy Shay

Praise for Kathryn Shay’s Firefighter Books

Readers will appreciate the powerfully written, tense emergency situations. The Malvaso clan and the other key characters seem genuine in and out of emergency scenarios. Kathryn Shay pays homage to rescue workers with this exhilarating tale. Amazon Reader

"Powerhouse author Shay follows up After the Fire with another dramatic and dynamic thriller. Her complex and unforgettable characters breathe life into this truly intense novel." Romantic Times Book Club

Shay’s powerful characters and emotional topics strike a chord with her readers and have earned her a well deserved place among the top romance authors. Waldenbooks Romantic Reader

Superb contemporary romance that grabs you in the prologue and won’t let go until you’ve read the final page. Bravo, Ms. Shay! The Romance Readers Connection

One of the best running collections on the market today. Amazon Reader

In Too Deep

Novella number one in the AMERICA’S BRAVEST SERIES

Kathryn Shay

Copyright 2011, Kathryn Shay

Cover art by Patricia Ryan

Smashwords Edition

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Praise for Kathryn Shay’s Firefighter Books

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

About the Author

Chapter 1

Dreading the news he was about to give, Captain Gabe Malvaso stared out at his group of firefighters, who sat in the big couches and stuffed recliners of the common room of Firehouse 7. In the back by the door to the kitchen stood the Hidden Cove Fire Department brass. A warm July breeze drifted in through the many open windows, but the soothing morning wasn’t going to help Gabe’s cause. His men and women trusted him, and so far in his eight years as their officer, he hadn’t had to deliver any bombs about cutbacks. From the rear, his cousin Mitch, now a battalion chief, nodded his encouragement.

Gabe cleared his throat. Let’s get started. There’s been a lot of rumors going around and you can probably tell from Chiefs Malvaso and Erikson being at this little gathering that something’s coming down. And yeah, it’s what you expect.

Murmurs rumbled through his group: Felicia White, his serious, aloof lieutenant who he already talked to about this; his paramedic, Brody O’Malley, a lively ladies’ man that everybody liked; firefighters Tony Ramirez, quiet and excellent at his job, Sydney Sands, their feisty rookie and, finally, Rachel Wellington—sometimes called Princess because of her classy background. She was a good firefighter and sensible at work.

And with her steel-blond hair and wide eyes, she was about the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. That had been causing Gabe problems for a while now.

O’Malley spoke up first. So, somebody’s going to get the ax on Rescue 7, right Cap?

Yep. And on Quint and Midi 7, too. Those were the other two rigs in the firehouse, the first performing fire rescue operations, the latter a medical truck. The groups who rode them also had separate officers. They’re having their own meeting. But we’re all cutting back on each shift.

Sydney, the group member with the least experience at the on the squad, shook her head. Oh, hell!

Syd, you’ll still have a job, though it’ll be another station house. You have some seniority in the department as a whole; plus we’re expecting retirements soon.

She lifted her chin to keep up a good front, but her young face tensed, telling Gabe she was upset. The twenty-three-year-old already had had a lot of tough stuff to deal with in life. I’ll have to break in a new bunch of clowns.

The others didn’t joke. Losing a brother—or sister—that you fought fires side by side with was serious business in any fire department. And theirs was a special group, an experiment of sorts in affirmative action. Their rescue squad, which went to every fire in their area, was comprised of three men and three women to demonstrate how liberated the department was and to promote the recruitment of women. So far, after eighteen months, the experiment had worked well.

From behind Sands, Tony Ramirez put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. She covered his briefly with hers. The two often paired up inside a building and they’d become fast friends.

I know this is hard for all of us, Gabe added. But we got no choice, guys.

Yeah, we don’t have to like it, though. O’Malley’s tone was angry. Brody was a good guy but he couldn’t censor his words, and he caused Gabe grief from time to time.

Chief Erikson is here today to give you some more information on what’s gone down and to answer any questions you have. He nodded to the back of the room where Cal stood with Mitch. Ready, Chief?

Erikson pushed off the wall. As I’ll ever be. The tall, powerfully built man strode to the front with a commanding presence. Though Gabe wanted to climb the HCFD ladder as quickly as possible, he didn’t envy the chief today. Designated by the top fire guy, Noah Callahan, all the battalion chiefs would be answering tough questions this week.

"Hi, all. I’m not going to mince words. You’ve heard the rumors. For budget

Reviews for In Too Deep

[marcella1717 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Overall I enjoyed it, but to my mind there was a bit too much stuffed into it, especially about other people, and it was a short story, so the romance itself suffered and seemed too rushed. I'm not sure if I'll be reading more by this author.
2,5*