Some Like It Sizzling, page 1
Nothing sizzles more than passion reignited...
Former model Jenna Rawley has spent her entire life craving the security and stability she never had growing up. Her wedding day was supposed to be the day all of her dreams came true. Instead, the groom disappears and Jenna runs from the church...and right into the arms of her high school sweetheart.
Firefighter Luke Kearney never forgotten Jenna, or that she left him behind with a broken heart all those years ago. Yet in that single, dramatic moment, their chemistry comes roaring back to life, hotter and more fierce than ever. Only now there are complications—including secrets from the past that have been buried, but not forgotten. But a man who plays with fire is bound to get burned...
Some Like it Sizzling
a Perfect Recipe novel
Robbie Terman
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Robbie Terman. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Entangled Publishing, LLC
2614 South Timberline Road
Suite 109
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.
Select Contemporary is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.
Edited by Stacy Abrams
Cover design by Kelley York
ISBN 978-1-63375-177-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition January 2015
To my sister, Danielle, who often finds herself in hilarious and unique situations, and inspires me to write characters who do the same.
Prologue
This was a very bad idea.
Jenna Rawley’s walk slowed until her feet stuck to the pavement. Her legs felt like they’d been filled with sand. She twisted her hips, trying to turn, trying to run, but she couldn’t lift her foot. How had she ended up here? Her best friend, Chloe, had gotten involved in a scheme with a hockey player, which had blown up in their faces. Now the hockey player was throwing a press conference at Trinity Arena to try and repair the damage. Jenna had promised Chloe she would be there for support.
She’d planned to make one quick stop after she left her apartment to pick up the Michael Kors bag she’d been drooling over for weeks. But instead of heading toward Bloomingdales, she found herself moving in the opposite direction, lurking along the brick wall next to a fire station. And not just any fire station, but the one at which her high school sweetheart, the man whose heart she’d smashed into smithereens, worked.
Go! Run! She tried to will her feet, but she was paralyzed.
“Hello there, miss. Can I help you with something?”
Jenna whipped her head around. A heavyset bald man stepped out of the firehouse door. “Miss?”
“I…ahh…” She cleared her throat. “Is Luke Kearney here?”
An eyebrow rose. “Luke? Sure thing, honey. Come on in.”
As he pointed toward the interior of the firehouse, her feet magically began working again, and she followed him inside. “Yo!” he shouted nowhere in particular. “Kearney! You got a visitor.”
There was still time, she thought as she waited. She could leave before Luke arrived and push away years of memories that had recently surfaced in her brain. Memories that had left her distracted, or so her fiancé Hal had told her. Hal didn’t know the reason, of course. But she’d forgotten to pick up his dry cleaning yesterday, and he needed a particular Armani suit for another of his late night business meetings.
The sound of a screech drew her attention up, toward the pole, where Luke slid down. When his feet landed against the cement floor with a thud, her heart rate doubled. Until the fire at Chloe’s bakery a few weeks back, Jenna hadn’t laid eyes on Luke Kearney in nearly fifteen years, but she could see in the man the boy he’d once been. He had the same midnight-black hair, the same topaz blue eyes that seemed to reach inside her soul. He’d grown into his six foot two body. As a teenager he’d been too thin for his tall frame, never able to eat enough to fill out. The years had certainly changed that. He’d nearly doubled in size, and it looked like all muscle. The only other signs of age were a few fine lines on his face and the occasional gray hair near his temples.
One thing hadn’t changed about him—the way he could make her heart jump like a pogo stick in her chest. She hadn’t felt that in a while.
Surprise etched Luke’s face. Whether it was a good or bad surprise, she couldn’t tell. “Rawley, what are you doing here?”
She didn’t know how to answer. She had no idea why she was there.
“Hey, Luke, you gonna introduce us to your friend?”
Lifting her gaze, she realized a group had started to form around them. Heat flamed her cheeks as she cast her eyes downward. It was hard enough to face Luke without an audience.
Luke put a hand on her upper arm, and she surged at the familiar touch. “None of your business, you old biddies. Go find something else to gossip about.” With a gentle push, he led her up the stairs and down a hall.
They stepped through the door to a room lined with beds, she assumed for overnight shifts.
Luke studied her for a moment. “What are you doing here, Jenna?”
How could she tell him what she didn’t know herself? She wasn’t used to being confused, feeling like her insides were jumbled like spaghetti. She’d always been in control of her emotions.
The words of the first photographer she’d worked with as a young model popped into her head. She’d felt so out of place at that first shoot, so sure she didn’t belong, that she wasn’t beautiful enough, that she had no idea how to take a good picture. The photographer, a slimy middle-aged man who later tried to sleep with her, told her curtly, “Fake it until you make it.” Throughout the years, his words had stuck with her. She pushed her shoulders back and squared her chin. “I thought we could catch up. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other.”
“That was your decision.” Luke leaned back against the closed door, his hands against his hips. “You broke up with me, remember?”
“That’s not exactly how it happened.” A tremble in her voice betrayed her false bravado.
He leveled a glare at her. “You’re right. You didn’t even give me the courtesy of dumping me to my face. You just disappeared from my life.”
She looked away. “I didn’t come here to fight. It’s been almost fifteen years. Can’t we be friends now?”
“You want to be friends? How does your fiancé feel about that?”
“He doesn’t dictate my friendships.” Although, truthfully, Hal had a lot of opinions on her friends, in particular which friendships might be most beneficial to him in the future.
“Okay.” He straightened and stalked across the room. “What do friends do?”
As he came closer, his musky scent filled her nostrils, making her dizzy. She shook her head to find a coherent thought. “Ta…talk. Have coffee, dinner, maybe.”
“You want to have dinner with me?” He leaned in toward her and his face hovered just inches from her own.
“Sure. We’re friends, right?”
He shook his head slowly. “No, we’re not friends. You didn’t come here for that.”
“Oh, yeah?” She tilted her head back and found herself gazing into his intense blue eyes. “Enlighten me. Why did I come here, then?”
“For this.” He crushed his mouth against hers.
The sensation of Luke’s lips was like coming home. The feel of him, the taste of him, each nip of her lower lip, the way his tongue caressed hers, brought a flood of memories.
And then another thought popped in her head. Hal. She pushed at Luke’s chest and wrenched her lips from his. “I’m engaged.” She wasn’t sure who she was reminding: Luke or herself.
Luke clenched his jaw. “Not happily, I’m guessing, since you came looking for your ex-boyfriend.”
“Hal and I are ecstatic.” She meant to emphasize her words, but when her voice cracked, Luke smirked. She lowered her gaze to the floor. “I made a mistake.”
She’d meant coming to the firehouse, but Luke must have misunderstood. He moved his arms around her and pulled her close. “It’s not too late to fix this.” Luke dropped two fingers to her chin and lifted until their eyes locked. “Call off the wedding.”
Air sucked out of her lungs as she stared into his blue eyes. Call off the wedding. The thought rattled around her brain like a litany. And then Luke kissed her and she stopped thinking altogether.
Jenna wove her fingers through his silky black hair the way she’d done so many times before. He gently propelled them toward the nearest bed, and she fell back against the mattress, her head pillowed by Luke’s large hand. She welcomed his familiar weight, appreciating the feel of his hard body. He left her mouth momentarily to kiss along her jawline, her earlobe, to nibble at her neck. But she wanted him at her mouth, where he’d once lingered for hours on end in the back of his parents’ minivan. Drawing him where she wanted, she let out a sigh of contentment.
She lost herself in the moment, unaware of how much time had passed. It could have been a minute or an hour or a year. She didn’t care as long as Luke didn’t stop. The bottom hem of her shirt pulled out of her skirt, and sh e gasped as his hand made contact with her stomach. His fingers walked higher until they reached a breast, cupping her over her bra.
“Baby,” Luke breathed against her mouth as she bucked against him. “I’ve waited so long for this. I never stopped thinking—”
The piercing sound of an alarm shattered the moment.
Luke jumped from the bed, his breath coming in heavy pants.
Jenna sat up, yanking her blouse down, mortified. “Oh, God,” she murmured. “What did I just do?”
He cupped her cheek, tenderness in his eyes. “We were always good at this. We should try it again, when something isn’t burning down.”
Common sense came flooding back with hurricane force. She stood, wobbling at first on her jelly-filled knees. With trembling hands, she quickly shoved her blouse back into her skirt. “I’m sorry, Luke. I really did just come here to renew our friendship.”
The warmth in his face was replaced by anger. “I should have known. You came here for one last booty call before you get hitched.”
“Luke, no!”
She jumped when someone banged on the door. “Kearney! We got a hot one. Let’s go.”
“I’ll be right there!” he shouted.
“That’s not why I came here,” she told him. “I’m engaged, and I’m ha…happy.”
“Whatever.” Luke shrugged. “I’ve got to go. Let me know if you want to try this ‘friends’ idea again.”
Pain dropped in her chest like an anchor. “I won’t be back, Luke.” She walked to the door and looked at him one last time over her shoulder. “I’m getting married.”
Chapter One
The wedding was perfect. Or, it would have been. If the groom had shown up.
Jenna had planned everything down to the last detail. The 150-year-old church she’d picked was a historic landmark, filled with handcrafted wood, medieval stained glass, and gothic tapestries. The church had been featured in more than one bridal magazine, putting a premium on rental and having a waiting list so long she should have been old and bottle blonde before making it to the top. The only reason she’d been able to book was through a connection of Hal’s.
White lilies filled the sanctuary, accented with purple ribbon. Three hundred and fifty guests were waiting in the pews, waiting for the bridesmaids, who wore strapless, lavender cocktail dresses, to lead the way to the altar, clutching bouquets of calla lilies, and for the flower girl to sprinkle pink rose petals on the white silk covering the aisle.
Three hundred and fifty guests were waiting for the bride to arrive on her father’s arm, breathtakingly beautiful in a Vera Wang gown.
Jenna was waiting for the groom.
The door to the bridal suite opened, but Jenna kept her position at the window, staring out at the torrential downpour. She’d picked Labor Day weekend for the wedding, since it was usually mild weather in Chicago. She couldn’t remember the last one with this kind of rain. Somehow, it was fitting.
“Jen,” her best friend, Ashton Grey-Cates, whispered.
People always whispered when bad things happened, as if normal volume would make the pain that much worse. She put her hand against the foggy window, dampness sinking into her skin. “He’s not here.” Yet lingered in the air, unspoken.
Ashton put a hand on Jenna’s shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. Well, it would have been comforting if Jenna could feel anything. Numbness had set in forty-five minutes ago.
“I sent Ty to the apartment to make sure he’s not there,” Ashton said about her husband. “Chloe and Griffin are calling around to local hospitals, just in case.”
“I didn’t talk to him this morning,” Jenna said, not wanting to even acknowledge the idea of her other best friend, Chloe Nelson, and Chloe’s fiancé, Griffin Lange, making calls to see if Hal was lying in some hospital bed. “I thought I should uphold at least some wedding traditions, and not see him or speak to him before the wedding. I shouldn’t have stayed at your place last night.”
Hal had been fine at the rehearsal dinner, hadn’t he? Jenna searched her brain for any oddity in his behavior, anything he’d said or done that would have clued her in to his disappearance today. But, to her embarrassment, she could barely remember conversing with Hal. She’d been too busy entertaining their guests.
Jenna finally tore her gaze from the rain and turned to Ashton, who was leaning against a chair, rubbing her lower back. “What are you doing? Sit down!” Although she was only seven months pregnant, Ashton looked like she could pop at any moment.
Ashton hesitated as she looked at the chair with longing. “I know you don’t want the dress to wrinkle.”
Jenna rolled her eyes, even as she admitted to herself that Ashton’s words were true. She hadn’t wanted the dresses wrinkled, either walking down the aisle or in the pictures. But what did it matter now?
“Please, sit,” she said, pressing a hand on Ashton’s shoulder to make sure her point was clear. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Ashton sat with a sigh of relief, but Jenna couldn’t bring herself to do the same. What if Hal had just been delayed because of the rain? What if he walked in at any moment? He’d want her to look perfect, to make everyone forget he’d been late.
But even as she made excuses for him in her head, she knew he wasn’t coming.
Appearances were as significant as breathing to Hal, and his colleagues and every important client in his accounting firm were sitting in the church. Hal would never leave them to wait an hour. This wedding had been more for the guests than the bride and groom, which was why Jenna had agreed to go so far over budget. If it would help Hal succeed in his career, she was on board. Because his success meant more security for her.
Not that she was a deadbeat who needed a man to take care of her. Four years ago, Jenna had returned from living abroad when Ashton had offered her a partnership in her new restaurant. Ashton would be executive chef, their third partner, Chloe, would be pastry chef, and Jenna would be the general manager. She hadn’t known anything about the restaurant business, but she’d thrown herself into learning, and she was damn good at her job. Plus, she made a decent income. That, combined with Hal’s compensation and drive for success, meant she never had to worry about where she would live or how she’d put food on the table.
After another fifteen minutes had passed and Hal still hadn’t shown, Ashton hobbled to her feet. “I’m going to see if I can get ahold of Ty and check in with Chloe and Griffin. The cell service is terrible in the building, so they’re making calls in the vestibule.”
Jenna could only nod as Ashton waddled out of the room. Tears clogged her throat, but she didn’t want any to escape. Crying didn’t solve problems, so it was pointless. It also didn’t make you feel better, only made you look weak and vulnerable. So she held on to those tears with everything she had, which gave her something to concentrate on rather than the three strongest probabilities of the day.
Hal had gotten cold feet.
Hal had been in an accident and was lying unconscious, unable to contact her.
Hal was dead.
“Angel?”
Jenna jumped at the sound of her father’s voice. Ben Rawley stood in the doorway, worry etched on his face. She forced a smile as she watched him tug on his tuxedo jacket. He was far more comfortable on a construction site than in a ballroom, and Jenna couldn’t ever remember seeing him in a tuxedo before. Even at her brothers’ weddings, he’d just worn a suit. But he’d put on a tuxedo today, because he was the kind of father who’d do anything his only daughter asked.
“Should I”—he hesitated before continuing—“make some sort of announcement?”
“What kind of announcement?”
Her father smiled sadly. “Angel, the wedding was supposed to start nearly an hour and a half ago.” He held out his arms to comfort her, but she stepped back, conscious of wrinkling her dress.
“We don’t know what happened yet,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.
He sighed and nodded slowly. “Okay, we’ll wait.” He gestured toward the hallway. “Your brothers would like to see you. Can they come in?”
“No,” Jenna said sharply. Even though she loved her four older brothers, she knew what they would say. Some macho bullshit about how they’d find Hal and beat the crap out of him. She didn’t want to hear it, not when there was a chance he could still show up. “Please, Dad. I just want to be alo…”
