The Firefighter's Girl (2 page)

But if the pain of the last months meant Rebecca was back in his life, then he could accept that.

In the ten years he hadn’t seen her, not one day had gone by when Sawyer hadn’t had some thought of her. His aunt’s death had done a number on her and he could understand it. They were close. Hell, she was the only family Rebecca had. Her father had never been in the picture and what he knew of her mom was that she was a drunk, had been for so long that Rebecca had spent most of her childhood in foster homes.

He still remembered their last night together, how angry he’d been with her. Thank goodness the officer who had pulled her over recognized her, knew her relationship with him and he hadn’t arrested her. Instead, he had handed her over to Sawyer and walked away, telling him how lucky she had been.

He had tried to talk to her, but she had been hostile. Hostile and drunk. Although he did not regret the act of spanking her, he did regret having done it that night. He should have waited, he’d been too angry with her and he had scared her, and worse, he had left afterwards. He had been so caught up in his own reactions, so confused, that he had just left her alone after spanking her. The next day when he had come to talk to her, to apologize, she had been gone. No note, no nothing. She had simply disappeared.

“Rebecca,” he began, reaching his hand across the desk to touch hers.

She startled at the touch and almost pulled away, but he locked his gaze on hers and held her there.

“I came back looking for you the next morning.”

She seemed to be searching his eyes, the look in hers defensive but also confused and a little sad. She dropped her gaze and pulled her hand out from under his. “It was a long time ago,” she mumbled.

He waited a while for her to speak, but when it was still silent after a few moments, he leaned back in his chair. She wasn’t ready to have this conversation yet. That was fine. He had found her again. He had time.

“Ok, Rebecca,” he said, trying to smile a little. “Fix my leg.”

She turned her wide honey-colored eyes to his, her expression relaxing a little. “Let’s have a look at you.”

Chapter Two

Three months of weekly visits later, Sawyer walked into the physical therapy office and set his crutch against the wall before taking a seat. Sunlight poured in from the large windows. He checked his watch. He was a quarter of an hour early and Rebecca was usually very prompt. He reached to pick up a magazine and glanced over to the reception desk to find the three women there staring at him. One lowered her lashes while the others smiled seductive smiles in his direction. He raised his eyebrows and smiled back, pretending to misunderstand, then turned his attention to the magazine he had taken.

Cosmo
. He had picked up a
Cosmo
. He set it back down and scanned the other titles: one cooking magazine and the rest were fashion. There was one copy of
Time
. He had read that one three months ago. Shaking his head, he put it back.

Inhaling a deep breath, he glanced around at the two waiting patients. This was his sixth visit to Rebecca since they had removed his cast. He had insisted on remaining with her as his therapist after that initial visit. Anyone could have done the job, but he wanted Rebecca. And he had been right to do it.

Ten years ago, there was a brief period of time where they had become close, so close that he had thought he might have much more serious feelings for her than either of them intended. Although he had betrayed her trust that last night, ever since their surprise reunion three months ago, he was determined to rebuild that and had been little by little. He still cared about her, had for all of those years. He had tried finding her, but she had effectively disappeared and now that she had walked back into his life, even if accidentally, he had no intention of letting her go again.

But she didn’t quite know that yet. He leaned back in his chair. She would give him a hard time today about using just the one crutch, but he had been out of commission for too long and wanted his life back. He wasn’t used to the pace he’d had to adopt since the fire. He chuckled to himself. Besides, it was kind of cute to see her get all in a huff about something and verbally chastise him. He found it almost charming.

She had mentioned her boyfriend a few times, but from what Sawyer had understood, the relationship was over, had been for a long time. He just needed to convince Rebecca of that. Or not so much convince her as make her see it for herself because deep down, she already knew it.

A door opened and a man talking too loud had everyone in the waiting room turn.

“Fuck that shit, Bec,” the man said.

Sawyer fisted his hands and his gaze turned predatory when the man stepped around the corner and into Sawyer’s line of vision. He knew instantly that this was Jeff, Rebecca’s boyfriend.

“Jeff.” Rebecca came running around the corner and stopped suddenly when she realized she had an audience. Jeff meanwhile stormed through the waiting area. Rebecca stood there, her expression mortified. The whole of her stance said she wanted nothing now but to disappear into the earth.

Just as Jeff neared the door, Sawyer stood to pick up his crutch and
accidentally
set it in the fast approaching man’s path.

Jeff tripped and Sawyer reached a hand out to steady him, his grip on Jeff’s bony arm hard, his gaze into the deadbeat boyfriend’s eyes communicating exactly what he thought of him.

“You had better watch yourself,” Sawyer said, his tone barely masking the threat. He paused for a moment before gesturing toward the crutch. “Don’t want to break a leg.”

Jeff looked as though he wanted to say something, but Sawyer squeezed his arm just a little harder. Jeff’s gaze fell to where Sawyer’s hand held him. “Sorry, man.”

As soon as Sawyer released him, Jeff walked out the door without a backwards glance.

Sawyer cleared his throat, casting a chastising look at the three women behind the reception desk who now turned back to stare at a mortified Rebecca.

“I’m early,” he said loud enough to distract. He took his crutch and walked toward her.

She was barely able to meet his eyes as she struggled to check her emotions. When he reached her, he placed a hand on her arm and looked directly at her, forcing her to hold his gaze for a moment. But when hers faltered, he turned her, keeping hold of her. “Let’s go into your office.”

Sawyer knew all about Jeff. Or at least enough about him to know he was a no-good prick. But how an intelligent, successful woman like Rebecca could let someone like Jeff take advantage of her knowing it herself, baffled him. He shook his head. Some women just needed intelligent guidance along with a firm hand to get their attention and show them how they were screwing up their lives. Rebecca Banks was one of those women.

She let him lead her to her office without resisting and once inside, she took two Kleenex out of the tissue box and turned her back to him while wiping her eyes. He could hear her sniffling and saw her shoulders tighten as she tried to hold back her sobs. He watched her back, unwilling to let her off the hook, unwilling to give her the privacy she wanted while she got herself under control.

He glanced at his crutch, grateful once again for the injury that had set her in his path.

Rebecca was slowly coming around and trusting him more and more over the course of the sessions. What was clear to him almost right from the start was that she wanted, no, she needed someone to trust. A friend. And maybe their brief relationship ten years ago and the timing of it in particular made her more open to trusting him.

She had been quick to tell him about Jeff, but he had been even quicker to learn just what kind of lowlife loser Jeff was. Getting her to see it, however, was something else entirely and he knew he was riding a fine line when confronting her.

“Rebecca,” he said, waiting for her to turn and face him. When she did, her normally smooth skin was slightly pinkish, her usually smiling, pretty brown eyes puffy and red.

“I’m sorry, Sawyer,” she said, straightening her shoulders and sucking in two quick breaths. She walked to her desk and sat down. “That was really unprofessional.”

“I don’t care about being professional, Rebecca. Our friendship is too important for that. I hope you feel the same about me.”

She still had trouble holding his gaze and her mouth moved into a smile that was more sad than anything else. “I do, Sawyer. I guess I gave them a show at least, huh?” she said, gesturing toward the waiting room.

He didn’t respond. Yes, she had given them a show. They were probably sniggering about it now. It was an ugly quality, to take pleasure from another’s pain. And Rebecca didn’t deserve it, neither that humiliation nor the pain itself.

“That was Jeff, I take it?” he asked. She had been with Jeff for just over a year. They lived together and the few times she had confided in Sawyer and told him how Jeff had been out of work, how he was depressed, he had seen there was more to it than that. She was supporting him and Jeff had been ‘out of work’ for more than half a year now.

Rebecca nodded. “I wish you could have met him some other way.”

Sawyer again did not comment on her remark, knowing no matter how he met the bastard who shamelessly lived off a woman and treated her like he had just witnessed, he would have the same opinion of him.

“Why do you let him talk to you like that?” Sawyer asked.

Her face flushed red and he exhaled. He hadn’t meant to embarrass her. He was punishing her for Jeff’s behavior. But he was a firm believer that people only treated you the way you allowed them to treat you.

“What happened? He seemed angry with you,” he continued.

That same smile was back. “I forgot to leave him any money,” she said.

It took all Sawyer had not to get up to shake some sense into her.

“I hadn’t gotten to the ATM after work yesterday. It was raining pretty hard and I was late to make dinner and just wanted to go home, you know?”

“He can get his own money, Rebecca,” he said. It took quite some effort not to say more, but he didn’t want to isolate her. “When was the last time he went out to look for a job?”

Her expression changed while her eyes searched his. Sadness was gone, replaced with something that almost told him she knew he was right. Almost, but not quite. And if that was the emotion, it was quickly replaced by a cool professionalism.

Sawyer kept his eyes on hers and she turned hers to the file on the desk. Too late, she had just shut down. Just weeks before, he would not have said what he had said, but today, after watching Jeff humiliate her and listening to her defend him, he’d had enough.

“Why are you on one crutch?” she asked, the space between them marked.

Sawyer studied her and sat back in his chair. She wasn’t ready to hear it yet. She knew Jeff was no good. How in hell did women like her end up with losers like that anyway? After what she had been through, where she came from, she had gotten her act together. She had put herself through school and had a good job. Now this loser was taking advantage of her and she was allowing it. That was the part that bothered him the most really, the fact that she was allowing it.

“I’m anxious to get off both crutches,” he said. “It’s been too long and I don’t like being slow.”

She smiled and leaned forward, setting her elbows on the desk and her face in her hands. “Recovery takes time, Sawyer. You’re going to set yourself back if you try to push it too hard. Don’t come in here without a second crutch again until I ok it, you hear me?” she asked.

He smiled. There she was, the confident, caring woman he knew and cared for.

He leaned forward and mimicked her, leaning his face on his hands, his elbows on top of the desk. “Oh, yeah? And what are you going to do if I do?” he asked.

He watched her eyes grow wide and almost heard her swallow. She was as affected by him as he was by her. Her face turned just the slightest shade of pink and she lowered her lashes. He smiled. She was so shy. He could think of a hundred ways to make her blush like that, each of which was absolutely off limits at the moment.

* * *

Sawyer Hayes still had exactly the same effect on her now as he had all those years ago. But nothing could happen between them for exactly that reason. She could lose herself with someone like him and she wasn’t willing to give up her control.

He was a man with a presence as big as he was physically. And he was big. At 6′6″ tall, he towered over her by more than a foot, not to mention the sheer bulk of him. And he was a fireman to boot. Rebecca wondered how a man like him was still single.

He had saved her out there. She had been so completely embarrassed by Jeff and how he had talked to her like he had, how he had stormed out of the office. She knew if she told Sawyer what he had done just before leaving, that he had gone through her purse and when he had found her wallet empty of cash, how he had taken her credit card even when she had told him no, Sawyer would be pissed. He would probably try to go after Jeff and get himself hurt. Well, not that Jeff could hurt Sawyer. Sawyer was twice his size and she had a feeling that even with his injured leg, he could take Jeff on easily. But she was also fully aware that he would reprimand her for having allowed Jeff to treat her like he did. And he would be right to.

No! What was she saying? That was exactly why she had run off ten years ago. She was an adult and Sawyer’s sort of reprimand came in the form of a bare bottom spanking! She was an independent, professional woman. Women like her did not get upended over a man’s knee, have their bottoms bared and then spanked. They just didn’t.

She had to be patient with Jeff. He had lost his job some months back. Things would get better once he found a new one. He had gone on a few job interviews and was just having a run of bad luck. Even as she thought that though, another voice, the one of reason and logic, berated her. He hadn’t been on an interview in almost nine weeks. And now, his brother Andy and Andy’s girlfriend, Shannon, were moving into the same apartment building. Something told her that wasn’t going to be good, but it was out of her hands.