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

symbol of two crossing axes with the fire station’s numbers at the top.
I wish I could say I was staring for no reason, but the truth is, I’m looking for him.
Isaac Black.
Ever since I covered him with hot chocolate three days ago, he’s been present in my mind. Maybe he’s not in my every thought, but he’s made a home deep in my subconscious.
Get back to work, Westbrook.
I turn on my heel to head back down the hall to my classroom, but I’m halted by someone directly in my path.
“Jesus!” I say, completely startled and way too loudly, calling the attention of everyone in my general vicinity.
The lobby goes silent and every eye in the room is on me.
“We have to stop running into each other like this… literally.” His voice is deep, a bit raspy even.
It’s then I realize his hands are on my waist, keeping me upright because otherwise I’d be on my ass right now.
I step back out of his reach and try to shake off whatever effect his touch seems to be having on me and gather my wits.
“One would think you were stalking me and causing these run-ins,” I tease.
“I like to think I’d be a bit smoother than trying to run you over like a bulldozer. I’m just here for the fire drill. Seeing you is a happy bonus though.”
“You think so? I’m sure your girlfriend would disagree.” It’s a stab, to be sure, and even though he said before they weren’t together, I’m still going to poke at him a little.
“Girlfriend?”
“The pretty redhead you were with.”
“Isabelle? She’s not my girlfriend. We’re just friends.”
“I’m not that cozy with my friends.”
“Then you have the wrong kind of friends.” He smiles and it nearly knocks me off my feet. “Are you a teacher here?”
I have to actively force myself to keep my eyes on his face because the way the T-shirt he’s wearing stretches across his chest and hugs his biceps should be illegal.
“I am. Primarily junior English, but I have an AP class as well.”
“English, huh? That was my least favorite subject in school. I’m more of a science guy myself, but I think if I had an English teacher who looked like you, I would have paid more attention.”
I roll my eyes. “Real smooth. What did your English teacher look like?”
“Mrs. Purdy? Hell, she was in her seventies, probably should have been retired, smelled like old socks and baby powder.”
I laugh louder than I mean to and throw a hand over my mouth. The sound causes everyone to look our way again.
“That was oddly specific.”
“It’s a smell you can’t really forget,” he chuckles.
“I can only imagine.” I shift on my feet a bit. I’ve never been really good at this whole flirting thing, so my mind is telling me to abort now while I’m ahead. “I should probably get back to my class before they go crazy in there.”
“Okay, I should probably go check in with the chief too.” He reaches out to shake my hand, just as he did when we first met. “It was nice seeing you again, Sawyer. Maybe next time, we can try to make sure you remain upright.”
I reach out toward him and place my hand in his, palm to palm, and we shake. The heat of our skin touching is hard to ignore, and so is the fact that he gently caresses the underside of my wrist before we finally break the connection.
“That would be nice.” I begin to back away. “It was nice seeing you too, Isaac.”
I take off up the stairs and back to my classroom.
***
“Don’t think I didn’t see you, young lady,” Olivia says, with an arched brow as we eat lunch in my classroom a couple hours after the fire drill.
I pause with my sandwich midair, halfway between my plate and my mouth. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb. I saw you chatting it up with Hottie McFirefighter in the lobby.” She chomps into a carrot and stares holes through me.
“Oh.” I place my sandwich back down on the plate. “It was a total coincidence. He happened to be here, and I basically ran over him again.”
“He is very attractive, you know,” she says, before sinking her teeth very loudly into another carrot with ranch dotted on the end.
“I do have eyes. It would be pretty hard to deny he is a very attractive man.”
“And judging by the smile on your face and the smile on his, I have to assume he finds you equally as attractive.”
“He’s just being polite.” I wave her off.
“Oh, please. Mr. Jordan holding the door open for us every morning is being polite. Isaac Black is more than polite. He’s laying the groundwork to show you how good he is with his big hose, if you catch my drift.” She holds up her hands, showing me what ten inches could look like.
“Oh my God. What is wrong with you?” I toss a napkin at her.
“I’m brutally honest and you love me.” She puckers her lips. “I gotta be honest, Sawyer, you’ve been here almost a year and you haven’t dated anyone at all. You need to get out there a bit. Have some fun.”
“He’s a firefighter,” I say plainly, to which she sighs heavily.
“I know, I know. You don’t date firefighters.”
“You know why, Liv. It’s too close. It brings back too many bad memories, and those memories aren’t worth a roll in the sack with—”
“A roll in the sack with a six foot three inch, Adonis-like god, who looks like he could dish out orgasms like he was born and bred for it?” she interrupts.
“Why don’t you date him then?” I cross my arms over my chest.
“Nah. He’s clearly super into you.” She shakes her head. “Plus, I prefer mine a bit more rough around the edges. I want to be kind of afraid of them, if you know what I mean.”
I roll my eyes and laugh. “I know what you mean.”
In any other circumstance, I might look