Light Her Fire (Private Pleasures 2)

He turned to find three of the guys he’d come up the ranks with grinning at him. “Melody, meet Bill Bassinger, Hank Renfro, and Dillon Marks. We were rookies together. I believe the three of them still are.”

She smiled, shook hands, and ignored what he considered their overly appreciative stares. Bill squeezed his shoulder. “How’s early retirement working out for you, Bradley?”

“Did you come up with that joke all by yourself, Widemouth?”

“Stick around, I’ve got a million of them. You enjoying life in…what’s it called again? Bluestick? Bluedick?”

The other two laughed. Beside him, Melody stiffened. He wasn’t sure if she was offended on his behalf or on behalf of her hometown, but she was definitely offended.

Her blue eyes flashed as she turned to Bill. “Those of us in Bluelick are grateful to have Chief Bradley leading our fire department. His instincts and expertise have been invaluable.”

“No doubt, sweetness,” Dillon replied. “Your little town has the services of one of Cincinnati’s finest. Your volunteer squad probably doesn’t know what hit it.”

Melody’s eyes narrowed to twin blue lasers. “Bluelick may not be Cincinnati, but the town has had interests to protect for a long time. We’ve employed a force of professional firefighters since the late eighteen hundreds. Josh isn’t heading up a volunteer squad. He has the support of a team of career firemen.” She tipped her head back and looked down her perfect little nose at all three guys. “From what I’ve seen so far, he’s taken a big step up.”

The guys groaned and feigned protecting their private parts. “Oh, man.” Widemouth laughed. “Have you seen my dick? I think someone just cut it off with her razor-sharp wit.”

Josh laughed. “Widemouth, I hate to break it to you, but you’ve been dickless for a long time.”

Renfro—over-served and convinced of his own charm—decided to jump into the conversation. “Beautiful, smart, and feisty. Are there any more down there like this one, Josh? I’m thinking maybe I should transfer to Bluedick and see if anybody’s grateful for my…uh…what’d she call ’em? Oh, yeah, instincts and expertise.”

Before he could disabuse Renfro of the notion he had any instincts or expertise whatsoever, another voice, familiar and commanding, cut in.

“Josh. Glad you could make it.”

“Wouldn’t have missed your big night, Chief.” He turned and clasped hands with his mentor. “This is Melody.”

Chief Warren smiled and took her hand. “Nice to meet you, Melody.”

“Congratulations on twenty-five years with the CFD. That’s quite a milestone.”

“Thank you. I’m appreciative the department saw fit to throw a party, but mostly, it makes me feel old. Would you mind very much if I borrowed your date for a moment?”

“Oh.” She shot Josh a bewildered look. He had no idea what Warren wanted, so he shrugged. She shifted her gaze back to the chief and said, “No, of course not.”

“Don’t worry about this one,” Dillon said, and gestured toward Melody. “We’ll take good care of her for you.”

Melody’s expression said, “hell no,” louder than words ever could. She turned to him and clipped out, “Ladies’ room?”

“Down the hall at the far end of the bar,” he told her. “I’ll wait for you here.”

“Fine.” She turned and walked away.

Warren addressed the three stooges. “Excuse us, gentlemen.”

Within seconds they had a bubble of space to themselves.

Josh eyed Chief Warren. At sixty, after a decade behind the big desk, he looked every inch a commander. His brown hair had succumbed to more gray, and a few new lines of stress showed around his forehead and eyes, but otherwise, he was the same man who had stared across his desk at Josh four months ago and advised him to stick with the CFD. “Congratulations, sir.”

“Thanks, Bradley. Look, I know you left CFD because you wanted to reach the next level in your career sooner rather than later, and you didn’t see it happening if you stayed put because you had people like me in your way—”

“No disrespect, Chief,” Josh interrupted, because he didn’t want another lecture on the virtues of patience. “You trained me well. It’s thanks to you I feel ready for the next step.”

“I appreciate you saying so. What if I were to tell you the next step is here in Cincinnati?”

“I would say, I don’t understand.”

“I’m retiring, Josh. Syl was diagnosed with cancer this spring, and her prognosis isn’t good. We kept the news close until I figured out what I wanted to do.” He shook his head. “I’ve figured it out. I have my pension. We’re comfortable. My family needs me. The city can find another qualified fire chief, but I’m the only husband she has, and family is my priority. It’s time for me to pass the torch. The powers that be would like very much if I passed it to you.”