SCORCHED: A Firefighter Stepbrother Romance Thriller by Evelyn Graves Read Free Book Online

curves, her hair soaked and dangling like Spanish moss
over her neck and shoulders. If it had been anyone else—any girl I’d
brought home from the club or the bar—I’d have had her bent over my bed
and screaming my name.

 
    But this
was my stepsister. The only thing I should have seen when I looked at her was
the little brat I used to help put pigtails on when she was getting ready for
school, not some smoking hot vixen.

 
    It was
wrong...

 
    And I
knew that if I hadn’t gotten out of there, then an awkward situation would have
become something much, much worse. Despite how she was acting or even how she
felt about me, I knew that I couldn’t lose Tanya again—this time, I
wouldn’t run.

 
    It
didn’t take me very long to get to the firehouse, just long enough to collect
my thoughts and think away the tent in my jeans.

 
    When I
arrived, I saw half the station outside gathered around our big fire engine. A
few of the boys were soaked and covered in suds and a few others took turns rinsing
the truck, the remnants of their handiwork spiraling down into the darkness of
the nearest storm drain.

 
    “ Yo ! Gunner!” one of my boys called from where the rest of
them were lounging by the grill. “ Ain’t today your
day off?”

 
    I
walked over, finding Stoggins manning the grill
behind a column of smoke. Our resident grill master loved his meat nice and smoky. The rest of us? Not so much.

 
    “Jesus,
you’re lettin ’ this buffoon around the grill again?”
I asked, punching my friend in the arm as he flipped the next batch of burgers
over the fire. “What’s the procedure when we have to report our own damn fire?
Do we have to call someone else to put the fuckin ’
thing out?”

 
    “How
about you do us all a favor and shove a damn burger in your mouth, and then
shut the fuck up, Gunner,” Stoggins shot back, jerking
his head toward a plate of juicy patties.

 
    “I’ll
shove my fist in your mouth, is what I’ll do,” I said, fixing myself a burger
while I glanced around at the rest of our crew.

 
    These
makeshift block parties of ours were pretty common whenever we had to wash the
engines, and it gave us a chance to relax. Or until the tones
sounded, anyway. A few of the guys made a habit out of bringing their
families and letting their kids run around on the side of the firehouse while
their wives caught up on the latest gossip. I wasn’t too into the whole family-man
bullshit, but having the kids and wives around made everything seem a little
more like a family—a community.

 
    I
hadn’t had one of those in a long damn time. I briefly—and probably
stupidly—entertained the thought of bringing Tanya to one of our
get-togethers, someday.

 
    “Hey,
Gunner,” Garfield called from behind me. He was only a part-timer, but shit,
everybody came out of the woodwork when free food was involved. “What was the
deal with you the other day?”

 
    I knew
what he meant, but Christ, I’d come here to get away from family drama, not
relive it with all my friends. “What’re you talking about?”

 
    “You fuckin ’ bolted after the fire,” he said, taking a long pull
of his beer. “I asked the Captain what the hell was up, but he told me it was
personal. That girl a friend of yours?”

 
    Man,
some of these guys were like bloodhounds for pussy. Every time we pulled some
chick out of a burning building, they expected to get their dicks wet. I usually
didn’t pay them much mind, but now we were talking about my stepsister, and
that changed things.

 
    Hoping
to shut him down easy, I shrugged. “Not really.”

 
    But
goddamn Garfield couldn’t take a hint. “She looked really fuckin ’ familiar. You bring her around
here or something before? One of your conquests?”

 
    I
swallowed the bite of burger in my mouth. “She’s my fuckin ’
stepsister, asshole. Watch your mouth.”

 
    “You
got a sister?” Garfield looked stunned, like I’d just