The Firefighter's Perfect Plan

By Sonya Weiss

Josie Moore is in big trouble. After a few too many glasses of wine and tired of her mother’s constant disappointment, Josie tells what she thinks is a harmless lie—that she is sort of in a relationship with her childhood crush, firefighter Lincoln Bradford. The lie comes back to bite her when her mother moves back to town, and now Josie has to make the fantasy a reality.

Lincoln has a perfect plan to protect his heart—and rule number one is: don’t fall in love. There’s no such thing as happily ever after, especially when it comes to love. But he didn’t factor in Josie, his sister’s quirky, gorgeous best friend. He agrees to help her, with the understanding that they’re definitely not going to be anything more.

But every time they try to break up, they only end up tangled deeper together. Lincoln’s carefully laid plans are about to come crashing down...

Each book in the Fire and Sparks series is STANDALONE.
* Wedding Date Rescue
* The Firefighter's Perfect Plan

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Mar 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781640634985

Book preview

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2018 by Sonya Weiss. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

2614 South Timberline Road

Suite 105, PMB 159

Fort Collins, CO 80525

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

Bliss is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC. For more information on our titles, visit http://www.entangledpublishing.com/category/bliss

Edited by Alycia Tornetta

Cover design by Erin Dameron-Hill

Cover art from Shutterstock

ISBN 978-1-64063-498-5

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition March 2018

This book is dedicated to the minions.

Chapter One

Josie Moore was surrounded by a dozen handsome half-naked men, and not a single one of them was hers. Story of my life. When it came to the opposite sex, she didn’t have any luck at all. Which was why, yet again, she was available on a weekend to do this favor for the mayor.

At least, thanks to this video-shooting gig, instead of sitting at home alone she was filming the behind-the-scenes look at the firefighter calendar shoot. She’d joked with Mayor Bridges that watching hot guys strip down was going to be a sweet job, and it would have been had she not been so crazy worried about the Big Fat Lie she’d told her mother.

She didn’t like lying. But Josie-you’re-so-deficient remark #109 had pushed her over the edge of truth into the murky waters of half truths, which then so easily slid into the BFL. There was a way out of it…she just hadn’t found it yet.

Her mother was still angry with her for giving up her counseling practice to start the video business. But Josie didn’t care. That life had never fit her. It had been the one her parents had wanted for her. She loved the creative freedom she had now, but it wasn’t what her mother considered a real job, which made their phone calls a little…heated lately.

They were usually filled with her constant disappointment about how Josie was never enough. She was too picky, too curvy, too strong. She threw away a perfectly good career. She wouldn’t ever be in a serious relationship.

Which is how, after a few too many glasses of wine and a lot of frustration and hurt, Josie had ended up telling her mother that actually she wasn’t hopelessly single—she was dating a firefighter. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, likely due to the aforementioned alcohol. She’d done damage control a few days later by revealing they’d broken up, but by the end of the call, she’d somehow told her mother they were trying to work things out.

Telling herself it was okay, she’d fix it in time, she’d put it out of her mind. Her parents hadn’t lived in Morganville in years, so what were the odds that they’d suddenly decide to move back? Apparently, pretty high.

Now they were rolling into town in a matter of days and she was going to have to tell Lincoln Bradford, her once upon a time crush, what she’d done. Preferably before he heard it through the gossip grapevine. But how did one tell a man that he was supposed to be her breakup boyfriend?

She glanced at the front of the fire station where the object of her thoughts stood. She’d grown up idolizing her best friend Casey’s older brother. The first piece of her Star Trek memorabilia collection had come from Lincoln. It was on her eleventh birthday and it had only been a keychain with a replica of the Enterprise on it, but she had treasured it.

Birthdays weren’t celebrated at her house with gifts or cake. Instead, her parents deposited money into her college savings fund every year and had done so from the time she was five. While she appreciated that, her young heart had always longed to have the experiences and celebrations that other kids did.

Josie brought her thoughts back into focus when Judge Doyle’s son, who owned a photography shop in town, called out instructions for Lincoln to turn and flex that hard body of his.

Lincoln did, directing those dark eyes of his her way.

Josie coughed to keep a breath mint from going down the wrong way. I’m fine, she said in a strangled voice when Mayor Bridges thumped her on the back. She peered into the lens again and Lincoln filled the view.

He wore his yellow turnout pants hooked to red suspenders on either side of his impressive chest. In the crook of his arm, he cradled a small brown mutt that wouldn’t stop wriggling. Lincoln spoke quietly to the dog, then flicked his gaze to her again.

Her heart sped up. Turning her back to the group of men, Josie pretended her video camera stabilizer needed her immediate attention. She was doing great getting the pitter-patter of her heart under control when someone tapped her arm.

Beside her, Warren Doyle looked up at the bright blue October sky. He squinted, turned to Josie, then pointed at Lincoln. The makeup girl seems to have disappeared, and Lincoln has a shine on his chest that’s giving off a glare. Can you take care of that?

You want me to…

Put some anti-shine here—Warren patted his own chest impatiently—on Mr. Muscles.

Josie looked at Lincoln. Despite having crushed on him for years, he’d never seemed to see her as more than his little sister’s best friend until recently. After Casey had gotten engaged, Josie and Lincoln had been thrown together to help with the planning and they’d grown closer. Then, suddenly, Lincoln had started pulling away.

If they were still friendly, she’d be able to laugh with him and even tell him about her lie and it probably wouldn’t be a big deal. But she wasn’t so sure now. Straightening her shoulders, she nodded at the photographer. Not a problem. Liar.

She picked up the sponge and the tube of makeup and marched toward Lincoln, the guilt of her lie pecking at her subconscious like a flock of annoyed birds. When she reached him, she cleared her throat. You have a glare, she said in what she thought was a great nothing’s-going-on voice. She unscrewed the makeup lid, squeezed a little onto the sponge, and then dabbed it against his chest, careful not to let her fingers come into contact with his skin.

I heard about your date, he said. Are you okay?

She frowned, wondering at the concern in his voice after he’d been so distant lately. I’m fine, she said, even though the date had been anything but. She’d been shocked when Lex Burton had continued to consume drinks until he’d reached the point of falling out of his chair. She’d called a friend of his to give him a ride home, then she’d left. Lex had been her third miserable date of the month and that fact wasn’t a secret.

Living in a small town like Morganville, Georgia meant her entire pitiful dating life was on display.

Are you sure?

What’d you hear? That I ducked out halfway through? Come on, sponge, cover this glare so I can move away from Lincoln.

No, I heard Lex showed up at your house at three in the morning to drunkenly serenade you.

If that was all he’d heard, that wasn’t so bad. I handled it.

He flashed a smile that transformed his serious expression into one of teasing, and for a second, the Lincoln she knew was back. You locked yourself out of your house.

She had, while wearing a long-sleeved shirt and her underwear. But in her defense, she’d only caught the first few strains of the serenade and thought her neighbor’s not-too-bright cat had his head stuck in the opening of her gutter drain again. Feeling sorry for him, she’d rushed out only to find a barely able to stand Lex. She’d waved her hands in a shooing motion, trying to get him to go home, just as Mr. Williams had driven by her house on his way to work. The older man had gaped at her and then accidentally plowed his pickup into the mailbox next door. It wasn’t one of her better moments.

Mr. Williams is telling anyone who’ll listen that you mooned him.

Josie searched his face. After months of speaking to her as little as possible, he was awfully chatty now. "I was wearing flesh-colored underwear. I did not moon him."

I also heard you ended up with a warning ticket for indecent exposure.

Josie lowered the sponge, exasperated at the town gossips. That’s not true, either. Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and looked into Lincoln’s eyes. So…I kind of—

Warren called out Josie’s name, giving her the what gives? palms-up gesture at the same time.

Sorry! Josie acknowledged, turning and giving him a nod, not sure if she was thankful for the interruption or not. She glanced back at Lincoln. I should go. I need to get home and edit the footage. It was…good to see you. She spun on her heel and managed to calmly walk back to her equipment. There had to be a way for her to fix things that didn’t include completely humiliating herself—she’d done enough of that already.

I still have some time…everything will be fine.

…

Lincoln watched Josie’s long brown hair bounce lightly against her back as her hips swayed. Look away. He swallowed and redirected his gaze. His sister’s best friend was off-limits, and even if she weren’t, after one too many painful breakups, Lincoln had sworn off love. Nothing good ever came from it.

His last girlfriend, Savannah, had been the closest thing he’d had to a long-term relationship. Then she’d broken up with him via text message less than a week after a terrible fire at work had left his best friend Kent horribly scarred, and another firefighter, Aiden, dead. Her reasoning had been that Lincoln wasn’t the guy you spent forever with.

He’d locked away the sting, and just when his heart had stopped aching, he’d noticed Josie, as if seeing her for the first time.

Standing in her ripped jeans, with curves that would make any man have trouble concentrating, it was like lightning had struck when he’d looked at her that night at Casey’s, months after his breakup. It was an awareness that had led him to take drastic measures.

He’d made a plan.

His perfect, no failure, no heartbreak plan for his life meant no relationships and absolutely no falling in love. So step one had been pulling back from Josie. But keeping his distance didn’t stop him from worrying about her.

He couldn’t help but look over at Josie again. As she talked to the photographer, the wind whipped her hair, and he remembered the feel of it across his arm when he’d hugged her last. Damn it, this was why he’d come up with his plan. This attraction to her would only lead to trouble.

The puppy in his arms raised his head and yipped at the same time the photographer announced they were through for the day. Lincoln handed the puppy back to the woman from the animal shelter. He hoped the calendar shoot helped the little guy find a home. If Lincoln didn’t already have his brother Grayson temporarily crashing at his place, as well as two dogs who thought they were human, he’d take the pup himself. But between his schedule and his brother’s crap everywhere, he didn’t have the extra time or the room a puppy deserved.

His other brother, Rafferty, who was also a firefighter, walked over and tossed Lincoln a T-shirt. He tilted his head to indicate a handful of women gathered at the edge of the field. Thought I was going to have to turn the hose on a couple of them.

They’re here for you, Lincoln said. Rafferty was the playboy in the family, not him.

Rafferty looked in Josie’s direction. Saw you talking to Josie. Did you two kiss and make up?

After jerking the shirt over his head, Lincoln sent his brother a dark look. There was never any fight to kiss and make up from.

"There’s something. What’s going on between the two of you?"

"Nothing."

Ah. You want it to. That’s why there’s frost in your relationship.

Sighing, Lincoln strode toward the fire station, intending to grab his jacket and then have a word with Josie. "You need to quit reading Cosmopolitan."

Dude, it was one article.

Lincoln tuned him out. He had enough on his mind without letting his brother nag him about Josie. The last town board meeting had hinted budget cuts might be on the way for the station. The funds they needed to buy more equipment wouldn’t be there if the already tight budget was slashed. He knew from personal experience how faulty equipment could make a rescue go bad, and he’d tried to come up with ways to raise money for the station. So far, no luck. The things he and the rest of the crew had done in the past—pancake breakfasts, car washes, and the like—rarely raised enough to make the expenditure of the events worthwhile.

Hold up, Lincoln. Mayor Bridges approached, frowning at Rafferty the entire time. Can you excuse us a moment?

Lincoln raised his eyebrows at the mayor’s unusually chilly tone, and Rafferty whispered, Took her granddaughter out for dinner last week to celebrate her twenty-sixth birthday. He winked after saying the word celebrate, and then giving the mayor a jaunty wave, disappeared inside the station.

Lincoln didn’t like the regretful expression that came across the older woman’s face, or the sorrowful look in her eyes. This wasn’t going to be good news.

I fought to get the fire department the extra funding, but the council wants to spend it on building tourism.

That figures. Tourists who visited the area did bring in revenue, but none of it went to help the services that mattered. Don’t they understand that they’re not just hurting the station with their tightwad ways, but the entire town?

I know.

Lincoln ran a hand through his hair. He loved Morganville, but he hated the way the council nickel and dimed every cent the station received. They’re putting tourism dollars over public safety.

The mayor nodded. I agree. She arched her eyebrows, then tipped her head toward