about that, Captain….” Her voice trailed off as she caught his gaze. The most beautiful brown eyes he’d ever seen caught his eyes and held them.
He opened his mouth and closed it several times. The little ones had long since settled down, and they were looking at him expectantly.
She was stunning.
He stared. He couldn’t help it. And apparently neither could she, because she just kept looking at him as if she couldn’t pull her gaze away.
He cleared his throat, still keeping his focus on her. “As I said, welcome to Fire Station No. 5. I’m Captain Patrick Hightower and I’m going to leave you in the very capable hands of Firefighter Reggie Smith. He’ll be guiding your tour today and answering all of your questions. Enjoy yourselves.”
He should have left and gone back to his office then. But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t.
Chapter 2
As many times as Patrick had given the welcoming spiel, as many times as he had handed over the reins of the student visits to the firehouse to some poor rookie who had the pleasure of leading the schoolchildren on their tour, Patrick couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t move his legs. And what in the hell was wrong with his tongue?
He looked her up and down. She came to about his shoulder and had a curvy body, skin that was a rich shade of brown with reddish undertones, and wore her long, brown hair away from her face with a dark blue headband. Her eyes looked as if someone had taken canes of light and dark brown sugar and spun them together. Yes, she was sugar and spice and everything nice…
Staring at the woman, who made navy blue slacks, a powder-blue sweater twinset, pearl earrings and a necklace look like one of Victoria’s deepest, most scintillating secrets, he realized the kindergarten teacher had something to do with his sudden speechlessness. Patrick had always been good at warding off any chance of having his heart stolen again.
He just didn’t know how it managed to happen, and how he never had a chance to stop it. But if the erratic thumping in his chest and the sudden clamminess in his hands were any indication, he was smitten with the sexy schoolteacher.
Oh, he didn’t have a problem with the opposite sex, per se. He just has a problem with being so taken by a woman he couldn’t move or speak. Short, hot, steamy affairs he could do and do again. But this…
This was new. This was dangerous. This was worse than running headfirst into a five-alarm blaze with no gear and no clue. And this…
This was inevitable.
At the age of forty, after thinking he would dodge this ever happening to him again, Patrick Hightower had just met a woman he actually wanted to get to know better.
Some men just take up all the space and air in the room. And given that fact, Aisha Miller sized him up.
Tall, dark and handsome had nothing on this towering wall of muscles or the way he filled out that navy blue-and-white uniform. She didn’t think she had a thing for men in uniform. Thick, muscular thighs, strong pipes for arms, official and authoritative clothing…her heart raced.
She tried to focus on other things in the firehouse. The truck? Look at it—all red and shiny and pretty. The engine…
Just listen to the words. Focus on the words. Focus on my students. Ignore this man.
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
