Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Fire of the Heart (Hearts of Parkerburg 3)
    Fire of the Heart (Hearts of Parkerburg 3)
    Fire of the Heart (Hearts of Parkerburg 3)
    Ebook224 pages2 hours

    Fire of the Heart (Hearts of Parkerburg 3)

    By Havan Fellows and Lee Brazil

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Craig Gilchrist is the oldest of five siblings, the captain of the Parkerburg Fire Department, and all around buddy his friends run to when they have a problem. Unfortunately, he’s keeping a secret not only from the whole town, but his family as well. Living in the shadows works for him until one fateful night when a hot stranger walks across a smoky barroom, forcing Craig to make a move that could rock the foundation of his existence...and fill the void in his heart he doesn’t realize he has.

    Melrose escaped the end of a bad relationship to start over in Parkerburg. With the support of his cousin and a job waiting tables at a great restaurant, he thinks his life is finally going pretty smoothly. That’s when his path crosses that of Craig Gilchrist, local fire captain. The big, beefy firefighter is definitely not his type. So why does he suddenly star in all of Melrose’s fantasies?

    With Melrose at his side, Craig finally has the motivation to step out of the shadows and let Parkerburg see the real him...until trouble arises and the truth comes to light that perhaps he doesn’t know the real Melrose.

    Lies and fears play havoc with their newly acquired relationship. Luckily, once ignited, the hearts of Parkerburg don’t burn out so easily.

    The Hearts of Parkerburg stories can be read as standalones, each with a HEA...but trust me, you'll want to read about all the sweet happenings in this quaint little town.

    Christmas in His Heart - Dermot & Xander's story
    Heart on the Run - Chaz & Sprocket's story

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHavan Fellows
    Release dateFeb 2, 2016
    ISBN9781941841426
    Fire of the Heart (Hearts of Parkerburg 3)
    Author

    Havan Fellows

    I annoy, love, respect, scare, seduce, hurt, anger, infatuate, frustrate, flatter, envy, amuse and tolerate everyone. I just do it better in writing thanks to a little thing called...edits. Okay no, seriously...I'm a simple minded person who enjoys the escape from real life through a book. I write with the group Story Orgy and hope to continue doing so for a long time. I also am privileged to be with the Pulp Friction writers creating intermingling books in a world all our own. And just like every other red blooded human – I love hearing from people. So feel free to drop me a line – whether it's a comment on my blog, an email, a tweet or you track me down on FaceBook or Google + ... it's easy to catch someone who wants to be caught.

    Read more from Havan Fellows

    Related authors

    Related to Fire of the Heart (Hearts of Parkerburg 3)

    Related ebooks

    Contemporary Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Absolute Best

      Apr 30, 2021

      Absolute Best
      20 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    • Article

      Six Dart Out

      Sep 10, 2023

      Marc figured the girl was a vegan. Her puke had overflowed the sink and run onto the floor—tomatoes and rice marinated in microbrew lager. He’d told Vegan Girl to slow down, but her friends had won the turning-21-peer-pressure battle. Admittedly, Mar

      9 min read

    • Article

      Starting Over Editorial

      Jul 26, 2021

      Starting Over Editorial
      5 min read

    • Article

      How to Write a #MeToo Story

      Jan 19, 2018

      How to Write a #MeToo Story
      7 min read

    • Article

      Restless Souls

      Mar 6, 2018

      Restless Souls
      8 min read

    • Article

      Why I’ve Stopped Waiting for ‘The Winds of Winter’

      May 11, 2018

      1. It was my ex who first suggested I read George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. “I think you’ll like it,” he said, pulling his copy from the wooden bookcase in the corner of his bedroom. The shelves sagged under the weight of the epic fantasies th

      5 min read

    • Article

      Starbucks and Shipwrecks

      Jan 18, 2019

      Starbucks and Shipwrecks
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of Conversation

      Nov 1, 2023

      The Art Of Conversation
      4 min read

    • Article

      Woman About Town

      Jul 28, 2022

      Woman About Town
      5 min read

    • Article

      Birdie

      Jan 14, 2020

      Birdie
      24 min read

    • Article

      Where is THE LOVE?

      May 12, 2019

      Where is THE LOVE?
      3 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 21, 2023

      Books
      3 min read

    • Article

      Shame the Devil

      Aug 3, 2017

      Shame is an emotion that may be most powerful in the younger years of our sinful species, requiring peers to look on our performance with either envy or a shared sense of satisfaction. But as that audience thins out as more and more contemporaries sh

      3 min read

    • Article

      Pretty HURTS

      May 11, 2022

      Pretty HURTS
      6 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      May 1, 2024

      I waited forever for my parents to die so I could say at least one true thingbut mean. And so I wouldn’t die myself with those two unaccounted for in a Hades of voles and worse. The die-hards that they were? I wanted to say it.The riot of horror and

      1 min read

    • Article

      Identity Crisis

      Nov 15, 2021

      Identity Crisis
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Kaleshion

      Sep 1, 2020

      The Kaleshion
      8 min read

    • Article

      Mammy Dearest

      Mar 20, 2022

      Noelle McCarthy, the broadcaster, podcaster and journalist, has two obsessions: her mother and Dracula. She has written a memoir, Grand: Becoming my mother’s daughter, in which both characters flounce across the pages, one with fangs wearing a cape,

      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Fire of the Heart (Hearts of Parkerburg 3)

    4/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Fire of the Heart (Hearts of Parkerburg 3) - Havan Fellows

      Craig Gilchrist is the oldest of five siblings, the captain of the Parkerburg Fire Department, and all around buddy his friends run to when they have a problem. Unfortunately, he’s keeping a secret not only from the whole town, but his family as well. Living in the shadows works for him until one fateful night when a hot stranger walks across a smoky barroom, forcing Craig to make a move that could rock the foundation of his existence…and fill the void in his heart he doesn’t realize he has.

      Melrose escaped the end of a bad relationship to start over in Parkerburg. With the support of his cousin and a job waiting tables at a great restaurant, he thinks his life is finally going pretty smoothly. That’s when his path crosses that of Craig Gilchrist, local fire captain. The big, beefy firefighter is definitely not his type. So why does he suddenly star in all of Melrose’s fantasies?

      With Melrose at his side, Craig finally has the motivation to step out of the shadows and let Parkerburg see the real him…until trouble arises and the truth comes to light that perhaps he doesn’t know the real Melrose.

      Lies and fears play havoc with their newly acquired relationship. Luckily, once ignited, the hearts of Parkerburg don’t burn out so easily.

      The Hearts of Parkerburg stories can be read as standalones, each with a HEA…but trust me, you'll want to read about all the sweet happenings in this quaint little town.

      Fire of the Heart

      a Hearts of Parkerburg story

      By

      Lee Brazil

      &

      Havan Fellows

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, small towns, and incidents are completely and absolutely a part of the authors’ creative imaginations. Any resemblance to actual persons living or deceased, businesses, events or locales are entirely coincidental. Perhaps also a little bit fortuitous as well, because if you do find a doppelganger Parkerburg out there somewhere, please let us know. We might consider moving there and enjoying Maple Street ourselves. Think of the good lattes, great food and hunky men.

      Editing by: Jae Ashley

      Cover Art by: Author Services

      Published by: Appleton Publishing Avenue

      Copyright © February 2016 by Havan Fellows & Lee Brazil

      Printed in the United States of America

      ISBN# 978-1-941841-42-6

      All rights are reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, is forbidden without express written permission of the publisher/author. So please be good, good is fun.

      Table of Contents

      Dedication

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Chapter Fifteen

      Chapter Sixteen

      Chapter Seventeen

      Chapter Eighteen

      Chapter Nineteen

      Chapter Twenty

      Spread the Word

      More Hearts of Parkerburg

      About the Authors

      Trademarks

      Dedication

      Thank you to our readers for taking another stroll through Parkerburg with us. We love this town, especially when visiting it with you.

      Also, thanks to our awesome beta readers. Without you…well, let’s not think about a ‘without you’. :)

      Thank you,

      Lee Brazil & Havan Fellows

      And now…for your reading enjoyment…

      Fire of the Heart

      Chapter One

      So, have you decided whether you want to fuck her…or him?

      Craig Gilchrist’s head shot up off the desk he’d been snoozing on. He glanced around quickly, but no one was in the office with him. Had he been dreaming?

      Why not both? a different voice, deeper, more in charge, answered.

      The lighter voice chuckled. Why not, indeed.

      Oh shit. Craig widened his eyes as he identified the two voices, Blake Rieser and Dimitri Barnier, his best friends and fellow firefighters.

      Sure enough, Blake and Dimi filled the doorway into the closet-sized office that Craig constantly hid out in. True, it was his office, so hiding out might not have been the right term, but he felt like he was always hiding lately.

      They stood there—literally invading each other’s personal space to wedge themselves into the opening—and stared at him.

      Fuck. They know.

      For the past couple of months, Craig had a hunch they knew, but damn, he wasn’t ready for this conversation. Not today, maybe tomorrow. Like Annie said, it was always a day away. He could discuss it with them tomorrow…

      Hey, guys, he almost shouted, jumping up from the chair and pasting a false smile across his face. Damn. You know what? I needed to talk to you both about the grunt work roster, but I have to…um… I’ll be back in a couple of hours… Gotta run right now.

      He grabbed his coat from the rack and headed for the still very much blocked doorway. The sudden necessity to talk to Shawna buzzed through his brain and drove him to action.

      His eyes narrowed as he looked at the smug faces of his two friends. Craig refused to beg for permission to exit his own office.

      Where you off to? Blake asked, crossing his arms, not even attempting to pretend he wasn’t barricading Craig in the room.

      I’ll be back in a couple. Plenty of time for the party Kat planned.

      Two sets of blue eyes stared back at him. It was hilarious how his friends could be so damn different and identical at the same time. Their looks landed on opposite ends of the scale—Dimi had a head full of black messy curls that played with his collar while Blake had short blond hair. Dimi’s blue eyes were startlingly deep, hypnotic almost. Blake’s eyes, although technically blue, really appeared grayer and were big. They always reminded Craig of the Yaoi characters he secretly fantasized about. Dimi was bulky with a six-pack that could break a fist if anyone stupidly took a swing at him. Blake had more sleek lines, like a runner or swimmer—which befitted him since he participated in both activities religiously, but wouldn’t pick up a weight to save his life.

      They’d known each other for over a decade, worked with each other almost as long. He didn’t have sexual fantasies about his buddies, but he did have them about men in general, and even though he tried to hide his growing attraction for the same sex, the two people closest to him had figured it out.

      Hell, one look in their knowing eyes and he was busted.

      But…if they didn’t have the conversation, it remained in the circumstantial column, and he could pretend to them—if not to himself—that it wasn’t true.

      Unfortunately that would only happen if he could get out of this fucking closet that they didn’t seem willing to let him escape from.

      Not worried about the party. We celebrated my birthday last night, remember? Dimi cocked an eyebrow, standing sideways in the doorway since Blake decided to take up the bulk of the space with his smaller frame.

      Yeah, Craig remembered. They’d celebrated at Rosy’s, the local bar on the corner of Maple and Oak. In fact, that was why they were having a standoff right now.

      The waitress had left the full bottle of Patrón on the table with plenty of limes and beer chasers. Less than two hours later, Rosy—the owner—had picked the empty bottle up with a quick shake of his head and declined to leave another, placing a round of coffee as a consolation prize. Even drunk, Craig pretty much had full control of his senses, but his reaction time always decreased—he was only human. So he tried to smile and eye the ladies in the club, but damn, when that guy walked by their table…

      Well, again, he was only human. The guy was smaller than Craig—but at six-three and two hundred forty pounds lots of guys were smaller.

      But this guy… He was just Craig’s type, so even though he knew he should keep the drooling and staring to a minimum, damn did those slim hips and great ass make it hard. His mind immediately visualized wrapping his arms around the stranger, covering him completely as he plowed into his ass, forcing him to beg for more, harder, faster.

      It wasn’t that he wanted to dominate someone smaller—he didn’t want a dick on a girl’s frame—he just loved being a big guy, loved being a protector. It was the reason he'd gotten into emergency services. He’d toyed with the idea of being a cop, but that wasn’t really him. He didn’t want to police people; he wanted to swoop in and protect them from danger. You don’t get much more dangerous than a fire.

      Unless of course you’re a drunk, supposedly straight man staring at the ass of a completely fuckable—probably also straight—man.

      He’d hoped his friends were too busy with the girls who had joined their table to notice…but he thought now that perhaps they hadn’t been.

      If not worried about the party, then what’s the prob? Craig asked, stepping into their personal space. Unfortunately, intimidation between the three of them wasn’t plausible, not to mention pulling the rank card wouldn’t work either. But maybe sheer determination would get them to move their asses.

      Where’s the fire, Cap? Blake asked, popping the P at the end, his smile tilting up on the right side, showing his two dimples.

      The smile shoved Craig over the edge.

      A sharp pain stabbed through Craig’s chest. Yeah, these two men knowing his truth and hating him for it, that fucking hurt. He couldn’t do this…not this moment. He really needed to talk to someone, and right now Shawna was his only safe person. She’d told him to figure it out on his own, but he needed a friendly face. Needed someone who knew—even if they never openly spoke about it.

      Don’t you both have work to do? he growled the question through gritted teeth, no longer trying to be polite. Blake’s smile took away his patience. He bulldozed through them, Dimi solidly staying in his position, which caused the brunt of the force to be transferred to Blake who stumbled back into the hall wall.

      Don’t be a dick, Craig, Dimi grumbled, his low voice holding just a tinge of aggression to it.

      You both are on sprint detail today. I suggest you get started. I’ll be back in a few. Craig strode down the hall to the side exit. He didn’t bother to look back to see if they were following him; he just snatched his keys from his trousers and pressed the button on the fob, sighing when he heard the door unlock.

      Before he hiked himself up into his dually, he glanced back to the building. Dimi and Blake glared at him but didn’t pursue. Dimi had a mean scowl on his face; Blake sported his trademark lopsided grin… Hell, Craig could almost see those damn dimples from the parking lot. He stared at them, wondering if this was the end of their friendship. It made him sad.

      God, he needed help with his life.

      ***

      That’s it. Melrose set the last of the filled condiment trays on a two top in his section. The dining room was as clean and ready for business as possible. Want to stop by Rosy’s on the way home tonight? He grinned at his cousin, unable to stop the giddiness from showing on his face.

      You need a drink? Macy hip-bumped him as she checked off the last item on her end-of-shift record. She tucked the clipboard into the hostess podium and unclipped her nametag. I didn’t think it was that busy tonight.

      It hadn’t been. Alimentaire had been bursting at the seams for the entire holiday season, but things had slowed to a manageable level after Christmas. Maybe I want to celebrate being asked to stay on? Melrose took off his own nametag and handed it to her.

      That’s worth celebrating. Macy nodded, placing both tags in a small ceramic dish she kept under the counter for the purpose. Okay. But only one. Markie has a practice group for the SATs in the morning and has to be at Saint Ignatius at the crack of dawn.

      I can take him to that if you want, Melrose offered. He was proud of his cousin’s oldest son’s achievements. Markie was the first one in the Melrose family to excel at academics. Just watching the boy do his homework gave Melrose a headache. I don’t sleep late; you know that. They strolled toward the swinging kitchen doors. The time clock was at the back entrance, but Dermot insisted that no one use the alley after dark. Streetlights lit the square and park in front of Alimentaire, but only occasional lights over the delivery doors or rear entrances illuminated the alley.

      Oh, that’s tempting. His cousin flicked him a sly glance. You just want to see if there’s any more sexy firemen hanging out there again.

      A pleasurable tingle began in his belly as he recalled the table chock full of sexy firemen they’d seen the night before. I do like eye candy. He nodded. Eye candy…one of the men had stood easily head and shoulders above the others at his table, cherubic good looks, dirty blond hair, sexy eyes. But seriously, pretty hard bodies aren’t really my type. You know, I like ’em more—

      Artsy and angsty?

      That’s one way to put it, he laughed shortly. Artsy and angsty certainly described his previous boyfriend. Bas had been lean and graceful, adept with a mascara wand and a six string. It had taken nearly seven years for Melrose to see past the charm of carefully applied makeup and artfully dyed hair to the mean spirit and violent temperament that lurked within. But I’m not in the market for a relationship right now.

      You don’t have to marry them. It’s been months, Melrose. You deserve to go out with a nice guy and have a good time.

      I’m not at that stage yet, Mace. Right now, I’m in the ‘oh he’s hot but so not my type’ stage.

      Is that part of the recovery process? Chaz popped his head around the kitchen door and eyed them both. You realize that we can all hear you, and we’re now really, really curious about what your type is?

      Fuck. I—

      Same as everyone else. Firefighters. Smoking hot and sexy and so not available. Macy rescued him with a sympathetic glance and a joke. Come on over to the bar with us and enjoy the scenery.

      Chaz blushed from the tip of his pointed chin to the top of his auburn head. Can’t. Meeting Sprocket in the car park and—

      The rest of what the sous chef had to say disappeared in a stream of unintelligible gibberish as he darted back into the kitchen. The sous chef and Craft Time’s assistant manager had finally worked out the kinks…or some of them anyway, in their friendship turned relationship. They were sweet, more in-love than either of them probably even realized, and just looking at them together made Melrose ache like he’d broken up with Bas just yesterday instead of nearly a year ago.

      A year. A year by himself, to get his shit together. That year had moved him out of the city and into his cousin’s small hometown of Parkerburg. He’d thought that starting over in the new location would give him ample time to save up money to finally get to college…something he’d been putting off for over a decade now.

      He hadn’t counted on the fact that a small town would be feeling the economic crunch more severely than the city. It had taken longer to find work than he’d planned, so he hadn’t managed to pay off the debts he’d brought with him, let alone save money toward tuition. That had changed when Macy introduced him to Dermot Alisdair. Waiting tables all through the busy holiday season and generous patrons had allowed him to pay off his debts, and now…

      Melrose met Macy’s eyes and nodded gratefully. I’m stoked that he wants me to stay on. I do feel like celebrating. He did. It was a job waiting tables, and most people would look down their noses at him, just as they had his whole life, like Bas had, but it was waiting tables in a suit and tie, and serving dishes he had to practice the pronunciation of, and he liked it. Way more than any of his previous positions, like being the fry guy at a fast food place or stocking shelves

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1