Forever in Fire (A Hot in Chicago Christmas Short): Hot in Chicago, #3.1

By Kate Meader

Catch up with the Dempseys this holiday season.

 

Who's getting married? Will we hear the patter of tiny feet? Are the sexytimes still awesome? This check-in focuses on everyone's favorite Hot in Chicago couple, Eli and Alexandra, but you can bet Gage steals the show!

Forever in Fire contains spoilers for the entire Hot in Chicago series, so it's best enjoyed after you've read the rest of those books and preferably, with a glass of mulled wine!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kate Meader
• Release date: Dec 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393029502

Kate Meader

Originally from Ireland, Kate Meader cut her romance reader teeth on Maeve Binchy and Jilly Cooper novels, with some Harlequins thrown in for variety. Give her tales about brooding mill owners, oversexed equestrians, and men who can rock an apron, a fire hose, or a hockey stick, and she's there. Now based in Chicago, she writes sexy contemporary romance with alpha heroes and strong heroines (and heroes) who can match their men quip for quip. Visit her at KateMeader.com.

Book preview

1

Twas three nights before Christmas, when all thro’ the house

Not a creature was stirring…

Except for a very confused mutt with his head cocked at the vision laid out on the hearth rug .

Alex returned Shadow’s look with a head tilt of her own. What’s wrong, puppy? You’ve never seen a wrapped present before?

While she had no problem lugging thirty pounds of hose over her shoulder for her job, Alex hadn’t quite reckoned on how heavy the string of LED lights would feel draped over her naked-but-for-a-red-string-thong body. And while the fire roared, heating her ass a deep shade of pink, the front of her body—the part facing toward the door Eli should be walking through any moment now—was actually rather chilly.

Taking advantage of her very stiff nipples, she re-positioned a couple of light bulbs so they were nip-propped. A girl’s gotta use all her tools! Carefully, so as not to displace the lovingly-adorned chain of lights, she reached for the small control box. Should she go with perma-bright, ghostly fade, or a more spirited blink? She tested each setting, watching for Shadow’s reaction.

He gave a muffled woof at the setting corresponding to need-a-seizure-tonight? She was finally ready.

Now where was her man?

The last couple of weeks had been nuts with the usual holiday asswhackery, working at Engine 6 (where she had just made squad—fuck yeah!), Dempsey’s bar (popular as ever), and planning Gage and Brady’s wedding. Trust fucking Gage to want to get married on Christmas Eve as if everyone wasn’t busy enough already. Granted, the Dempseys were a bunch of drama queens but her baby brother took the éclair, cookie, and crème brulee when it came to outdoing the rest of them in the look at me! stakes. Adding to the crazy, Eli was working his hot ass off now that his law practice was going full throttle.

Which meant that Brand Elex had suffered. During the last month, they'd resembled ships passing through the kitchen with coffee handoffs like hostage exchanges at the Berlin Wall. She missed him. He missed her. In that spirit, he’d promised to make it home by eight and she had swapped a shift at the bar with Beck.

Tonight they would find time for them.

Meanwhile, the dancing lights were making her eyelids spasm. Eli, my love, now would be a fabulous time for you to appear…

Shadow’s ears twitched and he shot up like he’d taken a hit of adrenaline. Daddy’s home…

Daddy. Alex swallowed, suddenly nervous. She’d been pushing a very specific worry to her brain’s attic in