Make it Hot by Gwyneth Bolton Page A

crib, but there is also growing up and seeing the men in our family do their thing.” He stopped, and silence rang through the air. She had no desire to fill it. It seemed too precious, the build-up too great. She let out her breath slowly. She hadn’t realized she had been holding it.
    “So much of what you grow up thinking a man is, is all tied to the uniform, the badges…So yes, when I woke up in the hospital and realized that I might not be able to fight fires again…to wear the uniform…to be a man…a Hightower man…I thought it would have been better to just be dead.”
    She gasped, and a chill ran through her blood. She couldn’t stand the thought that Joel at one time considered death a better option than life.
    “My dad was a police officer with the Chicago police department. He was murdered trying to stop a robbery in a corner store when I was twelve.” Her shaky voice surprised both of them.
    “I’m sorry to hear that. There are really no words to say…” Joel’s words faltered off.
    “He worked a lot, and I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with him, but the little time I did spend with him, he made special. I was such a daddy’s girl. During basketball season, he would always find time to take me to a few Bulls games, and from the time I was around six years old, we would have a father-and-daughter day and he’d take me out to eat and we’d just bond. When I was twelve, my last year before he was murdered…He told me that he was showing me how a respectable guy is supposed to treat a lady so I’d know…” She cleared her throat. She couldn’t continue.
    Joel placed his arm around her shoulder, and her entire body heated up and tingled before a calm came over her.
    “It’s not better to be dead, Joel. Not for the people you leave behind, and as heroic and manly as it must make people feel to be able to put on a uniform and save lives, I know that I adored and worshiped the man that used to take me to games, make me laugh and shower me with love way more than I did the cop in a uniform.”
    “But you do know that your dad was a hero and he died doing something he had dedicated himself to doing—fighting crime and saving lives. The police force is a noble tradition and it takes great men to really do that shield justice.” He paused, and a rueful smile crossed his lips.
    “If you ever meet any of my brothers, don’t you dare tell them I said that. I’d never hear the end of it. Two of my brothers are cops and my dad was a cop, too.”
    “I know he was a hero. He was a brave man, and I miss him.” She shifted and cleared her throat again. “So, enough about me. This is supposed to be about you.” She tried for a lighthearted laugh that didn’t quite make it. “What has you in such a funk today…besides your usual surly nature?”
    He chuckled. “I guess I’ve been wondering what will happen if I can’t be a fireman anymore. I don’t know what…”
    The hesitation and uncertainty in his voice caused the lightbulb to go off in her head. “You don’t know what you’re going to do now?”
    “Sort of. My father retired early from the Paterson police department. He’d invested well and made enough money to start his own company, Hightower Security. It specializes in all aspects of making folks feel secure—from alarm systems to actual security guards. He provides inspection services, the whole deal, and my brothers and I all own a piece of the company and always envisioned working there once we became too old to do what we’re doing now or just needed a change.”
    Samantha nodded. It felt good to finally feel as if she had some insight to the man. “And you feel like you’re being put out to pasture too soon?”
    “Dang, girl! Subtlety is definitely not your strong point.”
    Joel started laughing, and she felt the heat rise from her neck to her cheeks.
    Since when did she turn into Sammie-blush-a-lot?
    Since she met up with Joel Hightower, that’s