Braxton: Stryker County Fire Dept., #6

By Kali Hart

Braxton

I'm only doing this fundraiser as a favor to my sister.
I had to cancel my visit to her classroom.
Even though it was for a good cause, I couldn't tell her why.
I had to protect her best friend.
And there are worse punishments than being auctioned off as a date to help that school, right?
The bids keep getting higher, and I'm about to accept my unpleasant fate when she saves me this time.

Alyssa

Braxton is up on the stage, being auctioned off like the sexy piece of firefighter meat that he is.
And it's all my fault.
He had to bail on my best friend because I didn't know who else to call.
What's worse is that I've begged him to keep my secret.
So when it looks like he's about to be stuck on a miserable date, I do the only thing I can.
I bid on him until I win.
But what starts out as a favor quickly erupts into a passionate whirlwind neither of us expected.
I'm afraid to have my heart broken again, but he's ready to go all-in and promises to stop at nothing to prove it to me.

Sweet & Steamy short story instalove romance with a firefighter hero and younger curvy woman with an HEA. NO cliffhangers. NO cheating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie M. Wallick
• Release date: Feb 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9798223983675

Book preview

1

ALYSSA

This is all my fault.

My best friend’s brother, Braxton, is about be sold to the highest bidder for a date he doesn’t want and definitely doesn’t deserve.

Turned out to be a beautiful day, don’t you think? Rena, my bestie since the fourth grade, says to me from our outdoor table.

Nice and sunny, I say with a plastered smile.

Rena’s running this charity auction for her school, and because the weather cooperated, was able to set up outside. She’s worked really hard to put this together, and I’m proud as hell of her. Her radiant smile casts a happy glow over everything she touches today.

Well, everything except her scowling brother.

Braxton is sitting off to the side, waiting to be called up and sold to some desperate single mom in the audience with a firemen fetish. I’d even bet a couple of the married ones will throw up their paddles. Maybe a nice woman will win the bid, but too many of them are wearing wolf-like grins to make me hopeful.

They’ve auctioned off many different items already—quilts, a flatscreen TV, a couple’s weekend getaway, and even a grill.

But Braxton Michaels—a real live firefighter—is the main attraction.

Rena is smart. She’s lured every single mom and their friends within a twenty-mile radius advertising his face on every poster and social media banner. The highest bidder wins a mystery romantic evening for two with their very own firefighter.

But for Braxton, this is a punishment.

I feel terrible. He’s about to be subjected to the mercy of some over-eager date, and all I can think about is how I caused this.

You need a refill? Rena nods to my glass that’s holding only a couple of melting ice cubes now.

Sure.

If Rena wasn’t so caught up in the details of the event, making sure everything was perfect, she’d see right through my forced smile. But she skitters away with my cup without a second glance.

Braxton only owes her this favor because of me.

Several months ago, I had to call in a desperate favor. This forced him to cancel his classroom visit and send a replacement instead.

To be fair, it all worked out in Rena’s favor. She’s married to the firefighter who showed up in his place. But she hasn’t let Braxton forget about his last-minute cancellation. I think maybe she’s madder that he still hasn’t told her why.

Also my fault.

Who’s ready for the main attraction? The auctioneer calls from the stage.

I cringe. This isn’t a circus, and Braxton isn’t a juggling bear. But the crowd of women go wild like they expect him to strip down before it’s all over. At a school event.

Let’s start the bidding at one hundred dollars. Do I hear one hundred?

The number of paddles that fly up is insane. At least twenty women are more than happy to spend that for a chance to spend an evening with him.

Braxton is