Contest Update!!!! The WINNER of the Firefighter Christmas ornament is CHRISTINA C.!

For another chance to win an identical firefighter ornament, please visit my stop on the SMOKIN’ HOT FIREMEN blog tour at Ramblings From This Chick  Thursday, July 18.

I hope to see you there! 

–CONTEST ALERT!–

When Cleis Press chose our stunning cover for SMOKIN’ HOT FIREMEN, with that gorgeous George Clooney lookalike model holding a kitten, I jumped for joy! You see, my contribution to the anthology, titled  Hook Me Up, uses the familiar kitten-in-a-tree rescue trope and turns it on its head. To find out how the story flips the kitten tale upside down, you’ll have to read the collection. Until then, here’s a bit of contest fun, offered with my compliments.

Answer the following question in the comments section and be automatically entered to win this kitschy firefighter Christmas ornament. (Sorry, USA and Canada residents only.)

Why do you think the firefighter helmet is especially significant in Hook Me Up? Let your wicked imagination fly to guess this one!  Play the game and be automatically entered to win the ornament.

 

 

HOOK ME UP by Adele Dubois

Excerpt:

Knox groaned as he climbed into the cab of Engine Number 6 on weary legs and started the engine. They’d pulled another all-nighter in a neighboring community where an arsonist torched a second row of houses. It had taken ladders from four adjacent towns to put the fires out. “At least we have beds to go home to. It’s a shame about all those families.”

Frank buckled his seat belt, riding shotgun. “When the FBI catches the bastard, I want to kick his ass before they haul him away.” He emphasized his point with a terse nod of his dark head.

“Get in line.” Knox turned right at the next intersection and headed south. Their station sat smack in the middle of apple orchard country in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The trees were just beginning to bud and in another month apple blossoms would decorate every neighborhood in town. Just the sight of his hometown in the distance eased the tension in his neck and the kinks in his shoulders. Knox had never lived anywhere else and couldn’t imagine ever wanting to leave Appleton. A wife, a few kids, and a promotion to captain would make life here just about perfect.

The flash of something out-of-synch with the earth toned landscape slid past his peripheral vision, easing his foot off the accelerator by reflex. “Did you see that?” Knox checked his mirrors, tapped the brakes, and slowed.

“See what, bro?” Frank stretched to look outside his window.

“That slash of purple inside the old apple tree we passed back there. Like it was falling.” Knox pulled over. “My gut tells me something isn’t right.”

“Turn around when I give the go.” Frank hopped out of the truck and walked around to direct traffic. Only two cars passed inside the residential neighborhood.  Frank gave the all clear and Knox reversed the fire truck with a three-point turn. The backup signals pierced the still morning air. Frank hopped on the rear and held the ladder as Knox moved forward.

Several houses down, Knox found what he was looking for—a tidy lawn with the oldest apple tree he’d ever seen growing from the center. A modest white house stood in its shade.

Knox got out of the truck and stood on the sidewalk, craning his neck to inspect the apple branches while Frank came up behind him. Knox heard the sobs at the same time he spied the purple patch near the tree’s highest limb. Knox pointed. “There.” Adrenaline kicked in, erasing his earlier weariness. He ran to the truck to grab a hook and a coil of rope and bolted into the yard.

***

About the Author:

Adele Dubois is happiest when driving her convertible with the top down. She is a multi-published, award-winning author of erotic romance novels, novellas and short stories. Before turning to fiction, Adele wrote for newspapers and magazines in the USA, Caribbean and UK.

When not at the beach or by the bay, Adele and her husband and family enjoy their eastern Pennsylvania home, where she is working on her next novel.

Visit Adele Dubois on her website at www.adeledubois.com