Vortex, p.1
Vortex, page 1
Vortex
A Steamy Grumpy Sunshine Firefighter Romance
MetroGen Scandals
Book 1
Carina Alyce
Are you ready for sexy firefighters, dirty doctors, and hot cops?
Do you wish Grey’s Anatomy and Chicago Fire had more sex scenes - like a lot more? Maybe a hundred times more?
Me too! I took all your favorite TV fire/police/medical drama tropes and gave you the addictive plot twists, sexy times, and drama you are dying for. (I’m a real doctor so it’s more legit!)
So, if you need grumpy-sunshine romance between a hot firefighter and his new rookie, you MUST read this!
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(Don’t forget to grab your FREE sexy bonus story in Wanted: An Opposites Attract Medical Romance at carinaalyce.com!)
Contents
Your Free Gift Is Waiting
Previously on MetroGen
Cast of Characters
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
Also by Carina Alyce
Afterword
About Carina Alyce
Need more MetroGen STAT?
Copyright © 2022 by Carina Alyce
This book was originally published in the Heroes with Heat and Heart 2 anthology.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
Carina Alyce asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Carina Alyce has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.
This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination beyond events covered by fair use and public record.
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First edition
Created with Vellum
To my daughters who love firetrucks, ponies, and tornado stories.
Your Free Gift Is Waiting
There’s a naked ER doctor in her shower promising her screaming orgasms. Should she say ‘yes?’ As if that’s a question . . .
You will need a fan because this is get-naked-burn-down-the-building scorching hot!
__________________________________
Get a free copy of the sexiness at
Wanted: A Steamy Medical Romantic Short
carinaalyce.com/hot-treat-for-you
Scan below to grab your copy!
Previously on MetroGen
Carina Alyce’s MetroGen Downtown books encompasses the Medical, Fire, and Police heroes of Cuyahoga County and their complicated love lives with the steam and the drama of your favorite TV shows. Everyone needs a hot protective hero falling for a strong woman with goals.
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It’s been a busy few years for the MetroGen Hospital and Cuyahoga Fire as they underwent huge reorganizations. On the fire side, Fire Chief Noah Baker had promised to bring Cuyahoga Fire into the modern era, integrating more women and recruiting a more diverse team. Sacrifices had been made, but everything was going according to plan.
Until he was embroiled in a scandal that might burn the entire department down. . .
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Start Carina Alyce’s MetroGen Scandals series today!
MetroGen Scandals
Vortex: A Steamy Grumpy Sunshine Firefighter Romance
Smolder: A Steamy Grumpy Boss Firefighter Romance
Inferno: A Steamy Grumpy Boss Firefighter Romance
High Risk: A Steamy Grumpy Doctor Medical Romance
Compromised: A Steamy Grumpy Doctor Medical Romance
Afterglow: A Steamy Forbidden Love Summer Romance
Flashpoint: A Steamy Enemies to Lovers Workplace Firefighter Romance
Ignition: A Steamy Enemies to Lovers Workplace Firefighter Romance
Cast of Characters
Cuyahoga Combined Fire Department
Fire Chief Noah Baker
Firefighter Casey Jensen Firehouse 19
Lieutant candiate Royce Murphy Firehouse 19
Rookie Bianca Lincoln
Firefighter Erin Hudgens Firehouse 15
Captain Jacen Williams Firehouse 15
MetroGen Hospital
Dr. Alfred ‘Joel’ Glazier - orthopedic surgery attending
Dr. Jon Navarro - orthopedic surgery chief resident
Dr. Angela Perkins - cardiology fellow
Dr. Stella Magi - ENT surgery attending
Vortex
Noun
A spiral or whirlpool arrangement. See vortex of the heart
-Netter’s Medical Dictionary
Prologue
November
The sky was all wrong. It was white and far too close. Clouds did not belong on the ground.
Or at least that’s what Bianca Lincoln thought when she forced her eyes open.
White. Black. Dark. Cold.
What.
Those same eyelids dropped closed again.
Then she heard voices in the background. She tried to raise her arms, but found nothing was moving.
Darkness again.
A strange crackling sound occurred far away.
Something warm slipped around her neck.
“Everything is okay. We’re with the Cuyahoga Combined Fire Department,” a reassuring voice said. “You’ve been in a car accident.”
The white sky disappeared, and she felt more cold and wet, like she was outside.
Bianca tried to move her neck and found she couldn’t.
“We’re protecting your neck, holding it in place till we can get you to MetroGen Hospital,” the same calm voice said. With a new note of urgency, it said, “Let me check with dispatch for the ETA.”
“I don’t think we have to wait,” a different voice answered, and then shrieked, “Took you long enough to answer my Evite!”
Another rumbling sound came off in the distance.
“Help is here. We’re getting you to the hospital. We have you and will keep you safe,” the first calm voice said.
Even though she was confused and scared as hell, Bianca managed to crack her eyes open again.
She couldn’t see very well, but she got a sense of a man with blonde hair and electric blue eyes.
Someone as gorgeous as that wouldn’t lie to her, so she shut her eyes and let the sky disappear.
“Coming through!” Casey Jensen called out, rolling the gurney through the ambulance bay.
“What have we got?” Dr. Ryan Yates, MetroGen ER doc, greeted them yet again.
“Car accident, airbag deployed, cervical collar in place, temp 93 in the field,” Casey’s teammate Royce Murphy said.
One nurse with a clipboard pointed them left, saying, “Trauma 3 just opened up. It’s been a revolving door.”
“No kidding. This is our fifth trip today,” Casey agreed. “Or sixth?”
“Could be. I’ve lost count. Get a neck film and crank up the warmed saline,” the doctor said.
They turned to the left and helped their newest patient get settled in. Once the ER team got to work, Casey and Royce took their gurney back into the hallway.
Casey threw out his gloves and brushed his blonde hair back out of his eyes. The melting snow had slicked it down again. “Fifth or sixth?”
A nurse handed him a computer with an electronic touchscreen pen to document their most recent patient, which Casey filled out by rote.
“Sixth,” Royce confirmed, checking their far less advanced paper clipboard where they’d been keeping track of their transports. “Two trips from the nursing home, and we’re on our fourth car accident. Don’t people know a ‘Level 3 Snow Emergency’ means they should stay home?”
“Guess not. How much do we think we have left in the tank?” Casey let his gaze glide over the expanse of the MetroGen ER. Patients were in every bed and lined up against the hallway walls.
The hospital had called for more staff hours ago, but there wasn’t anyone else left to call on for the Fire Department. This blizzard was pushing the fire department’s resources to the limit. The reserves had already arrived, and it still wasn’t enough.
“Dunno. Only fifteen more hours in this shift. Maybe we won’t get any more calls,” Royce said hopefully.
Their radio crackled, requesting Medic 19’s status because they were needed at a car accident on 271.
“It never stops, and we don’t have enough people,” Casey told Royce. “Even the Fire Chief came to pitch in at the ER.”
&nb sp; “I know,” Royce said. “You think his new programs are doing to help?”
Fire Chief Baker had promised to turn around the department. The youngest man ever in his position, he radiated laser-focus in the rare times Casey had seen him, including today.
“Hope so. His next academy class had better be a big one. We need everyone with a pulse,” Casey observed. He grabbed the gurney and pushed it out the door into the swirling snow of the Veteran’s Day blizzard.
Chapter 1
June
“Is this Firehouse 19?” Bianca Lincoln asked the pair of eyes peeking out the door when she knocked.
“Yes, yes, it is,” the man said. “You’re several hours late.”
“I am?” she asked. “I mean, I am, but that’s because I went to four other fire houses, and two of them were closed, and the other one said they didn’t need my help. I’m the—”
“We know who you are. Come on in, rookie.”
The man opened the door, and she entered the firetruck’s garage, also called the barn.
Heads turned as she entered, and she guessed why.
Bianca’s graduation ceremony from fire academy had been canceled on account of the two massive fires that occurred on the same day, resulting in multiple firefighter injuries and the death of one firefighter and several civilians.
The department was reeling with so many people out, so they had turned to the newly graduated forty rookies and offered them the opportunity to fill in some gaps early.
“They sent her?” one of the guys said, dressed in the same navy-blue uniform Bianca wore with the same black piece of tape over their badge from the funeral.
Unlike Bianca, he was limping.
Someone shushed him. “At least she’s breathing.” That guy sported a shiner.
Now that she thought about it, these guys looked like they’d gone twelve rounds with Muhammad Ali.
“I’m Lieutenant Pasquale,” the man who let her in said. “We’re going to drop you off with the rest of the volunteers.”
That confused her. “I thought I was the only rookie coming here.”
According to the email she’d gotten, which had led her from firehouse to firehouse like a firefighting pied piper, less than half of the rookies had volunteered. And there were about sixty firehouses to cover.
“Other shifts volunteered to stay over. They’re smart enough to get paid overtime,” the lieutenant said.
Of course. It also implied that she wasn’t getting overtime.
Too bad. He wasn’t going to rain on her parade. This was her first day as an official firefighter. “I’m sure they deserve it for working a double.”
He twisted up his face as if he wasn’t sure what to make of her.
She got it. Curvy Black girls with braids didn’t become firefighters. According to TV, she was born to be a chatty hairdresser or a housekeeper with a snarky attitude.
It wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last that someone would give her that look. Fortunately, in her graduating class there were two more women who looked just like her, three White chicks and two Latinas. Women were coming to the firehouses, whether the men were ready or not.
“That’s true,” he said. “They don’t let you do overtime for a year. They need to protect the delicate little babies.”
He let her into the bowels of the firehouse, passing what appeared to be the first-floor crew quarters and headed through a door into a slightly dilapidated gym.
“Hey, dumb and dumber,” he knocked on the door. “I got you some fresh meat. Don’t break it.”
The door opened up and on the other side was the most beautiful White guy Bianca had ever seen.
Not only did he have a full head of golden hair and eyes so dark gray they were practically purple, but he was shirtless.
Six-pack, beautiful definition, blonde happy trail, sweaty, lickable shirtless.
“That is a girl,” the man stated, frowning. He backed away from the door.
“Yes, Meathead. It’s a girl. Glad you noticed,” the lieutenant said. Everyone entered, and Bianca couldn’t help but blink at the man-bonanza ahead of her. Hot guy wasn’t by himself. There was a redhead smaller than him, but that was guy covered with a wide array of tattoos, though equally cut.
What were they putting in the water at this firehouse? The guys in the barn hadn’t seemed this hot. Maybe it was just these two guys.
She couldn’t help but smile and forced her mind back onto the issue at hand. She had seen crazy fit guys before. In fact, there were plenty of similar guys in her class. You didn’t become a firefighter without working out till you were in tiptop form.
Still, these guys were definitely dedicated.
“This is your rookie for today. What firehouse are you really assigned to?” the lieutenant asked.
“Firehouse 33,” she said, trying to shove her eyeballs back into her head. The month after graduation was supposed to be spent getting her affairs in order, moving if needed.
“Lucky them,” Pasquale said dryly, “This here is Lieutenant-to-be Royce Murphy and Casey Jensen.”
“It’s a pleasure.” Bianca shook hands first with Royce and then with tall, blonde, gorgeous, somewhat reluctant Casey. The simple contact of his roughened hand in hers sent shivers up her spine. “Hi, I’m—”
She faltered because his gray eyes were on her light brown ones, and she forgot her own name.
“Yes, yes. Very nice.” Lieutenant Pasquale hurried them along. “This is Rookie Luis. Please figure your shit out and how you’re dividing the Medic 19 ambulance today.”
His words penetrated her brain fog. “Wait. What?”
Unfortunately, the lieutenant was already gone.
“That’s not right,” she said.
“What’s not right?” Murphy asked her.
“My name. I’m Bianca,” she said, and mistakenly squeezed Casey’s hand a little bit harder. He winced and pulled away, still frowning.
His action turned him sideways, and Bianca saw the problem. His back was bruised, including the outline of a complete footprint.
Now that she looked closer, he and Royce both had multiple shadows of bruises. While she’d assumed they were from firefighting, the shapes matched a brawl.
“What happened here?” she asked.
Chapter 2
Chivalry was not dead.
However, as far as Casey Jensen was concerned, it felt dead. Or at least he ached everywhere enough to wonder if being dead felt better.
“It’s merely a flesh wound,” Royce volunteered for him.
Bianca Luis, with her curvy self and bronze skin, didn’t act like she believed them.
Because she shouldn’t have, since he had obviously been on the losing end of several punches. The fact that it had been for a good cause didn’t make the bruises hurt any less.
“It’s no big deal. Some guys were blowing off steam after the funeral.” Casey couldn’t keep the grumbling out of his tone.
Royce coughed politely. “Why don’t we hit the showers while you make yourself at home?”
“In the gym?” She shrugged. “I think I can move in right here over the treadmill.”
Not how Casey expected her to respond to the invitation to live in the stinky gym. Time to set her straight, so he stated gruffly, “We can show you where you’ll be bunking for the night. Each rig has their own room, so you can have ours to yourself.”
