Four Flames for Angela Read online

  

  Flaming Hearts 2

  Four Flames for Angela

  At the young age of fifteen Angela Kennedy’s world had been turned upside down and she was placed in foster care when her parents were killed. When a young boy, Todd Weatherly, also lost his family and was placed in the same foster home, they bonded immediately. Adopting Todd was the right thing for Angela to do. She didn’t expect anything to come of a chance meeting with four sexy firemen. Then they rescued Todd from a difficult situation. When Angela’s half-brother, Thomas, was released from prison and started hounding Angela for his half of their parents’ assets, Angela didn’t know what to do. The four firemen, River, Rock, Hudson, and Sawyer Thompkins were more than interested in Angela. While Angela and the men explored their mutual attraction, Angela’s brother continued his harassment. Will Angela, Todd, and the sexy firemen find the happiness they crave, or will Thomas win and Angela lose everything?

  Genres: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 40,605

  FOUR FLAMES FOR ANGELA

  Flaming Hearts 2

  Rose Nickol

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Four Flames for Angela

  Copyright © 2019 by Rose Nickol

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-872-7

  First Publication: July 2019

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2019 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction 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 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at [email protected]

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  DEDICATION

  Thank you to all the readers. You give me the courage to keep writing. Thank for your support and love.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Rose Nickol lives in Florida with her daughter, one cat and one dog. She retired several years ago and now likes to spend her time writing and doing crafts.

  For all titles by Rose Nickol, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/rose-nickol

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOUR FLAMES FOR ANGELA

  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

  Epilogue

  FOUR FLAMES FOR ANGELA

  Flaming Hearts 2

  ROSE NICKOL

  Copyright © 2019

  Chapter One

  Angela Kennedy sat on the porch of the house she shared with her young ward, Todd Weatherly. Todd was seven years old and the light of Angela’s life. He had already been through so much for a boy so young. They both had been unlucky in life. Now that they were a family, life was better. She could only hope and do her best for both of them. She’d known Todd for five years since she was seventeen. They had been in the same foster home before she turned eighteen.

  Angela’s parents had been killed in a car wreck when she was fifteen, and the court had decided she was too young to live on her own. Her half brother Thomas had been in jail at the time and there was no one for her to live with, so she was put in foster care until she graduated from high school. In the third home she was placed in, she’d found Todd. Todd had been two years old when his parents were killed in a car wreck, leaving him an orphan. None of his family had been able to take care of him, so he was sent to foster care also.

  Todd and Angela had bonded in that home, and when Angela was old enough to leave she’d sworn to Todd she wouldn’t leave him behind. It had been a lot of work and a lot of money, but she’d kept her promise and now Todd was living with her. There was still some paperwork to be completed, but she and Todd were a family.

  Angela and Todd had been shopping earlier that day, and when they came out of the grocery store Todd called her, “Angie, come here! Look! Can we have one? Can we?” Angie walked over to see what had Todd so excited.

  He was holding a puppy and looking into a big box. “There’s so many.”

  Angie pushed the cart full of groceries over to where Todd was now sitting on the ground holding one puppy. “Can we have one? Can we?” he asked excitedly, and he put that puppy back and picked up another one. “The lady says they are free, and they are siblings. What’s a sibling, Angie? Is that like you and me?”

  Angie squatted down next to Todd and reached to pet the puppy he was holding. “Sort of, honey. A sibling is a brother or sister that came from the same mother and father.”

  “Excuse me, miss,” Angie heard a voice say and looked up to see four of the cutest firefighters standing beside her cart which was blocking the path. They were all tall with varying shades of red hair.

  “Oh! Sorry, let me move that out of your way.” As she went to stand, she lost her balance and would have fallen had one of the men not caught her.

  Angie felt a tingle in her arm where his hand was wrapped around it. She stood and turned to thank him, but he had released her and was walking toward the store. He turned his head and smiled before giving her a wink and little wave. Then he disappeared into the store.

  Angie turned back to Todd. He handed her the puppy, and she snuggled it next to her face. A few minutes later, she, Todd, and the two puppies were on the way home.

  Later that evening after dinner Angie finally gave in. “Just around the block and come right home. Hold the leashes tight and don’t run. Do you understand?”

  Todd nodded. He had begged her to let him walk the puppies for hours before she gave in. She should have never let him go on his own. Now it was dark, and they weren’t home yet. Angela walked down the porch steps and looked up and down the block. She should have gone with them. Where could they be? She grabbed her phone, but who could she call? It hadn’t been long enough to call the police, had it? Would they even do anything? She paced back and forth and called for Todd, but nothing. Where would she even start looking?

  After a few more minutes she saw a fire truck stop in front of her house. What now, she wondered as she walked toward the truck to see what was happening.

  “Angie, Angie!” Todd yelled as he climbed out of the truck and ran up the sidewalk. “I got to ride in a fire truck! It was so cool. We couldn’t run the siren, ’cause it wasn’t a mergency, but they let me ride in the front and gave me this hat!” He held up a ball cap with the fire insignia and station name on it.

  Four firemen walked up behind him. “Hi, ma’am. I’m River Tompkins. These are my brothers Rock, Sawyer, and Hunter.” He reached a hand to shake hers as three of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen followed him up the walk. The man speaking wasn’t hard on the eyes
either. Two of the men were carrying puppies. While River was introducing himself and his brothers, Todd was talking as fast as he could and pulling on her leg.

  She looked at them and they looked familiar. Where had she seen them before? “You were the guys from this afternoon?” she asked, looking at the four men.

  “You were looking at the puppies?” River asked, smiling.

  “Yeah, I was going to thank you, but you’d gone into the store.” Angie smiled back at him.

  “Yeah, we were kind of on a mission. It was our night to cook for the station, and we had to get back. I’m glad we found you again. ” He tightened his grip on her hand which he was still holding.

  “Hold on a minute, Todd,” she said as she looked down at the boy who was tugging on her other hand, trying to get her attention. “Todd, you’ve got to slow down. I can’t understand you. Why don’t we all go in the house and someone can explain what’s going on?”

  “They saved Spot. He was stuck and the lady couldn’t get him and they saved him,” Todd said really fast and reached to take the puppy from the man holding him. “Isn’t that right, Spot? You got stuck.”

  “Okay,” Angela said, still confused and looking at the firemen for help. “Let’s go in the house, Todd, and you can tell me more there.”

  The man that was holding the other puppy offered him to Angela. “I think this is yours. I’m Rock, by the way.”

  “Thank you,” Angela said, looking from him to the first man. “Are you two…”

  She didn’t get her sentence finished when Rock answered, “Twins. River and I are twins. Sawyer and Hunter are both younger than we are.”

  “I’m younger, too,” River butted in quickly.

  “By two minutes. Yes, you are younger,” Rock replied to his brother, shaking his head. “We’d be happy to come in and explain if you’d like us to, ma’am.”

  “I’m Angela or Angie. Angela Kennedy. Todd is my ward. Please come in, gentlemen.” She turned and opened the door, guiding Todd in with one hand on his shoulder, the other holding the puppy.

  River reached around her and pulled the door open for all of them to enter.

  They all entered the small living room, and Angela said, “Make yourselves comfortable. Would you like something to drink?”

  “No thanks,” Rock answered as he and River sat down on the couch. Sawyer, or maybe it was Hunter, sat beside them, and the other brother stood leaning against the wall, leaving the final chair for Angela and Todd.

  “I’ll go in the kitchen and get another chair,” Angela said when she figured out there wasn’t enough space.

  “That’s fine. I don’t mind standing,” the man leaning against the wall, either Sawyer or Hunter, said.

  Angela took the remaining seat, holding one of the puppies while Todd sat with her holding the other one.

  River looked at Angela and Todd and stood. Then he walked over and got to one knee beside Todd. “How about you tell what happened and I’ll fill in the hard parts? Can you do that, buddy?”

  Todd nodded vigorously and started talking. “Well, you told me I could walk both dogs.”

  “Right.” Angela nodded. “Go on.”

  “So I had both leashes and we were running really fast,” Todd said as quickly as he could.

  “I bet that was fun,” Angela commented. She’d remind him later that she had told him not to run. She didn’t want to reprimand him in front of his new friends.

  “Yeah, it was until Spot got away. Tag and I chased and chased him. Then he ran behind this big trash thing. What’s it called?” Todd looked at Angela.

  “Big trash thing?” Angela looked to River for help.

  “Dumpster. The dog apparently ran down an alley and behind a dumpster and got stuck,” River answered and looked at Todd so he could continue.

  “Yeah, there was this pretty lady, and she tried to help, but she couldn’t move the…the…” Todd fumbled again for the word.

  “Dumpster,” they all said at once.

  “There was a woman there that was trying to help your young man. When she couldn’t move the dumpster she called her boyfriends, who also work at the firehouse, and then they called us, since we were closest,” Hunter or Sawyer explained. Angie really needed to pay attention and figure out who was who.

  “Yeah, she was really nice and really pretty,” Todd said. “She really tried to get Spot out. Then she took me to her car and we waited until these guys came.”

  “Why didn’t you come get me, honey?” Angela asked Todd and set the puppy she was holding down on the floor. She made a mental note to talk to Todd about getting into cars with strangers later. Something bad could have happened to him. Thankfully the woman was just a nice person and not anything else.

  “I was scared you’d be mad and I’d be in trouble and I’d have to find a new home again,” he answered in a very soft voice.

  Angie shifted in the seat so she could pull Todd into her lap. “Oh, sweetie, I might get upset sometimes, but I’ll get over it soon. I would never be that mad at you.”

  “I don’t want you to go away like everyone else did. I’m happy and I want to stay here.” Todd started crying, and Angie held him tighter.

  “Oh, sweetie, we’re a family now. You can stay here forever. No one is going to make you go away.” They sat quietly for a while until Todd had calmed down. “Why don’t you take the puppies into your bedroom and play with them? I’ll come back there in a while and see how you’re doing.”

  “Okay. Come on, Spot, Tag, let’s go.” The little boy gave Angela one more hug and ran off, the dogs following him.

  “I’m really sorry about that. Todd’s had a hard time in life. He’s still not sure how things work all the time.” Angie turned and watched until Todd was in his room, then she stood and went to close his door.

  “He’s a good kid and I couldn’t be happy if he wasn’t here, but he’s had a bad deal. This is the first permanent home he’s had. He’s still not sure someone won’t come and take him away again,” Angie said and looked back to Todd’s door.

  “Why would someone take him away?” the man, stepped away from the wall and walked toward Angela. He walked over to stand by her side and took her hand. “I’m Hunter. I know River introduced us all, but I wasn’t sure you caught who was who.”

  Angie took a good look at Hunter and Sawyer, noticing that Hunter’s hair was just a little darker than Sawyer’s. All four men were very similar looking, but as she studied them she noticed subtle differences in hair and eye color. And the shapes of their faces were somewhat different.

  Even the twins, Rock and River, were just a little different, not a huge difference, but enough for Angie to be able to tell them apart.

  “It’s a long story, and I’m sure you have better things to do. Thank you so much for bringing Todd home. It’s getting late, and I need to get him in the bath and ready for bed.” Angie walked over to the door and stood beside it.

  “Maybe you can tell us more another time. Thank you for inviting us in.” Rock stood and the others followed him.

  “Thank you for helping Todd and bringing him home.” Angela opened the door and followed the men out on to the porch.

  “Helping is part of the job. We love children and Todd is a very special young man. I hope we can see more of both of you in the future.” Rock traced one finger down her cheek and turned to walk down the steps. River smiled and touched her shoulder before following him. Hunter gave her a loose hug and jumped down the stairs. Sawyer grasped her hand and held it a second before giving it a firm shake and went to join the others.

  “Make sure you lock the door behind us,” Rock turned and called before climbing up in the truck.

  Angie locked the door and watched the truck as it drove away. What a day. She should have never let Todd go alone with the puppies. Trouble always found him. Why should this time be any different? Hopefully, it was something he would be able to grow out of, soon.

  She let her focus drift to the
four men as she went about her nightly chores, tidying the house and getting ready to put Todd and both puppies in the bath. They were all so tall and attractive. She couldn’t stop thinking about them.

  She went about her nightly routine and got Todd in bed then went to bed herself. She grabbed a book to read and soon found herself dreaming of the four men that had been in her house earlier that evening.

  Chapter Two

  The next day Angela was trying to fix the railing on the porch while Todd played with the puppies when a large SUV stopped in front of the house. Angela watched as the four men from last night got out. Two of them walked over to where Todd was playing, and the other two came toward the porch where Angela was still wrestling with the railing.

  “Hi,” Rock or maybe River called. There were differences between the two men, but they needed to be closer for Angela to tell which one was which.

  “Hi,” she answered back. “Whatcha all doing?”

  “We’re off duty today and thought we’d come by and see how you and Todd were doing,” River said, walking up the stairs. He took the hammer from her hands. “Here, let me see what I can do with that.”

  “Thanks, the wood is rotten here. I think I need to make a trip to the hardware store and replace it. I was hoping I could fix it, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Angela answered in frustration.

  She’d known buying an older house meant lots of work and repairs. She just hadn’t been ready for everything to need fixing at the same time. The small amount of money she’d gotten from her paternal grandmother was dwindling faster than she’d expected it to. If this kept up she’d have to find a job instead of trying to pursue her dream of writing. The few writing jobs she’d been able to find writing filler pieces for magazines and online newspapers weren’t going to be enough, and the agent she’d hired hadn’t been able to find a home for the first book she’d written yet.