Free The Fireman Who Loved Me by Jennifer Bernard

want to come. I told them you were a busy woman, so I couldn’t promise anything, but that I’d try to get photos for them. They’re world-famous, you know. Haven’t you heard of the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel?”
    “Hell, yes! I saw them on the Today show. Totally hot. You had no right to say I couldn’t come.”
    Melissa put on a look of worried concern. “I was just covering for you.”
    “We’re talking about the best-looking firemen in the country. You should have at least mentioned it to me.”
    “That’s why I’m mentioning it to you now. I’ll just tell them you have a scheduling conflict or something. I told them not to get their hopes up. But the way Ryan looked at me with those blue eyes of his . . . you can’t blame me for trying.” Grans had said his eyes were blue, hadn’t she?
    “Who’s Ryan?”
    “One of the firemen. He’s so gorgeous.” Melissa prayed that Nelly’s first-choice bachelor lived up to expectations. If he was more handsome than Brody, he must be really something.
    “Was he your date last night?”
    “Oh no, he’s way out of my league.” Melissa moved in for the kill. “The day a hottie like Ryan looks twice at me . . .” And there it was, the final nail, a challenge a beauty like Ella couldn’t possibly resist.
    “I think I should go, after all. It would be good PR, wouldn’t it?”
    “Absolutely! The best. But you’re so busy, Ella . . . You’re a doll, but don’t do it on my account.”
    “Oh, pooh. I’ve made up my mind. Now I’m starting to think you want all those handsome firemen to yourself!”
    Melissa gave an embarrassed you-caught-me laugh. “You know they won’t even notice me if you’re there.”
    “You think?” asked Ella, pleased. “Just put it on my calendar. When is it?”
    “I’ll go call them right away. They’ll be so happy.” Melissa turned to go. She waited until she was almost out of earshot before she called back to Ella’s office. “Oh, the dinner’s on Friday. I’ll make sure someone subs for you that night.”
    And that, she thought smugly, was the way to handle Ella Joy. In a while, Ella would realize there was a conflict, but she wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of leaving an admiring, gorgeous group of men—single fireman heroes—to Melissa’s sole possession. She would find her own way to back out of the vodka party.
    The only downside was that Ella would now meet Brody. Would Brody fall at her feet the way most men did? Not that Melissa cared, of course.

Chapter Seven
    M elissa ripped the little black dress off her body and glared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. What were you supposed to wear to dinner at a fire station with a man who’d nearly torn your shirt off? She didn’t want to wear something that said, Hey, big guy, come rip this off my body. On the other hand, she didn’t want something that said, Don’t even think about it. Besides, Ella Joy would set the bar so high that anything less than a G-string would barely register with the guys. She had to reach a minimum level of hotness. The little black dress just didn’t cut it. And tonight she had no intention of wearing her glasses.
    She chose a slinky, silvery sweater that clung tightly to her curves and made her eyes glow like emeralds. A forest-green suede skirt and knee-high boots completed the outfit, which she hoped said, I wouldn’t say no if you treat me right, and maybe apologize for insulting my profession. She’d worn this same combo to a fund-raiser for journalists imprisoned overseas, and a radical environmentalist had hit on her. So it had a proven track record, though in a very different crowd.
    “Grans? You ready?”
    “Ready as rain,” answered Nelly. Downstairs, Melissa saw her grandmother was sporting her very favorite sweater, which Nelly’s sister, now deceased, had knitted for her seventieth birthday. It was made from a Guatemalan design, and Nelly loved to wear various buttons attached to it: