Flashover

Firefighters #2

by Tory Temple

The boys from Heat are back! When a family tragedy forces Tucker to return to Kentucky to wait out the probate on the old homestead, he and Chance are separated for a while. Chance has been promoted to Captain, and can't leave his job for long, putting strain on their relationship.

Even when they can find time to be together they have to face adversity from the locals, problems in their own personal lives, and even the weather as they try to get the farm settled enough to leave it behind. Can Chance and Tucker keep it together even when the fire burns high enough to flash over their heads?

Genres: M M Romance, Firefighters, Romance, Erotica, Amazon, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary

174 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

I live in southern California, the land of no seasons. (Is wind a season?) I live with three dogs, two cats, and some tortoises. I'm married to a firefighter, which is great in the sense that some nights I get the TV all to myself, but not so great in the sense that some nights I have to figure out what to do when the washer starts leaking. (Or when there's a bat in the house, which is a thing that happened when he was working.)

Most of my books are centered around the firehouse. When you spend a lot of time around firemen, you write what you know! And what's hotter than a fireman?

Two firemen.

Enjoy!

Reviews

[Bitchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This just wasn't a happy book. Tucker was miserable which made Chance miserable, and all the misery made me miserable. Also, still waaay too much sex. I love a good sex scene or three, but these guys solve every problem with sex. Not sure if I'll continue this series or not.

[Jewel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to read this series when I heard that Chris Owen and Tory Temple just released Never Too Early, which brings together Jake and Tor from Chris Owen's Bareback series and Chance and Tucker from Tory Temple's Firefighters series.

Flashover begins a few months after Heat leaves off. Things are going so well with Chance and Tucker. Tucker has settled right in with station 19 and Chance took a Captain's position at station 11. And though things are going well, Chance still feels a bit insecure in the relationship. Little things make him second guess where they stand or how well he knows Tucker. But they are solid and they figure things out. And then, Tucker has to go back to Kentucky to deal with his family's farm.

To say that their separation was hard on their relationship would be an understatement. Tucker isn't talking to Chance about anything that is really going on, leaving Chance wondering where they stand or even if Tucker is coming back. Couple that with Tucker being drunk on the few ocassions he calls at all and Chance doesn't know what to think. I don't, either, for that matter. That's not who Tucker is. He gets caught up in the legacy of his past and ceases to be able to tell the difference between where he's from and who he is. It broke my heart to watch.

It took some time and a lot of heartache, but Tucker does find his way back to California and to Chance. I do think, though, that both Tucker and Chance need talk about a whole mess of things. Tucker needs to learn to open up about his past and why he thinks he deserves to be punished for it and he also needs to learn that it is ok to need Chance. And Chance needs to learn to trust and also that he can't solve all of Tucker's problems for him, no matter how much he may wish to.

I am glad that there is another book in their story because it still feels like there are unresolved issues here and I don't think their HEA stands a chance if they don't both open up. Their sex -- still smoking hot. That is the one time and place they have absolutely zero trouble communicating. And thank FSM for that!

[Notta Chance · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say that I enjoyed Heat. I found this sequel tedious, if not a touch insulting as a reader from Kentucky. First off, the average daily high here for Dec is closer to 45 than 30 and the saying 'Too cold for snow', here at least, refers to temperatures in the single digits. Secondly, I know this is horse country, but even here farmers rarely own horses unless they run a horse farm or keep them as a hobby. This is what tractors are for. Furthermore, tobacco is seasoned by hanging it to dry from the rafters of large tobacco barns, not by stacking it into piles for a couple of days.

Oh, and a massive, well kept, three story farm house on a tobacco farm? Unlikely. One that hasn't been modernized at least to the point it has a working furnace? Please... In 30+ years of living here, I have yet to see anyone who uses nothing but a fireplace for heat. Believe it or not, the state even has access to gas and electricity. Blankets for heat...? Jeez.

And don't get me started on the accents. I mean, at one point Tucker even tells Chance, "Mer' Christmas." I was like, wth ????!!! Mer'???? I mean, yeah we cut the 'g' off words ending in 'ing' but come on! That doesn't make us all illiterate or mean we have speech impediments.

And where did the author get the dumb idea that you can't buy a Heineken here? Jesus H Christ, last I heard we have access to all the main trade routes here, have since times long past. Even before Cali was a twinkle in this country's eye. Heck, we even have roads and delivery trucks and modernized stores with electric and heat and everything.

All this aside, the entire sequel was a bit lackluster and pointless and Tucker was being very annoying and childish throughout. Add to this, anyone who skipped town without some kind of notice during the first year following what is essentially the start of a new job and then takes over a months leave for unverifiable personal reasons to chase after his boyfriend or girlfriend, or whatnot, would at the very least end up demoted. Throw in a misdemeanor for assault during this unforeseen absence..... Well you see what I'm saying.

[Tracy~Bayou Book Junkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a few months since Tucker and Chance reconciled. Things are going well they have a routine in place, then Tucker's perverted uncle dies and Tucker is forced to head back to Kentucky. Once there things spiral out of control, and Chance finally heads to Kentucky to try to bring him home.

Sometimes the saying is true,
If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were.

That's exactly what chance had to do, leave Tucker to decide what he wants more. To be loyal to the family legacy, or Chance.

The author managed to hold onto the chemistry and passion she captured between the characters in this follow up book I am looking forward to reading the other books in this series.

[Meggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This part is full of sex scenes and they weren't even hot. God when you start to skip those scenes, then you know as a reader that there is something wrong with the story. The storyline was full of sex and bad tempered Tucker. And Tucker behaved like an ass, jeez... really annoying second part.

[Saritza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did mention I was on a firefighter kick, right? So, of course, I had to continue this amazing series with more Chance and Tucker in Flashover.

Summary: Chance thinks he's got a pretty good life. He loves his job as a fireman, he's got an ocean view, and he has a great bunch of friends. He figures there's not much reason to change until he meets Tucker, a paramedic who works his shift. Tucker might even be worth breaking the don't ask, don-t tell policy at work, might just be worth coming out for.

Trouble threatens to tear the two apart, though, when Chance is injured, which takes a toll on all of his relationships, most importantly the one he had developed with Tucker. In fact, it shatters everything they've worked so hard for. Can Chance and Tucker rebuild their lives, coming back together to be better than ever?

Then, in Flashover, the boys from Heat are back! When a family tragedy forces Tucker to return to Kentucky to wait out the probate on the old homestead, he and Chance are separated for a while. Chance has been promoted to Captain, and can't leave his job for long, putting strain on their relationship.

Even when they can find time to be together they have to face adversity from the locals, problems in their own personal lives, and even the weather as they try to get the farm settled enough to leave it behind.

Can Chance and Tucker keep it together even when the fire burns high enough to flash over their heads?

What I liked about this book: The story truly continues and the passion heightens (if you can imagine) in the next book in the Firefighters Series. I love it when an author has fun with their characters and puts them through hell to bring them to heaven and Tory Temple is no exception. In Flashover we get to see Tucker deal with a past that crashes into his present with as much as force as the car that plows Chance in Heat. Their relationship is truly put to the test when insecurities about their whirlwind romance is coupled with a long physical separation that completely threatens everything Chance and Tucker have worked so hard to build.

Temple doesn't sugar-coat the very real aspects of the life of a gay man living in Kentucky and how foreign that life can be for an outsider. Through Chance's eyes, we see what Tucker's life had been like Pre-Chancellor and the hard man Tucker can be when faced with the demons from his past.

Flashover: (noun) The point at which all combustible materials in a room ignite simultaneously. Firefighters that suddenly become farmhands is as smoldering as the title and it's a hot, fast-paced story that will definitely have you going up in flames.

Excerpt: "Don't touch that."

Chance glanced up in the mirror to see Tucker leaning in the doorway of the bathroom, watching. "You took yours off already," he pointed out.

"Mine ain't got as much skin that needs to heal. You can take it off before bed." He came in and stood behind Chance, resting his chin on Chance's shoulder and meeting Chance's eyes in the reflection. "So whaddya think?"

"I think I like it," he said softly, leaning his head against Tucker's. "It's sort of ... permanent." Except there was no 'sort of' about it, and that was the part he liked.

Tucker nodded. "That was the idea."

They looked at each other for a long time in the mirror, Tucker's arms hooked around Chance's waist, until Chance turned his head to kiss him. "I know I was a dick," Chance murmured against Tucker's mouth, but Tucker shook his head and didn't let him say anything else.

They stood in the same position for long minutes until Chance felt Tucker grow hard against his ass. He shifted slightly in Tucker's embrace, meaning to turn and face him, but Tucker tightened his arms. "No," he whispered to Chance.

"Stay this way. Watch in the mirror."

Chance felt his cheeks heat immediately. "Aw, come on."

"For me," Tucker said, and damn if he didn't know just what to say to make Chance obey his every wish.

It didn't take much more than unzipping two sets of shorts before Tucker was reaching over to the medicine cabinet for the lube and sliding wet fingers into Chance. Chance would have closed his eyes then to savor the feel, but Tucker squeezed one hand around his cock and said, "No, look. I
want you to look."

So Chance looked, the last of the embarrassment fading away as he felt Tucker line himself up without ever breaking his gaze in the mirror. Their eyes stayed locked as Tucker eased in to the hilt, one hand on Chance's waist and the other making perfect strokes on his cock. "Us," Chance whispered, darting a fast glance down to the fresh ink on his arm and back up. "You and me. Just us."

"Just us," Tucker repeated, pulling out with a sigh and then gliding back in. "Just us, always. Promise."

"Promise."

Chance felt as if he was floating and grounded at the same time. Tucker's eyes in the mirror kept him rooted where he was, but the hand on his cock and the small brushes over his gland were sending him soaring. He would have likened it to finding the perfect wave, but there really was nothing else that compared to how he felt when he and Tucker were connecting on more than a physical level.

Tucker's teeth were against Chance's neck then, eyes still holding Chance's in the mirror as he sucked up a bite and brought dark blood to the surface of the thin skin. Chance knew Tucker was leaving another mark, not as permanent as the one on his arm, but a sign of possession nonetheless, and Chance felt the muscles in his thighs begin to tremble with the strain of holding off his orgasm. "Tucker," Chance said by
way of warning, hands gripping the countertop, knowing if Tucker had a mind to do it, he could keep Chance on the edge for hours.

The hand on his cock sped up, teasing with nimble fingers at the head and tracing the heavy underside while Chance fought to keep his eyes from closing. "You're gonna look," Tucker murmured to him. "I wanna see you when you come."

Chance could only nod and suck his bottom lip into his mouth, biting down hard enough to bloody it and straining for the release that Tucker wouldn't let him have until Tucker was good and ready. Tucker's hand was tight around his cock and Chance jerked into his fist, feeling the push and pull behind him start to get a little shaky.

He wouldn't have thought that watching himself would be so hot, but now that Tucker had made him look, he couldn't tear his gaze away. Chance noted how their muscles flexed and stretched against each other and he started to see details of his own body that he normally never looked at. The way his tan contrasted with the skin below his bathing suit line.
How he grew taut whenever Tucker's fingers tightened on him. It was an experience Chance hadn't had before, one he'd never considered as erotic, and he filed it away to remember for later.

It only took one more sweet tug on his dick and Chance was coming, hard and messy against the countertop, Tucker's name on his lips and a hot stare burning into him in their reflection. Chance ran a finger through his own come pooling on the sink and lifted it behind him, to Tucker's mouth.

The instant Tucker darted out a tongue to catch the taste, Chance felt him freeze and suck in a breath. "Oh, goddamn," he groaned, and then Tucker was trembling and gasping and coming hard enough to make him lean a hand over on the counter for support.

They traded kisses and touches and whispers while they cleaned up, and that night after dinner, Tucker took him back into the bathroom and carefully peeled off the bandage over his tattoo. Chance watched silently as Tucker used gentle fingers to put ointment on the ink, pressing a kiss to Chance's shoulder when he was finished.

"Just us, always," Tucker said again, repeating their words from earlier. "Promise."

"Promise," Chance whispered, watching him in the mirror.

"Always."

[Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

M/M romance. Book 2/2. Probably can be considered erotica based on the amount of sex but the quality was passable.
Most frustrating was the fact that there was no plot even for an erotica book!!!
Completely manufactured angst.
Tucker seemed hell bent on inexplicable self destruction. His actions are that of a whiny self destructive teenager not a grown man!
Chance spends the second half of the book trying to figure out why Tucker is making those decisions especially about coming or going but without much success. We never get an answer and Chance gives up on the answer!
It was one of the stupidest plots that I have ever read!

[Bogusia · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy so much the prequel "Heat", that I was expecting something similar to first book. But I'm not saying this was a bad book, it was smoking hot with every chapter sex, yummy :P. But I dont know I was waiting for something else; but I still enjoy pretty much.

Flashover brings back Tucker and Chance to us, but now is Tucker the one with the issues. Tucker and Chance had been living happy for now, until Tucker get news from home telling him that his uncle Tim had passed away and he needs to come back to Kentucky to take care of the tobacco farm.

During his stay down at Kentucky, we get to see how was life for Tucker before he left town; with all the homofobic folks, all the stress that comes with owning a farm, etc. But as always Chance is there with him, until an accident happens, a Chance reach his limit and leaves Tucker to finish things by himself.

Both of them miss each other deeply during the time they are away from each other. At the end everything settles, and Tucker comes back home with Chance.

[Daphne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book drove me around the bend. After the kerfluffle in the first book because of one man silently martyring himself and the other refusing to open up - you would have thought they learned their lesson but nah. Same story, characters flip flopped. One of my biggest pet peeves in romance novels is when the secondary characters do more to advance the main characters' relationships than they do, and that was the case here. Coop called Chance when Tucker went off the rails (Chance was just going to do...what? They weren't talking often, he knew Tucker was drinking too much but still he did nothing). Bonnie made the effort to have Tucker's name inserted implying he was permanent and Chance was like huh. Tucker just stewed and drank and stonewalled. Lord, this was enough like a real marriage that it started to cross from fiction to non.

Bah. Humbug. I'm annoyed at this book. So much unsaid and unexplored. They were the epitome of using sex to forget everything.

3 stars because the book was fine, well written, no typos. The story and character development itself lacking.

[Mariana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't get it Since we never really read Tucker's point of view, I just don't get him.  He seems like an overly complicated guy.  I get that his life was difficult when he was a boy, but I seriously don't get his hangups and not wanting to express how he feels... ever.  I'm so effing clueless as to what's forcing his actions.  I caught myself, just wondering what the hell the big deal was.  These characters are pretty volatile and spontaneous... which isn't good, but not necessarily bad.  A lot of times, it just feels unnecessary.
 
Anyway, I enjoyed the story over all and like these guys, although, they resolve EVERYTHING with sex.  It gets a bit repetitious.
 
Chance and Tucker seem like they're great together. Hopefully, we can get Tucker's perspective soon.
 
It seems like I didn't like the story from my review, but honestly it was engaging.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh! I wanted to like this more but I just don't. Tucker and Chance had problems but did they talk to each other about them? No. Here is how it went: fight, sex, fight, sex..... They would fight and then instead of figuring out what was wrong, they would just have sex. There was so much sex in this book that I found myself growing bored of it all and skimming through it after a while. It was like "well, we fought, let's have sex to make it right." It became very repetitive. I gave it three stars just because I liked the first one so much but this book had me wanting to roll my eyes and pull out my hair and I didn't even get find out why Tucker reacted like he did throughout the book.

[jules0623 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like me some smut but there was just way too much here. At least half of almost every chapter was sex and, after the first two chapters which were pretty much only sex, I just scrolled right on past. And I think the plot did suffer for the inclusion of so many sex scenes. I would have liked to see more of Chance on Tuck's farm and the interaction between them there - out of the bedroom, I mean. I would have liked to spend more time with the MCs talking about why Tuck behaved the way he did.

[Suze · Rating 2 out of 5]

I reckon there is 2 chapters of story and 20 of sex in this book! Those boys should have friction burn problems.
At least the inappropriate work place sex has stopped.
Tucker feels he has to go back to Kentucky for a pity party - all he did could have been sorted from California. Getting masses of time of work seemed easy. I would have liked to no more about the state and tobacco farming but no, we got masses of sex!
These two are still lurching around in the relationship, still too easy to jump to conclusions and internalise things.

[Nichole (DirrtyH) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I enjoyed Heat so much that I immediately started to read Flashover as soon as I finished. Chance and Tucker are just such an adorable couple and I wanted to spend more time with them.

This story was about relationship trouble. And then how you can ignore all your problems and solve them with sex. Blah.

I still like these characters and found myself rooting for them, there was just too much sex in this book. It gets to be boring and un-hot after awhile.

[Ay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I delayed writting this review because I felt rotten and didn't want my ill mood to affect what I wrote. Basically I am left unsatisfied by this story. I would feel more positive if I knew this was part 2 of a larger series. I don't feel enthusiastic about this author at this point.

Just checked - apparently Flashover is part 2 of a longer series! Still not sure whether I will keep reading, as the experience reading this book wasn't great. Will check those later books out though.

[Candice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first book and getting to know Tucker and Chance. I was looking forward to their continuing story, however, there was not much story, just a lot of sex scenes. I think the story could have shown so much more of Tucker's past and what was really going on, but it just fell flat for me.

[Mountie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like partners that mesh well together and I like to see the story after the first "I love you" so I enjoyed this sequel. Life isn't always easy and love isn't always easy and sometimes a HEA is something you have to really work for. These two do.

Remember to read Book one Heat first.

[*Nan* · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this one as much as Heat mostly because of the way that Tucker spoke. I know he was from Kentucky but his speech nade him sound stupid not like he was a farmer from the south.

[Bookbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This time it's Tucker's turn for a smack upside the head! ;)

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one I'm sad to say. There was just a whole lot of sexytimes (I mean I love them...but lets have some more plot less grinding)

I hope book 3 is a bit better.

[Kinny · Rating 1 out of 5]

A good reason to not write sequels. This was just full f angst and sex. Got tiresome after a while. Shame the first book was pretty good.

[Michi Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Trouble threatens to tear the two apart (...)"

Too much trouble if you ask me. :(

But all were good in the end, so, yeah, 4 stars it is.

[Bytchfemme · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this series so far. The first book was written with more...passion? However, Tory fleshed out the characters better in this installment.