TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1) by Kallypso Masters (the false prince TXT) 📕

within fifteen minutes they were seated out on the deck overlooking the bay.

“It’s gorgeous out here!” Carm said as Tony pulled out a seat at one end of the table for her. “Thanks so much for inviting us to join you, guys.” He took the seat opposite her, surrounded by palm trees and table umbrellas that mimicked the ones found in the drinks on the tables nearby. Carm faced west and once again the sun warmed her olive skin to a vibrant glow.

My gorgeous principessa.

“What do you do back home, Carm?” another man asked.

“I run a family resort in Aspen along with my brother,” she replied.

“A five-star hotel and ski resort,” Tony said proudly. The men seemed impressed, as they should be. Tony didn’t know why but he was suddenly a little possessive of her, even though no one had made a pass or anything.

Ryan asked Tony about his setup at the station.

“I’m a career firefighter/EMT at the main fire station in my county. I also do SAR work.” The other men each held two or three jobs, as did many firefighters around the country. Tony felt a little like a slacker, but preferred to have free time to go camping or hiking whenever he wanted over working an EMT crew or at the hospital. He didn’t have a family to support, and his needs were pretty simple.

“Are you planning on doing the rescue training class this week, too?” Ryan asked.

Tony shook his head. “Didn’t know about it.” He told them about the classes he’d been able to book so far. “It was a last-minute opportunity for me to come to Provo.”

The men went on to say they were members of dive teams and/or water-rescue squads at their respective fire stations, albeit from two different states. Apparently, they’d just met up in conjunction with taking courses this week.

“Does your station have a dive team?” another man—Steve, he thought—asked.

Tony shook his head. “Not in our budget. We’ve been doing some swift-water training, though.” Thoughts about how his lack of experience had cost two people their lives put a damper on Tony’s mood.

“Wasn’t in our budget either,” Ryan said. “Politicians don’t think about diving apparatus and gear when it comes to fire department budgets. But we partnered with a local corporation in town and our community got behind us, so we funded our own.”

Tony had never thought about seeking funding anywhere but through the local government. But Aspen Corners was too small to have a corporation with deep pockets sitting there waiting to help.

“How much does it cost to start a team?” Carm asked.

“Depends,” Ryan said. “A boat doesn’t cost anywhere near what a ladder truck does, but the costs mount when you make sure your team is equipped with all the dive gear and training it needs to do the job.” He turned to Tony. “Of course, as I’m sure it is at your station, most of us pay for our own training and do it during our time off.”

“Yeah, so do we,” Tony said. If you wanted to be the best you could be, you trained every chance you got and rarely were reimbursed for the expenses.

“A dive team is much more doable than a full-on water-rescue squad,” Ryan added. “It’s a good place to start. Why don’t we see if there’s a spot open for you in Wednesday afternoon’s class? Even if you don’t have a team now, it never hurts to know how to handle an emergency you might come upon during a dive.”

Tony turned to Carm. They’d talked about his getting into the shipwreck dive together that day.

“Don’t worry about me, Tony. You totally should do this one, if you can get in. I know how important your job is. We can explore wrecks on another trip.”

Tony hadn’t thought much beyond this week, and Carm was already thinking about future trips. He’d never been in a long-term relationship with a woman before. What if it wasn’t something he was capable of?

Tony searched her face a moment. She seemed to sincerely want him to take this opportunity. “Thanks for understanding.” He turned back to Ryan. “Okay, I’ll see if I can get in.”

“No worries,” Jeff said from the opposite end of the table. “I figured you’d want to, so I texted the instructor. He’ll take you as long as you have your open-water certification. Just come 20 minutes early to fill out the waivers and pay for the class.”

Everything had happened so quickly. Tony hadn’t had time to give it much thought, but now he looked forward to doing some impromptu training this week. Idle time gave him too much time to think and Carm sounded like she had a busy week planned with her own dives.

On the walk back to the villa that night, long after the sun had set, he held the package from the pharmacy in one hand and Carm’s hand in the other. He fought to rekindle the excitement they’d experienced after their kiss, but thoughts of training for future water rescues had excited and yet unsettled him, leaving him feeling anything but amorous. All he could think about now was finding a way to bring a dive team to Aspen Corners.

“You’re sure you don’t mind me running off on you Wednesday?” he asked.

“I had initially planned to do the wreck dive by myself, remember? And I saw how your face lit up when you were talking with those guys tonight about their dive teams.” They walked a little farther in silence. “We still have the nighttime dive lecture tomorrow and the coral reef dive Thursday if we can get you into that one.” She leaned closer to his ear. “Not to mention our nights diving under the sheets.”

Her seductive words didn’t have the effect on him that Tony expected. More than anything, he wanted their first time together to be special, but he wasn’t sure he could make it so in his present state of mind. He needed to stop thinking about work.