Hope Falls: Hearts Afire (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Free

her name is, had him stunned. Speechless. Beyond words.
    Well, that wasn’t true, now was it? He wasn’t completely devoid of speech. He had no problem vomiting idiocy from his mouth.
    Casey stole another glance in her direction. He couldn’t help himself. It was like his eyes had a mind of their own and kept wandering her way. She still sat at the bar, a complete head-turner even with the mess of hair piled high on the top of her head. Just thinking about how casual she could be and still look so beautiful made him smile. He was surprised he wasn’t witnessing guy after guy taking their shot at her.
    She was a natural beauty that made you stop, stare, and appreciate what you saw. It had him gawking, that’s for sure.
    Eli backhanded Casey in the shoulder. “Why don’t you take a picture? It’ll last longer.”
    “Why don’t you shut the hell up and you’ll live longer. Get me another beer, will ya?” He drained the rest of his brew and set the empty bottle in front of him.
    “Too afraid to get it yourself?” Chris chuckled, and Casey wondered how long he was going to be able to take their shit tonight. He was going to need something stronger if they were going to keep it up. “If you go talk to her again, maybe she’ll let you call her Katie. But let me give you some advice…this time don’t act like such a dick.”
    He was definitely going to need a stiffer drink.
    “Ha ha,” Casey said, dryly. “You guys are full of jokes tonight.”
    “You’re making it easy for us.” Eli took the empty bottles and headed back to the bar.
    “Are we gonna play or what?” Casey rose to his feet and headed to the table to rack the balls. He didn’t need to hear their shit anymore. Like he didn’t know he acted like a certifiable douchebag. He had no idea what had gotten into him. He usually didn’t talk to women that way. None of them did. They were the town charmers. All the ladies loved them, if he was being honest. He didn’t want to seem conceited, but he and his friends were good people. Some women might expect them to be arrogant, alpha-male firefighters, but it wasn’t like that. Not in a small town like Hope Falls. Someone was bound to call them on their shit if any of them acted like an ass.
    Tonight was proof of that.
    In between turns, Casey stole glances at Katherine. She’d been chatting with Shelby the whole night. When she laughed, she’d smack her thigh like whatever they were talking about was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Each time, like clockwork, her head would tip back and her hand would slap her thigh. It had to be the cutest thing he’d ever laid his eyes on.
    It wasn’t until she left that he felt like he could breathe again. Only he missed watching her and hearing her laugh. He also regretted that he didn’t have the chance to go apologize for acting like such a jerk. Actually, he had plenty of chances to do that, he just didn’t take them. He felt like a fool. What could he possibly say? That her beauty turned him stupid? It would’ve been the truth, but that would’ve sounded like another ridiculous line.
    Hope Falls was small enough. He’d get the opportunity again and this time he wouldn’t waste it. Casey wasn’t going to let Katherine leave until he had made things right. For no reason other than he didn’t want to be why she left a bad Yelp review for their tourist town.
    A Yelp review? Sure, Casey, you keep telling yourself that.
     

CHAPTER TWO
     
     

CASEY
     
    When Casey awoke the next morning, images of a woman with long brown hair and brown eyes filled his mind. No, it hadn’t been a dream. He could picture her like she was still sitting right in front of him. He couldn’t believe how much she affected him, how with just one look, she had him tongue-tied like a teenaged fool.
    He was so caught off guard by her sweet smile and the way she put him in his place.
    He didn’t like it. Not one bit.
    He was a firefighter, dammit. A nozzleman. He was paid