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" WINNER: Tom Rice, 48 HOMETOWN: Palm Desert, CA OCCUPATION: General contractor FAMILY: Married 4 years to Lee; father to Jessica, 27, Jordan, 22, Michael, 18, and Marley, 11 No one would mistake me for a &amp;quot;Hot Husband,&amp;quot; and I wouldn&amp;#039;t describe any of my buddies that way, but I know they&amp;#039;re out there because REDBOOK does this big contest every year: Thousands of wives write in to say why their husband is the hottest, the editors gasp and swoon over them while picking finalists, and then readers vote online. This year you decided Tom Rice was the sweetest, handsomest dude (hell, even I can tell he&amp;#039;s handsome), but when my editors asked me to talk to him and his wife, Lee, I discovered there&amp;#039;s more to this thing than the guy&amp;#039;s jawline. I realized that whether you&amp;#039;re a man or woman, straight or gay, married or not, real heat comes from the bond you share with your partner. For Tom and Lee, true hotness, like a potbellied stove, comes from within and radiates outward, warming those closest to them. (Don&amp;#039;t blame Tom for that metaphor; it&amp;#039;s all mine.) Here&amp;#039;s what else I learned from these two\u2014who, by the way, won a sweet trip to Cura\u00E7ao. Putting your family first is hot Calling a stranger to ask him about his sex appeal could be pretty awkward, but Tom made it very comfortable. When I asked him what he thought about being named the Hottest Husband, he just laughed and said he &amp;quot;didn&amp;#039;t think about it too much,&amp;quot; before transitioning the conversation to his son&amp;#039;s high school water polo team. He talked about his two eldest daughters and their careers, and about his youngest daughter, who is in middle school. It&amp;#039;s nice to meet a guy who&amp;#039;d rather enthuse about his kids than the fact that a bunch of women on the Internet think he&amp;#039;s good-looking. This is why Lee loves him: &amp;quot;Tom is the kind of guy who puts his family first every day,&amp;quot; she said. And as my wife, Karel, said to me after I interviewed Tom, &amp;quot;The hottest thing a husband can have is his priorities in the right place.&amp;quot; Respecting women is hot Lee gives a lot of credit to Tom&amp;#039;s five older sisters. &amp;quot;They made him more tuned in to the needs of women\u2014more patient, and understanding,&amp;quot; she said. On one of their first dates, Lee and Tom met a group of people at the beach, and she watched as he helped her pregnant friend from her car down to the water&amp;#039;s edge with all of her stuff. &amp;quot;My other guy friends just sat back and waved to her, offering zero help. He jumped up to carry her things without hesitation. At first I thought he did it because he was trying to impress me, but as I got to know him more, I realized that&amp;#039;s just who he is.&amp;quot; Tom was paying attention, just like his sisters taught him. Personally, I credit my older sister with the fact that I can write a column in a women&amp;#039;s magazine and not feel like it reflects weirdly on my masculinity. But whether he grew up with sisters or not, you women can tell the difference between a man who gives you true respect and one who offers a show of fake chivalry\u2014or no consideration at all. Tom&amp;#039;s a winner because he&amp;#039;s the real deal. Having separate hobbies is hot Tom is a surfer and Lee is not (she tried, but she fell off the board and bonked her head and that was it). But she totally supports his surfing\u2014and Tom returns the favor, cheering on Lee&amp;#039;s passion project. She travels around the country eating breakfast and blogging about it. &amp;quot;I think what she&amp;#039;s doing is so interesting and creative,&amp;quot; he said. You may imagine a successful marriage as a pair who wants to spend all hours together, but the reality is that having your own pursuits gives your couple time more spark. Loving your hometown is hot Tom is a son of sand and surf, a California guy through and through. I only know how to survive in the concrete jungle. Warm sand under my feet would confuse me; I&amp;#039;m at ease only when I hear the delicate crunch of glass breaking under my boots. But both of us feel truly at home in our communities. Lee explained that Tom is &amp;quot;built for Palm Desert,&amp;quot; where he can easily drive to join friends to surf or hike in the mountains or whatever else these outdoorsy guys are into. Unsurprisingly, the votes poured in for him when Lee told people he was up for the Hottest Husband prize. What Karel loves about me is that I know where to find the best cannoli no matter where we are in Philadelphia\u2014and that I probably know the folks behind the counter, too. When you&amp;#039;re connected with the world around you, it brings a certain ease and warmth to your whole family&amp;#039;s life. Keeping it simple is hot I think sometimes, as guys, we get caught up in the Don Draper archetype. We feel we need to be conflicted or brooding or dangerous. But when I asked Lee what she loves most about Tom, she didn&amp;#039;t hesitate at all. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s a good man,&amp;quot; she told me. We hear that nice guys finish last, and maybe that&amp;#039;s true when we&amp;#039;re in our teens and 20s. It can take a while to grow up and realize that the studly guy who sexted your best female friend and stole your iPod isn&amp;#039;t actually all that hot. Being mean and/or messed up doesn&amp;#039;t add any layers of depth or attractiveness. Once we understand that, most men discover that being good can be pretty hot. It could even win you a trip to Cura\u00E7ao. Enter your guy in our 2015 contest! Your man has the heart (and perhaps the abs) to be next year&amp;#039;s hottest husband, and we bet you wouldn&amp;#039;t mind a big ol&amp;#039; vacation either. If he wins, you&amp;#039;ll get a 5-night trip to the Fairmont Southampton in Bermuda, worth up to $7,119. It includes airfare for two, a round of golf, a couple&amp;#039;s spa treatment, and dinner at the Waterlot Inn steakhouse, courtesy of the Fairmont Southampton. To enter your husband, tell us in 500 words or less why he&amp;#039;s hot, and include three recent photos of him. For details, see page 147 or go to redbookmag.com/hothusbands2015. Aaron called our three runners-up, too, and got schooled in love and coffee. RUNNER-UP: Danny Taveras, 33 HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, NY OCCUPATION: Computer analyst FAMILY: Married 8 years to Melissa; father to Evan, 3, and Max, 2 The spark that ignited when Danny and Melissa were just a couple of 20-something kids has sustained them through eight years of marriage, and some tough times. Max had a stroke while in utero, and bed rest made it hard for Melissa to look after then 1-year-old Evan. &amp;quot;Danny took care of everything during that time,&amp;quot; she said. Max has some special needs, and now it&amp;#039;s Danny who&amp;#039;s appreciative: &amp;quot;Melissa is the strongest woman I know,&amp;quot; Danny said. &amp;quot;Her commitment to both our boys and Max&amp;#039;s therapy is amazing to witness.&amp;quot; He also loves the way his life has changed in the last few years: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m a homebody now. I don&amp;#039;t have to show off my car, or go out to a club. When I get time off, I want to be with my family.&amp;quot; Enter your guy in our 2015 contest! Your man has the heart (and perhaps the abs) to be next year&amp;#039;s hottest husband, and we bet you wouldn&amp;#039;t mind a big ol&amp;#039; vacation either. If he wins, you&amp;#039;ll get a 5-night trip to the Fairmont Southampton in Bermuda, worth up to $7,119. It includes airfare for two, a round of golf, a couple&amp;#039;s spa treatment, and dinner at the Waterlot Inn steakhouse, courtesy of the Fairmont Southampton. To enter your husband, tell us in 500 words or less why he&amp;#039;s hot, and include three recent photos of him. For details, see page 147 or go to redbookmag.com/hothusbands2015. RUNNER-UP: Eric Boyden, 27 HOMETOWN: Salem, OR OCCUPATION: Conductor for the Portland &amp;amp;amp; Western Railroad FAMILY: Married 4 years to Megan; father to twins Shawn and Tyler, 4; stepfather to Ethan, 9 Eric spent several years traveling the globe and visiting exotic locales, assisting in projects like building schools in Benin and dam construction in Afghanistan, with a little outfit known as &amp;quot;the Marines.&amp;quot; Now he&amp;#039;s a family man in Oregon, and Megan says she knew he&amp;#039;d dedicate himself to that, too. Why? &amp;quot;He has always treated my oldest as one of his own,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s a great dad\u2014he spends all the time he can with the kids when he isn&amp;#039;t working.&amp;quot; She stays at home with the three boys, and Eric knows that&amp;#039;s no joke: &amp;quot;I couldn&amp;#039;t do her job; that&amp;#039;s a tough gig. I don&amp;#039;t think she realizes how much respect I have for the fact that she takes care of the kids all day,&amp;quot; says the former marine. Enter your guy in our 2015 contest! Your man has the heart (and perhaps the abs) to be next year&amp;#039;s hottest husband, and we bet you wouldn&amp;#039;t mind a big ol&amp;#039; vacation either. If he wins, you&amp;#039;ll get a 5-night trip to the Fairmont Southampton in Bermuda, worth up to $7,119. It includes airfare for two, a round of golf, a couple&amp;#039;s spa treatment, and dinner at the Waterlot Inn steakhouse, courtesy of the Fairmont Southampton. To enter your husband, tell us in 500 words or less why he&amp;#039;s hot, and include three recent photos of him. For details, see page 147 or go to redbookmag.com/hothusbands2015. RUNNER-UP: Jonathan Coords, 38 HOMETOWN: Hillsborough, NJ OCCUPATION: Small business owner FAMILY: Married 15 years to Cari; father to Sadie, 12, Malachi, 11, Laine, 10, twins Arianna and Ayanna, 10, and Anslee, 6 Jonathan and Cari have three times as many kids as I do, but they seem to handle it like pros. They were already the parents of three daughters when they decided to adopt a child who needed a home. They learned they could foster an 8-year-old boy\u2014but he had 7-year-old twin sisters, and no one would take them all together. &amp;quot;I thought Jon would be hesitant, but he said yes immediately,&amp;quot; Cari says. Two and a half years later, they were officially a family of eight. &amp;quot;The adoption process is long and difficult, but there is nothing more rewarding in the end,&amp;quot; Jon told me. Jon and Cari&amp;#039;s life together isn&amp;#039;t all about parenting, though. There&amp;#039;s also coffee. And bear with me, but I found their caffeine ritual really touching and revelatory. Jonathan does the brewing every morning: &amp;quot;Coffee is my thing. I wake up early, make a pot, and bring her a cup in bed. It&amp;#039;s something little I can do for her. After I go to work, she cleans out the coffeemaker and the cups and sets up a new filter, so I can wake up the next morning and make coffee and bring her a cup in bed.&amp;quot; The circle of life? I asked him. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s the circle of coffee,&amp;quot; he said. Enter your guy in our 2015 contest! Your man has the heart (and perhaps the abs) to be next year&amp;#039;s hottest husband, and we bet you wouldn&amp;#039;t mind a big ol&amp;#039; vacation either. If he wins, you&amp;#039;ll get a 5-night trip to the Fairmont Southampton in Bermuda, worth up to $7,119. It includes airfare for two, a round of golf, a couple&amp;#039;s spa treatment, and dinner at the Waterlot Inn steakhouse, courtesy of the Fairmont Southampton. To enter your husband, tell us in 500 words or less why he&amp;#039;s hot, and include three recent photos of him. For details, see page 147 or go to redbookmag.com/hothusbands2015. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/love-sex/relationships/a16603/hot-husbands-2014-contest-winners/>