Aria Cole – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

Aria Cole – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com Wed, 20 May 2026 17:51:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 http://www.books2020.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png Aria Cole – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com 32 32 Auctioned to the Alpha – A Possessive Mountain Man Romance Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/auctioned-to-the-alpha-a-possessive-mountain-man-romance-read-online-aria-cole Wed, 20 May 2026 17:51:30 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/auctioned-to-the-alpha-a-possessive-mountain-man-romance-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male, Erotic, Insta-Love Authors: Aria Cole Advertisement

Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 29800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >25

I came to Devil’s Peak to investigate missing hikers and illegal land deals.
I did not come to get auctioned off to a dangerously possessive mountain man.
Especially not Rhett Maddox.
The former military ranger is infamous around town for three things:
being enormous,
being terrifying,
and wanting absolutely nothing to do with people.
So when a stalker starts leaving surveillance photos outside my cabin, the last person I expect to step in is him.
But Rhett doesn’t just defend me.
He claims me.
In front of the entire town.
“She’s staying with me.”
Now everyone in Devil’s Peak thinks I belong to the grumpy, growly alpha mountain man who watches me like he’s already decided I’m his.
And the more time I spend with Rhett, the more dangerous he becomes.
But someone is still watching.
The deeper I dig into Devil’s Peak’s secrets, the clearer it becomes that my stalker isn’t going away quietly. And when the danger finally turns deadly, Rhett makes one thing terrifyingly clear:
Anyone who touches me dies.

Auctioned to the Alpha is a steamy small-town mountain romance featuring a possessive grumpy hero, forced proximity, fake dating, protective obsession, survival-thriller tension, and a fiercely devoted mountain man who falls first, hardest, and permanently

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter One

Nora

The farther I drive into Devil’s Peak, the narrower the roads get.

Pine trees crowd both sides of the highway, tall and endless, their branches cutting across the fading spring light like claws. Snow still clings to the higher ridges of the mountain even though the valley below is muddy and green, and every few miles I pass another handmade sign for the Spring Rescue Festival nailed to telephone poles.

Fish Fry Tonight

Bachelorette Auction Saturday

DEVIL’S PEAK SEARCH & RESCUE FUNDRAISER

Very charming.

I tighten my grip on the steering wheel and glance at the GPS again even though I already know there’s barely any signal left. Typical. Of course the town I’m investigating for corruption and missing hikers is buried in the mountains like the beginning of a true crime documentary.

The deeper I go, the more exhausted I feel. Not physically. I can drive for hours without blinking. It’s the other kind of tired, the kind that settles into your bones after years of watching your back and pretending stress doesn’t get to you.

Seattle nearly ate me alive the last few months.

The fraud story blew up bigger than anyone expected. Three arrests. One city council resignation. Endless media coverage. Endless threats afterward.

You should watch your back.

You don’t know who you’re messing with.

Pretty girls disappear every day.

I got good at pretending those messages didn’t bother me.

My father practically trained me for it. Growing up with him meant learning early that weakness was something people used against you. Crying annoyed him. Fear disgusted him. Vulnerability was just another word for stupidity.

So I adapted.

Smile. Deflect. Stay sharp.

Never let anyone see the hit land.

Unfortunately for me, Devil’s Peak feels like the kind of place where people notice everything anyway.

The town finally appears around the bend of the mountain about twenty minutes later, tucked between thick forest and rocky cliffs like it’s hiding from the rest of the world. The main street is crowded with trucks, tourists, and locals setting up festival booths beneath strings of lights stretched overhead.

Mountain men everywhere.

Flannel. Boots. Beards.

A woman carrying a tray of pies walks across the street while two men unload kegs outside a bar called The Devil’s Brew. Somewhere nearby, live country music drifts through the air.

Everyone looks like they belong here.

I don’t.

The realization hits immediately.

I’m too polished. Too city. Too tense.

And judging by the looks I get when I climb out of my Jeep, everyone else notices it too.

I sling my camera bag over my shoulder and head toward the bar anyway because if I’m going to get answers, alcohol usually helps loosen people up.

The Devil’s Brew smells like whiskey, cedar, and testosterone.

A few conversations die the second I walk in.

I make my way to the bar slowly, feeling eyes follow me the entire time. Most aren’t hostile exactly. Curious more than anything.

Like they’re trying to figure out what kind of trouble just walked into town.

A blonde bartender with tattoos winding down both arms strolls over and sets a napkin in front of me. “What’ll it be?”

“Something strong.”

Her mouth twitches. “Tourist?”

“Journalist.”

That earns me a look.

Not warm.

Not welcoming.

Interesting.

“What are you writing about?” she asks casually.

“Missing hikers.”

The reaction is instant.

The man beside me stills halfway through lifting his beer.

Someone farther down the bar mutters, “Jesus Christ.”

The room doesn’t go silent completely, but it gets close enough that I notice.

I lean against the bar, pretending not to notice the shift. “That a sensitive subject around here?”

The bartender sets a whiskey glass in front of me a little harder than necessary. “Depends who you ask.”

“I’m asking you.”

“That’s your first mistake.”

I almost smile at that.

Almost.

Before I can answer, another voice cuts in behind me.

“You’re wasting your time.”

Low.

Rough.

Male.

The sound slides down my spine before I even turn around.

And when I do?

Oh.

That’s a problem.

He’s leaning against the wall near the back hallway like he owns the damn building. Tall enough to tower over everyone else in the room, broad shoulders stretching beneath a dark thermal Henley rolled to his forearms. Heavy beard. Dark hair. Sharp eyes locked directly on me.

Not just looking.

Assessing.

There’s a difference.

Everything about him feels controlled in a way that immediately puts me on edge.

Not loud.

Not showy.

Dangerous men rarely are.

“And why’s that?” I ask, turning fully toward him.

His gaze drags over me slowly, taking in the camera bag, my boots, my face, like he’s cataloging information whether I want him to or not.

“Because people who go looking for trouble up here usually find it.”

The bartender mutters, “Rhett.”

I take a sip of whiskey, refusing to let him see the way his attention affects me. “That sounds suspiciously like a threat.”

“It’s advice.”

“From a stranger?”

His eyes hold mine steadily. “You won’t stay a stranger long in a town this small.”

Something about the way he says it makes heat creep up my neck, which is deeply irritating.

I straighten slightly. “You always this welcoming?”

“No.”

The answer comes flat and immediate.

A couple guys near the pool table laugh quietly into their beers.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >25

Advertisement The Firefighter’s Forever Bride (The Mountain Man’s Mail-Order Bride #13) Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/the-firefighters-forever-bride-the-mountain-mans-mail-order-bride-13-read-online-aria-cole Wed, 13 May 2026 18:55:14 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/the-firefighters-forever-bride-the-mountain-mans-mail-order-bride-13-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male Authors: Aria Cole Series: The Mountain Man's Mail-Order Bride Series by Aria Cole
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 39414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >37

She answered a mail-order bride ad to disappear.
She didn’t expect it to belong to her brother’s best friend.

Ellie James is backed into a corner—foreclosure on her chocolate shop, a controlling ex who won’t let go, and nowhere safe to run. So she makes the most reckless choice of her life: she accepts an offer of protection from a reclusive mountain firefighter who doesn’t ask questions… he gives orders.
Wyatt Cooper has three rules: stay on his land, do what he says, and pretend to be his wife.
It’s supposed to be temporary. A strategic ring. A fake marriage.
But the longer Ellie is trapped in Wyatt’s cabin—and the closer her stalker gets—the more she realizes the most dangerous thing on the mountain isn’t the man watching her…
It’s the man who’s decided she’s his.

🔥 Tropes: Mail-Order Bride • Best Friend’s Sister • Forced Proximity • Fake Marriage • Protective/ Possessive Hero • One Bed • Stalker Suspense • High-Heat Slow Burn • He Falls First

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter 1

Ellie

The bell over my shop door doesn’t ring.

That’s the first wrong thing. Not the foreclosure notice. Not the panic crawling up my throat.

“What the hell,” I whisper, leaning in. My breath fogs the glass. I can see my own reflection—messy bun, hoodie, leggings, the kind of outfit I wear when I’m planning to melt chocolate and pretend I have my life together.

I press my palm to the window and peer inside.

The lights are off, but the sun hits the copper kettles and the polished counter. My display case is there. The trays I set up last night. The chalkboard menu I rewrote because the “Devil’s Kiss” lettering wasn’t slanted enough.

Everything looks normal.

Except for the neon-orange paper taped dead center on the inside of the glass.

My stomach drops.

I bend, squint through the glare, and read the first line. My throat closes around it.

NOTICE OF DEFAULT.

I straighten too fast and nearly stumble. My coffee sloshes, hot liquid splashing my fingers, but I barely feel it.

No.

No, no, no.

I pull my phone out with hands that suddenly don’t work right and tap my banking app. It spins. Loads. Spins again.

Then a red banner flashes.

ACCOUNT RESTRICTED.

My ears start ringing.

I swipe through notifications. Missed emails. Missed calls. A voicemail timestamped last night.

I hit play and press the phone to my ear.

“Ms. James,” a man’s voice says, flat and official, like he’s reading off a script he uses to ruin people’s lives before lunch. “This is regarding your outstanding balance. The bank is exercising its rights under your agreement. Effective immediately, the property is in foreclosure proceedings. Do not attempt entry. You will be contacted with next steps.”

Beep.

My mouth goes dry.

Do not attempt entry.

My chest tightens like I’m being squeezed from the inside. I stare through the glass, at the counters, the shelves, the back room door. My inventory is in there. My paperwork. My receipts. My equipment.

My emergency bag is in there. My entire life is locked in the one bedroom studio apartment upstairs.

All of my clothes.

I just stepped away for coffee at The Devil’s Brew for twenty minutes and now I’m locked out of my life and livelihood.

I try the door again anyway, like the universe is going to remember who I am.

Locked.

I suck in a breath, forcing it down, forcing my face smooth because someone is walking past and I can feel their glance snag on the orange paper. Devil’s Peak is small enough that sympathy is a spectator sport.

My phone buzzes.

A text lights up the screen like a slap.

Graham:

Don’t make this ugly, Ellie. I tried to handle it quietly. You’re welcome.

My fingers curl around the phone until my knuckles ache.

Graham. Of course.

My ex-boyfriend. The banker. The man who smiled when he offered me the loan that made my dream possible and smiled again when he made it clear the dream belonged to him.

I type back before I can stop myself.

Me:

What did you do?

Three dots appear. Disappear. Reappear.

He takes his time. He always takes his time.

Graham:

I’m doing you a favor. You’re drowning. I’m throwing you a rope.

My jaw clenches so hard it hurts.

Me:

You changed the locks. That’s illegal.

Graham:

It’s not illegal when you signed your life away.

Heat crawls up my neck, into my cheeks.

Me:

This is because I left you.

Graham:

This is because you never learn. You could have had it all if you’d stopped pretending you didn’t need me.

I stare at that line until it blurs.

Because that’s what he’s really saying: come back.

Come beg.

Come let him decide what I deserve.

My hands are shaking so badly I almost drop the phone. I force myself to breathe, slow and controlled, like I’m standing over a chocolate pot and one wrong move will seize everything.

I can’t go to my family. That’s not a solution, it’s punishment. My mother will call this proof that I should’ve gone to college like my sister. My father will look at me like I’m a cautionary tale. They’ll wrap their disappointment around me and call it love.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >37

Advertisement The Mountain Ranger’s Obsession Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/the-mountain-rangers-obsession-read-online-aria-cole Wed, 13 May 2026 18:54:33 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/the-mountain-rangers-obsession-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male, Insta-Love Authors: Aria Cole Advertisement

Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 35133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >33

She ran to the mountain to disappear. He was already watching. When Maddie finds a photograph of herself sitting on her porch–taken from the woods–she knows one thing: she’s not safe and whoever is watching her… is getting closer. Desperate and out of options, she makes the most reckless decision of her life. She answers a listing she was never meant to find. Bride wanted. Protection offered. Discretion guaranteed. Ethan Cole is exactly what the rumors say–reclusive, dangerous, and completely off-limits. A mountain ranger who doesn’t ask questions… he gives orders. His rules are simple: Stay on his land. Do exactly what he says. And pretend to be his wife. It’s supposed to be temporary. A deal. A way to survive. But the longer Maddie is trapped in his cabin, the more she realizes the real danger might not be the man stalking her… It might be the one protecting her. Because Ethan doesn’t just watch. He claims. And once he decides she’s his? There’s no walking away

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter 1

Maddie

The tires crunch over gravel as I ease the Jeep to a stop in front of the cabin, the engine ticking as it cools in the thin mountain air. Devil’s Peak rises around me like it’s alive—towering evergreens, jagged slopes, shadows stretching long in the late afternoon light. It’s exactly what I came for.

Wild. Untouched. Mine.

I grip the steering wheel for a second longer than I need to, letting the quiet settle. No traffic. No voices. No reminders of everything I left behind.

Just me.

“Fresh start,” I murmur, pushing the door open.

Cold air bites at my cheeks as I step out, boots hitting the ground. The scent of pine and damp earth wraps around me, sharp and clean. My chest expands with a slow breath, something in me loosening for the first time in months.

Yeah. This is right.

The cabin sits tucked between a cluster of trees, rustic but solid. Weathered wood. Wide porch. A place that looks like it’s seen storms and survived them.

I can work here.

I pop the trunk and haul out my gear—camera bag, tripod, duffel. The weight of it grounds me, familiar and steady. This is what I know. What I trust.

Through the lens, everything makes sense.

Without it?

Stillness. Too still.

My gaze flicks to the tree line. I shake it off and slam the trunk shut harder than necessary. “Get a grip, Maddie.”

It’s just quiet. You wanted quiet.

I climb the steps to the porch, the boards creaking under my weight. The key is exactly where the rental message said it would be—tucked under a loose plank near the door. I grab it, unlock the cabin, and step inside.

Dim light filters through the windows, dust motes floating in the air. It smells like woodsmoke and old cedar. Simple. Clean. Safe.

I drop my bag by the door and move through the space, checking each room out of habit. Living area. Kitchen. Small bedroom. Bathroom.

No surprises.

“Good,” I mutter, exhaling.

I head back outside, grabbing the rest of my gear. The sun is dipping lower now, casting long shadows through the trees. The light is perfect—golden, soft, the kind photographers chase across continents.

And it’s right here.

I sling my camera around my neck, adjusting the strap as I step off the porch and into the clearing. The forest hums quietly around me—wind threading through branches, distant birdcalls, something rustling deeper in the underbrush.

My pulse ticks up, just slightly.

Excitement. That’s all it is.

I lift the camera, bringing it to my eye, scanning the tree line. Light filters through the branches in broken patterns, dancing across the forest floor. I take a few test shots, adjusting the focus, the aperture.

Click. Click. Click.

The rhythm steadies me. This is why I’m here.

I move farther out, drawn by the light cutting through a cluster of pines. The ground dips slightly, uneven beneath my boots, and I adjust my footing automatically.

“Careful,” I mutter to myself.

The forest feels… thicker here.

Quieter.

I lower the camera slowly, my gaze sweeping the area. The hairs on the back of my neck lift, a prickle of awareness sliding down my spine.

Someone’s watching.

The thought hits fast and sharp.

I turn, scanning behind me.

Nothing.

Just trees. Shadows. Wind.

My jaw tightens. “You’re fine.”

I force a breath out and bring the camera back up, snapping another shot just to prove I can. The click sounds too loud now, breaking the silence in a way that makes my skin tighten.

I don’t like that.

I lower the camera again.

“Okay. That’s enough for today.”

I turn back toward the cabin, my pace a little faster than before. My boots crunch against the dirt and scattered pine needles, the sound grounding but not enough to shake the feeling crawling under my skin.

I don’t run.

I don’t panic.

But I don’t linger either.

The cabin comes into view, solid and familiar, and some of the tension bleeds out of my shoulders. I take the steps two at a time, pushing the door open and stepping inside.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >33

Advertisement Scorch (Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue #6) Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/scorch-devils-peak-fire-rescue-6-read-online-aria-cole Fri, 03 Apr 2026 23:15:40 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/scorch-devils-peak-fire-rescue-6-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male Authors: Aria Cole Series: Devil's Peak Fire & Rescue Series by Aria Cole
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 29645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >27

He never stopped loving her.

Now he has 90 days to prove it.
Levi Kane is Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue’s toughest lieutenant—steady under pressure, loyal to his crew, and absolutely not interested in being auctioned off by the town’s meddling church ladies during charity season.

There’s just one problem.
The fire chief’s daughter just came back to town.

Sadie Marshall was Levi’s first love… and the girl who shattered his heart when she left for college. Now she’s back as the department’s new intern—smart, stubborn, and completely immune to Levi’s attempts to keep things professional.

When the town’s matchmaking church ladies decide Levi is the perfect bachelor to parade through their charity events, Sadie offers a solution:
They’ll fake date.
Just for ninety days.
Just until fundraising season ends.
Just enough public flirting to keep the town off Levi’s back.
There’s only one rule.
Don’t fall in love again.
But between viral KissCam kisses and steamy charity car washes, something pushes Levi straight into possessive territory and pretending quickly turns dangerous.
Because Levi never stopped wanting Sadie.
And this time?
He’s not letting her walk away

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter 1

Levi

“Lieutenant Kane?”

Her voice hits the back of my neck like a match.

I freeze with a clipboard in my hand, knuckles whitening around the edge. For a second, my body forgets how to do anything but listen.

I turn slowly.

Sadie. My Sadie stands inside the bay in full intern gear, hair pulled back tight, helmet tucked under her arm. Turnout coat swallowed by a frame that used to fit against my chest like it belonged there. She’s older than the girl who left. Sharper around the eyes. The kind of pretty that doesn’t ask permission. The kind that knows.

And she’s at home in my firehouse like she never walked away from it.

“Intern Marshall,” I say, because if I say her first name, Sadie Marshall, I’m going to taste high school summers and broken promises and everything I told myself I’d stop wanting.

Her mouth twitches. Not quite a smile. Not quite not.

“Sadie,” she corrects, polite. Professional. As if she didn’t once steal my sweatshirt and sleep in it after summer bonfires and breathless kisses.

“Intern,” I repeat. My gaze drops deliberately to the badge on her chest, like I don’t know the shape of her mouth by heart. “You’re late.”

Her brows lift. “I’m three minutes early.”

Her smile flickers, and lands somewhere low in my gut.

I take one step closer, then stop myself. Space is safer. Space is control.

“Chief Marshall in his office?” she asks, nodding toward the hallway. Chief Marshall. Her father. The words are normal. The question is normal. The fact that her father’s name is now a wall between us is not.

“Yes,” I say. “He’s expecting you.” The truth is, I’ve known this day was coming for the last week when Chief announced that his daughter would be interning with us for the summer, but I still wasn’t prepared. Four years gone and she still takes my breath away.

Sadie shifts her weight, and the helmet under her arm bumps against her hip. She adjusts it like she’s adjusted this kind of weight a hundred times. Like she didn’t leave Devil’s Peak with a backpack and a scholarship and a tear-streaked face she swore was just allergies.

“Thanks,” she says, and her eyes meet mine. “Lieutenant Kane.”

There it is again. That careful distance. That formal tone. The little blade she slides between my shoulders and twists.

My jaw tightens. “Don’t.”

Her lashes lower. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t say it like that.”

A beat stretches—hot and sharp—while the rest of the bay keeps breathing around us. Hoses. Tools. Diesel and metal. The faint sound of Axel and the rest of the crew in the kitchen laughing at something stupid on someone’s phone.

Sadie’s voice drops when she speaks again. “Like what?”

Like a stranger. Like I’m just a title. Like you didn’t once call me Levi with your mouth pressed to my throat.

I don’t say any of that. I can’t. Not here.

“Just… don’t,” I grind out, and pivot away before the sound of my own pulse gives me away.

I hear her take a breath. I hear the smallest shift of gear as she turns. Then her boots tap down the hallway toward her father’s office.

The moment she’s out of my sight, my chest loosens like it’s been braced for impact and finally takes the hit. I set the clipboard down harder than necessary on the workbench.

“Damn,” Axel mutters from behind me. “Did the temperature just jump, or is that just Lieutenant Kane melting down?”

I don’t turn. “Go clean something.”

“Already did,” Axel grins like a menace. He leans against the doorframe with a mug in hand, smug as hell. “I was bored, so I cleaned the fridge. Want to see me die of boredom next, or are you gonna tell us why you look like you just saw a ghost in turnout gear?”

“She’s not a ghost,” Sawyer says, coming up beside them, eyebrows raised. “She’s very real. And she’s in our bay. Wearing our gear. And—correct me if I’m wrong—she just called you Lieutenant Kane like she was trying to keep herself from saying something else.”

The crew’s attention hits me like a spotlight. Great. Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue: where privacy goes to die.

I hook my thumbs into my belt and force my shoulders loose. “She’s the chief’s daughter.”

“So?” Axel says. “We all know that.”

Ash’s grin widens. “We also know you dated her.”

“I did not date her,” I snap.

Three eyebrows lift in sync.

Sawyer takes a slow sip of coffee, looking amused in that steady, maddening way he has. “Uh-huh.”

I glare at him. “We were kids.”

“We were also kids,” Ash says, “and I never looked like I wanted to set a building on fire just because someone walked in.”

Axel makes a thoughtful sound. “Or like you wanted to drag her into the supply closet.”

“Axel,” I warn.

“What?” he says innocently. “I’m just saying. If you need the closet, I can clear it. For safety.”

I step toward him, and he lifts both hands, laughing. “Kidding. Kidding. Relax, Lieutenant.”

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >27

Advertisement Flame (Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue #6) Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/flame-devils-peak-fire-rescue-6-read-online-aria-cole Fri, 03 Apr 2026 23:14:38 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/flame-devils-peak-fire-rescue-6-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male, Insta-Love Authors: Aria Cole Series: Devil's Peak Fire & Rescue Series by Aria Cole
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 29299 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >26

Sawyer Rivers doesn’t believe in second chances.
Not in love. Not after the fire that took his wife and nearly hollowed him out for good.
His world is simple now—his daughter, his duty, and the quiet ache he keeps buried beneath control.

Then Tessa rear-ends his truck on a chaotic Devil’s Peak morning.

She’s flustered. Apologetic. Too young. Too warm. Too alive.

Tessa only planned to stay for the summer. Fresh out of college and running from her own doubts, she needs the job. What she doesn’t need is a brooding, devastatingly intense single dad whose dark eyes linger a little too long and whose touch feels like it could undo her.

Sawyer tells himself he’s protecting her by holding back.

Tessa refuses to be someone’s almost.

And when a fire call drags Sawyer back into the trauma he’s been hiding from, he’s forced to face the one question he’s avoided for almost a decade: can he risk loving without losing everything all over again?

FLAME is a slow-burn, high-heat nanny romance featuring:

🔥 A protective, widowed firefighter

🔥 A sunshiney nanny with sass

🔥 Forced proximity in a mountain cabin

🔥 Age-gap tension and undeniable chemistry

A Single Dad, Forced Proximity, Age Gap Firefighter Romance

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter 1

Sawyer

Imove through life like a man waiting for the next hit.

At the firehouse, that works in my favor. I’m steady. Controlled. The one people trust when everything’s burning and loud and going sideways. I don’t flinch. I don’t hesitate. I do the job and keep everyone alive.

At home, it’s quieter.

Too quiet.

My daughter is still asleep when I leave the station after a twelve-hour shift that stretched closer to fourteen thanks to a barn fire that refused to die quietly. The smell of smoke clings to me, baked into my clothes, my skin, my bones. I don’t bother changing. I just want a shower. Coffee. Sleep.

I slide into my truck as the sun creeps up over Devil’s Peak, traffic already thick by small-town standards with commuters and delivery vans. I sit at the red light on Main, forehead resting briefly against the steering wheel, and let myself think about nothing.

That’s when I hear it.

Crunch.

Not loud. Not dramatic. Just enough to snap every muscle in my body tight.

I lift my head slowly, already knowing.

I check the mirror.

A compact sedan sits a little too close to my bumper.

I close my eyes. Count to three.

Then I put the truck in park and step out.

She does the same, climbing out of the sedan with a sharp intake of breath like she’s bracing for impact. She’s smaller than I expect. Curvy in a soft, real way. Dark hair pulled into a messy knot that looks like it gave up halfway through the morning. She’s wearing a coat that’s too thin for the cold, and when she sees me, her eyes go wide.

“Oh my God,” she says immediately. “I’m so sorry. I swear I wasn’t on my phone. The light changed and⁠—”

She cuts herself off when she really looks at me.

At the turnout coat still slung over my shoulder. The soot smudged along my jaw. The fact that I’m built like someone who doesn’t lose fights.

Her apology softens. Turns careful.

“I—I just tapped you,” she adds, quieter. “Barely.”

I glance at the bumper. She’s right. A scuff. Nothing bent. Nothing cracked.

I exhale through my nose. “You okay?”

She blinks. “Me?”

“Yes. You.”

Her mouth curves despite herself. “I’m fine. Embarrassed. Possibly mortified. But physically intact.”

That shouldn’t do anything to me.

It does.

“Good,” I say, because I don’t trust myself to say anything else.

She steps closer to inspect the damage, and I’m suddenly aware of how close we are. Of how she smells faintly like warm vanilla and cold air. Of how the morning light catches on her lashes.

“I can call insurance,” she offers quickly. “Or—well—this probably isn’t worth it, but I can⁠—”

“It’s fine,” I say. “No harm done.”

Her shoulders drop in relief. “Thank you. Really. I just—first day nerves.”

“First day of what?”

She glances up at me again, then seems to remember she’s supposed to be flustered. “New town. New job. New routine. I was rehearsing what I was going to say when I got there.”

“Important words?”

She snorts. “Very. Mostly ‘hi’ and ‘please don’t cry.’”

That pulls a low sound from my chest before I can stop it. A laugh. Rusty from disuse.

Her eyes flicker to my mouth. There’s a beat. A moment too long.

Then she clears her throat. “I’m Tessa.”

“Sawyer.”

She glances at my coat. “Firefighter?”

“Yes.”

“Figures,” she says, like that confirms something she already suspected.

“Why’s that?”

She gestures vaguely at me. “You have that look. Hero energy. Like nothing rattles you.”

I think about the way my hands still shake sometimes when I wake up from dreams I don’t remember having. About the way silence presses too hard on my chest at night.

“Something like that,” I say.

A horn blares behind us. The light’s gone green.

Tessa startles, then laughs at herself. “I should get out of your way before I cause an actual accident.”

She reaches into her coat pocket, pulls out a card, and hesitates. “Just in case?”

I take it. Our fingers brush.

Static jumps between us. Sharp. Unexpected.

Her breath stutters. Mine does too.

“Drive safe,” she says, voice softer now.

“You too.”

She nods, then turns back toward her car. Halfway there, she glances over her shoulder. “Hey, Sawyer?”

“Yes?”

“Sorry again.”

I watch her go, my grip tightening on the wheel as I think about the way her teeth cut into her pillowy bottom lip when she looked up at me, heat burning on her cheeks. She’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen in Devil’s Peak, too sweet. This place and the kind of men that call this mountain home will ruin her. As I pull into my driveway ten minutes later all I can think is that I need to stay away from Tessa, for her sake as much as mine.

Chapter 2

Tessa

Ialmost don’t knock.

The cabin sits tucked into Devil’s Peak like it grew here—dark wood, wide porch, smoke curling lazily from the chimney like it’s breathing. Quiet. Private. The kind of place you retreat to when you don’t want to be found.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >26

Advertisement Smolder (Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue #5) Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/smolder-devils-peak-fire-rescue-5-read-online-aria-cole Thu, 26 Feb 2026 08:20:59 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/smolder-devils-peak-fire-rescue-5-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male, Insta-Love Authors: Aria Cole Series: Devil's Peak Fire & Rescue Series by Aria Cole
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 19364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 >18

He’s been in love with her forever.

She’s been falling for him… without knowing it. 🔥
Dax Hayes is Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue’s most reliable firefighter—and the town’s worst-kept secret. He’s been in love with Rory Sullivan, owner of the cozy café The Devil’s Bean, since high school. He shows up every morning for coffee. He never crosses the line. And he never risks the friendship that means everything to him.
Rory doesn’t see the man who’s always stayed.
What she does see?
The anonymous pen pal who’s been writing her swoon-worthy letters for the past year—letters that make her feel seen, cherished, and brave enough to believe in love again.
She has no idea the man behind the ink… is her best friend.

When a brutal Valentine’s Day blizzard traps them together inside the Devil’s Peak firehouse, secrets ignite, restraint shatters, and forced proximity turns years of unspoken longing into something molten hot. One accidental confession. One truth spoken too late. And a love that refuses to stay quiet any longer

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter 1

Dax

Istart every morning the same way.

Same alarm. Same boots. Same drive through Devil’s Peak while the sky is still bruised with dawn and the mountain smells like pine and cold. Same stop at The Devil’s Bean, because the firehouse coffee tastes like shit and because Rory Sullivan smiles at me like she’s glad I exist.

That’s the real reason.

I tell the guys I’m loyal to caffeine. Truth is, I’ve been loyal to her since high school—since she was all freckles and opinions and a red ponytail that snapped when she laughed. Long before she owned the café. Long before the town decided we were inevitable. Long before I learned how dangerous wanting her really was.

I push through the door, the bell chiming overhead, warmth and roasted coffee beans hitting me in the chest. The place is already alive—soft music, the hiss of steam, Valentine’s decorations creeping in like a pink invasion.

And Rory—she’s perched precariously on a ladder.

Pink heart lights spill around her like she’s tangled in them on purpose, one knee bent, red paint-stained Converse braced against a rung. She’s wearing one of her oversized sweaters, sleeves shoved up, red hair twisted into a messy knot that’s half falling apart.

She looks… unreal.

I stop walking without meaning to.

She glances down, catches me staring, and her mouth curves slow and knowing. “You’re going to trip if you keep gawking like that, Hayes.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m moving,” I say.

She snorts. “You’re early.”

“Firehouse order.” I rest a hand on the ladder, looking up at her. “You’re crooked.”

“So are you,” she fires back, then shifts to adjust the lights.

The ladder wobbles.

It’s barely a second. Barely anything at all. But my body reacts before my brain catches up.

“Red—”

Her foot slips.

I grab her.

Hard.

My hands lock around her waist, muscle memory and instinct slamming together, and she comes down against me with a sharp inhale, palms landing on my chest. The ladder rattles behind us, forgotten.

She’s warm. Solid. Real.

Her pulse jumps under my thumb where it’s pressed just above her hip, fast and frantic like it’s trying to outrun something. I feel it. She feels that I feel it.

Neither of us moves.

The café fades. The music, the steam, the scent of roasted beans—it all drops away until it’s just her breath against my throat and the way her eyes go wide, then dark.

“Dax,” she says quietly.

I should let go.

I don’t.

“You good?” I ask, voice low, steady, like I’m not holding her like she’s the answer to every question I’ve ever avoided.

Her fingers flex against my jacket. “Yeah. I—yeah.”

She doesn’t pull away either.

That’s the dangerous part.

I ease her back, just enough to look at her face, just enough to pretend this is normal. “You trying to give the town a show before Valentine’s even hits?”

Her lips part. She swallows. “Maybe I like living on the edge.”

“Funny,” I say. “I was going to say reckless.”

She rolls her eyes, but her cheeks are pink. “You always say that.”

“Because you always are.”

She steps back then, finally breaking contact, the space does nothing to calm the heat coiling low in my gut. She straightens her sweater like it’s misbehaved, then looks at me again—challenging, curious.

“You’re staring again.”

“Not denying it,” I say easily.

Her brows lift. “Oh?”

I shrug. “You’re hard to miss.”

Silence stretches, thick and electric. Something unspoken hums between us, louder than the espresso machine.

She clears her throat. “Coffee?”

“For the whole house,” I say. “You know the order.”

She turns toward the counter, but not before I catch the smile she tries to hide. “You’re predictable.”

“And you like it,” I say.

She laughs softly. “Maybe.”

I lean against the bar while she works, watching the way she moves—confident, practiced, like this place is an extension of her. She belongs here. She belongs everywhere.

The thought hits harder than it should.

She slides my cup across first. “On the house.”

I push it back toward her. “Don’t start.”

She arches a brow. “Consider it my Valentine’s gift. Don’t say I never got you anything.”

“That’s bad for business. And a terrible reason.”

“It isn’t when your best customer looks like he hasn’t slept.”

“Firehouse shifts,” I say.

“Is that all?” she asks lightly.

I freeze.

She glances up, just a flicker, like she’s testing something. Waiting.

I grin, slow and deliberate. “Careful, Red. That sounds like flirting.”

Her laugh comes out a little breathless. “With you? Never.”

“Liar.”

She shakes her head, busying herself with lids and sleeves. “You’ve been staring at me since I was sixteen. I think I’m immune by now.”

The words land sharper than she means them.

Since sixteen.

More than a decade.

Since always.

I step closer, lowering my voice. “You think I stare because I don’t know you?”

She stills.

Slowly, she looks at me.

Her eyes search my face, like she’s trying to read something written between the lines. “Then why do you?”

The question hangs there, dangerous and fragile.

Because I’ve loved you forever.

Because you’re the only thing that ever felt like home.

<<<<1 2 3 11 >18

Advertisement Singe – Grumpy Firefighter Wounded Hero Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/singe-grumpy-firefighter-wounded-hero-read-online-aria-cole Sun, 01 Feb 2026 09:23:01 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/singe-grumpy-firefighter-wounded-hero-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male Authors: Aria Cole Advertisement

Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 24365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >23

A scorching opposites-attract romance where a reclusive, scarred firefighter meets a sunshiney-bright artist who refuses to dim her light—and ignites everything he’s been trying to bury.

Boone Lawson is fire-scarred, closed off, and hiding in the shadows.

Ember Price is color, laughter, and relentless hope—painting life back into a man who forgot how to feel.

When sparks turn into a dangerous inferno, Boone must decide if he’s brave enough to burn again—and Ember must risk her heart on a man who’s terrified of losing everything.

🔥 Grumpy Neighbor from Hell x City Girl Chaos

🎨 Artist Heroine x Wounded Hero

🧰 Reclusive Ex-Military Firefighter

❤️ Moilten Hot Slow Burn

🏔️ Small-Town Meddling

The men of Devil's Peak Fire & Rescue are high heat, big feelings, and gruff devotion

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter One

Boone

I’m elbow-deep in an engine when the noise starts.

Not the good kind—the steady, predictable hum of metal and torque—but chaos. A crash. A clatter. A string of muttered curses followed by a laugh so bright it cuts through my workshop like a flare.

I freeze.

Wrench in one hand. Rag in the other. Spine locked.

The workshop has been my bunker since the explosion. Concrete walls. Oil-stained floors. Tools exactly where I leave them. Silence I can control. No surprises. No sudden sounds that make my shoulder seize or my pulse jump.

Then the door bangs open.

Light spills in first. Actual, blinding light, reflecting off snow outside and bouncing off the chrome of my workbench. And then she barrels in like a fucking wrecking ball—paint-splattered, hair half up and half everywhere, cheeks flushed, eyes bright.

She trips over a bucket.

Catches herself.

Smears blue paint across her jaw with the back of her hand.

And grins at me like she just found buried treasure.

“Hi!” she says, breathless and cheerful and completely out of place. “Sorry—door stuck. I think it hates me.”

I stare.

She’s got paint streaked across her fingers, wrists, the hem of her sweater. There’s red in her hair like she forgot it was there. Yellow on her nose. She smells like cold air and citrus soap and something faintly sweet underneath.

Color and chaos.

Everything I’m not.

“Can I help you?” My voice comes out flat. Rusted. Like it hasn’t been used for anything but short answers in a while.

She looks around my shop like she’s stepped into a museum exhibit titled Angry Man Lives Here. Eyes lingering on the engines. The tool racks. The scorch mark on the far wall I never bothered to paint over.

“Oh. Wow.” She nods, impressed. “This is… intense.”

“Still waiting on the part where that’s my problem.”

Her grin widens instead of faltering. That’s the first warning sign.

“I’m Ember,” she says, sticking out a hand without thinking twice. “Ember Price. I just bought the house next door. Mostly for the great studio space. I’m an artist.”

I don’t take her hand.

I don’t even look at it.

“More like trouble,” I mutter, going back to the engine and pretending she didn’t just blow a hole through my afternoon.

She laughs. Full-bodied. Unapologetic.

“I get that a lot.”

“Not a compliment.”

“Still accurate.”

I risk a glance despite myself.

She’s studying me now, head tilted slightly, like she’s sketching me in her mind. Assessing. Curious. Not afraid. That’s the second warning sign.

“You’re Boone,” she says.

I stiffen. “You ask someone?”

“Captain Cole, he did my house inspection,” she says easily. “He warned me you were grumpy.”

“He would.”

She steps farther in, boots crunching on grit. I don’t like how close she’s getting. Don’t like how my body reacts—alert, coiled, aware.

She stops by the workbench and peers at the engine. “You fix things.”

“I break them,” I say. “Then fix them.”

“Sounds therapeutic.”

“Sounds like none of your business.”

Her gaze flicks up to mine, sharp but amused. “You always this welcoming, or am I special?”

“You’re blocking my light.”

She looks up at the open door, then back at me, lips twitching. “You should try it sometime. Sunshine’s good for the soul.”

I snort. “I’ll take my chances.”

She studies my face again. The scar at my temple. The way my left arm doesn’t quite move like my right. Her eyes don’t linger out of pity—just awareness. It makes my shoulders tense.

“Well,” she says, clapping her hands together and smearing more paint. “I’ll get out of your hair. I just needed to ask—do you have a wrench I could borrow? The old sink next door is held together with spite and rust.”

I don’t answer right away.

Borrowing leads to conversations. Conversations lead to expectations.

“No.”

She blinks. “No?”

“No.”

Her mouth opens. Closes. Then she laughs again, softer this time. “Okay. That’s fair.”

It shouldn’t feel like a victory that she doesn’t argue. It shouldn’t bother me that she accepts it so easily.

She turns toward the door, then pauses. “You sure you don’t want to come see the studio sometime? I’m teaching kids’ art classes. It’s… loud.”

“I noticed.”

“But fun,” she adds. “Messy. Healing.”

I don’t miss the way her voice dips on the last word.

“Not my scene.”

She nods, like she expected that answer all along. “If you change your mind, Caveman⁠—”

I bark a laugh before I can stop myself. “What did you just call me?”

She glances back, eyes sparkling. “Caveman.”

“That’s not my name.”

“No,” she agrees cheerfully. “But it fits.”

“Explain.”

She gestures vaguely at me. “You’re all dark and grumpy and convinced you’re invisible.”

Something in my chest tightens.

“That’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking.”

Silence stretches between us. The engine ticks as it cools. The snow outside hushes the world.

Then she smiles again, softer this time, and backs out the door. “See you around, Boone.”

The door swings shut behind her, leaving the workshop too quiet.

I stand there longer than I should, staring at the space she occupied. At the faint smear of blue paint she left on my workbench.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >23

Advertisement Ignite (Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue #1) Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/ignite-devils-peak-fire-rescue-1-read-online-aria-cole Wed, 07 Jan 2026 10:40:58 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/ignite-devils-peak-fire-rescue-1-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male, Mafia, Novella Authors: Aria Cole Series: Devil's Peak Fire & Rescue Series by Aria Cole
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 33213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >32

One fire drill, one fake fiancé… one blazing love.

When kindergarten teacher Briar Tate accidentally sets off the school fire alarm, she doesn’t expect a six-foot-four, grumpy fire captain to storm into her life and rearrange every one of her defenses.

Saxon Cole is disciplined, controlled, and done letting anyone depend on him—until one terrified scream during a hotel fire shatters every boundary he’s built.

Forced into a fake engagement, tangled in small-town gossip, and pulled together by a little girl who trusts him with her whole heart, Briar and Saxon discover that some sparks aren’t meant to be denied.

In Devil’s Peak, some sparks are meant to ignite.

The Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue series delivers grumpy firefighters, sunshine heroines, fake fiancés, single parents, small-town meddling, and molten-hot slow burns that ignite into unforgettable, heart-stopping romance

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter One

Briar

The fire alarm shrieks through Devil’s Peak Elementary like the building itself is having a panic attack.

Which, honestly, same.

Twenty-two five-year-olds stare at me with various degrees of horror, excitement, and pure chaos—paper construction-crown projects slipping sideways on their heads while Junie clings to my leg like a terrified koala.

“This is fine,” I lie out loud, cheerful and bright and absolutely panicking on the inside. “It’s just a practice! Remember our line? Quiet feet, quiet hands⁠—”

A stack of glue sticks falls off the table. A kid starts crying. Someone else starts laughing because the crying kid sounds like a baby goat, and then two of them bleat back at him because apparently that’s contagious.

Perfect.

Exactly how I pictured my first day as a kindergarten teacher.

I try to redirect everyone toward the door. “Okay, friends! Outdoors! Single-file li⁠—”

And then I see the switch I pulled wrong. The one right next to the actual drill indicator. The one labeled: Alarm System — Full Activation.

My stomach sinks.

Oh no.

Oh no no no.

The sound gets louder. Boots pound somewhere in the distance—heavy, urgent, nothing like the mild-mannered drills we practiced yesterday.

And then the hallway shakes.

Or maybe that’s just me.

“Friends,” I squeak, “let’s go now.”

I herd the tiny group toward the exit, muttering prayers and curses under my breath as we stumble into the sunlight. The kids wobble into a crooked semi-circle, their crowns glittering in the breeze like I’ve led some sort of very short, poorly-organized parade.

Then something massive moves behind me.

No—someone.

I turn—and I freeze.

A firefighter with the name Captain Saxon Cole and Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue emblazoned on his jacket stalks toward me like an entire natural disaster dressed in turnout gear. Six-foot-something of controlled fury, helmet low, gloves on, jaw set as if he intends to personally fight the building with his bare damn hands.

Holy—

His eyes lock onto me.

And I swear the earth tilts.

“Ma’am,” he barks, deep and sharp enough to vibrate through my bones, “is everyone accounted for?”

“Uh—yes.”

Words. Words would be helpful.

I gesture at my tiny crooked line of bedazzled royalty. “My class is right here. All present. No smoke. No fire. Just…volume.”

Saxon doesn’t look amused.

He does, however, look furious.

His gaze sweeps the area like he’s expecting flames to burst from behind the playground slide at any moment.

Then he turns back to me.

And starts stalking closer.

Oh God. He’s close now.

Broad shoulders filling my entire field of vision.

Brow tight.

Jaw ticking.

Chest rising and falling like he sprinted the length of the building.

“Did you pull the alarm?” he demands.

Technically no. Technically yes. Technically I’m an idiot.

“It was a mistake,” I rush out. “New switches, new classroom, new…everything.”

His voice drops, low and lethal.

“Kindergarten fire drills don’t activate the entire goddamn station, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart.

My brain short-circuits.

I’m ninety percent mortified, ten percent offended, and one hundred percent aware of how his voice sounds like gravel and smoke and something I should not be reacting to.

“I said it was a mistake,” I snap, irrationally defensive.

His brow lifts. He actually looks like he might combust. “A mistake that pulled three engines, an ambulance, and half my crew off shift. Care to explain that?”

“I hit the wrong switch.”

His eyes narrow.

“Which wrong switch?”

“The…red one.”

“Which red one?”

I throw my hands up. “Why are there thirty identical stupid switches in a row? That’s the real emergency here.”

He steps in closer—so close I feel heat radiating off him.

I swallow. Hard.

He leans down just enough his voice barely carries to anyone but me.

“The real emergency is you nearly triggering a building-wide evacuation.”

“And the real solution,” I whisper back before my brain intervenes, “is labeling your damn switches better.”

His head jerks back a fraction.

Oh no.

Oh no.

I think I just sassed the grumpiest man in Devil’s Peak.

The corner of his mouth twitches. Not a smile. Something darker. Something that punches straight through my stomach.

Before he can respond, one of his firefighters jogs up. “Cap! Building’s clear. False alarm.”

Saxon doesn’t look away from me as he answers.

“Copy that.”

His stare pins me.

My pulse flutters.

This man could melt me on the spot and he hasn’t even touched me.

He mutters something under his breath, then straightens.

“Where’s your supply closet?”

“…why?”

“Because we’re having a conversation.”

He steps past me and points. “Show me.”

My heart stumbles. “My kids⁠—”

“The counselor’s right there,” he says without looking. “She’ll keep an eye on them.”

I blink.

Look at the counselor.

She shrugs like better you than me.

Saxon’s hand lands on the small of my back—not pushing, just guiding.

Firm. Hot. Completely in control.

I tense.

His fingers flex.

“Move,” he growls.

I move.

He walks behind me, close enough I swear I feel his breath ghost over my hair. The hallway feels too narrow. His presence presses in, commanding, unyielding, impossible to ignore.

My supply closet door looms up ahead.

This is a bad idea.

This is a terrible, terrible⁠—

He opens it and nudges me inside.

Not gently.

Not harshly.

Just decisively.

The closet is small—shelves of markers, construction paper, bins of pom-poms—and suddenly filled with way too much man.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >32

Advertisement Spark (Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue #2) Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/spark-devils-peak-fire-rescue-2-read-online-aria-cole Wed, 07 Jan 2026 10:40:56 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/spark-devils-peak-fire-rescue-2-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male, Mafia, Novella Authors: Aria Cole Series: Devil's Peak Fire & Rescue Series by Aria Cole
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 48518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >46

When sunshiney librarian Lucy Snow moves into a cozy cabin on Devil’s Peak, she doesn’t expect her grumpy, sinfully handsome firefighter neighbor to become her biggest holiday problem… or her biggest temptation.

Ash Calder has zero Christmas spirit and one huge responsibility—raising his six-year-old niece after his sister’s sudden deployment.
Lucy’s glittery decorations and endless cheer drive him crazy.
Her smile? Even worse.
It makes him feel things he swore he’d never feel again.
Forced together to run the town’s Fire & Frost Festival, their banter sparks, their chemistry burns, and their “accidental” touches start to feel dangerously intentional. By Christmas morning, the only thing melting faster than the snow… is their resistance.

A grumpy firefighter. A sunshiney librarian. One bed, one snowstorm, and one holiday spark turning into a wildfire

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter One

Lucy

Snowflakes hit my face the moment I step out of my tiny hatchback, the kind that melt instantly and run down your skin like cold fingertips. My breath fogs the air as I tug the last box out of the backseat—one labeled CHRISTMAS CRAP in pink glitter marker, because yes, I am absolutely that person.

A new town. A new job. A new chance to not screw things up.

The rental cabin sits halfway up a pine-lined ridge. It’s small, a little crooked, a little drafty, but adorable—like something from a low-budget holiday movie. If I squint, I can almost see a wood-burning stove glowing inside, cookies baking, and a happily-ever-after waiting around the corner.

“Hi!”

The voice snaps my fantasy in half. A little girl stands at the bottom of my porch steps, wearing purple boots and a jacket two sizes too big. Blonde curls peek from beneath a knit hat with a sparkly pom-pom.

She grins so wide I swear I can feel the warmth from here.

“I’m Holly,” she announces.

“Well, hello, Holly.” I tuck the box under one arm. “I’m Lucy. I’m the new librarian.”

Her eyes widen like I just told her I’m Santa Claus. “You’re the book lady!”

I laugh. “I’ll take that.”

She’s already climbing my steps, inspecting every inch of the porch with the intensity of a building inspector. “Are you gonna live here?”

“Yep. This little cabin is mine for the next twelve months.”

“It’s cute,” she decides. “Like a gingerbread house!”

I glow. Someone gets it. “Exactly what I thought.”

A new voice cuts through the snow, low and sharp-edged.

“It’s a potential death trap.”

The hair on my arms stands straight up.

I turn.

And see him.

Good Lord.

A man—huge, hard, broad-shouldered, built like he eats lumber for breakfast—walks up the path with a duffel bag slung over his back. Dark beanie, navy coat, heavy boots crunching through snow. His jaw looks carved, dusted with stubble. His eyes, from this distance, look like storm clouds sizing me up.

This is not a holiday movie hero. This is the man who shows up before the heroine learns about consequences.

Holly beams. “Uncle Ash!”

He nods at her but doesn’t smile. He stops at the bottom of my steps, looking me up and down in one slow sweep that makes my skin prickle.

“You the new tenant?”

Wow. Friendly.

“Yes,” I say. “Lucy.”

He jerks his chin once. “Ash. Cabin next door.”

He doesn’t offer a hand. Doesn’t offer a smile. Doesn’t even offer the bare minimum of human warmth.

“My sister wanted me to check on you,” he continues. “Said someone was moving in today. You should know—watch the chimney. It’s old. Could spark.”

I blink. “Nice to meet you too?”

He doesn’t blink back. “Not trying to be nice. Trying to keep you from burning the place down.”

Holly tugs his sleeve. “Uncle Ash, she likes books!”

He exhales like that information is somehow deeply inconvenient. “Great.”

I straighten, narrowing my eyes. “For the record, I happen to think this cabin is adorable. Cozy. Charming.”

“It’s a fire hazard,” he says flatly.

“Maybe you’re a fire hazard,” I shoot back before my brain can catch up with my mouth.

Holly covers her mouth in a gasp.

Ash’s brows lift—just slightly. “Excuse me?”

I hug my box to my chest. “I said what I said.”

His mouth twitches like he’s fighting a smile—or a snarl. Hard to tell with this man. “You’re already planning to put up lights.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

He points to the glitter marker label on the box in my arms.

I look down.

CHRISTMAS CRAP.

…Fair.

“Yes,” I say, lifting my chin. “I enjoy a little festive sparkle.”

He makes a low sound in his throat that might be a laugh if it weren’t so full of disbelief. “Festive sparkle. Right. Well, Sparky⁠—”

“Sparky?”

“You’re going to spark something with those decorations. Probably a fire.”

“I am not sparking anything!”

“Yet.”

I glare. “Is this how you greet all your neighbors? Accusing them of impending arson?”

“Only the ones who show up with seventeen boxes of electrical hazards.”

“It’s fifteen.”

“Comforting.”

Holly giggles from behind him. Traitor.

Ash shifts the duffel on his shoulder and moves up another step. He’s close enough now that I realize just how big he is. Broad chest, thick arms, the kind of shoulders that look designed for carrying heavy things… or picking people up and pinning them against⁠—

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >46

Advertisement Blaze (Devil’s Peak Fire & Rescue #3) Read Online Aria Cole http://www.books2020.com/blaze-devils-peak-fire-rescue-3-read-online-aria-cole Wed, 07 Jan 2026 10:40:55 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/blaze-devils-peak-fire-rescue-3-read-online-aria-cole Genre: Alpha Male, Mafia, Novella Authors: Aria Cole Series: Devil's Peak Fire & Rescue Series by Aria Cole
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 48039 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >49

Ten years apart. Hundreds of unsent letters. One fire that destroyed everything—and a love strong enough to survive the flames.

Savannah Brooks swore she’d never return to Devil’s Peak—not to the ashes of her past, and definitely not to the boy who broke her heart the night the fire stole her family. But when she walks into the firehouse ten years later as the newest paramedic, the first face she sees is Axel Ramirez… older, darker, broodier, and still the only man she’s ever loved.
Axel has carried guilt for a decade—and hundreds of unsent love letters he never had the courage to give her. Their first rescue mission together reignites everything they buried: the chemistry, the heartbreak, the wildfire of desire that never died.
When adrenaline turns to a breathless confession in the back of an ambulance, their past explodes into a scorching second chance neither can outrun.
Searing tension. Unfinished business. A love that survived the flames once—and is about to burn even hotter.

Blaze is a high-steam, high-emotion firefighter romance that will set your heart—and your e-reader—on fire

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter One

Savannah

The snow comes down in thick, slow flakes—heavy enough to blur the mountains, soft enough to muffle my footsteps as I cross the firehouse lot. Devil’s Peak never changes. White drifts piling against the red engine bay doors, pine trees lining the back fence, the same familiar whiff of smoke clinging to the cold air. The same knot twisting inside my stomach like a warning.

I stall in the doorway, brushing snow off my jacket before stepping inside.

Warmth hits my cheeks immediately—heat from the industrial ventilation, the hum of engines cooling, and the murmur of early-shift chatter from firefighters who look like they’ve been up too long.

I inhale, slow and deliberate.

You’re fine. You’re back. That’s it.

But something in me rattles anyway. Something bone-deep. I shove it down.

The firehouse captain—Saxon Cole—waves me over. “Paramedic Brooks?”

My throat tightens at the sound of my own name. “Yes, sir.”

“You’re with us now. Paperwork got delayed because of the weather, but consider this your reassignment briefing. Glad you made it up the mountain in one piece.”

“Thank you.” I manage a smile, small and polite, the kind that keeps people from asking questions.

He gestures toward the long line of firefighters gathering in the central bay. “Roll call’s starting. You can step in with the med techs.”

I nod and step forward—then freeze.

Because someone says my name.

Not loudly.

Not even intentionally.

But the echo of it ricochets across the concrete floor like a spark.

“Savannah?” a voice murmurs, stunned, low, masculine.

My heart slams hard against my ribcage.

I know that voice.

I know it.

Too well. Too intimately. Too painfully.

My head turns on instinct—slow, like my body is afraid of what it’ll find if I move too fast.

And there he is.

Axel Ramirez.

Broader now. Taller somehow. Shoulders thick as steel beams beneath his navy station 19 shirt. Dark hair longer than I remember, curling slightly at the ends like he’s been running his hands through it all morning. A thick beard draws my eyes in. His radio is clipped to his chest like it belongs there.

He looks nothing like the boy I left behind.

Except his eyes.

Those are exactly the same.

Dark brown, intense, burning with something I can’t name—but feel everywhere.

His gloved hand slips on his radio, almost dropping it. A small clatter echoes across the bay.

The room falls quiet.

Then the whispers start.

“Holy shit…” someone mutters. “That’s Savannah.”

Another voice: “You didn’t tell us that Savannah was coming.”

Someone else whistles low. “Ramirez looks like he’s seen a ghost.”

Axel doesn’t look away from me.

I don’t look away from him.

My breath stutters, catching in my throat like a fist.

His chest rises—sharp. Like he’s been punched.

Ten years collapse between us in an instant. Every memory slams into me at once:

Running barefoot through his mother’s garden. Sneaking popsicles from his back porch freezer. Him kissing me under the oak tree at sixteen. Smoke. Screams. Flames swallowing the dark. His arms pulling me back. The moment everything ended.

I blink hard.

The firehouse around us blurs for a second. Then snaps back into focus.

Axel still hasn’t moved.

Not a muscle.

Not a breath.

He looks carved from stone—except for the way his eyes tremble in a way he probably thinks nobody can see.

But I see.

Of course I see.

Captain Cole clears his throat loudly. “Ramirez. You good?”

Axel blinks like he’s waking from a dream. His gaze tears away, dragged like it physically hurts him.

“Yeah,” he rasps.

The word is rough. Frayed. Barely there.

My pulse skitters.

He didn’t know I was coming.

I didn’t know he’d be here.

I didn’t know the universe could be this cruel.

Cole gestures me forward. “Brooks, this is Firehouse 19. You’ll be working alongside our primary medical response team. First shift starts now. Ramirez, you’ll be paired on most calls with⁠—”

“No.” Axel’s voice slices through the air before he can stop it.

Everyone turns.

Even I stiffen.

Axel swallows hard—throat tight, jaw flexing—then forces an awkward correction.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >49