Fire & Ice
by Robin Lynn
Publisher: Idle Winter Press
Release Date: December 1, 2022
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: Friends to lovers, mutual pining, firefighters, workplace romance
Themes: BDSM, self-acceptance, communication, trauma processing
Heat Rating: 5 flames
Length: 160 000 words/433 pages
It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.
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Fire & Ice is the queer exploration of domination and submission, friendship, love, and lust you've been waiting for! Grab your safeword and come along for the ride as two best friends discover BDSM, themselves, and what it really means to burn.
Blurb
"What's your safeword?"
Firefighter Tripp Truett has somehow tumbled headfirst into a whole new kind of relationship with his quirky paramedic best friend, Leander. What was only meant to be mutual relief from their high-stress jobs is quickly developing into something more, but with all the missed signals and crossed wires, can these two ever figure out that they're so much closer to being on the same page than they think?
Excerpt
The air is chilly, the wind outright brisk, and Leander can’t help but reflect back on his earlier ponderings regarding the likelihood that his sweatshirt wouldn’t be warm enough tonight. He was right, but there’s nothing to do about it now.
He’s dazed. So much so that he doesn’t realize he’s been standing in the middle of the parking lot, staring blankly at the engine for several embarrassingly long minutes. It’s not until the side door opens and someone gets out that Leander even makes an attempt to blink himself back to reality.
Tripp, clad once again in only his bunker pants and a fucking t-shirt, hits the ground moving and strides towards him with a worried look on his face. Despite everything, Leander can’t help but smile at Tripp’s stubborn stupidity, his ridiculous predictability, and his lack of simple common sense. It’s inane, and Leander loves him for it.
“You look cold,” he comments smugly, but Tripp isn’t fooled, reaching out to grab Leander by the bicep and yank him into his chest, hugging him fiercely and clapping him firmly on the back, twice. Tears burst violently into the corners of Leander’s eyes, and he chokes and gasps a little while doing his best to force them back.
“I know,” Tripp says gruffly, rocking them both from side to side as Leander clings.
“I really need you,” he mutters, soft and rough, and Tripp gets it immediately, pulling back and holding him at arm’s length, but in a reassuring, possessive sort of way.
“You’ve got me,” he replies, looking Leander straight in the eyes. “I promise. Tomorrow night, soon as we get off shift, I’ll be there.” Tripp squeezes his shoulder while Leander works to put his emotions in check and his face back in order, searching for the right thing to say. Tripp is a miracle, and Leander already owes him so much. What would he have done if they hadn’t gone down this road? That’s not even something he’s capable of contemplating at the moment, so he shoves the thought away.
“Thank you,” he settles on saying, his voice coming out used and gritty. He swipes roughly at his eyes and nods. “Tomorrow, then.”
The fire engine revs and rumbles behind them, like someone has stepped on the gas without first releasing the brake. Clearly, the crew inside isn’t trying to be obnoxious or insensitive, but someone wants them to get a move on.
“Text me,” Tripp says, pointing a finger in Leander’s direction as he walks backward towards the waiting truck. With a last nod and a wave, Leander agrees, and lets him go.
When he returns to his own truck, parked carefully in-between the next set of white lines beside Zosia and Echo’s, the patient compartment is nearly back to its formerly pristine state. “Thank you, Marley,” Leander says quietly, thumbing through his paperwork and the patient demographic information that Marley has kindly retrieved from registration.
“Dude, I should be thanking you,” Marley quips, zipping up the first-in bag and plopping it on top of the stretcher for next time. “If you need—”
“I don’t,” Leander cuts her off quickly and then offers what he hopes reads as an appreciative look when she glares back at him disapprovingly. “I’m fine,” he assures her.
“Oookay, if you say so,” Marley concedes, shrugging as she hops down out of the truck and makes her way to the driver’s seat. Before Leander follows, he takes a second to poke his head into the back of Zosia’s rig, only to find Echo doing the same cleaning routine as Marley.
“Hey,” he says. “You should text Chloe. I don’t know how much she may have seen, but I thought she looked…” Leander trails off and presses his lips together. Echo will understand—she’s been dating his niece for over a year now and knows the interminably stubborn Chloe better than just about anyone. In some ways, the two of them remind Leander quite a lot of him and Tripp: complementary pieces that shouldn’t fit together, but somehow do.
Except, of course, for the fact that Chloe loves Echo back, and she shows it openly.
“Thanks for the heads up,” Echo replies sincerely, stopping what she’s doing to lean an elbow against the cabinets and eye Leander with concern. “And you? You don’t look so good.”
“I’m fine,” Leander grumbles, ducking back out of the box and heading for his own truck. “Besides having to reassure everyone else that’s the case.”
“That’s what Chloe always says when she’s not fine,” Echo yells after him.
“It’s what everyone says when they’re not fine, Echo,” Leander shoots back, noncommittal and evasive as ever. He slides into the cab of the ambulance and motions for Marley to get going before Echo can so much as reply (or before Zosia can show up and pile on him, too). That’s the last thing he needs right now. He is fine. Or at least, he will be.
Tomorrow night.
Carra's Review
This was a good story with a full cast of great characters. Tripp and Leander star as best friends who add a new dimension to their friendship by using BDSM to handle the stress from their jobs, which as a firefighter and a paramedic—both in leadership positions—can be considerable. Theirs is strictly a Dom/sub dynamic, nothing romantic at all.
When things start out, they are just starting to find their way as Dom and sub, and there is plenty of exploration going on. Both of them benefit, but they each also have their own deeper feelings for each other…which of course neither expresses to the other since from the start they both agreed this was just a stress reliever.
There is plenty of naughtiness throughout the story, erotic and stimulating. Scenes are highly detailed and extensive, and written so that you have a deep understanding of what both men are feeling. Given the amount of page time devoted to these intense scenes, this story goes beyond just contemporary romance to what I’d classify as erotic romance.
My one issue with this book is its length. I felt it was far longer than it needed to be to tell the story, with many points just being covered repeatedly as Trip and Leander both kept waffling on if/when they should tell the other how they feel. And for me, the fact that this is written in third person present tense made it more awkward reading as well (I strongly prefer past tense as it flows better and is easier for my brain to digest). There is also a lot of detail in the fire and rescue scenes as well.
The story length—which could likely be reduced by a quarter to a third and still do these guys justice—affected me enough that my rating is somewhere between 3.5 to 4 stars. I’d probably add a half star to that if it didn’t feel so drawn out. Regardless, Fire & Ice is still a really good read, and if you’re a fan of M/M erotic romance with BDSM, this book is one you’ll want to add to your collection.
About the Author
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