Page 90 of Hot Zone

“That’s Samuel’s friend, Hawk.”

“The one that works with Gator?”

“Yeah, Hawk and Samuel have been friends for years.”

A few minutes later, Caleb came over. “You already gave it to him, didn’t you? And I missed it!”

“He did, and I love it.” I turned the calendar that was still on the month of December.

“Yeah, he’s not bad, but I’m a bit partial to Mr. November.” He reached over, took the calendar, and flipped it back a month. “I mean, look at that cute little puppy.”

I laughed. “Yeah, that’s a cute ball of fluff.”

“Right. What kind of dog was in Samuel’s pic?” Caleb flipped the page back to look.

“I have no idea. Was he holding a dog?” I asked, and everyone laughed.

The white elephant gift idea with mostly rowdy firefighters had turned out to be way more fun than I’d anticipated.

Caleb’s book turned out to be a romance that had a hot firefighter on the cover. Becca had picked it to open, but Kevin’s husband, Jamar, stole it when it was his turn.

Because we’d set a low price point, there was a bunch of super-creative, fun gifts. Keith had brought a set of hot sauces that a few people had stolen, but my gift had turned out to be the one that was stolen the most.

Ziva had given me the idea, and apparently, it had been good. I’d just taken 25 lottery tickets, put them in an envelope, put the envelope in a box, and wrapped it all up.

Ford had ended up with it, but he refused to scratch them off because he said he didn’t want to make everyone jealous when he won a ton of money.

Kevin had gotten a People ofWalmartCalendar that he was way too excited about. “I can’t wait till Ronda gets back. She hates the People ofWalmartstuff. I’m gonna hang this in her locker.”

Robert clapped him on the back. “That’ll teach her to skip out on our station Christmas party.”

Ronda and her wife, Callie, had gone out of town to visit family in South Carolina. I’d never met either of them, but Samuel had told me that she and Kevin were tight.

Caleb had ended up with Roxy’s gift, and when he opened up the bag with four little crocheted animals, he’d been delighted. Only one person had looked like they might steal it from him, and Keith had given them a look that turned them the other way, something I thought was the sweetest.

By the time the gift exchange was over and the food was about depleted, most everyone was ready to go home.

When the last person had left, Samuel wrapped me up in a hug, and I relaxed against him.

“I think that went really well. What do you think, Kitten?”

“I think your first holiday party as Station sixty-nine Chief was a success.”

“Because of you.” He grabbed me and pulled me down on the couch with him. “I was going to get a cake and call it a day.”

“No, you were not,” I said.

“Honestly, I hadn’t even thought about it. I should have. Michael always had everyone over at his house for the holidays.”

I snuggled in next to him. “I love having a fireplace.”

“Did you have one growing up?”

“No, we had a wood stove, which was great for heating the house, but it wasn’t cozy like having a fire.”

He placed a kiss on my temple and sighed. “It’s funny how something that can be so beautiful can be so destructive.”

“It’s really pretty. I could sit here and watch it all night.”

“Mmm. That works for me as long as it means I get to hold you all night.”

This man. I swear he was absolutely everything I’d dreamed of and so much more. I don’t know what I did in a past life or in this one for this to be my reward, but I intended to make the very best of it.

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