Page 1 of Hot For You

Chapter 1

Leigh’s phone must be off.

Carilyn pressed her own iPhone’s disconnect button and tucked it back into her purse. Leigh had said she’d be home all day but Carilyn’s calls kept going straight to voicemail. But then again, Carilyn was two hours early.

She steered her car down a busy street and glanced at a place named the Hummingbird Café, which was next door to a bar called Nectars. Her stomach growled, making her decision for her. While she waited for Leigh to call her back, she had to get something to put in her belly. The café looked like a great place to get lunch.

She drove around until she found a place to park, behind the building. It must be a great place if she had to park around the back. After she killed the engine, she grabbed her purse and climbed out. She tugged down her thigh-length jean skirt, shut the door, and locked her car.

It had been a long drive from Kansas City to Prescott, even with the stops she’d made and the overnight stay at a hotel in Albuquerque. She pushed fiery red curls that had escaped from her ponytail away from her face and headed around the building toward the front entrance. It was a beautiful Arizona spring day and she smiled to herself. Back home in Kansas it was still chilly but here the weather was gorgeous. Arizona was so different than the Midwest.

Through the plate glass window, she saw that the café was busy and she hoped there was an available table. It was a quaint-looking place with a blue and white striped awning, flower boxes filled with geraniums on the windowsills, and a large hummingbird and flowers painted on the front window. Ironwork tables with matching chairs were arranged on the patio in front of the restaurant. Each table was occupied and the sound of conversation filled the air.

Bells jangled on the door as she pushed it open and immediately warm delicious smells met her nose. Her stomach growled again.

A woman with short blonde hair stood at the hostess stand and smiled at Carilyn. “Welcome to the Hummingbird. Will anyone be joining you?”

Carilyn shook her head. “Just me.”

The hostess showed Carilyn to a table near the window. She sat in the chair and glanced out the window at the busy street before taking a look at the menu.

After a pretty waitress had taken Carilyn’s order for a club sandwich with home fries, Carilyn drew her phone out of her purse and pulled up a map for directions to Leigh’s house. Her friend didn’t live too far away, but Carilyn never dropped in on anyone unless she knew they were home and they were expecting her. Leigh wasn’t expecting Carilyn for quite a while yet.

Her gaze drifted away from the map and back to the window. Her eyes rested on the backside of a man standing in front of the café, who was holding a phone to his ear. He had a powerful build and his navy blue T-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders. He wore pants that hugged his nice ass and his athletic thighs. The shirt had Prescott Fire Department across the back. She wondered if he looked as yummy from the front as he did from the back and she hoped he would turn around.

Still on his phone, he faced the restaurant, granting her wish. She sighed as her gaze traveled over his muscular chest and up to his handsome face and his chestnut brown hair. If all firefighters looked as good as he did, she might have to set fire to the kitchen while she was here.

She cocked her head as she remembered that Leigh was dating a fireman. Was this the guy? If he was, Leigh was one lucky woman.

The firefighter shoved his phone into a holster on his belt and walked to the café’s entrance. The bells jangled as he entered and he greeted the hostess with a grin that made Carilyn sigh again. She wouldn’t mind having that sexy grin directed her way, up close and personal.

Mentally, she shook her head. She was only going to be in Prescott for a month, so no sense in drooling over hot firefighters here. Not to mention she’d promised herself she wasn’t going to rush into another relationship after Sam went into the Peace Corps six months ago. He’d broken her heart but she still cared for him and hoped he was doing well.

She didn’t even know why she was thinking about relationships when she was eleven hundred miles away from home.

Rather than looking away from the man, she continued to watch him—it was as if her gaze was glued to him. After the hostess led him to a table not too far from Carilyn, the hostess left him with one menu. Apparently he was eating alone, too.

The man raised his head. Eyes the color of polished oak met hers and the corner of his mouth turned up as he smiled. Her face warmed and she was afraid she was turning red—a curse of being so fair-skinned. She looked away from him and back to her phone. Of course the screen had gone dark so she quickly pressed a button to bring the map back up. The screen blurred as she felt the heat of his gaze on her.

Thankfully, the waitress arrived with Carilyn’s club sandwich. She would just focus on her lunch and not look at the firefighter again. Yet, she couldn’t help herself and snuck one more look at him from beneath her lashes. That was one damn fine man.

The sandwich was great as were the home fries, satisfying her hunger. Doing her best not to look at the man again, she paid her bill and left the restaurant. She didn’t know if she’d imagined it, but she felt warmth on her skin, like he was watching her leave.

A breath of relief rushed out of her once she made it outside. Now she could stop drooling over hot firefighters and get back to real life.

Leigh still hadn’t returned Carilyn’s call, so she tried her friend again as she walked down the sidewalk. The day was sunny and warm and a few people walked along the street in unhurried strides. Everyone looked so casual and relaxed.

She listened to the phone ring. Once more the call went directly to voicemail. She’d left a couple of messages earlier, so she pressed the off button, breaking the connection.

An acrid odor came from ahead and she frowned. It smelled like something was burning.

When she rounded the building she froze. Smoke billowed from a car?—

Her car.

Panicked, she raised her phone to dial 9-1-1, but her fingers were trembling and it slipped out of her hand. Just as she stooped to pick it up, someone rushed past her.

She heard the squawk of a radio and saw that the firefighter from the café was running toward a truck, radio held up to his mouth with one hand, keys gripped in his opposite fist. He shoved the radio into a holster and jerked opened the truck door. He grabbed something red and she saw that it was a fire extinguisher.

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