The Firefighter's Cinderella. Dominique Burton

the bib she wore, knowing she needed his help, not his ogling. An eye check first. Hers looked normal, if you could call eyes that looked like emerald pools normal. Again he seemed to recall something from his past.

      C.J. shook his head and went to work. After checking her pulse, he put ice packs around her body and head. Even though she was bright red, with strands from her braided hair plastered to her cheeks and neck, he could tell she was a looker. The streaks of dried salt on the sides of her face accentuated her high cheekbones and full lips.

      Once he had her settled, he tried to read the sweat-soaked race bib.

      The sound of footsteps told C.J. his colleague was returning.

      “Captain?” Jim said. “Just want you to know it only took us two hours to get the chickens out of the station house.” He laughed and chatted as he set up the IV.

      It had been a long time since C.J. had laughed over a prank pulled at the station, which brought back memories of his old friend. Before Tim had died, he’d been a carefree man who’d laughed his way through life. If he were still alive, there was no way he’d have confessed to a practical joke they’d pulled.

      C.J. and Tim had been known as the best pranksters the station had ever had. Now Troy, an EMT, and some rookies had taken over the job.

      C.J. had lost any will to joke since Tim died, especially after he’d been made captain a year ago. But he’d allowed the pranks to continue as long as the boys didn’t get distracted from their work. If they were caught, it meant kitchen detail for a week.

      When Jim could see he wasn’t making any progress in the teasing department, he said, “Have you read the patient’s bib? We need the information.”

      “No,” C.J. answered curtly. “It’s wet. I’ve been trying to unpin it….”

      “We have to get her to a hospital right away. Her temperature’s too high.”

      “Pardon?” His thoughts were still caught up in Tim.

      “Her temperature’s too high!” Jim repeated. “She needs more care than we can give her here.”

      “I feared it might be that serious.” C.J. finally got the bib undone.

      “Let’s move her to an ambulance now.” He took off to grab the closest paramedic with an ambulance on standby.

      C.J. lifted the bib from her tank top, turning it around to find out the identity of the mystery patient. As he read the name, he did a double take, scanning the information three times to make sure his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him. This explained how he’d known her. Natasha Bennington!

      C.J. could see vestiges of the old Tasha. Sure, she’d always had a pretty face, but she hadn’t looked like this.

      Tasha had always been in love with Tim, the girl who’d never looked at another guy. No wonder those eyes had taken C.J. back in time. Natasha Bennington’s eyes often flashed a brilliant green whenever she was laughing or debating.

      He shook his head in disbelief at this twist of fate, this strange link to the past. Natasha had loved Tim unconditionally, even knowing he felt only friendship in return.

      In all his life C.J. had never seen anything like it. He’d often wondered what it would be like to have a woman love you so completely.

      Tim had always claimed he’d been honest with Tasha. They were friends; that was all they ever would be. She understood that.

      But Tim’s assessment of their relationship never set right with C.J. If a woman like Natasha had been in his life, he would never have let her just hang around. He would have dated her or ended it.

      This new woman lying in front of him was difficult to fathom. He was still trying to figure it out when Jim hurried toward him with the other paramedics, who were ready to take her to the hospital.

      “I’ll be accompanying the patient,” C.J. declared. “It turns out she’s a friend.”

      “Sir? We need the vital information to contact her family,” one of the paramedics said.

      “She’s Congressman Bennington’s daughter, Natasha. We have to keep this quiet. No leaks to the press. Is that understood?” He rose to his full height.

      “But she wrote down another name.”

      “I’ll check it out.”

      The paramedic nodded with a puzzled expression. “I thought she was a heavier-set girl.”

      “Well, she’s not anymore.”

      C.J. followed the others, intending to keep his eye on the new Natasha. He had a few things he wanted to say to her.

      THE LOUD SOUND OF SIRENS reverberated in Tasha’s head. She wondered where it was coming from. Had she slept in and missed the race?

      She woke with a start, but found she couldn’t move very well. Looking down at her body, she found herself strapped to a gurney. It dawned on her that she was traveling in an ambulance.

      “Tasha?” C.J. said, leaning over to speak to her. “Everything’s okay. We’re taking you to San Francisco General.”

      “Those two statements are inconsistent. Tell me what’s going on.”

      “Inconsistent?”

      “Yes, as in, how am I okay if I’m going to the hospital with you in an ambulance?”

      “You’ve always been the feistiest thing.”

      “And your point?”

      “You’re extremely dehydrated and you fainted in my arms at the finish line. I don’t know if you have heatstroke or heat exhaustion. We have to get you checked out.”

      “I’m sure I didn’t faint.”

      “Oh, you fainted all right.”

      At the memory of collapsing in C.J.’s arms Tasha could feel her cheeks heating. How embarrassing.

      “I tried to call your friend Richard, who was listed as your emergency contact. When I reached him, he said he wasn’t in town, and told us to go ahead and call your parents. He seemed very worried.”

      “You called my parents?”

      “Protocol.”

      Her mind raced while she figured out how to handle what was coming. The press would be at the hospital when she was taken from the ambulance. Her day seemed to be getting worse by the minute.

      With her dad running for reelection this year, he never missed a chance to be interviewed. She could see him calling his PR team to tip off reporters, so he could get on the evening news tonight.

      “Who’s Richard?” C.J. asked.

      “Pardon?”

      “Richard. Who is he?”

      She thought C.J. looked flustered. The fact that he wouldn’t take his eyes off her made her feel a little uncomfortable. For years she’d wondered what it would be like to be the object of his attention.

      Better to keep him at arm’s length, she decided. It hurt to be around him because memories of Tim kept surfacing, reminding her of the woman she used to be. Reminding her of the man she’d loved.

      “He’s my running buddy.”

      “And your boyfriend?”

      Tasha refused to answer, but glanced around the ambulance interior, noticing the paramedic. Normally she wasn’t aware of anyone else when C.J. was present, because he was larger than life.

      “How close are we to the hospital?” she asked.

      “Tasha? Look at me.” He sat on the other gurney, staring at her so intently it made her pulse quicken. “You win,” he eventually muttered. “We’re two minutes away. If you don’t want to talk about