Arson & Ache (Surrender to Them 8)

At least I don’t have to choose—that’s sort of a relief.

“Not at all. You’re going to go in my place.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “We are sponsoring the event. We can’t just not show up. You’re going to represent Livingston Capital.”

“What?” I blinked in surprise.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be done in time to go on the date with them tonight, but I need you to go handle the bidding.” She lifted her head. “Which guy did you choose?”

“Well, um…” I swallowed hard. “I am torn between Mr. February and Mr. December.”

“You know what?” Ms. Stone exhaled sharply. “I don’t have time to talk about it. Just buy them both—we’ll make it a double date.”

“Seriously?” I felt my eyes immediately get as big as saucers.

“You’ve been working hard, and I notice that sort of thing. You deserve a fun night out. We should get to know each other a little better anyway if you’re going to be one of my Account Managers one day.” Ms. Stone nodded quickly.

“Thank you, Ms. Stone!” My heart started racing in my chest.

“Wear something nice.” Ms. Stone dismissed me with a wave of her hand.

I walked out of Ms. Stone’s office and felt like I was floating on air. It was the first real compliment Ms. Stone had ever given me, and she mentioned me becoming an Account Manager. That put a smile on my face that wouldn’t have been erased if the building started falling down around us. Not only that, but she was going to trust me to spend two million dollars? Sure, I’d never actually see the money, but it was still going to be surreal. I picked up the calendar once I got to my desk and flipped through it again. I didn’t have to choose between Mr. February and Mr. December. I could buy both of them and let her decide which guy she liked. I would be happy with either one. It was just a date for charity. I wasn’t going to fall in love or anything. I just needed to make sure I didn’t look like a fool in front of my boss. Impressing her was much more important than a date with Mr. February or Mr. December.

I guess Ms. Stone will get the first pick, and I’m not going to complain either way.

Kincaid

“You have to be fucking kidding me!” I shook my head angrily at Chief Vance and growled under my breath. “I thought you were going to get one of the other guys to take my place!”

“I tried, but you’re Mr. December. It’s hard to have a charity auction without the guy people have been staring at all month.” Chief Vance shrugged and sighed. “It’s just one night. I think you can pull yourself away for a few hours.”

“Says the guy who’s on my ass to catch this fucking arsonist.” I growled again and narrowed my eyes at him.

“Do you have any leads?” He raised his eyebrows inquisitively.

“No, that’s why I need to keep working on the case.” I reached over and picked up my coffee that was sitting on the edge of his desk. “I want to go over everything from the beginning—there has to be something I missed.”

“That will have to wait until tomorrow. I’m sorry, but you know how much money this auction brings in. Remember that purchase order you turned in for new equipment? If this auction does well, I’ll be able to get everything on your list.” He leaned forward and nodded.

“Fine.” I twisted my lips into a look of disdain and took a sip of my coffee. “I’ll do the damn auction.”

Like I have a fucking choice.

I had been a firefighter at the New York City Fire Department for eight years, and an arson investigator for six months. Before I got my promotion, I agreed to be one of the twelve guys featured in the Heated Hunks calendar. Every December, the guys in the calendar were auctioned off, and the proceeds went to the fire department. It was for a good cause, and I was fine with it until I got my promotion, but I had better things to do than take some horny woman out on a date because she had money to burn. Most of the women who came to the auction were just looking for a few likes on social media because they donated money to the fire department. I felt like any of the other firefighters could have taken my place and they wouldn’t have noticed, but Chief Vance’s word was law—even if I disagreed with it.

“How did it go?” My former partner, a firefighter named Donovan, walked up to me as soon as I slammed Chief Vance’s door on my way out. “Did he give you a pass?”

“No.” I growled angrily. “I’ve got to do the fucking auction.”

“Damn, that sucks.” Donovan exhaled sharply. “I figured he would be happy to keep you behind a desk since the feds are threatening to take over the case if you don’t get a lead soon.”

“Yeah, me too.” I walked over to my desk and sat down. “We definitely don’t need the station crawling with a bunch of FBI agents.”

“Or worse—they’ll just take everything you’ve been working on down to

the police station and cut you out completely.” Donovan shook his head in disgust.

“Like hell they will.” I drained the last few drops of coffee out of my cup and crushed it in my hand. “This is my fucking case.”

“Hopefully you’ll come up with something soon.” He sat down across from me. “But for now, we get to go be someone’s fantasy for the evening.”