Fire & Raine follows a city firefighter who leads a double life, becomes involved with a criminal, and faces the challenge of choosing love or his morals. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Being a firefighter myself was the main inspiration. As a firefighter we are ultimately seen as great, trustworthy people who could one day make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of a stranger. What could be behind all that fire gear? What could they be getting into when they are not saving people? I just wanted to present a little insight into what could possibly be happening.

What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?

This was a little hard for me. Admittedly I had to go back multiple times to fix certain dialogue between characters. I would go back and say “no that doesn’t fit this characters personality”. Raine for example is always composed no matter what. He doesn’t yell or throw things. At all times he shows a level of calmness that adds to his sex appeal. Taylor is a little different. My goal with her was to show that she is usually composed but Raine brought out a side of her that she didn’t know she had. It pisses her off to learn that side existed. As the story progresses, no matter what happens I wanted Raine to keep “balance” in his life. I wanted Taylor’s life to change but not so drastically that the readers forget this is a full blown criminal.

What was your inspiration for their characters’ interactions and backstories?

I wrote several short stories before I started this book journey. I have been building Raine as a character for years. He has always been the main character in my stories. The time came to put him on a bigger stage. I just gave him my career and built around it. The women in the book, including Taylor, are all loosely based on people I know in real life. It helped with character design as well as tendencies. The only thing I needed to add was a reason they would call the number on the black card. Whether that was bad marriage, low self esteem, overworked, unappreciated, or general adventure.

Will there be a follow-up novel to this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?

Yes. I intentionally left the book open ended. I wanted the readers to get a solid ending but all be open to more. In the next book, the plan is to highlight some of Raine’s past. The origin to how he got his name and how he got in this double life will be revealed. These origins will affect both his old and new acquaintances. The goal is to allow the readers to dive deeper into Raine.

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