Sweet Burn: Strong, California, #2

By Anne Marsh

Welcome to Strong, California...

It's supposed to be a quick wedding hook-up. She's lonely. He's available. The sizzling sexual chemistry between Mimi Hart and former SEAL Mack Johnson has this pair burning up the sheets in a night of no-holds fantasies. One night. No regrets. And no promises.

 

As the resident bad girl and bartender of Strong, California, Mimi has earned every inch of her reputation. Tattoos, motorcycles and dancing on the bar—Mimi's all in. She's fun and she's tough, a hot sex-on-the-pool-table woman—not a sunset-and-kisses sweetheart. Until her wedding hook-up turns the former SEAL into a man on a sensual mission… and her heart into freefall even as her own past threatens to catch up with her.

 

For more fire fighter romances, check out the Strong, California series! All books are standalone books.

Smoking Hot (Tye and Katie) 
Sweet Burn (Mack and Mimi) 
Yours for Christmas (Zack and Bree) 
Heated (Joey and Mercedes) 
One Hot SEAL (Luke and Deelie) 
Her Firefighter SEAL (Kade and Abbie)
​Her Christmas SEAL (Jacks and Holly)

 

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anne Marsh
• Release date: Jun 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781498972352

Book preview

Chapter 1

Sinning had never smelled so good. Hair tickled Mack’s nose and, when he inhaled, he caught a whiff of coconut and freesia. Woman and… yeah… tequila. He’d left alcohol behind celebrating with the ghosts in his past, but the woman was going to haunt him. Not even he could forget Mimi Hart.

He’d tried.

Should have tried harder. Please don’t be a mistake, he thought.

His years in the military had taught him to wake up fast and, even before he opened his eyes, he was analyzing the situation: he was naked. She was also. So far, so good. Early morning sun painted his hotel room a hazy gold. He’d bet the winery outside his window was a pretty sight too—it had looked damned fine yesterday when he’d watched one of his fellow smoke jumpers exchange his I dos with the woman he loved. The entire team had come out to support the groom and to celebrate with him. That’s what they did: fought together, stood together, and had each other’s backs no matter what. Marriage was the jump of a lifetime, so of course they’d been there.

Mack had witnessed the ceremony, raised a glass of celebratory champagne and been prepared for an early night and a quick retreat because parties weren’t his scene anymore. Mimi had had other ideas. The memories of last night flooded right back. She’d approached him at the bar. They’d danced, her ass rubbing naughty circles against his front. And then she’d propositioned him. He should have said no.

Instead, he’d kissed her and fallen back into bad habits. That was all the yes she’d needed to get him to this moment, waking up naked after yet another night of quick sex and fun. The night part wasn’t something to regret. But morning after was going to be a problem. Once upon a time, he’d been good at getting up and the leaving. Now he had his share of regrets and memories, and he wished that this was the start of something rather than the end.

Hey, he was great at ending things. He’d gotten plenty of practice fighting for Uncle Sam overseas and then, after he’d decided that reenlisting a third time wasn’t for him, jumping out of a DC-3 and into the heart of a forest fire. Clear a room of insurgents. Clear a runway of burning debris. Clear a fireline and halt the flames’ advance. He excelled at taking charge and had never shied from a challenge. He was also a pro at getting in and getting out fast.

Mimi had him rethinking that stance.

Her long blonde hair covered her face, his pillow, his arm. The stuff got everywhere and when he flexed his left hand working out the morning stiffness that was a souvenir from his last firefights with his Crash, Fire and Rescue unit, the silky strands ran through his fingers like liquid gold. Mimi was a beautiful woman and he wondered again what she was doing in Strong. He had no idea how old she was—that was one of the many secrets she kept—but he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn he had ten years on her. She was an old soul though, although he was almost certain that didn’t make his accepting her invitation last night any better.

Mimi. He crooned her name. She’d tried insisting he call her Ms. Hart the first time he’d dropped in at the bar she owned and ran in Strong, California, and he’d stared her down, silently demanding she rescind her order. Mimi liked playing power games; he’d watched her do it to more than one member of his jump team and he already knew those were hoops he had no intention of jumping through. Eventually, she’d laughed and asked him what he wanted to drink and she’d been his Mimi ever since.

Sleeping, she mumbled. Her voice was husky and low, a lushly feminine sound. He’d made her recite the bar’s entire drinks offering just to keep her talking that first night in the bar. She could have made a fortune doing voice-overs down in LA.

Sweet little liar. He ran a hand down her back, twitching the sheet away until the cotton fell to her waist. Her tattoo started there, at the small of her back, a rainbow-colored, swirling tree that traced the straight line of her spine and then branched to wrap around her ribs and the bottom of her left breast. Last night he’d explored her tattoo with his mouth and his hands. She’d encouraged him, too, all More, Mack and Now, damn it, Mack.

She didn’t move when he touched her, her breathing steady and even. Playing possum. He’d make her say his name, he decided, because when he flattened his hand on her ass the betraying twitch gave away her game. She was good. His mouth curled in a grin. But not perfect. Nope. There was nothing perfect about his Mimi at all. It was damned hard to have regrets when the cause of his backsliding was the one woman he’d lusted after for months.

The room slowly lightened, the dark less intense and the details clearer. Mimi’s panties lay on the floor by the bed near a pair of ridiculously high four-inch heels. Even with those heels, she was no match for his six feet plus. The first time he’d taken her, the shoes had stayed on.

He pressed his mouth against base of her spine, rubbing his stubble-roughened cheek against her soft skin. He’d discovered last night that Mimi loved a small bite of pain with her pleasure. Her soft shudder of acceptance gave him the same feeling of anticipation he got when he was braced in the door of the DC-3 and waiting for the spotter’s slap on his shoulder, his signal to jump out into the wide open sky.

He kissed her again now, catching her skin gently between his teeth and nipping. The mood ring she always wore on her ring finger glowed a soft, happy pink.

Jump thousand.

He fell into familiar mental rhythm of the smoke jumper. He ran the chant through his head each and every time he jumped from the DC-3 and got ready to pull the cord on his chute, the familiar words centering him and reminding him of the steps he needed to take because fire was too dangerous to not play it safe on the way to the ground. A man jumped, and then he waited a handful of seconds, took stock, and pulled the cord before guiding himself down to the landing zone. Mimi was the same way. He’d jumped headlong into her arms and now he ran the risk of getting burned unless he played this exactly right.

You’re awake, he whispered roughly. Two words didn’t make much of a wake-up call. He should have told her how great last night had been. Should have asked if he could see her again. But this was Mimi. She’d danced with him, kissed him, and then threaded her fingers through his and dragged him off for a walk in the vineyard before the happy couple had even cut the cake. She’d made it clear that she wanted one thing only from him: a single night of hot, blistering sex.

When he touched her now, however, his morning-after reward was an almost inaudible catch of her breath. She’d make him work for it and that was fine by him. He’d never been afraid of work.

Look thousand.

He surveyed and she was a damned sight prettier than any open chute in the sky. He hadn’t seen much of her after they’d come back, because she’d told him to leave the light off. She hadn’t given him reasons or excuses—just made her straightforward demand—and that had bothered him. Not enough to change his mind, but he’d wanted her to know he was the one loving on her—and so instead of gazing into her eyes, he’d left his mark on her body. Her mouth was kiss-swollen and her pretty thighs reddened by the faint red marks from the stubble that roughened his jaw almost as soon as he shaved. She might not have wanted to see his face last night, but she’d think of him all day today and into tomorrow as well. He’d made sure of that.

Mimi. He repeated her name and again got no visible reaction from her. Bringing her back to his room had been a mistake. He didn’t do one-night stands and he’d given up casual sex a decade ago. While his decisions made him more of a monk than he liked, he definitely liked being able to live with himself in the morning. Looking at Mimi, her body slowly coming into focus in the watery light, he had an urge to hold onto her and the moment even though she’d made it clear he was supposed to let go. She’d decided he got one shot at having her and that shot ended in the morning—and he’d agreed. Mistake.

Wait thousand.

Fortunately for both of them, he was a patient man.

Pull thousand.

He slid his hands up her back, thumbs pressing into her muscles, working out the tension. She exhaled softly, but didn’t stop playing possum. He swept his thumbs along the sweet bottom curve of her breasts, reacquainting himself with her skin and her body’s soft, sexy give. The wide-awake woman would have thrown up no trespassing signs, but since she was pretending to be asleep…

Stubborn, he whispered. It was early still. He’d bet most of the wedding party was still asleep.

Check your canopy. And… he was out of condoms. That was a reality check all right. On the one hand, he hadn’t had a lover in over a year and he’d been careful since that one bad scare in high school. On the other hand, he wouldn’t put Mimi in a position of having to trust him, nor would he take her at her word even though she had whispered to him last night that she was on the Pill and safe.

His sweet little liar.

There was nothing safe about Mimi at all, and the two of them together were downright combustible. Mimi liked living dangerously. She also liked punishing herself with the risks she took and he wouldn’t be any part of that, even if he had wanted her since he’d come to Strong. She’d been with one of the other smoke jumpers then, and he hadn’t been about to sleep with his teammate’s girl. Look but don’t touch. That had been his rule, and that rule had worked just fine right up until last night when she’d made it clear that things were over between her and Rio and that he had an invitation to make a move.

There were still plenty of things he could do for her, to her, even without a condom or getting inside her, but the decision felt right. For a million crazy, mixed-up reasons, he wanted more than the one night with Mimi. Wanted this to be a beginning and not an ending for the two of them. He’d learned to trust his instincts fighting for Uncle Sam and everything in him now urged him to fight for Mimi.

He’d been a wild child himself in his younger years. He was thirty-two now and older than the dinosaurs some mornings. He’d decided ten years ago that he needed to be able to look the man in the mirror in the eye in the morning, and that had meant he had to stop screwing up.

He recognized that lost fuck you look on Mimi’s face. She drank too much, danced too freely, and generally did whatever the hell she wanted. But the I need someone look… that was what he hadn’t been able to resist. He understood not wanting to be alone just as much as he got wanting to punish yourself. She was gruff and prickly and, yeah, he’d pretty much kill to get underneath her skin, to coax her into sharing the pieces of herself she hid so carefully. Except she represented everything he’d put behind him. A wild child tempted you to fall and the falling was great. The best. Hot and raw and damned unforgettable, like the sex last night.

Nope, it wasn’t the falling that was the problem. It was the landing. He had no idea what she was running from, but going along for the ride was a bad idea.

All of which meant that Mimi’s original plan was actually the safest and best. They’d have a one-night stand and it would be over. He knew how it would work: one of them would get up and shower and the other one would sneak out. Since it was his room, she’d do the leaving. And yet… he wasn’t completely on board with the unspoken plan. Instead, he got out of bed and snagged a cold Coke from the minibar and a packet of Advil. He could practically feel her awareness against his skin, the silent laughter shaking her body and his bed. He had no idea what she found so funny, but Mimi loved to laugh.

Step one in his new plan? No sex. Not this morning, and not until they’d both made a commitment to each other.

He grabbed a pair of sweats and pulled them on, then round-tripped it to the bed to set his peace offerings on the table. She shifted slightly, giving him a better look at the tattoo covering the left side of her body. His view from this side was some kind of fantastical bird and a whole lot of greenery and pink flowers. That ink must have hurt like hell, but that was Mimi for you. She never took the easy way out.

I’m going to take a shower, he said gruffly. He stroked a thumb along her jaw. You can escape now.

Turned out he’d read her intentions right because he hadn’t been in the bathroom for more than five minutes before he heard the door to his hotel room open and then close. Mimi didn’t slam out of the room, didn’t finesse the door so it shut with a barely audible click. She just went and there was a clear message for him in her leaving.

She didn’t want to hang around with him today and they weren’t going to be sharing breakfast or a morning after. She’d come to him for sex, he’d delivered, and that was that. Hell, half the single men at the wedding would have been ecstatic if she’d picked them and he certainly hadn’t done any complaining himself. Mimi had been fantastic in bed and he wasn’t looking for a relationship anyhow.

Was he?

Mimi had a reputation for loving and leaving. As far as Mack knew, her two months with one of his teammates last summer had been the longest she’d stayed with any one particular guy. While she wasn’t indiscriminate in her hook-ups, she’d always made it plenty clear that she wasn’t in it for the long haul. Sex with no strings. For no particular reason, he’d believed he’d be different. The one to change all that and convince Mimi to come back for more.

For him.

A smile of genuine amusement creased his face. He hadn’t protested last night when Mimi had made her plans for his body clear, so he had no business feeling used this morning. He knew how Mimi operated. She’d never pretended to be anyone other than who she was and he admired her for that. A woman who enjoyed sex and who wasn’t afraid to ask for what she wanted in bed? Yeah, that pretty much topped the fantasy list. And yet he wondered how much she’d really enjoyed their night together. Not the sex—that had been great and he knew it—but the part that had come after. The part where he’d almost been able to feel her beating herself up, using their night together to… hell. He had no idea.

The tiny bathroom steamed up while he worked through the unhappy revelation that somehow feelings had snuck up on him while he hung out at Mimi’s bar. Pointless, not-going-to-be-reciprocated-so-don’t-waste-your-time feelings. Since he preferred doing to thinking, he stripped down and stepped in, soaping up with the hotel freebies. The body wash was floral, the scent from the green and gold bottle both sweet and slightly harsh. The miniature bottles were never quite enough, but he made do, dumping the contents into his palm and then tossing the empty into the trash.

He flattened his hands against the shower wall.

It had been good.

It was over.

And if he had no idea what it was, he wasn’t going to admit it.

Chapter 2

The day after hightailing it home from the wedding, Mimi spent her Sunday afternoon at the bar, getting things into shape for the week. It was still her slow season, being March and not the drought-prone, heated-up months of summer, but business was decent even on the weeknights and she had more than enough work to keep her busy.

And if she kept replaying a highlights reel from that night in her head while she worked, well, that was her secret and she was good at those. The end had been… something. Of course, Mack had known for ages that she wasn’t asleep. She’d simply wondered how far he would take their game. Mack didn’t usually play. He was always so deadly serious. Gruff, almost. And then he’d flash a quick smile when something really struck his fancy, a dimple winking in and out of existence in his cheeks. His eyes, though… he almost always had a smile lurking there when he watched her. And Mack did a lot of watching. Maybe that should creep her out, but somehow it made her feel safe. Protected. Neither of which were states she needed or wanted.

Or deserved, she reminded herself.

She’d been a good little possum, though, and hadn’t rolled over or open her eyes until the bathroom door shut and the water started. Okay. So she’d peeked. Once. She was weak and Mack in a pair of low-slung sweats was pretty damned spectacular.

The hangover from too much wedding tequila had stuck around far longer than she had, since she’d passed on Mack’s gift of Advil. She’d needed the cottony mouth, the pounding in her head. She’d deserved it. Sleeping with Mack had pretty much screwed the pooch. He was a paint-by-numbers kind of guy, while she was more of a Salvador Dali gal. He was a Boy Scout, a keeper. He’d fought shoulder-with-shoulder with her to keep the flames away from the bar

Reviews for Sweet Burn

[gromine · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Woohoo! Another scorcher from Anne Marsh! Her heroes just keep getting better and better. Rio Donovan and Gia Jackson are both smokejumpers and the chemistry between the two is hot! This is another fabulous book by Anne that is one of those that is hard to put down. The chemistry between the two characters is overwhelmingly hot and the story is unpredictable and keeps the reader intrigued.

[ftbooklover · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a good conclusion to the Donovan brothers' storyline. Both characters are smoke jumpers, but are unable to deny their attraction to one another. When they are stuck in a fire trying to survive as well as outrun drug growers, they get closer. Overall a good read.