As if she could…
“Stay away from hot things that can hurt!” Her kindergarten students yelled the words at the top of their little lungs as they repeated after the young fireman who had just given them a tour of the fire station.
Their guide was in his early twenties and seemed to be having just as much fun as the kids. He didn’t look bad in his uniform, either. Maybe she could try to focus on him.
Nope, even the cute little tender-roni fireman guide couldn’t distract her.
She glanced at Toni in her outrageous purple-and-orange getup trying to catch the young firefighter’s eye by flirtingly repeating after him with the children. Surely Toni’s antics should have wrestled her attention from the sexy fire captain. Toni batted her eyes, and Aisha’s eyes went right back to the fire captain.
Dang!
Aisha couldn’t help it. She stared at the sexy, very hot fire captain who was standing there watching them all. Captain Hightower. He’d said his name was Captain Patrick Hightower. She wondered why he was still in the room. He wasn’t giving them the tour. Last year when she’d brought her students for a tour, the highest-ranking officer on duty had introduced himself, given them a welcome and hightailed it out of there, leaving it up to the young rookie to do the grunt work.
Tall. Rock-hard. Solid muscle and masculinity. Devil-may-care smile. Oh, yeah. He was a hot thing that could hurt all right.
“Tell a grown-up when you find matches or lighters,” the students yelled.
“Stop, drop and roll if your clothes catch on fire.” They dropped on the ground and rolled around.
“Cool a burn!” Their little voices piped through the huge hall.
“That’s right. If you happen to burn yourselves, you should immediately cover the spot with cold water.” The rookie firefighter whose name she still could not remember—as if she could remember another name with the name Patrick Hightower taking over every nook and crevice of her mind—coached the children with gems of fire safety.
Cold water would have been good at that moment. It might have helped with the sudden heat she was feeling. She could drink a glass and cool her dry-as-the-desert mouth and throat. She could splash it all over herself to calm down the overwhelming body heat she felt when she looked at Patrick Hightower. The heat and the sweat popping out all over her was unbearable.
Early menopause? It could happen as early as thirty-five. She was thirty-five. But something told her it wasn’t early menopause causing the steam to roll up her neck and making her hand want to fan, fan and fan away.
“Crawl low under smoke!” her little darlings repeated.
“Know the sound of the smoke alarm,” they added.
The ringing of the alarm jolted her and she blinked.
Sound effects? Hmm…She certainly needed a warning if Captain Hightower’s heated stare meant what she thought it meant.
“Practice an escape plan,” the kindergarteners said with the same tone of authority that the young rookie had used.
You haven’t said anything but a word!
She needed an escape plan. She took a slow, calming and deep breath and tried to appear natural about letting it out. No matter what, she wasn’t going to give the man the time of day. That was for sure. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. So there was really no need to get all nervous and hot and bothered.
“Recognize the firefighter as a helper,” the children chanted after the rookie.
Yeah.
Right.
She glanced up at the fire captain again. He smiled, a sexy, sizzling, seductive smile. His eyes seemed to say, “How may I help you?” And his body language—the cool, confident, assured stance—offered a multitude of possibilities.
She continued to observe him, cautiously, and he continued to hold her gaze. Fire Captain Hightower didn’t appear to know the meaning of the words back down.
Too bad.
Aisha shook her head with all the rejection she could muster lacing her stare and posture. She even put on her best don’t-even-try-it-or-think-about-it-brother glare and placed her hand on her hip, blocking his sensual assault with everything she could. It might have helped if she didn’t find herself so incredibly attracted to him.
And what did the man have the nerve to do in the face of her rejection? He saw her shaking head and smiled as he nodded! He even mouthed the word yes before winking at her and leaving the room.
The air seemed to return to the room with a gush. The kids were being taught what to do. She gasped as she wondered who in hell was going to save her?
He couldn’t just let her leave without asking her out. Could he? It wasn’t every day that he met a woman who piqued his interest enough to even bother with the effort it took for any kind of approach. And she already had his adrenaline going at high speed.
She didn’t seem particularly approachable or even open to his advances. That could be a problem. But he was never one to back away from a challenge. And something screamed in his head that she would be his biggest challenge yet. He just wanted to get to know her after all. What could be the harm in that?
“Excuse me, Ms. Miller.” He caught up to her just as she and her teaching assistant led the students out of the building. “Can I speak with you for a moment? I promise not to take too much of your time. I know you have to get the little ones back to school.”
He cleared his throat. He sounded like a sucker to his own ears. That wasn’t good. He straightened his stance and put on a mental cloak of confidence. No matter how ill-fitting it felt at the moment, he needed something if he was going to get this sexy woman to give him the time of day and he was woefully out of practice.
She let out a breath and nodded at her assistant before walking over to him.
“Look, Captain Hightower—”
“Would you like to go out on a date sometime?” They had started talking at the same time, but only he continued and actually finished his sentence.
She stood there looking at him. She swallowed before opening her mouth and then she paused.
He took her pause as an opening for him to make his case. “Look, I don’t do this kind of thing all the time, if that’s what you’re thinking. But I know for a fact that we’d both regret it if we don’t go out on at least one date. So how about you give me your number and we square out the logistics later?”
Smooth.
Her head reared back and her hands found her hips. Again, he wondered how she made a straight-leg pair of navy blue slacks so sexy. His eyes followed each movement and remained fixed on her hips for a second too long. He shook his head and found her giving him the Aunt Esther “You-fish-eyed-fool” slanted-eye glare. She glanced at her students and then seemed to think better of telling off the fire captain.
“Thanks, but no thanks.” She folded her arms across her chest, her entire posture daring him to say another word.
“But…” He wanted to say they’d be good together. That he could feel it after only knowing her for a few minutes.
Was he coming on too strong?
Probably.
Did he have a choice?
Probably not, especially if watching the first woman who had managed to work her way past his shield and make him want more than a brief affair without even trying was any indication.
She rolled her eyes at him before plastering on an overly bright smile and turning to her students. “Say thank-you to Fire Captain Hightower for opening up the firehouse for our tour,