1
Evan West flicked his suit jacket closed, smoothed the lines just so with a practiced slide of his hand, then fastened the top button. His shoes were perfectly polished and he’d gotten a fresh haircut that morning, going a little shorter than standard on the sides.
He looked good, and he knew it.
Which was important, because he had to makeherlook good.
Jessica Doran.
The brunette bombshell he wasnotgoing to fuck tonight, no matter how many hungry looks she gave him when she thought he wasn’t looking.
No matter how soft her tits looked or how red—and wet—her mouth promised to be.
Tonight Evan would be on his best behaviour, because Jess was a friend and a woman in need.
And Evan didn’t fuck friends, or women in need.
In general, he preferred his fuck buddies to be just like him. Ruthlessly independent and looking a good time—nothing more. Male, female, non-binary…he was an equal-opportunity screw for anyone as long as the chemistry was there. But for relationships, he found himself sticking to men more often than not, for reasons he didn’t bother to analyze in depth.
He was messy and his lovers knew it.
Jess didn’t need his mess right now. She needed his help, so he had a role to play which for another man—a lesser man—might complicate the not-going-to-sleep-with-Jess rule.
Tonight, Evan was going to very muchwantto sleep with her. Publicly. Visibly. In-front-of-her-ex kind of public.
It wasn’t the noblest of plans, but he didn’t care.
Jess wanted this, and so, Jess would have this.
It was the least he could do. She was going to save his town, after all.
2
A month earlier
It was telling that in order to drown herself in a bottle of red with a friend, Jessica had to drive two hours down the highway to Wardham.
It was also telling that Liam McIntosh was the closest thing she had to a best friend. Other than Brent, of course. But a year ago, when her husband had walked out on her, he’d become her ex-friend at the same time he became her ex-husband.
Which left Liam. They’d been colleagues in business school, and then stayed in touch when he’d moved to wine country to raise a family.
And Liam also came with a built-in co-bestie for wine drinking—his wife Evie, who had a way with wine and words and wisdom.
Jess needed a hefty dose of all three this weekend.
She took a deep breath as she steered her car off the highway and headed into the lush green countryside south of Essex. No big city noise, or traffic, or firefighters who can’t talk about their feelings and shut out their wives.
There was a lot to like about Wardham. She’d visited a few times in the last year, since Brent left her the same weekend Liam got married. She didn’t have anything else to do.
From the empty seat beside her, the embossed invitation to the annual mayor’s service gala taunted like a neon light.Sure, Jan, it said.Likely story. So why did you burst into tears when you opened the envelope?
Because Brent—her asshole ex—was also a courageous firefighter who was getting a commendation from the mayor. At a gala dinner she was on the fundraising committee for. And nobody had told her.
In fact, people must have gone out of their way to keep this information from her, to protect her, and God damn it, she didn’t need saving.
She wasfine.Capital-F Fine, in fact.
* * *
