Fire and Ice (Firemen do it Hotter Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

right places, and he was the only one who could put out those flames.
    After sucking in air and letting out her breath several times, she picked up her phone. Another deep breath and she entered the code to unlock the phone. It took three tries. She looked at the card then used the keypad to dial his number. Before she pressed the connect icon, she straightened in her chair and braced herself.
    When she pressed the icon, the call went immediately to voicemail. A combination of disappointment and relief scattered her thoughts in opposite directions.
    She pulled them back together as she listened to the recording. His voice had a husky quality to it. She could just imagine him whispering in her ear while they were in bed together. “You’ve reached Grady. Leave a message and I’ll get right back to you.”
    A shiver rolled over her body, followed by goose bumps prickling her skin.
    She loved his voice and the way it made her feel. It was so sexy. It made body tingle all over. Dear lord, but she had to get her mind away from the direction it constantly wanted to head in.
    A beep and then a pause. Oh, yeah. She needed to leave a message. She immediately dismissed telling him “No” in an impersonal way, like a phone message. Instead she left her number and disconnected the call.
----
    G rady rubbed sweat from the back of his neck and forehead before drying his hair with a hand towel. He dropped the towel on a bench near the ice rink and grabbed his water bottle before downing most of the contents. At one time, he would have had vodka and Coke in his bottle, but those days were long gone. He’d just celebrated eight years of sobriety a month ago.
    Yeah, a celebration.
    Memories slammed into him. Non-memories, more like it, when he’d black out for hours and never remember a thing he’d done during his full-on drunk. College had been one big party. Alcoholism was in his blood from a long line of alcoholics in the big Irish family he was so proud of. He’d seen what his family went through at the expense of his mother, aunts, grandmother, and cousins. Every branch of the family on the Donovan side had at least one alcoholic.
    Fuck. He’d been told he shouldn’t have touched the shit to begin with, because but of course he’d thought he could hold his liquor, unlike family members. One big lie to himself.
    He finished chugging the water and jammed the bottle into his duffel bag. He’d never touch a drop of alcohol again. Not one fucking drop. But like any recovering alcoholic, it was one day at a time. One goddamned day at a time.
    “Good practice.” David Hanley slapped Grady on the shoulder, jerking him from his dark thoughts. David frowned. “You okay?”
    Grady returned fully to the present. “You bet.” Tension eased from him. “Looking forward to the league game this weekend.”
    David nodded. “You’re going to kick ass. With you on the team, it’s like having a ringer. Sure you’ve never played in the pros?”
    “I wish.” Grady shook his head and smiled even though the memory sucked. “I played in college until I blew out my knee and broke my leg in three places.” He didn’t mention that the injuries were due to rolling his car when he’d been drunk off his ass. He’d been fortunate no one had been with him—he’d creamed his car. His seatbelt and the airbags saved his sorry hide.
    After being in ICU for a week, he had been in a hospital bed for another month. During that time, he’d gone through the tremors to the point they’d nearly had to strap him to the bed. Once he was through withdrawals, he went sober. AA had helped and he still made at least one meeting a week.
    He swore he’d never touch alcohol again, and he hadn’t…until…
    “Something wrong?” David’s frown jerked Grady back to reality.
    Grady shook his head and slapped David on the back. “All’s great here, buddy.”
    “Good.” David hitched the strap of a duffel bag over his shoulder. “Gotta have you sharp and