Sara Humphreys’ new contemporary romance Brave the Heat has everything you’ll need in a good beach read: a brooding, sexy fireman; a sensual prodigal daughter returning to her hometown to start over; and a suspenseful arson mystery…She’s shared an exclusive excerpt with us below…

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The only fire he can’t put out…

Jordan McKenna is back in town, and Fire Chief Gavin Maguire’s feelings when he sees her after all these years are as raw as the day she left. Then he was just a kid wearing his heart on his sleeve. Now he spends every day trying to atone for the tragedy he couldn’t prevent.

Is the torch he carries for her
Jordan’s life has not exactly worked out the way she expected. A divorced mother of two with a failed acting career, Jordan’s biggest concern about coming back to Old Brookfield was seeing her first love. But when a series of suspicious fires breaks out, Jordan and Gavin realize that dealing with the sparks between them may be the least dangerous of their problems.

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Gavin stepped in front of her, blocking her exit. Puffing her hair off her forehead, Jordan forced herself to look him in the face. The moment she did, she knew it had been a bad move. Her gaze skittered over the sharp angles of his jaw. The baby fat of youth had given way to hard edges and shadows, but those glittering green eyes remained the same. They still made her stomach flutter and bored through her with his trademark intensity.

“We can’t be friends,” he said quietly. The line between his brows deepened. “I was fooling myself.”

“Fine.” Her heart thundered in her chest and blood rushed in her ears, the sound blocking out everything else. “We’re done. Move, please. I have to finish this and go pick up my girls.”

Good, she thought. He was being the brave one and saying what she didn’t have the courage to say. Tears pricked the back of her eyes, and her breath stuck in her throat as she struggled to find her voice again. Clutching the flowers to her chest with both hands, she licked her suddenly dry lips, her eyes searching his. He remained resolute and unmoving. Damn him. What was his problem? Would he not be satisfied until she was a weeping heap on the floor?

“Please move,” she whispered.

“No.” His mouth set in tight line and a deadly, feral look flashed in his eyes. “We are far from done.”

“What do you want from me, Gavin?” she asked shakily as her vision blurred with tears. “Tell me what you want.”

“This,” he growled.

In a blur, he cupped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to him, covering her mouth with his. The kiss as hot, firm, demanding, and laced with desperation. Jordan moaned and opened to him as his tongue slid along the seam of her lips, seeking access. The flowers fell to the floor as she linked her arms around his neck and clung to him with fifteen years of pent-up need. His taste was foreign and familiar at the same time, and Jordan hadn’t felt desire like this in years—maybe ever.

His hands cradled her face, tilting her head to get a better angle as he kissed her and walked with her, backing her up against the wall. She tangled her fingers in his hair and met the hard demand of his kiss with equal urgency as they bumped into the unyielding surface of the wall. With anyone else, being pinned with nowhere else to go would be terrifying, but not with Gavin.

Jordan didn’t feel trapped. Far from it. She felt free. Unencumbered. Desired.

She had been such a fool.

This was what she needed, what they both needed. The taste of him and the pressure of his strong, hard body against hers sent the surge of desire boiling over with every delicious sweep of his tongue.

Breaking the kiss, Gavin trailed his lips down her throat. One hand cradled her head and the other swept down her side and over the curve of her hip, tugging her against the hard evidence of his desire. Jordan let out a gasp of pleasure as she pulled his shirt from the waist of his pants and slipped her hands beneath the fabric, damp with his sweat. The hot flesh of his lower back seared her fingers, and she clung to him as his mouth once again sought hers. Jordan whimpered when Gavin’s lips slanted over hers hungrily. Her tongue swept along his, meeting every hard, passionate stroke with equal fervor.

This was nothing like the kisses they’d shared in their youth. There was no awkward fumbling or tentative grappling. Instead the kiss was swift, sure, and all consuming, and Jordan could stay here forever. He tasted like cinnamon, and she fleetingly wondered if he’d been eating oatmeal cookies. That’s what the taste reminded her of. Cookies fresh out of the oven. Sweet, hot, and addictive. Those three words summed it all up, and as his mouth seared hers, she knew she’d never, ever get enough.

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Sara Humphreys is the award winning author of the Amoveo Legend series. The third book in the series, UNTAMED, won two PRISM awards-Dark Paranormal and Best of the Best. The first two novels from her Dead in the City series have been nominated for the National Readers Choice Award. Sara was also a professional actress. Some of her television credits include, A&E Biography, Guiding Light, Another World, As the World Turns and Rescue Me.

She loves writing hot heroes and heroines with moxie but above all, Sara adores a satisfying happily-ever-after. She lives in New York with Mr. H., their four amazing sons, and two adorable pups. When she’s not writing or hanging out with the men in her life, she can be found working out with Shaun T in her living room or chatting with readers on Facebook.For more information, please visit her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Goodreads.