One Boiling Summer

I never expected to fall for my ex's brother.

I came home to Texas thinking I’d finally get my happily ever after—with him. My first love. The guy I’d been dreaming about for years. But instead of rekindling old flames, I walked straight into heartbreak. He was engaged to someone else.

I tried to hold onto my sunshine, even in the sweltering heat of a Texas summer, but part of me dimmed. Until Hudson stepped in—his brother. The quiet, grumpy firefighter who’d always been in the background.

I never expected him to truly see me—and to step forward with a slow, smoldering kind of devotion that rekindled my soul. He reminded me what it felt like to be wanted, cherished… loved.

He claimed he spent years pining for me in silence. Now he was ready to prove how, in this summer's Texas heat, a steady man like him could be sizzling in the sheets.

Could I finally admit that the one I never saw coming was the one that was meant to be?

Enjoy this sizzling side story based on a character found in Zee Irwin's It Happened Series.

Tropes: Ex's Brother, Unrequited Love, Instalove, Grumpy Sunshine, fireman hero, small town
Author note: This found family story deals with themes of loss of parents, and fire-ravaged homes.