Live Wire: A Steamy Friends to Lovers Firefighter Romance

MetroGen After Hours #10

by Carina Alyce

Friends don't ask friends for sex lessons . . . or do they?

Lieutenant Matt Soto likes his life the way it is. After risking his life fighting fires every day, he reaps the rewards of his heroics with a new woman every night. He’s never denied himself the pleasure of any woman.

Except one – his friend Izzy Reyes.

But tonight, she's dressed like sin and whispers the words that may burn his world down.

"Please, give me a lesson in what I've been missing. Take me home tonight. . ."


Author's warning: This steamy friends-to-lovers romance mixes the drama and high-adrenaline of Chicago Fire with dirty scenes worthy of Fifty Shades. One-click for a scorching first responder romance with real heart-pounding fire and medical scenes - written by a real-life ER doctor. Steam up your screen today before the price changes!

Contains the following tropes

- Grumpy Sunshine
- Mean Boss
- Workplace Romance
- Interracial Romance
- Protector romance
- Action-Romance
- Friends to Lovers
- Playboy
- Love triangle
- Strong female main character
- Latino lead characters
- Quirky cast
- Medical romance
- Reformed bad boy

(Who doesn't LOVE friends to lovers romantic suspense? I do! Bring all the friends to lovers romantic suspense. Twelve servings of friends to lovers romance with a side of action adventure romance and more romantic suspense toppings for breakfast, lunch, and dinner served by a sexy bad boy firefighter!)

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Novella, Contemporary Romance

158 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2022

About the author

Need Grey's Anatomy + Chicago Fire + more heat written by a real doctor?

Buy direct STAT and get the COMPLETE MetroGen After Hours Series for 50% off!


Twelve hot books for one exclusive LOW PRICE STAT!

Grumpy sunshine heat when good girl nurse is forced to room with the surliest deputy in a small town!

Carina Alyce is the pen name of the real-life ER doctor who writes Grey's Anatomy+Chicago Fire+Steamy romance with hot heroes, intense drama, and actual medicine.
When not saving lives in the ER, Carina can be found repairing injured stuffed animals of her six children, and hanging out with her sexy lawyer-blackbelt husband.

Stop by her store at AuthorCarinaAlyce.com!
Visit her Facebook Group!
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Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is The Prequel in The MetroGen After Hour's Series and it is Mateo and Isadora's story. This might be a short story but it certainly pack's a punch and it is definitely a must read. Isadora is a police officer and in a male orientated world it is not easy but she doesn't take any messing and will take on anything and anyone. Mateo is a lieutenant in Firehouse 15 and he doesn't do relationships or commitment until a feisty and sassy woman starts to make him look at things differently but things are not always simple especially as he is asked to do something that he is not comfortable with even if he is offered a promotion for doing it. The chemistry between Mateo and Isadora so strong but with everything going on will they take a chance to see if they can make it work or will Mateo take the easy way out for a promotion only time will tell what the outcome will be. I absolutely loved this book and can't wait to read more books in this series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Suze Prescot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Electric

Matt has known Izzy for years; he's a firefighter and she's a cop. He's also a bit of a commitment-phobe, which is why Izzy has always been out of bounds.
A friends to lovers story which doesn't pull punches on the problems this presents. Anxiety and insecurities abound. A good read.

[Carina Alyce]

READ it for FREE!
Live Wire: A Steamy Friends to Lovers Firefighter Romance (MetroGen After Hours #1)

I never wanted to be your friend. I always wanted you . . .

Firefighter Matt Soto knows how to please a woman in so many ways. He never sleeps alone unless he wants to . . . and then she walks into his favorite bar, dressed to kill. She looks like sin, tastes like passion. If only they hadn't been friends for a decade.

Izzy Reyes is tired of striking out at love. She's divorced, single, and got picked to go undercover as a streetwalker this summer by the police force. Which should be impossible since her ex-husband told her she was frigid in bed. But now, Matt is seeing her with new eyes, and she's ready for anything he's willing to teach her.

Neither of them went into this looking for a relationship, but passion follows its own rules. . .

Warning: This is a naughty HFN Book 1 of the MetroGen After Hours series. Do not read if you don't like second chance friends to lovers when the firefighting playboy you've lusted for gives you a crash course in pleasure.

*****Start the steamy series for FREE!*****




*****Check out the whole series!*****



*****Keep reading for a sneak peek!*****
The team was looking for a fight, and it looked like McClunis was going to be in for one. Lieutenant Matt Soto set down his cigarette and walked over, hoping he could deescalate before the scene degraded into a brawl.


This was the closest bar to Firehouse 15, and getting his team banished would crush his love life and piss him off.

Before Matt got there to break things up, someone else from one of the back corners shoved their way through the wall of people.

“I think that’s enough,” the blonde woman said. She was wearing a skimpy white tank top, heels, and a short blue skirt. Two solidly built guys backed her up on either side.

Despite the unnatural shade of her hair, Matt recognized her easily.

A pity Conley did not. “You stay out of this, bitch.”

“You hear that, boys? He called me a perra. I am very upset.”

Conley paused since he had not expected her response.

She fluffed her fake blonde hair, a full head taller than McClunis, and stuck out her six times more curves. “What shall I do?”

Matt squeezed his way through the bodies to confront his firefighter. “This is Officer Isadora Reyes from the Second Precinct.”

“Who wants a nice, friendly drink with us? All friendly like.” Reyes actually smiled, while McClunis had been unable to form the same with her lips earlier.

Matt crossed his arms over his chest. “We would love a drink.”

“I’ll buy drinks for everyone, including our boys in blue,” McClunis volunteered.

“Apologize to both ladies,” one of the police officers said, “before Reyes drills two holes in your ass.”

“Two rounds of drinks,” McClunis upped the ante.

Unsurprisingly, the entire bar cheered, and the two other police officers escorted McClunis to buy the beer.

“Thanks,” Matt said to Izzy as the crowd dispersed. “I was getting there.”

“Yeah, sure you were.”

“I was. She’s new to the firehouse, and she’s gonna have to get a thick skin. She is our first woman.”

“Yes, I know. Women. Such bitches," Izzy said, stone-faced. A few nurses joined the firefighters now the fight was over, which would sweeten tempers.

“Will I get bitched at if I buy you a drink for your trouble?” Mateo beckoned her to the bar. His previous nurse had attached herself to one of the firefighters from B-shift.

“Tequila.”

He waved for the bartender and checked back on his team. McClunis and the officers carried six pitchers of beer back to the tables. One of the police officers pulled out a chair for McClunis and was sitting closer than was necessary. She didn’t appear to notice and was talking animatedly to Carl and a few other guys from B-shift, who had opted to sit nearby at their table. “Do I need to worry about this?”

“That another fight’s going to break out or he’s gonna see if the carpet matches the drapes?” Isadora asked.

A definite cherry on top, as Matt couldn’t say he liked that possibility. He’d be super pissed if McClunis soured their relationship with the local PD. “Can it be both?”

“It’ll be no different from when any of my other ladies hook up with one of your guys. Or when they bang a nurse,” Isadora reminded him, since the firemen of 15, including himself, were not always discreet about their liaisons with MetroGen or Cleveland PD.

MetroGen and the Second Precinct were still speaking to them. “You win.”

“Women don’t ruin everything. Guys bring plenty down on themselves. Otherwise I wouldn’t be dressed like this.”

He took a meandering examination of her outfit and makeup. It was much louder than he remembered her wearing in the past, but the last time he’d seen her up close had been the day of her cousin Benicio’s funeral a few years back. Her black-on-black ensemble that day in no way resembled her neon blue eyeliner and heavy mascara. “I remember your hair being less bright. And your makeup…”

“Less like a stoplight? I’d hope not at the cemetery,” she joked and sipped her Tequila.

“You used to be over in the Fourth Precinct, right?” While he wasn’t sad to see her, the Second Precinct handled the hospital area. “You got transferred here?”

“Just here for the summer. Another officer is on maternity leave, which is why I’m in this lovely get-up.”

“It’s very attractive.” Matt deliberately took a long look below her collarbone to where her breasts were on excellent display.

“I’m a streetwalker.” She pointed to her boobs. “Pushup bras are amazing, aren’t they?”

“No opinion here, though I expect they got you plenty of attention.” Matt hadn’t expected her to encourage him to ogle them. Rather than let himself cross a line, he lit a new cigarette.

“You would not believe the number of men who offered me drugs or money.” She finished her shot. “So, you got this year’s newbies at the firehouse. How is that going?”

“I think you pretty much saw,” Mateo said.

“Lots of passion?”

“Very true.” He ordered another beer and took a slow drag of his cigarette. Captain Cordova had not been pleased to discover Firehouse 15’s vacancy had been filled by a woman. Like Matt, the existence of two women within Cleveland Fire had been tolerable in the abstract to his captain. It became less exciting when it was staring him in the face.

And Hector Mondragon wasn’t known to go easy on anyone. Still, he couldn’t look at the tiny Leslie McClunis and not think Hector had been overly generous on her evaluations. Even if she was ready for the job, the social disruption of a woman being in what had been a men’s only space was a struggle Mateo did not relish.

“It will fade. They’ll get used to her. If the police can, so can firefighters.”

The troublesome wildcat herself walked up to the bar right next to them and ordered three vodka shots. “I’m on may way out, but I figured I’d get one for the road with the fearless leaders of police and fire.”

“Cheers.”

They clicked their glasses and downed their shots. Leslie walked out with nary a stagger despite Matt’s count of her consumption of five drinks in under an hour. “I hope she gets home okay.”

“Actually, I think she’ll have help.” Izzy jerked her head at the two police officers mingling and sharing beers with the firefighters. One of the police officers brought over a new pitcher, poured a round, and appeared to be on his way out.

Matt ordered another beer, understanding Isadora’s meaning. “You think the two of them, even though they just met?”

His objection sounded ridiculous because he’d picked up his share of women at this very bar. He must have been getting prudish the closer he got to forty.

“I think you’re spending way too much time thinking about that canelo, because you haven’t noticed I’ve been hitting on you.” Izzy used the word for cinnamon to describe McClunis’s hair.

His head snapped back around. She didn’t sound pissed, but more amused. “My bad. I guess my brain was still on duty.”

She sipped his beer. “Are you going to leave me hanging? We didn’t just meet.”

That was very true. They’d run in the same circles for years and on occasion had worked together for a common cause, particularly in her family’s sad situation. However, she’d been married then, and she’d never indicated any interest before today.

Her wedding ring, he knew, was three years in the grave, just like the age of her cousin’s tombstone.

“Why today?”

“I spent a full shift being someone else and getting hit on by guys who ‘slimy’ doesn’t even being to describe. What’s wrong with seeing what happens with someone I actually know?”

Resolving to forget the firehouse and its newest member, Mateo took her hand, which was as tan as his own. “In that case, would you like to take a walk?”

She tapped her chin. “Can you put in a little more effort?”

“Querida, it would honor me to take a walk with you to the desired location of your choice—be it my place or yours.”

To help him out, she leaned forward to show off her curves and licked her lips.

His cock twitched in response and jumped when she set his hand on her thigh. The small calluses on her right hand caressed the larger calluses of his left. Hers were probably from her cuffs and night stick. His were from gloves and hoses, drilling every day.

Guess he’d find out soon enough.

*****Read more TODAY for FREE at your favorite retailer!*****

Live Wire: A Steamy Friends to Lovers Firefighter Romance

[Heather Gibbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Booksprout as an arc copy for a voluntary review. This is a prequel in the MetroGen after hours series. This is a short story but very entertaining that makes this book one to add to your TBR list. Great chemistry between Mateo and Isadora. I can’t wait for more.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tahnia Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firehouse 15 now has a female firefighter and the men do NOT like it. In fact, Captain Cordova wants to get rid of her. But when she risks her life to save some children, Lieutenant Soto gives her a good review and there is nothing the Captain can do about it. This short story has romance and steam and ends in a cliffhanger. Highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

HFN prequel of the MetroGen After Hours series a short well written story that held my interest until the end. Lieutenant Mateo Soto of Firehouse 15 and police officer Isadora Reyes's story is well worth reading. It also has the trouble Leslie McClunis goes through trying to fit into Firehouse 15. I received a copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Maaren]

Dnf at 15%.

I couldn’t get past the misogyny. Yuck.

[Christine Biesheuvel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book!
Chronologically the first book in the MetroGen After Hours series, introducing a lot of characters you can meet again in the following books. And they are all wonderful stories! Strong women and men, firefighters, police officers and medical personnel. And in those worlds it is not easy to be a woman.
The story is very well written, with recognizable situations, a lot of witty banter and steamy sex scenes. Lots of laughs and a very enjoyable time reading this book. Highly recommended!

[Merry Jelks-Emmanuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-crafted story with wonderful characters that I connected with and found myself cheering for. Captain Cordova was trying to rid himself of the only female firefighter at his station but finds it difficult when she puts her life on the line to save some children and getting a glowing review from Lieutenant Soto. I loved the twists and turns that this story takes but it also ends on a cliffhanger.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Player firefighter lieutenant Mateo starts a relationship with fellow Puerto Rican, Police Officer Isadora in this prequel to the MetroGen series.
This quick steamy book was a good read and gives a glimpse into the lives of emergency personnel. The two main characters were realistic and honest and their story was interesting. It was a well written book with good descriptions of the emergency scenes.
This story ends on a happy for now.

[Cati K · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novella was truly awful. If it had been longer it would have been a DNF. Sure, there was spice, but it was so poorly written it may as well have not been there. The topics jumping around randomly was awful and made it impossible for this to have any type of flow.

Set in Ohio for 50 states challenge but idk if I even wanna count it bc it was so bad 🙃

[Kathleen Bradbury (Bulfon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING! A fantastic, beautifully written read. An intense storyline that holds your attention as you get caught up in the fierce twists and hot chemistry. Plenty of excitement and emotionally heartfelt. A thrilling must read.

[Jerrica (Mrsmar10Reads) Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The early years.

I loved reading about Mateo, Isadora and even Cordova in the "early years." The bear incident was equally thrilling, scary, and hilarious. Carina writes an amazing story linking first responders and after this book and Smolder, I can't wait to read more.

[Margherita Stark · Rating 4 out of 5]

chefs kiss

This was so spicy, and the plot was amazing the historical timeline, and like actually getting into the mind of having the first female introduced into a job. It’s just wow.

[Satira Liafsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had just enough of life's bullshit to be interesting. Enjoyed the story line and it left so many openings

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent prequel for the MetroGen After Hours series.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firefighter friends to more

Mateo (Matt) has known Izzy for years and has considered her off limits even though he wanted more. She'd been going through a lot and monotony hadn't been his strong suit. Matt is a firefighter and he's got issues of his own. His boss isn't happy their firehouse has a girl - Leslie and he's forcing Matt to "babysit" her.

Izzy hasn't had much luck in love, so she's wary when one night with Matt seems to be not enough for either of them. She knows his reputation, and he's worked his way through nurses at the hospital, faster than she could keep track of, even if she wanted to.

So can they be something more, or is this new thing over before it even started?

I realistic snapshot into the lives of cops and firefighters, this was enjoyable to read. Definitely somewhat steamy too.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (5/22/2022)! 🎁

[Miranda Connolly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave it one stars because I feel like there was no plot, I found myself skipping some parts of the novel because it was just dreadful and slow.