Title: Flirting with Fire
Author: Kate Meader
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication: March 24, 2015
Mass Market ISBN: 9781476785905
Mass Market Price: $7.99
eBook ISBN: 9781476785943
eBook Price: $7.99
Blurb
FLIRTING WITH FIRE(Pocket Books; On-sale: March 24, 2015; $7.99) is the first installment in Hot in Chicago sizzling new series from Kate Meader. The series features a group of firefighting foster siblings and their blazing hot love interests! Please let me know if you’d like to participate in our blog tour. Kate Meader is available for interviews/guest post, and I’m happy to send a review copy.
Savvy PR guru Kinsey Taylor has always defined herself by her career, not her gender. That is, until she moved from San Francisco to Chicago to be with her fiancé who thought she wasn’t taking her “job” of supporting him in his high-powered career seriously enough—and promptly dumped her for a more supportive and “feminine” nurse. Now, as the new assistant press secretary to Chicago’s dynamic mayor, she’s determined to keep her eye on the prize: no time to feel inferior because she’s a strong, kick-ass woman, and certainly no time for men.
But that all changes when she meets Luke Almeida, a firefighter as searingly sexy as he is quick-tempered. He’s also the second oldest of the Firefightin’ Dempseys, a family of foster siblings who have committed their lives to the service—if Luke’s antics don’t get him fired first. When Luke goes one step too far and gets into a bar brawl with the Chicago Police Department, Kinsey marches into Luke’s firehouse and lays down the law on orders from the mayor. But at Engine Co. 6, Luke Almeida is the law. And he’s not about to let Kinsey make the rules.
Check out our review HERE.
About the author:
Originally from Ireland, Kate cut her romance reader teeth on Maeve Binchy and Jilly Cooper novels, with some Mills & Boon thrown in for variety. Give her tales about brooding mill owners, oversexed equestrians, and men who can rock an apron or a fire hose, and she’s there. Now based in Chicago, she writes sexy contemporary romance with alpha heroes and strong heroines who can match their men quip for quip. Visit her at KateMeader.com.
Excerpt
She tried another tack. “The members of CFD, and Engine 6 in particular, are heavily involved in the city’s community, from their great service and public education to volunteer work and charity drives. Our campaign needs to focus on those efforts so we can minimize the negatives. Maybe even wipe those negatives out of existence.”
Laying the list down on her desk, he stared at her in a way that completely unnerved her. “When the negatives are caught on camera and blasted onto YouTube, sweetheart, there’s little chance of scrubbing the record. It’s out there forever.”
“True—”
“Plus, there’s a place in our society for those negatives, as you call them. Usually, men channel their anger into approved routes of violent expression—the military, sports, a charity boxing match between CPD and CFD. When it’s unapproved, that’s where there’s trouble. But, Kinsey, if I had a chance to do it over, I’d still punch the living daylights out of McGinnis and take my lumps.”
Butterflies dive-bombed in her belly at all that passion and conviction. After working so long with constantly remorseful politicians, it was . . . refreshing.
He ran one large hand over the edge of her desk, mere inches from where her thigh flexed tight at the skirt of her cream-colored suit. Momentarily mesmerized by those masculine fingers, Kinsey worked to drag herself back to reality.
“Are you telling me that men are compelled by the mere fact of their gender to choose violence as their first resort?”
“Partly. It satisfies our sense of justice, it makes us feel good, and it always improves our odds with women.”
He hoisted an eyebrow, drawing her laugh. It had been awhile since she wanted to laugh, and now she was choosing to let loose at Luke Almeida’s argument for channeling his inner Ultimate Fighter.
“It won’t improve your odds with all women.”
He considered that for a moment. “No, there’ll always be some who pretend they aren’t turned on by the idea of a man who can defend himself and keep his woman safe. Usually, it’s the same women who wear sexy heels that accentuate their shapely legs or open that top button of their blouse to hint at beautiful, cuppable breasts, then scowl when a guy takes a lingering look.”
Cue lingering look. His gaze fell to the V of her blouse (top button not undone, but cut low enough to get things simmering) and continued downward, the intensity in his eyes sending her sex into a clench.
Kinsey knew she looked good, and with that scorching appraisal, she felt better. How long had it been since a man had looked at her with such candid interest? David had stopped looking at her, really looking at her, a long time ago.
“Are you one of those women, Miss Taylor? The kind who showcases her gorgeous assets and then hides behind the electric fence of feminism to keep the animals out?”
- That word snapped her out of her reverie. So she would never consider herself a raging feminista, but she didn’t need a degree in women’s studies to recognize Luke Almeida’s type. He was the alpha predator, a guy who turned to violence to solve his problems, a man who looked like a suit or a job or a woman could never contain him. She needed to get her head in the game and focus on the mission.
Operation Clean Up CFD. And Don’t Let Luke Almeida Distract You.
The first part would be a cinch. As for the second . . .
“I think we’re getting off track here, Mr. Almeida.”
“Luke.” Warm, sexy, inviting. Oh my.
Her mouth felt as dry as the golden sands of Baker Beach back home, the sensitive area between her thighs not so much. She smoothed clammy hands over her skirt. Drawing her palms down her thighs magnetized his gaze to her heat-saturated body. Every cell was on fire.
Maybe she should call CFD.
Guest Post
by Kate Meader
My Favorite Book Boyfriends
So many fictional boyfriends, so little time. Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order (okay, I’d cut you to get with Hardy Cates):
1. Rowdy Yates from Getting Rowdy by Lori Foster.
With his sketchy past, and his penchant for hitting first and asking questions later, Rowdy is a great protective alpha. And the cover for this book is perfection.
2. Flynn from Willing Victim by Cara McKenna.
Construction worker-boxer with a taste for rough role-playing, and while we never get inside his head, McKenna lays it all out there. A Boston bruiser I wouldn’t mind meeting in a dark alley.
3. Hardy Cates from Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas.
Rich, Texan, from the wrong side of the tracks, and so caring of the heroine. LK writes the caretaker alpha so well, and Hardy is my favorite of her heroes.
4. Joey Miller from Collision Course by K.A. Mitchell.
This is an M/M romance and while some people probably prefer the brooding Aaron of this pairing, I love, love, love the manipulative, puppy-eyed, totally grounded Joey. A surfing social worker, he’s the perfect match for a guy who’s been screwed over by the social services system.
5. Lord Vere from His at Night by Sherry Thomas.
He’s a secret agent posing as a society idiot! What’s not to love?
1 comments
Thanks for hosting me today, Miranda, and so glad you enjoyed FLIRTING WITH FIRE!