For a Hero by Sable Hunter, Jess Hunter Read Free Book Online Page B

and dresses and opulent jewelry swirled around them, just like in the fairy tales. Jenna looked up at David, whom she was holding tightly, and saw a sculpted man. His face was perfect. He was dressed impeccably. The suit sat prim across his broad shoulders. Jenna snuggled into his side, proud for everyone to see her on his arm.
    Navigating their way through the house, David eventually found his way to the Regency Suite. Couples swirled in perfect circles, whirling and spinning and stepping. They waltzed and spun all around them in Dervish manner. All of a sudden, a familiar face approached them.
    “Hey Girl! Looks like you have been experimenting with some retail therapy. Tell me about this purchase you made tonight.” Miranda laughed and stumbled, careful not to spill a drop of her precious champagne. “Maybe we can arrange some kind of sub-leasing agreement, hmm?”
    “Hands off.” Jenna declared jokingly. “He belongs to me tonight. Go find Blaine or whoever and dance. Chief Conlon will be dancing with me, only.” Jenna winked at Miranda who, despite her ever-intensifying state of inebriation, got the hint and left the two on the floor.
    “Jenna, I have a confession to make. This was Blaine’s idea. I can’t dance.” A blush colored his high cheekbones. “I’m not going to know what to do.”
    She fell for him more and more the longer they stayed together. “How precious. The Fire Chief can’t dance. Don’t worry, I won’t tell any of the other firemen so they won’t make fun of you.” She held his hand and pulled him close. “Come on, Wonder Boy. I’ll teach you.”
    ‘Wonder Boy?’ David grinned, he liked that.
     
    *****
     
    “Dinner was wonderful, David. Thank you so much.” Jenna sat in David’s passenger seat, holding her swan-shaped foil left-overs in her lap. “The whole evening, actually, was perfect.”
    “It was my pleasure. It was so much better than I thought it would be.”
    “What? You thought you wouldn’t have a good time with me?”
    At her look of dismay, he quickly tried to explain. “No, not at all, Jenna. I just really dislike these social functions Blaine drags me to. They are usually stuffy and boring and I get humiliated in some way or another. But tonight was different. You were amazing.” He drove on, with his right hand resting warmly on her thigh. He felt like he needed to claim her in some way. “But the whole dancing thing was kind of terrible.”
    “Good. I was hoping it would be something like that. And the dancing was adorable. You didn’t fall over too much.” They drove into the night. Southwest Austin was mountainous and green. Even at night, the hills could be seen rising above them.
    “Where do you live?”
    “On North Lamar past Koenig.” That location perked up David’s memory.
    “I ride the bus over that way sometimes.”
    “Yeah, I know. David, I have a confession to make.” She put her hands in her lap, curling up into herself, nervous for the reaction he would have to her revealing.
    “What is it?”
    “There is a reason why I simply had to buy you this evening. I have seen you before.”
    David looked puzzled. His concentration bore down on her words as he turned north to reach her apartment.
    “I was on the bus the day you got in a fight with that man because he wouldn’t let the women sit down. I watched you stand up for them. I noticed how you refused to throw a punch or say a cruel word.”
    “That wasn’t a big deal. Anybody would have done that.”
    “No, David, they wouldn’t. I have never met a man like you before in my life. I noticed you because you were huge and beautiful and striking, but after I saw what kind of heart you have, what kind of soul you have, I just couldn’t get you out of my mind.” She began to come out of her cocoon as she bared her soul.
    David didn’t know what to say. He sat there in silence and drove, dumbfounded.
    “Did I upset you?” She retreated again.
    “No, Honey, not at all. This