Title: Feel the FireAuthor: Annabeth AlbertSeries: Hotshots, #3Length: 336 pagesGenre: Contemporary RomanceImprint: Carina PresseBook On-Sale: October 26, 2020eBook ISBN & Price: 9781488076855, $4.99 U.S.MMP On-Sale: October 27, 2020MMP ISBN & Price: 9781335459527, $8.99 U.S.
Book Description: The third installment of Annabeth Albert’s Hotshots
series—the emotions and intensity of Chicago Fire with the raw, natural
elements of Man vs. Wild.
When their career paths bring
two high school sweethearts together again, the forest isn’t the only thing
ablaze…
Fire behavior specialist
Luis Riviera goes where his job takes him. But when he’s assigned to an arson
investigation in Central Oregon—the place he left his broken heart twenty years
ago—he’s afraid of being burned all over again.
Tucker Ryland had planned
to join his first love, Luis, in LA after high school graduation, but life got
in the way. Now a fire management expert and a divorced father of teen twins,
Tucker’s thrown for a loop when he finds himself working side by side with his
Luis, now all grown up and more intriguing than ever.
Though consumed by a
grueling fire season and family responsibilities, the two men discover their
bond has never truly broken. Tentative kisses turn to passionate nights. But
smoking sheets aside, old hurts and new truths stand in the way of this time
being the start of forever.
Danger lurks everywhere
for Central Oregon’s fire crews, but the biggest risk of all might be losing their
hearts. Don’t miss the Hotshots series from Annabeth Albert: Burn Zone, High
Heat and Feel the Fire.
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Excerpt
“I’m sorry, we’re getting who?”
Tucker was usually all about getting through the morning meeting as quickly as
possible, and he’d learned through years of working with Fred that too many
questions would slow the boss down, lead to tangents and rambles and a lost
morning he could have been working. And a lost morning meant being late getting
out of here in the afternoon, meant another hasty dinner for him and the twins
and grumbles all around. So he made a point of paying attention to the announcements
and getting information right the first time, but this time he had to have
heard Fred wrong.
“New fire behavior
specialist out of California—Angeles National Forest is sending him since we’re
still under a hiring freeze and now down to a bare-bones operation. You know
all that. You were complaining about overtime last week.”
“I get that we need
some more boots on the ground. But I’ve been working as burn boss the last
several fires, and Garrick’s coming along too. Would be nice if they’d send us
some more admin support and not someone who’s going to expect a leadership
role.”
“Don’t get your
feathers ruffled. You’re both an asset to incident command, sure, but we need
this guy’s fire behavior experience, especially as it pertains to arson. He’s
got the analytical skills we can use and the experience to back it up.”
“Glad
they’re finally taking the arson suspicions seriously. And what did you say the
name was?” That last part was what he really wanted to know. He could deal with
the problem of too many chefs in the kitchen, but he could have sworn Fred had
said—
“Luis Rivera. Comes
to us with great experience.”
“Sounds good.” He
managed a nod, even as his head swam. Fuck. Maybe there were a lot of
guys with that name in the LA area. Maybe it was some stodgy near-retiree and
not the darkest, deepest pair of eyes Tucker had ever known. The voice husky
and earnest. The smile he’d never forget.
“Apparently he
knows the area at least a little is what his boss told me on the phone.”
And with that,
Tucker’s cornflakes and coffee turned to bricks in his stomach, a heavy weight
he hadn’t felt in eons. There might be plenty of guys with that name in
California but there had only been one Luis Rivera in central Oregon, the one
who’d left with Tucker’s heart all those years ago.
“They’re making
me go.” Luis’s voice had wavered, first time Tucker had seen him cry since he’d
broken his arm back on a fourth grade dare, and even then, he’d been more mad
than sad, all sputtering bravado. This was a level of devastation Tucker had
never seen from his friend.
His chest hurt,
like he was some hapless cartoon character and his heart really had been
cleaved in half by this news. Scooting closer, he wrapped an arm around Luis’s
slim shoulders, trying to be brave for both of them.
“You could stay
with us to finish school. Share my room and—”
“I’m
hardly your parents’ favorite person.” Luis’s weighty sigh hit Tucker like that
time a swing had slammed into his gut, because he was right. Tucker’s parents
weren’t going to come charging in to save the day.
“I’ll wait for
you,” he promised.
Only Tucker hadn’t.
And if it was that same Luis, well, there wasn’t going to be any avoiding him.
As shorthanded as they were, it wasn’t like Tucker could claim some of his
mountain of unused vacation days. Fred would want him working closely with this
person. But maybe he could figure a way around—
“Should be here any
minute.”
Or not. Damn it. He
needed time to sort himself out, time he apparently wasn’t going to get because
here came Fred’s assistant, Christine, knocking at the conference room door,
ushering in…
A stranger.
Not the boy Tucker
had known. A man. One with a couple of flecks of gray in his dark hair,
which was neatly styled, not all choppy and goth, and he had a lean, muscular
build, taller than him by a couple of inches, not some scrawny kid. His
shoulders were solid, a man who had known his share of heavy labor, and the
biceps peeking out of his forest service polo said he kept that work up. The
edge of a tattoo played peekaboo with his sleeve. Tucker’s memory had miles of
smooth tawny skin, no tattoos or scars like the one this guy had on his other
arm.
But right when
Tucker’s shoulders were about to relax, the pit in his stomach starting to
ease, the guy frowned, and Tucker would recognize that hard, defiant look anywhere.
Luis’s head tilted, revealing the familiar curve of his neck to his shoulder
that Tucker remembered all too well.
“Tucker?” The
Californian accent drew out the vowels in his name, an effect that could make
him feel special and singled out when whispered on a starless night. But add a
little disdain and a deeper timbre than Tucker recalled, and it made him feel
like an unwanted extra in a surfing movie.
“Yeah.” He nodded,
head feeling untethered, like a helium balloon about to escape.
“What the—” Luis
blinked, then drew his shoulders back, professional distance taking over,
smoothing his facial features and softening his next few words. “Sorry. Wasn’t
expecting…”
“Y’all know each
other?” Fred stood to greet the newcomer with a hearty handshake. “Now, that’s
just great. Small world, right?”
“Right,” Tucker
echoed weakly, unable to take his eyes off Luis. “Small world.”
Too small.
Especially considering that he’d once seen the miles between them as an
uncrossable sea, a distance so great it made his brain hurt almost as much as
his heart. Once upon a time, he would have given anything to end up in the same
room again, weeks of working together looming, and now he’d trade an awful lot
to avoid it.
What I thought about Feel The Fire
Fire behavior specialist Luis Riviera isn't excited to return to his home town to help deal with a potential arson situation. It's not the work, it's the fact he will most certainly run into Tucker Ryland, his best friend who happened to break his heart.
Tucker is just as uncomfortable. Just seeing Luis messes with his mind and heart. There's a lot of past these two fire fighters will need to work through in order to even have a chance of moving forward to a better place. But some relationship bonds are hard to break, even if there's some conflicts from the past to resolve. Neither man knows what happened after high school, and twenty years is a long time to hold a grudge.
One of the reasons I love Annabeth Albert M/M books is that there is a good mix of emotion with the physical interactions that eventually develop. In this story, those emotional bonds are strong and it doesn't take a whole lot for them to come back to life. And from the "heat" standpoint, both men have twenty years of life experience now and know themselves and their needs, which makes for some real sexual heat as Luis and Tucker give into their desires for each other. Wowza!
But there are still issues they will need to resolve if they want a future together -- namely, Tucker's home and family is in Oregon and Luis lives in LA. Will they be able to make it work? That is the question. I adored the fact this was a romance between two mature adults who had were willing to put in the work to figure things out.
I loved Tucker's family. His boys are pretty amazing, and their family unit is important to the story. The firefighting aspects to the story are well researched and well done, although at times hard to read because of the reality of the current wildfires out west. Some of the arsonist story line is resolved off-page, so the focus is really on the main characters.
Feel the Fire can be read as a standalone in this series.
An ARC was provided by the publisher. This is my honest review.
About Annabeth Albert
Annabeth Albert grew up sneaking romance novels under the bed covers.
Now, she devours all subgenres of romance out in the open—no flashlights
required! When she’s not adding to her keeper shelf, she’s a multi-published
Pacific Northwest romance writer.
Emotionally complex, sexy, and funny stories are her
favorites both to read and to write. Annabeth loves finding happy endings for a
variety of pairings and is a passionate gay rights supporter. In between searching out dark heroes to
redeem, she works a rewarding day job and wrangles two children.
Connect with Annabeth Albert
Website: http://annabethalbert.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnabethAlbert
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annabethalbert
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annabeth_albert/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6477494.Annabeth_Albert
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Annabeth-Albert/e/B00LYFFAZK
