Title: Five Alarm Fire
Author: Angela Taylor
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: October 10, 2024
Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.
First grade teacher Laurel Shepherd is so fudged! Thanks to one too many wine coolers, she’s stuck completing a “Ten Things To Do Before I Turn 30” list made by her BFF. Ten things she never wanted to do… which is exactly why her friend chose them.
Laurel’s bestie thinks she needs to live a little and experience life. But boring is fine by her… as long as it’s dusted. She likes coloring inside the lines. So, she might’ve possibly—okay, definitely—procrastinated checking things off the list.
Well, guess what? She just hit thirty, and the list isn’t done. But will her pain in the popsicle friend let her off the hook? Sure… right after a unicorn slides in on a rainbow eating pie!
Ugh. Why did it have to be pie?
Don’t talk to firefighter Jake Lockwood about structure unless it’s one that’s on fire. Coloring outside the lines is way more fun, and he’s never had trouble finding women to hand him crayons. So, why is a good girl the one raising his temperature?
Jake shouldn’t agree to help Laurel with her list, but pushing her outside her comfort zone is something a bad boy like him can’t resist. He doesn’t do relationships because he knows they end in flames. Still, nothing says he can’t teach the teacher a thing or two, right?
Problem is, when the boxes left to be checked start running out, the questions begin piling up. Neither wants to be burned, but can she resist the bad boy’s charms? Is he finally ready for a relationship? Is she?
And what’s up with the pie, anyway?
“Where were we?” Jake moved in for another kiss, but she turned her head.
“We’re in my classroom.” Goosebumps erupted along Laurel’s skin as the realization of what she’d done barreled into her like a wave decimating a sand castle. “Oh, my goodness! We’re in my classroom!”
What was wrong with her?
She’d kissed him… in her classroom!
She’d let him glide a hand under her skirt.
In.
Her.
Classroom!
“I can’t.… We can’t.…” she sputtered, scrambling to her feet. “I don’t even know you!”
Jake smiled and stood next to her. “I’d like to get to know you.”
“I’m not going to sleep with you,” she blurted, then immediately slapped a hand over her mouth. What in bells made her say that? It’s not like she’d been fantasizing about him in her bed ever since she’d laid eyes on him in the bar.
Ummm…
He chuckled. “I never asked you to, but I’m game, if you’re asking.”
“I’m not!” she squeaked. She needed to make darn sure he knew having sex with him was the furthest thing from her mind.
Sure, it is.
He smiled again, and her bravado faltered. Self-consciously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she schooled her features into what she hoped was an I-so-don’t-want-to-rip-your-clothes-off-and-ride-you-on-my-desk expression before continuing.
“For the record,” she informed him. “If you had asked, I would’ve said no.”
Probably.
Maybe.
Oh, who am I kidd—
“Good to know.” He picked up the jacket he’d dropped earlier. Tossing it over his shoulder, he added, “I’ll remember that for next time.”
Next time?
Angela writes steamy, frisky, fun contemporary romance that always includes heat, humor, snarky banter, spunky heroines and smokin’ hot heroes. Happily ever afters are a must!
When she’s not writing romance, she’s probably either reading in the “Bunny Estate” (aka his own bedroom) with her bunny, Tag, glued to the TV watching everything from Hallmark to The Amazing Race to John Wick, or going to the theater for a popcorn fix—er—to watch a movie. Oh, and let’s not forget drinking way too much Diet Coke! (Yes, she knows she has a problem. Don’t judge!)
Angela shares her rural home with three short, furry children, Remi, Ruby, and Starsky, and her husband, Dean, who probably won’t be surprised she mentioned the dogs first.
