The commitment between us might be pretend, but the passion all too real. As crazy as it makes me, I have to keep Carter at an arm’s length. Even that might not be enough to spare my heart.

Crazy for Your Love is the fifth book in The Boys of Jackson Harbor series. All books in this series can be read as standalones!

For Rhonda, my editor, my friend

Teagan

He’s nervous. Carter Jackson, Jackson Harbor’s most eligible bachelor, viral internet sensation, and the face of female fantasies all over the country, is nervous.

“If you keep pacing, you’ll wear a hole in the floor,” I say from my perch behind the curtain.

Carter stops and spins to face me, those midnight-dark eyes narrowing. “You have to get me out of this.”

I bite back my smile. I shouldn’t laugh. It’s not nice. But my hot friend’s predicament has been a laughter gold mine for me during the last month. Tonight is the first annual Jackson Harbor Brews for Shoes benefit dinner and bachelor auction. Two months ago, Carter agreed to be auctioned off for a good cause. At the time, it seemed like nothing. He was one of many firefighters who agreed to sell themselves for an evening of wining and dining. But one month ago, everything changed, and now the Jackson Brews Banquet Center is packed to capacity with crazy, screaming women from all over the country, ready to rip each other’s hair out to get the winning bid.

“Hero, hero, hero!” The chanting gets louder and louder.

“You want me to sneak you out the back?” I ask, grinning. “Save you from the scary rich women?”

His eyes are wide as he strides toward me. “Think you can?”

To say Carter is a ladies’ man is a serious understatement—he’s the biggest player I know. So why is he scared to let some women bid for a night of his company? I try not to laugh. I try, but it’s just ridiculous. A snort slips out anyway, and then my laughter follows.

Carter scowls at me. “I hate you.”

I hold up a hand. “Sorry. No, really. I get it.” I inch the curtain open and peer out onto the stage, where Molly McKinley is quieting the crowd and segueing into her speech about the good the Shoe Bus will do for the children of Jackson Harbor and surrounding communities. Beyond the stage is a sea of women, many pushing around each other to get closer to the front. “They do all look a little . . . intense.”

Sighing, Carter drags a hand through his dark hair. It does nothing to ebb that rumpled, fresh-out-of-bed look he has going on. I wouldn’t admit it if someone paid me to, but I totally understand why women lose their minds over this guy. He’s hot. So hot. “They’re nuts.”

On Labor Day weekend, Carter rescued a golden retriever puppy trapped beneath the trampoline float at the public beach. Some well-meaning bystander snapped a picture of him striding out of the water—bare-chested, his jaw set with determination, the sopping-wet pup curled in his arms. The Jackson Harbor Fire Department posted the image on their social media, and in the following forty-eight hours, Carter’s world exploded. The image went viral, and he became the face of every sexy firefighter fantasy out there. Carter did a couple of TV interviews, deciding to use his fifteen minutes of fame to speak to the public about life jackets and water safety, but his fifteen minutes lasted longer and stretched further than anyone expected. Suddenly, Jackson Harbor wasn’t only teeming with tourists here for the beach, but with women who made the trip for the scenery of the JHFD variety. Then when word got out that Carter was one of the bachelors up for auction tonight, Carter fever picked up anew, with tickets for the event selling out within five minutes of going live.