My Smoking Hot Best Friend (Lit Creek Fire Department #2)

Chapter 1

Summer

“T oo hot, eh?”

Shit. She can see me ogling the picture of the half naked man on my phone? I click my phone off and lift my gaze to Amber, the woman behind the counter of Espresso Yourself Cafe and Bookstore. Basically my favorite place on earth right now.

“Umm…” How do I answer her?

With honesty: Ya. He’s smoking hot, but we’re just friends.

Lie through my teeth: What? This shirtless adonis? Pfffffffffffft…naaaaah .

Ignorance: What? This guy? I don’t know who this is. Hey? How’d he get on my phone?

“I steamed it to one sixty five. That’s your usual for the hazelnut latte, right?”

Then it clicks. “Oh? This?” I hold up my other hand. The one that Amber was referring to in the first place. The one with the hot latte. Yup. That makes more sense than her commenting on me gawking at Eli on my phone. “Ya. One sixty five is perfect,” I reassure her because I get this drink all the time, and I don’t want her thinking that she’s done something wrong.

“Okay, great. Just checking because you kinda made a face after your first sip. Like a grimace.”

Definitely a grimace. A painful one at that. I don’t understand my infatuation with my new best friend. He’s hot, like, hotter than any man I’ve ever met, but I can’t date him. I already know that.

“No, it’s delicious,” I tell her. And then just for the heck of it—and because it’s on my mind—I blurt out, “You think men and women can just be friends, don’t you?”

It’s her turn to pull a face, and it briefly contorts into a wince. “Not really,” she mumbles while busying herself with wiping down the counter.

“Really?”

“Ya. I don’t really think it’s possible. It seems inevitable that one or both parties will have feelings for the other. It’s why I didn’t have guy friends while I was married. Before Branton died, that is.” With her cloth, she wipes a few droplets of milk on the counter. “Well, I guess I should say that I didn’t really have one-on-one friendships with men. There were still great guys in my life, but I never spent time alone with them. Not that I have had any alone time in the last six years.” She chuckles.

“I guess that’s what happens with three kids, isn’t it?” I love how open Amber is with me, even though I’ve only been in Lit Creek a short time. It’s part of its charm. The people are amazing. I’ve definitely fallen for it all.

“Yup,” she says with a wink. I know how much she loves her little ones, too. She’s always showing me a picture of one or all of them.

“I don’t know how you do it. Three kids? And you work and do design stuff on the side. You’re a superwoman.”

Her head ducks as she chuckles. “Thanks. I’ve got help. No one can do life alone.”

“That’s true.” At her comment, my phone is burning against my thigh in my pocket, but I ignore it.

“What do you think?” she asks.

“Umm—”

“About being friends with a guy?”

“Ya—”

“There you are, Summer.” Piper rushes me and gives me a big hug. “Hey Amber.”

The two greet each other while I mull over my answer, but I don’t get time to delve into it because we’re saying bye to Amber as she turns to help the next customer and Piper drags me to a table.

“We need to talk about this firefighter calendar that you’re doing,” she says with a solemn face and a crease in her forehead that I don’t recognize.

“Yes, we do. So I was thinking—”

“No, Summer. You don’t understand. Eli does not want to do it.”

“What? Really? Everyone else is on board. What’s his problem?”

“He’s your BFF, you’re going to have to do the digging.”

“He’s not my BFF. You’re my BFF.”

“C’mon, Summer. You guys were insta-besties. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

And she’s not wrong. I can’t believe it only happened a few weeks ago, but the second I saw Eli in the bar and asked him if he’d seen my friend who hadn’t called me back after getting into car trouble just outside Lit Creek, he went into emergency responder mode. Which, in hindsight makes sense, with him being a firefighter and all. That gesture, and the rest of the evening bonded us tightly. I hung out all night with him and his friends as if we’d known each other forever. He could look at me and I’d know what he was thinking. We had multiple inside jokes before the night was over. Including one about him hunting Big Foot.

Since then, I’ve seen him or spoken to him every day. I hadn’t planned to stay in Lit Creek this long. Originally I had just come to check on Piper, but when I saw how cute the town was I decided not to head home yet. It was fun hanging out with Piper in a new place.

“Anyway, I just wanted to give you a heads up because for some reason I think you’ve got blinders on for this calendar thing.”

“I wouldn’t call them blinders. I just wanna do something for this town. Make friends. Help out with the whole Hockey Academy fundraising they’re all doing.”

“I know.” She places a hand on mine. “You’re amazing like that. Everyone needs a friend like you.”

“I wouldn’t go that far—”

“You should.”

“You’re the best, Piper.”

She flips her hair over her shoulder and winks at me. “I know. It’s why we’re besties.” Her eyes settle from her playfulness when she asks, “Does this have anything to do with you wanting to stay in Lit Creek long term?”

“Yes, of course. I just want everyone to like me. If I can do a really good job of this calendar it’ll show them that I’m committed to the town.”

“They’ll love you regardless.”

“Maybe.”

“Definitely. So are you gonna talk to him?”

“Ya. I’ll talk to him.”

“How are you gonna convince him?” She winks. “Offer benefits? Swap favors?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Seriously? When are you going to make a move?”

“I’m not. Ever.”

“What?” The slap of her hand on the small table combined with her screech draws a lot of attention. To which I give a tight smile.

Through gritted teeth, I say, “It’s not like that.”

“But he’s so hot.”

“Aren’t you with Hunter?”

“Happily. But didn’t you just take that shirtless picture of Eli on the beach recently?”

I nibble on my bottom lip. I did do that. And I did just spend the morning ogling that very picture. It’s imprinted on my brain. Broad shoulders, corded biceps. Rippling muscles. Gah! He’s a specimen I’d love to shoot. And I’m still not sure why I did take that unsolicited shot on the beach. I’m also not sure why I keep finding myself ogling it. Daily. I mean, of course I’m analyzing it for its amazing composition. The framing. The lighting. And all that.

“It was practice. For the calendar.”

“Sure. Well, maybe you can use it as blackmail. Apparently he’s super modest.”

“So I’ve heard…And that’s a maybe on the blackmail.” As fun as it sounds, I wouldn’t do that to a friend.

“Let me know how you end up convincing him.”

“What if I can’t?”

She deadpans me.

“What? I might not be able to convince him.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way.”

But the way she’s talking about is definitely not the answer. I will never go there with him.