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Her hand didn’t touch him in the slightest, but what he didn’t know was that Mrs. Kendall had put her hand directly in front of his pants, curled it, and in the photograph where he was making a face – it appeared like she had his genitals in a death grip for all time.
That photo would never disappear.
It would be in every calendar, in every home, in the county.
“See? I promised I wouldn’t touch you,” Mrs. Kendall said sweetly, actually patting Colton on the head like he was a toddler. “And I didn’t, young man. Mama Ruthie keeps her promises to her good boy – and you were a very, very good boy, young man.”
It was such an outrageous, unexpected moment that he looked at the woman and exchanged a glance before he burst out laughing.
“I appreciate you keeping your word… sorta.”
“Of course, sweet boy. You’re not my type. I like them a whole lot more rambunctious than you are. Gimme a hot man with a hidden ‘freak-on-a-leash’ attitude… that will fire up this old girl’s blood and make my toes curl. You’re not it, young ‘un, and that’s a real shame. You are more like a wet wipe – functional – and I might use ya once, but then I’m done.”
“A wet wipe?” he chuckled, thoroughly amused, and saw her wink.
“Everyone needs a wet wipe every once in a while, though… I’m just not your girl. Now, am I?”
“No, ma’am – you really aren’t,” Colton laughed. “I don’t currently have a girl, but despite that, you are a joy to talk to sometimes… and I mean it.”
“You too, young man. Now, hush up. My Alec is getting ready to do his photo shots and I brought props for his. Hold on, and let me get my bag of goodies. Oh Alec? Mama Ruthie has some goodies she really wants to see you holding, sweetie pie!”
“Heaven help me…”
“Whoaaa… wait a second?!”
Alec’s scream of horror would not be something he would forget, and Colton laughed for nearly an hour as the fire chief crossed himself several times.
3
* * *
COLTON
A month later…
Colton stared at the chief in shock and disbelief. In one swift move, he turned halfway in his chair where he was seated looking at the other man, reached over, and slammed the office door shut – turning back toward Reese.
“Wanna run that past me again, sir?”
“Look, Colton,” Reese began quietly, putting his elbows on the desk and resting his chin on his hands. “Let’s talk openly. No egos, no pride, no hurt feelings. I know you are mad right now because I’ve been in your shoes, but hear me out, and let’s look at this from a distance. You want to make chief someday, then you are going to have to take a different approach on things and make the hard decisions. This is one of them.”
Colton swallowed and nodded tightly.
“As I was saying,” Reese began. “You’ve got all the skills it takes and the time under your belt, but I know you’ve struggled in the engineer position. You’ve bolted into a fire after another team member more than once – and my goal is to get you back into the fight… but that won’t be as a captain, brother. I don’t need you doing crowd control and barking out orders – and honestly, with me caving and allowing you to fill in as the engineer after Julio quit was a mistake.”
Colton sucked in his breath at the candid words being spoken between them – and waited. That was the hardest thing he’d ever done because everything in him wanted to argue his point. He was ready for captain, but there was something in the chief’s voice that made him pause.
“Alex quit. Julio quit. You guys have been struggling for a while to stay cohesive as a team. Please interrupt me and tell me if I’m wrong,” Reese paused, looking at him. “You want to be in the game, you like the rush of fighting a fire… and you worry about your teammates because you aren’t there. Right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I understand,” his chief said softly. “I really do because it was a drastic change for me that really hurt when someone got injured or died. As an engineer, your job is to maintain the truck – and that takes you from the front lines. As a captain, you’ll be monitoring, talking to the media, and keeping people back, all while monitoring your team and their safety. You will rarely enter the building. You’ll have the rank, but you won’t be hands-on in that position either. Do you understand what I’m trying to point out to you?”
Colton sat there stiffly, thinking and processing everything.
“You, Alec, and Lance are close – and there is so much potential for you three to sync into an actual team, but only if the players are in the right spots. You need to be back in the thick of it, where you excel and honestly, Alec and Lance need you there to save their butts.”
“What’s your plan, sir?” Colton asked stiffly, his voice trying not to sound resentful or angry because he could see Reese’s point of view – and he was right. He did want to help his team, but the need to step forward for the open position of captain was hard not to take.
