TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1) Read online

  TONY: Slow Burn

  (First in Raging Fire Series)

  Kallypso Masters

  Copyright © 2019-2021

  Ka-thunk! Publishing

  TONY: Slow Burn

  First in Raging Fire Series

  Kallypso Masters

  Copyright © 2019-2021

  Ka-thunk! Publishing

  Kindle Edition

  E-book ISBN: 978-1941060360

  Print ISBN: 978-1941060377

  Serial published on Patreon: March 2019 to April 2021

  Original e-book novel published: May 25, 2021

  Original print to be published: June 2021

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  TONY: SLOW BURN

  Content edited by Meredith Bowery

  Line edited by Christine Sullivan Mulcair

  Cover design by Syneca Featherstone of Original Syn

  Cover images licensed through Adobe Stock

  and graphically altered by Syneca Featherstone

  Formatted by BB eBooks

  This book contains content that is not suitable for readers 17 and under.

  Thank you for downloading this e-book. Please be aware that this e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be reproduced, uploaded to share on websites, e-mailed, or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author, Kallypso Masters, at [email protected] or PO Box 206122, Louisville, KY 40250, or within the sharing guidelines at a legitimate library or bookseller.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction, sharing, or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (See www.fbi.gov/ipr for more information about intellectual property rights.)

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons—living or dead—or places, events, or locales is purely accidental. The characters are reproductions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  To discover more about the books in this series, see the Books by Kallypso Masters page at the end of this book. For more about Kallypso Masters, please go to the About the Author section.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About TONY: Slow Burn

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Author’s Note

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Epilogue: Six Months Later

  Books by Kallypso Masters

  About the Author

  Signed Books & Merch in the Kally Store!

  About Roar (A Rescue Me Saga Spin-off)

  The Rescue Me Saga

  About Bluegrass Spirits (A Supernatural Contemporary Romance series)

  TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire #1)

  From USA Today Bestselling Author Kallypso Masters comes a new series based on the Rescue Me Saga world. In the Raging Fire Series, Angelina’s four firefighter brothers will experience tragedy on duty and resurgence from a life-defining past heartache.

  Tony Giardano, the youngest brother, has always been the clown in the family, but when faced with his first devastating call, nothing seems to matter anymore. He is falling hard, then looks up to see Carmella D’Alessio, Marc’s baby sister.

  Carmella, as quiet and unmovable as the mountains surrounding her family’s Aspen resort, finds herself believing that life and love are passing her by after seeing Marc and Angelina’s wedded bliss. But she’ll have to take time away from the resort if she’s going reassess her priorities.

  Carmella and Tony haven’t always seen eye to eye, but circumstances make them take a second look during a raw moment. She’s no stranger to dealing with trauma and stress and recognizes that Tony’s hurting.

  Can Carmella’s steadfast, quiet strength force Tony to dive deeper and face his vulnerabilities as he learns to cope with the aftermath of his first tragic call? Will Carmella admit she’s ready for more, and will Tony believe he has more to offer?

  Dedication

  Thanks, Michael, for all the help you gave me on the fire service as well as for my Try Scuba diving lesson. And Patryce, thanks for being our go-between and for your expertise on diving and the fire service as well!

  My utmost thanks to all who serve in or who have served in the fire services in their communities. I’ve learned a lot more about all the sacrifices you make—physical, emotional, and financial—to do your best every day. You’re true American heroes, and we civilians owe you so much for your dedication.

  Acknowledgements

  This novel was originally published in my Patreon fan club with the help of my alpha readers—Patryce Cornett, Annette Elens, Barb Jack, TeraLe Jaques, Gina Marcantonio, Lisa Simo-Kinzer, and Elaine Swinney. For more than two years, you’ve gone over this book in chunks to allow me to post with confidence on my Patreon fan club page. Margie Dees, Kimberly H, and Stephanie Wilkinson, your feedback also helped me polish the story. I couldn’t have done it without you!

  To my proofreader, Christine Mulcair, thanks for your keen eye and superb knowledge of spelling, punctuation, and grammar that gave me the confidence to post each installment on Patreon over the past two years without worrying about embarrassment. Thanks also for going through the final version of the novel before I shared it with my readers.

  Thank you to all of the above for helping me prepare the complete book for publication.

  And to my content editor, Meredith Bowery, whose uncanny insight into my characters and their motivations, dialogue, and actions helped me make the final version as perfect as it can be.

  My research challenges were just as strong on this book as any other one I’ve written. Fortunately, I found a husband-and-wife team who could provide me with information on both the fire service and scuba diving aspects. My thanks to Patryce and Michael Cornett, FF/NRP/FP-C. They also helped me with Marc’s most recent story, Wedding Dreams. I’m sure I’ll be relying on them for a lot of help in the entire Raging Fire Series! Michael even took me (and my daughter) into a quarry near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, so that we could do a Try Scuba session. (I failed, but my daughter did great!)

  Gina Marcantonio, you gave me great advice on how Italian mamas think and behave and on Italian family
traditions in general (even if Carmella and Tony often went off in their own direction and didn’t play by any cultural norms). We’re going to have a lot of fun with Mama D’Alessio and Mama Giardano in this series!

  Several members of my Patreon fan club also provided me with excellent feedback, corrections, and continued encouragement during the writing of the first draft of this first book in the Raging Fire Series. My appreciation to Trish Bordenkircher, Brenda Brandenstein, Davinia Capper, Suzanne Clemons, Meredith Fenley, Dana Garland, Darlene Good, Reanna Hanley, Hollie, Mary Hollingsead, Polli Lenning, Carolyn Nunley, Regina Peppers, and Marie Rivera. Whether you were giving me feedback on an installment or simply cheering me on, your comments were greatly appreciated!

  Author’s Note

  As with my other series, the Raging Fire series will deal with a lot of the stresses and tragedies associated with the firefighting community.

  One of the resources I’ll be making use of regularly while writing about these four firefighters and their spouses is the book Challenges of the Firefighter Marriage, by Anne and Mike Gagliano. Mike is a longtime firefighter and the two have been married for several decades, so they know what they are writing about! I highly recommend it to all of the firefighters and firefighter spouses reading this series!

  And firefighter spouse Patryce Cornett also recommends reading Honor and Commitment: Standard Life Operating Guidelines for Firefighters and their Families, by Lori Mercer, founder of 24-7 Commitment (honorandcommitment.com). She also provided the following websites for firefighters and their family members who might want or need additional resources:

  Firefighter Wife—Because your Heart Belongs to a Hero (firefighterwife.com)

  Fire Dept. Family (firedeptfamily.com) has a number of helpful articles and tips for fire service families.

  Fully Involved Life (fullyinvolvedlife.com) offers all first responders and their families crisis intervention, critical debriefings, classes, and other resources for PTSD, EMDR, Peer Support, and Education & Training.

  I’ve also listened to a number of podcasts hosted by firefighters or focusing on the fire service that have helped me gain an understanding of the firefighting brotherhood and sisterhood. The ones that have helped immeasurably are: Code 3: The Firefighters Podcast, Firefighter Training Podcast, Fire Engineering, and Firefighters Toolbox. Hearing firefighters talking about their experiences and offering ideas to improve training and experiences on the fire ground have also sparked ideas for scenes in this series.

  Chapter One

  “Okay, single gentlemen,” the emcee announced, “gather on the dance floor. You’re next!”

  The reception at the swanky D’Alessio family resort in Aspen had been going strong for hours. Maybe things would start winding down now that Marc D’Alessio had removed Angelina’s garter, and the bouquet had already been tossed. Wedding rituals made Tony Giardano as nervous as a firefighter trying to get off a roof about to collapse.

  At least all four firefighter brothers had been able to switch shifts at the two different stations where they worked in order to attend the wedding and reception. Watching their little sister tie the knot was way too important an occasion to miss.

  But Tony didn’t intend to be the only one of his brothers heading back onto that dance floor. All four had been there a few minutes ago putting up a token line of defense in front of their baby sister to give Marc a hard time getting to her in order to remove her garter. Unfortunately, Rafe had instructed them ahead of time not to hurt Marc, so that hadn’t been as much fun as he’d hoped it would be. Judging by the cuts and bruises on both their faces, Rafe and their new brother-in-law had gotten into it sometime between the rehearsal dinner and the wedding ceremony—not that Tony was privy to that altercation.

  Tony grabbed his next older brother by the sleeve. “Your name’s all over that garter, Matt. Come on.”

  “No way. I don’t want to be cursed by that thing.”

  “Don’t you envy our baby sister’s bliss even a little bit?”

  “Hell, no! I’m good. The bachelor life suits me just fine. Besides, I might as well be married to my horses and the department. No time or money to spare for a love life.”

  Tony shook his head and shifted his gaze to where Franco sat huddled deep in conversation with Rico Donati. Both seemed equally determined to avoid the garter toss. The two had been good friends in high school and college. After Papa’s accident, though, Franco had moved to Leadville and spent two years in fire-safety training. With the distance and the time apart, they’d apparently lost touch. Come to think of it, Franco didn’t socialize these days with anyone but family when he visited Aspen Corners. But last night’s rehearsal dinner in Rico’s bar must have given them a chance to start catching up.

  That only left Rafe to join him in nabbing the garter, but his oldest brother was glaring at Mama’s plus one who was taking his place with some of the other bachelors on the dance floor. Paul Janowski, the newest battalion chief in one of Breckenridge’s fire protection districts, had earned Rafe’s ire after winning that position over Rafe last fall.

  When Mama started dating Janowski, a man six years her junior, around New Year’s, the friction between the two men heated up again.

  Tony wasn’t sure he liked the guy hanging around Mama that much, either, but didn’t plan on doing anything about it. Seeing happiness shining in Mama’s eyes again definitely had everything to do with Paul. Papa had been gone for more than nine years, and Mama was too young to spend the remainder of her days as a grieving widow. If the man brought her some joy, well, Tony didn’t want that to come to an end.

  As Rafe headed to the bar in the corner of the ballroom, Tony shook his head. Apparently, he would be the only Giardano brother stepping up to the plate for this garter tossing thing.

  While Tony wasn’t looking to get married, he was ready for this reception to be over. There was only so much wedding a bachelor could stand. At twenty-nine, he had plenty of years before he’d have to think about starting a family, if he ever found the right woman. But he was the youngest brother and none of his brothers seemed in any hurry to carry on the family name. Why should he be?

  But maybe catching the garter would bring him some dating mojo. He’d been eyeing Angelina’s bridesmaid and sous-chef, Pippa, all night. She hadn’t given him the time of day, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t want to hang out with him awhile after the party was over.

  He had to admit, he’d been going through a dry spell with women the last eight months or so. He stepped out onto the dance floor to join the other bachelors waiting with varying degrees of trepidation, well, except for the young boys who didn’t know better.

  When it appeared no other males would be joining the group of seven or eight assembled on the dance floor, Marc shouted, “Heads up!” Facing away from them, his brother-in-law stretched the elastic garter with his pointer finger and let it fly over his shoulder. The scrap of lace made a trajectory straight for Tony who reached up and grabbed it easily in midair, beating out some distant teenage cousin from Sicily.

  “Tony!” Angelina cried with excitement. He grinned back at her, oddly not weirded out at all given where the garter had been all day. Dragging it up his arm to flaunt it on his biceps like some gambler in an Old West saloon, he glanced in Pippa’s direction, but she was talking with another cousin who hadn’t even bothered to try and catch the thing.

  “Now, will the young lady who caught the bouquet join Tony on the dance floor?” the emcee asked. “We’re going to have a little fun and do a reversal, letting Tony put the garter on your leg.”

  Shit. Not Carmella!

  She’d detested Tony since they’d met at that Aspen coffee shop last year. He’d shown up to give Angelina a ride home after Marc had acted like a jerk again. The two siblings had firmly chosen familial sides that night and, ever since, clashed whenever they’d met. The stiff businesswoman wouldn’t know how to have fun if her life depended on it.

  As expecte
d, Carmella D’Alessio shot him an equally disgusted look and didn’t move an inch. Not that he expected her to be at all agreeable. She had too many bristles and would probably be happy to watch Tony blown off the face of the earth right about now.

  But damn.

  The woman sure filled out that body-hugging dress—even better than Pippa did. Strapless, it revealed an expanse of olive-skinned cleavage and Carmella’s sexy, bare shoulders. Would her skin be as soft as it looked?

  You’ll never find out.

  Would she take the emcee’s challenge and come toward him? Dollars to doughnuts, no way.

  “Come on, Carm,” Marc teased his sister. “We won’t hold you two to any official engagement or anything.”

  What the—? Who said anything about engagements? Good way to throw cold water on any interest he might have in Carmella, Marc. Tony glared at Marc who held Angelina in front of him, arms around her waist, apparently relishing his new marital status. Being with Angelina wouldn’t be any hardship for the man. He’d married up.

  Suddenly unsure whether he wanted to go through with this garter reversal himself, Tony glanced down at the floor, then to the empty chair Angelina had sat in minutes ago—anywhere but at Carmella.

  When he finally put eyes on her again, she stood firmly rooted to the same spot at the edge of the dance floor. More determined than ever to show this predicament with Carmella was no big deal to him, Tony held his position.

  Come on, Carmella. It’s not like I’m going to bite. Not that I wouldn’t like to take a nibble or two. Why does she dislike me so much?

  Tony had always been the clown of the family, a title he’d claimed proudly since childhood. But she was so serious all the time. They had an opportunity to offer a little entertainment at this party. Why didn’t she just get over here so they could get this over with?

  Carm had never been indecisive in her life and not one to back down from a challenge, either. She ran this five-star resort as an equal partner with her brother, Alessandro, never hesitating over the major decisions they made on a daily basis. And yet, here she stood wishing the floor would open up and swallow her so her thigh wouldn’t have to get up close and personal with Tony Giardano’s mouth.