The Firefighter's Cinderella. Dominique Burton

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СКАЧАТЬ every time she went out. Tasha just couldn’t imagine wasting that much time and money on herself every day when she barely had time to sleep.

      The balmy air caressed her shoulders, weaving a magical spell around her. She hoped the unseasonably warm night would bring a large crowd to the fundraiser.

      Before the marathon, Tasha had assumed she would suffer post-race exhaustion. Never would she have anticipated dehydration and fainting.

      Thoughts of C.J. in the ambulance and at the hospital suddenly came to mind. She felt a little shiver and hobbled toward his apartment complex. By the time she arrived in the entryway, there were butterflies in her stomach.

      Her anxiety level skyrocketed as she dialed the number on the speaker system. When there was no answer, Tasha tried again, with no response. “Typical!”

      She was angry at herself for letting C.J. put her in this position. But before she jumped to conclusions, she pulled her cell from her clutch to see if there was a message.

      Maybe he’d been called in to work. He was a fireman, after all. Being a captain now meant more responsibility. She checked her phone. Seven o’clock. No messages. “You’re a fool, Tasha!”

      That was when she heard a loud noise outside. She looked around and saw C.J. climbing out of the restored black Mustang, his prized possession. He and Tim had called it the chick magnet. She had some lovely metaphors of her own for his car, but kept them to herself.

      As C.J. approached, he looked like a movie star. He was dressed in a tux, and his jet-black hair had been washed and combed back, accentuating his blue eyes.

      He closed in faster than she’d anticipated. She felt like a trapped animal in the glass entryway. C.J.’s tall muscular fireman’s build and his perfect features—aquiline nose, high cheekbones and full mouth—were a lethal combination.

      It shocked her that she’d spent two years around him and had never noticed him like this before. What was going on? Maybe she should have stayed at the hospital as her dad had wanted.

      That was when it hit her that Tim had blinded her to other men. Seeing C.J. like this reminded her of a quote she’d always loved and never fully understood until now: “One kiss breaches the distance between friendship and love.” She wondered if that was what would happen with them.

       Chapter Two

      Tasha moistened her lips nervously. “We need to go so we aren’t late.” She had to get out of the pheromone-filled entryway.

      Being so attracted to C.J. on the night that was meant to honor Tim seemed such a betrayal. She marched away from him with little dignity. Damn race. She couldn’t even walk right tonight.

      “Marathon legs?”

      “You noticed.”

      “I know the hobble well.”

      Of course he did. He ran, too, when he wasn’t on duty. Mr. Wonderful in every way. Tasha continued on to her car.

      “Hey, I thought I’d take us. I know how hard it is to walk, let alone drive after a race. That’s why I pulled the Stang out of the parking lot.”

      “Thanks, but no. I’m driving tonight.”

      “Why?” She could feel his warm body following closely behind her.

      “It’s called self-preservation.”

      “What does that mean?”

      She stopped in her tracks and turned around. She was feeling better by the second. It had helped to get out of that claustrophobic building and into the night air. “I want to make sure I have a ride home.” She gave him her tough courtroom stare.

      “Well, of course you’ll have a ride home!”

      Tasha folded her arms at her waist, biting her lip. “I highly doubt that. When I used to hang with you and Tim, there wasn’t one gala I can recall ever getting a ride back from.”

      “You and I never went to any galas together,” he countered.

      The familiar jab in the gut was there again. That old sting of being easily forgotten. “Oh, I went to some events with you two. Let’s see ….”

      She put her clutch under her arm and began counting on her fingers. “There was the Governor’s Ball. We were at the Mayor’s Ball twice. Then there was the VonGreen’s Napa Valley Wine Club party, the—”

      A perplexed look crossed his face. “Are you sure you came with us?”

      “Yes.” She couldn’t keep the icy tone out of her voice. “You and Tim usually forgot me in five minutes, tops! Once let loose, you’d scope for the hottest girls in the room, create the game plan and go in for the kill. You had it down to a science, and I was forced to call a taxi for a way home more times than I care to remember.”

      C.J. smiled. “Same old Tasha. You always could tear a person apart in one sentence.”

      “That’s not true.”

      “Yes, it is.” His smile stayed beautiful. “One of our favorite games was to watch how fast you could cut a guy down at a bar. Would it be in one sentence, or in four?”

      “What are you talking about? I never got hit on.”

      “Actually, you did. You just sent them away like poor little puppy dogs.”

      “Puppy dogs?” She smiled, unable to remember being approached by men.

      “Look, Tasha, I’m sorry for whatever you thought I might have done in the past, but I can promise you it won’t be happening tonight.” C.J. looked at her with a possessiveness she’d never felt from a man.

       An apology from Powell? I must be losing it.

      “Let’s drop the subject.” She lifted one eyebrow before continuing to her car. “I still prefer to drive.”

      TASHA PARKED THE CAR at the entrance of the famous landmark hotel, and a valet was prompt to open her door. “Welcome to the Rosemont.”

      C.J. watched Tasha hand her keys to the man while she tried to get out of the car with as much decorum as possible.

      The ride over had been pure hell for him. Looking at her in that delectable dress, her silky hair swept up on her head, was a new experience for him.

      He’d always thought Natasha was cute, but the woman next to him was incredibly alluring. C.J.’s mind wandered back to carefree times before Tim’s death. When he stole looks at Tasha now, he wondered how his friend hadn’t been able to see the amazing woman who’d loved him.

      She was a vision tonight, with those wispy curls floating around her neck. She brought out something in him he’d forgotten existed. Life. He’d been so caught up in Tim’s dying at such a young age, he’d stopped living, too. Yet for some reason seeing Natasha Bennington this morning had brought him back.

      He’d felt a similar moment of truth just СКАЧАТЬ