Branded: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World)

hand. “I’m Jean.”
“He’s a man. He can be forgiven.” I smile and place my hand in hers to shake. “I’m Sawyer.”
“You didn’t even give me chance, Grams.” He chuckles. “And I take offense to that man comment.”
“Sawyer. What a unique and lovely name.”
“Thank you,” I tell her. “I’m named after my grandmother. It was her maiden name.”
“I adore it.” She releases my hand and looks up at Isaac. “Tell me you aren’t hiding this one from your dear old grandmother. She’s one hell of a looker too.”
“Grams,” he scolds a bit under his breath. “Play it cool.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Thank you for the compliment. That’s very sweet, but Isaac and I just met at the Harvest Festival two weeks ago. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and bumped into him.”
“Then she ran me over while I was working a drill over at Sunnyville High, and then we saw each other again at the high school track. I was there for a run.”
I roll my eyes at him and bite my lip in a smile, because we both know he came there on purpose to see me.
“And now you’ve run into each other again here at the supermarket? Seems serendipitous to me,” Jean says with a knowing grin.
“Actually, Grams, I tried to get her number last time I saw her, but apparently Sawyer here doesn’t date firemen.”
That asshole is throwing me under the bus in front of his grandmother. He plays hardball.
“That’s just about the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.” Jean looks my way and shakes her head. “Firemen are strong, loyal, brave and,” she looks around, leans in closer to me and whispers, “they are wonderful in bed.”
I cover my mouth to stifle my laughter.
“Christ’s sake, Grams. Seriously?” Isaac covers his eyes and looks positively horrified.
“What? It’s the truth.” She shrugs as if she said the most natural thing in the world.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I cannot believe this is happening right now.” He is still covering his eyes. “I can’t even look at you, and I’m going to have to scrub that image out of my brain.”
I watch for a few moments while they tease each other back and forth. Their relationship is clearly close, and it makes my heart ache. I miss my family.
“Well, I’m going to leave you two to talk privately for a moment.” Jean starts to move but stops just beside me. “It was lovely to meet you, Sawyer, and do me a favor, would you? Don’t be too hard on my grandson. He’s a good one. Trust me.”
I just give her a smile and then I nod at her words. “It was nice to meet you too, Jean.”
“Isaac, I’m going to go over to the books. I want to find something new to read. There’s this new one by that pretty author, what’s her name… K. Bromberg, that I’ve been dying for.”
“Go find your book. I’ll be along soon. I just want to say goodbye to Sawyer.”
She waves him off then she’s on her way.
“She’s adorable.”
“She’s special, that’s for sure, and I’m sorry if she made you feel uncomfortable with the whole fireman in bed comment.”
“No, not at all. It was funny. I swear. It takes a lot to offend me. I appreciated her honesty.”
“If she’s one thing, it’s honest. She has kept my ass in line for a long time.”
“It’s great you do this for her. I know I said that earlier, but it’s the truth. So many people wouldn’t.”
“I love her,” he says simply.
It’s in this moment, right here in the middle of a supermarket, my armor cracks, just a bit, and I know if he asks me for my number again, I will say yes.
“It shows.”
He slides his hand through his hair and gives it a tug. “Grams was telling me, before I saw you in here, that taking chances when you can is really important.”
“Shooting her shot,” I say with a smile.
“You heard us?”
“I did. I have to be honest; I saw you before you saw me and I got nervous. I tried to make a break for it.”
He laughs and shakes his head. “Am I really that scary?”
“You’re not scary at all, Isaac. You just make me a bit nervous, that’s all.”
He regards me closely for a moment, like he’s trying to read my mind, just like at the festival the last week.
“You really don’t trust people like me, do you?”
“It’s hard to trust anyone sometimes, isn’t it?”
He steps a bit closer and places a hand on my cart sitting idly between us. My eyes flick down to see his strong fingers curling over the metal. They are long, but not like piano playing fingers. Perfectly sized so if he were to hold my hand, they would completely wrap over mine, and if he were to put his hand on my leg, his fingers would cover the entire expanse of my skin from outer to inner thigh.
“That’s true, but a very pessimistic outlook.” He stares at me for a moment then speaks again. “Grams always takes a chance, so that is what I’m going to do.”
How can a simple phrase like that make me tingle from head to toe? Is he taking a chance on me?
“Meaning?”
“Give me a chance to prove to you not everyone is bad, especially not everyone in my line of work, and especially not me.”
He isn’t pushy. He’s not trying to force me into anything. He’s just being consistent, and even I have to appreciate that… shooting his shot.
“What would this chance entail?”
“Five dates. Give me five dates to prove it, and after five dates, if you still think you can’t trust me or if you no longer want to see me, I’ll bow out gracefully and leave you be.”
“Five dates,” I repeat.
Jason’s memory is all around me every single day, no matter what I do, I can’t run from it forever. This nice, incredibly handsome, sweet man wants to spend time with me, and who am I to say