SHANE Read online

  SHANE:

  Sunset Canyon

  Fire & Rescue #2

  by Kate Tilney

  Copyright © 2020 by Kate Tilney

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

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  SHANE: Sunset Canyon Fire & Rescue #2

  Chapter One | Shane

  Jami

  Chapter Two | Shane

  Jami

  Chapter Three | Shane

  Jami

  Chapter Four | Shane

  Chapter Five | Jami

  Chapter Six | Shane

  Chapter Seven | Jami

  Epilogue | Shane

  Also by Kate Tilney

  Where there’s smoke, there’s a Sunset Canyon Fire & Rescue firefighter . . .

  Jami

  Every year, Fire & Rescue kicks our butts at the annual Cops versus Firefighters baseball game. But this year, as the police officers’ coach, I’ll make sure we show those guys no mercy.

  And under absolutely no circumstances will I let my ex-boyfriend/ fiercest competitor distract me from taking home the trophy.

  Which is too bad. I remember just how good and distracting Shane can be when the lights are off.

  Shane

  I’d like nothing more than to show Jami what she’s been missing since we broke up after high school. That’ll have to wait until after the firefighters dominate the cops on the baseball field.

  But after an accidental run-in in the locker rooms, I can’t think of much else but reigniting the spark between us.

  Only this time, I won’t let anyone extinguish that flame.

  Sunset Canyon Fire & Rescue is a steamy, instalove short story romance series with the alpha men sworn to protect their community and the women they love. No cliffhangers! Read SHANE if you like hot jocks, second chances, and a love that burns hot.

  Chapter One

  Shane

  “I don’t know what you’re so worried about.”

  My fellow firefighter and—God help me—best buddy Conrad stares at me with his arms folded across his chest. With his obnoxiously positive demeanor and good boy charms, of course he doesn’t get it.

  “The game is only four days away.” I reach for a pile of towels and stick them in the basket.

  “Yeah and the cops always lose. Why should this year be any different?”

  Normally, I’d say he was right. Every year for the past six years, the Sunset Canyon Fire & Rescue Department has played a charity game against the local police department. The winner gets a sizable donation to their family support fund and an invitation to a party with the mayor. The party is pretty lame, but that money goes to a good cause.

  And every year for the past six years, under my coaching, our team has won with little opposition.

  “You heard they have some new hotshot officer who played ball in college.” Last night at the bar, Chad—the biggest douche in the police department—complained about how he’d been replaced as the captain of their team. He hadn’t said much, but his contempt said everything.

  Whoever this new guy was had to be good.

  “You also played in college,” Conrad reminds me, like I don’t fucking know.

  “For a year.” Then I tore my rotator cuff, which ended my career. I dropped out of school and went to work for the fire department. But I love my job, so it all worked out. “What have you heard about this new guy?”

  “Just that he had a full-ride to UVA and won a national title.”

  “Where was he working up till now?” I wouldn’t put it past the cops to draft a ringer who doesn’t even work for them.

  “I heard the NYPD.”

  My stomach clutches at that. Most people hear the NYPD and think about one of the dozens of TV shows about detectives working cases for them.

  I think of Jami. The girl I dated in high school. Then dumped me before she went to college on the East Coast.

  For a second I wonder if the new guy knows Jami, but I quickly ditch that thought. There are thousands of cops in New York. What are the odds they know each other?

  Then again, Jami went to the University of Virginia. Depending on when the hotshot graduated, it’s possible they do know each other.

  And why the hell do I care either way?

  Jami was my first, and—if I’m being totally honest with myself—the woman I’ve measured every other against. Which is why I care, I guess.

  “One player isn’t going to suddenly make the cops a better team,” Conrad continues as I look at electrolyte packets. “We’re good.”

  “Some of us are better than others.”

  Conrad scowls. “Is this about last year?”

  “Do you think it’s about last year?”

  “I dropped one foul ball.”

  “It almost cost us the game.”

  Actually it didn’t. We were up by five, and the cops were out of steam. Still, the outrage on Conrad’s face as he sputters about the countless other good plays he made is enough to have me grinning.

  I reach the end of the aisle and nearly collide with a woman. I catch my basket just before it hits the ground, but her basket goes flying.

  Shit.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am.” I drop to one knee and help her pick up the sporting supplies. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

  “Neither was I.”

  We reach for the same pair of socks, and our gazes connect. She gasps, and I feel like the air has been knocked clear out of me.

  “Jami.”

  Her green eyes flicker a little, but she says nothing. I wait for a surge of anger to rush through my veins. Instead, my blood goes rushing somewhere else.

  With full lips, a thick mane of honey blonde hair, curves in all the right places, and a pair of tits that I know for a fact are real, Jami MacIntosh is every bit as stunning as she was in high school. Even after the way things ended between us, apparently her body still has the same hold on my dick as it did when we were teenagers.

  She blinks twice and pulls back. Her lips curve up into a slow grin.

  “Hello, Shane.”

  Just like that, I’m eighteen again. I’m standing outside my mom’s house saying good-bye to Jami as she sets off to drive across the country, leaving me behind. I hadn’t heard she was back in town.

  It’s then I notice the badge on her chest. It’s a Sunset Canyon Police badge.

  It hits me. The baseball supplies. The badge. Her history.

  Damn it. She’s the ringer.

  Jami

  It figures. Somehow, Shane is even hotter now than he was in high school. The blue firefighters uniform fits him every bit as good as the one he wore for baseball a decade ago.

  Just like in high school, the sight of him in it makes me want to jump his bones in the back of his car.

  Which would be bad for so many reasons. Namely, the last time I saw him I broke his heart. And the last time I spoke to him, he broke mine. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me that hoped we could put those hurt feelings behind us. That we could give our relationship another shot. But even if that was possible, now is so not the time.

  In just a few days, our departme
nts are going up against each other in the annual Sunset Canyon Cops and Firefighters baseball game. As the newly appointed captain of the police team, I shouldn’t be consorting with the enemy.

  Even if the smolder of his gaze has my panties wet.

  And even if my body is still tingling from the jolt of electricity that bounced through it after our hands met.

  Shane seems to recover before I do.

  “You’re back in town.”

  I nod. “I just started with the police department this week.”

  “So I see.” Shane shoves his hands in his pockets and leans to one side, looking unbelievably cool. His shirt stretches over his muscular shoulders. The whiskers on his chin only accentuate how chiseled it is. Like, you could cut diamonds with that chin.

  I really need to not think about how appealing I find all of that.

  “I see you work for the fire department.” Which is quite possibly the lamest thing I could say right now. He obviously works for the department.

  Shane doesn’t call me out on that, but his eyes sparkle.

  “You must also be the new coach for the cops.”

  He was always smarter than people gave him credit.

  “That’s what they tell me.”

  His gaze darkens, and my breath catches again. My heart beats faster. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask if he’d maybe like to grab a drink later when the radio on his chest rings.

  “Calling all units to the 500 block of main.”

  Shane swears under his breath.

  “That place has gotta get their sprinkler system repaired.”

  I arch my eyebrow. “Not the first time you’ve been called there?”

  “Not even the first time this week. Guess I’ll see you around.”

  Then he and the guy he was with are out the door, leaving their basket with the clerk at the front desk.

  Talk about saved by the bell. I was about to make a monumental mistake.

  Breaking up with Shane may be the biggest regret of my life. But getting involved with him now would no doubt be the worst.

  Though I never asked for it, my mom and girlfriends have found countless ways of giving me updates on my first love. From what they say, any sensible woman should keep her distance. If what they say is right, Shane has made it his mission to sleep with half the women in town under the age of forty. And more than a few over.

  Not that I judge. As long as everything is consensual, and no feelings are hurt, it’s not my place to slut shame him or them.

  But when I knew Shane, he was the committed type. At least I thought he was. Until I called him one week into my first semester at UVA. I was about to tell him I’d changed my mind. That I wanted to give a long-distance relationship a try. Then I overheard a giggling girl in the background.

  I was gone one week, and he’d already moved on. Again. I can’t really judge him. Like the whole Ross and Rachel situation, we were on a break.

  Still, like Rachel, I don’t have to like the fact that Ross—or rather Shane—made quick work of rebounding.

  I’m still mulling this over when I slide back into the police cruiser. Chad, the beat cop assigned to show me the ropes, practically sneers at me.

  “Took you long enough.”

  “I’m sorry.” I wince to myself. Like millions of women around the world, I have no reason to apologize. Yet I did. “Did we miss a call? You could’ve buzzed me on the radio.”

  “We didn’t miss a call,” Chad grumbles. “I’m just ready for lunch.”

  Okay then. He puts the car in gear and peels away from the curb.

  I get that the department is understaffed. It’s part of the reason I agreed to come back to my hometown to take this job. I just wish they could’ve partnered me with someone who didn’t so clearly have a grudge against me.

  Based on the comments he’s dropped freely this week, Chad figures I only got the job to meet some quota. It doesn’t help that until two days ago, he was the coach of the baseball team. But when our captain found out I’d pitched in college and led my old precinct’s team to victory countless times, he insisted I take the job.

  Chad is just going to have to get over it. I’m here to do a job. I’m not going to let his bad attitude keep me from doing it. More, I’m going to lead the cops to their first victory over the firefighters.

  The fact that they’re being coached by my ex shouldn’t complicate things. Or, at least, I’m not going to let it. Even if he has aged like a good bottle of Bordeaux.

  Chapter Two

  Shane

  I scribble my name at the end of a report and shove it across the table.

  Dallas, the new chief of Sunset Canyon Fire & Rescue, arches an eyebrow. “Someone’s a little grumpy today.”

  I pretend not to hear him.

  Conrad drops into the seat across from us. “Don’t mind Shane. He’s just having a little girl trouble.”

  “When isn’t Shane having girl trouble? What’s the problem? Did two of your girlfriends find out about each other? Was there a good old-fashioned cat fight?”

  I nearly tell him to fuck off, but remember he’s my boss now and not just my friend. When we’re on the clock, I could get a mark on my record for telling him where to shove his shit-eating grin.

  I’m about to shove away from the table, when Conrad’s lip curves up.

  “Shane’s girlfriend is back in town.”

  Dallas’s eyes widen. “Jami is back?”

  It’s my own fault. I never should’ve told these guys her name. But one night a few years back I had a little too much Jameson and spilled my story like a total wuss.

  “Get this, she’s a cop. And the new coach of their baseball team.”

  Dallas lets out a low whistle through his teeth. “Shit, and I thought I had it rough.”

  I catch myself before I roll my eyes. Dallas started dating our former chief’s daughter a couple of weeks ago. She went to vet school forty-five minutes away, and Dallas acts like she’s been sent to Australia. He basically spends every down minute on the phone with her or texting her. Always “miss you, baby” this and “what color are your panties, baby” that.

  What a sap. I’m nowhere close to being in his league.

  “Look, it’s not a big deal, but yes, Jami is back. And yes, she’s coaching the team. Who the fuck cares?”

  Almost like they planned it, Conrad and Dallas give me a look that clearly says “you do.” I’ve really got to make new friends.

  “If you’re so over it, why were you all thumbs at the sporting goods store yesterday?” Conrad asks.

  I practically growl at him. “I wasn’t that clumsy.”

  “You dropped your basket.”

  “She dropped her basket. I almost did. And that was before I knew who she was.”

  “Sure Shane.”

  I rise to sock him one in the face, but Dallas grabs my arm. I shake off his hold and reluctantly sit down.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  I bolt up again. “Sorry, girls. I’m not in the mood to gossip.”

  “Methinks the dude protests too much,” Conrad says.

  “Look, we haven’t seen each other in a decade. I didn’t know she was back. It surprised me. But I’m good now.” To prove the point, I add, “I’ll probably even ask if she wants to grab a beer sometime to catch up. No big deal.”

  “Well, I’m glad to hear you say that,” Dallas drawls out. He holds up his phone. Please don’t let it be another stupid cat photo from his girlfriend. “I just got an email from the mayor. It seems he’s sending her over.”

  My stomach drops, but I pretend not to notice. “What for?”

  “So you two can get acquainted and make nice before the game.”

  “Uh oh,” Conrad says. “I better get the fire extinguisher. Shane’s about to set you on fire with that glare.”

  “That’s fine.” My words are clipped. “I’m gonna get a quick shower, and then I’ll meet the other team’s coach.”

  “Y
ou mean your ex-girlfriend,” Conrad says.

  If we weren’t still on cooking duty as punishment for our last brawl, I’d punch that look right off his face.

  Jami

  Following the directions a guy named Conrad gave me, I make my way down a hallway at the fire station. Though I remember taking a field trip to this very firehouse when I was six years old, we stuck to the garage and the fire pole.

  As I pass a break room and a pit with desks and chairs, the back of the house here looks just as boring as the police department.

  I reach the door Conrad pointed out and hesitate as I grip the handle. Yesterday’s run-in with Shane was the textbook definition of awkward, awkward, awkward. Granted, yesterday was completely unplanned. Today, at least, I have the benefit of bracing myself for a face-to-face. I’m going to be the picture of calm and collected. I’m going to prove that his gaze doesn’t make my heart skip a beat.

  Basically, I’m going to prove I have my shit together.

  Straightening my spine, I plaster a bored expression on my face and push the door open.

  And come face to face with Shane’s bare ass. At the sound, he turns, giving me a full view of his cock. It’s even bigger than I remember. Jaw dropped, eyes wide open, it takes me way too long to realize I’m still staring.

  Clamping my eyes shut, I stammer out an apology.

  “Conrad told me to come right back. He said you’d be expecting me.”

  Shane chuckles, and I hear the water stop. “Conrad is usually full of shit.”

  Apparently. “I’ll just give you a minute to get dressed.”

  “No worries.” I feel, rather than see, Shane move closer. “I’m covered.”

  I open one eye and find he’s slung a towel around his hips. “I should go.”

  I turn on my heel to do just that. I catch a wet spot, and my foot slips out from under me. Two strong hands grab me around the waist. Shane pulls me against his chest.

  “Whoa. Steady there, champ.”

  My heart is still too firmly lodged in my throat for me to say anything. I take a few steadying breaths, hoping it’ll go back into place.