Breaking_A Firefighter Romance

by Brandy Ayers

  Mira grabbed Charlotte’s arm, stopping her in the middle of the sidewalk and cutting off her stream of words. “Hey, I knew you didn’t mean it like that. You’re right. Chris is obsessed with me, in a totally healthy, loving way.”

  Despite her comforting words, Charlotte replayed the poor word choice in her head over and over again until the idiotic statement echoed through her brain endlessly. Mira chatted away next to her, but none of the words penetrated Charlotte’s embarrassment.

  “Charlotte, this is it.” Mira tugged at Charlotte’s shirt, directing her into the front door of a tall apartment complex.

  A man in a crisp uniform held the door open for them, giving a slight bow and murmuring a stiff greeting. This place was a far cry from Charlotte’s converted apartment in an old Victorian house. There was no way Bekah could rent even a closet in this building on a night reporter’s salary.

  Charlotte gaped on the marble floors, gilded trim, and cavernous ceilings as they walked through the lobby, checked in at security, and made their way to the elevator.

  “Yeah, your face is pretty much exactly how I felt walking in here the first time,” Mira chuckled. “Bekah’s parents are very well off. Her dad owns this building.”

  Nodding, she tried to reign in her awe at the pristine surroundings. Even the elevator doors were a pristine and gleaming gold.

  As soon as the doors slid open, Bekah’s bubbly smile greeted them. She wore silk pajama pants, and a cotton cami with a built-in bra that was doing nothing to actually hold up Bekah’s voluptuous chest.

  “Squeee! I’m so excited. I need this in the worst way.” Grabbing both their hands, Bekah dragged them three doors down to her apartment. It wasn't as big as Charlotte had thought it would be, but still a good deal larger than her own place. The main living area had an open concept, with a large island separating the kitchen from the entertainment room. Bekah pointed out where the powder room was, as well as her own room and the guest room. “But tonight, we are going to glamp it in the T.V. room. I have air mattresses ready to go, pillows galore, and I figured we can pretend to roast marshmallows over the pretend fireplace, but really we’ll have to nuke ‘em.”

  Mira laughed and chatted with Bekah easily, while Charlotte stood stiff in the middle of the living room rolling onto the outsides of her feet and back, her fingers clutching at the handles of her overnight bag. “This place is amazing.” The words blurted out of her mouth, obviously a desperate attempt for anything resembling a normal comment.

  Bekah huffed and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, I guess. It so isn’t me, though. My dad made me move in here after everything happened…” Trailing off it became obvious see was talking about everything that had happened with Mira. “I would much rather still be living in my funky apartment on the South Side. But, no one crosses Daddy, so here I am.”

  Now that Charlotte took a closer look, it became obvious that this place held next to nothing of her vibrant coworker. The walls were white, kitchen cabinets white, countertops grey and white marble. Even the gleaming chrome tables were devoid of color. But you could see pops of Bekah here and there. Flaming red pillows, turquoise throw blankets, flowers bursting with color on every surface. It was obvious she had done what she could.

  “Okay, so why don't you two get changed into your PJs, and I’ll pour the wine.”

  Charlotte cleared her suddenly dry throat, and both the reporters turned to glance at her. “Um, I’m not a good drinker. Could I just have water?”

  “No. You are having at least one glass of wine.” Before Charlotte could resist, Bekah barreled on, as was her tendency. “But I promise to make it a small one, and then you can switch to some mocktails I made sure to have on hand. But you need to loosen up a little my chick-a-dee.” In two steps Bekah reached Charlotte’s side and pinched her cheek. With a swat to Charlotte’s butt, Bekah sent her off down the hall to change.

  The master bathroom was insanely huge, bigger than Charlotte’s kitchen. But there were far too many reflective surfaces with the huge mirror behind the double sinks and the polished chrome everywhere. Charlotte quickly changed into her flannel PJs which covered everything from her ankles to her neck. Even her hands were covered in the long sleeves. When she emerged from the bathroom, it was to find Bekah and Mira sitting on the couch with wine glasses in hand. Mira wore capri leggings with a cami, and Bekah wore little sleep shorts and a t-shirt. Next to them Charlotte looked positively Amish in her big flannels.

  “Here is your wine. Just half a glass, don’t worry. I ordered the whole menu off the China Tea House menu, and I have three flavors of Ben & Jerry’s, and enough cheese and crackers to feed an army.” Excitement radiated off Bekah like a beacon, and Charlotte found she couldn’t help but feed off that energy a little.

  Her heart still raced, and the thought of saying something beyond dumb made her palms sweat where they clutched her sleeves, but she was also strangely proud for stepping outside her safe little world.

  “So, you were just a little excited about tonight, huh Beks?” Mira chuckled at their coworker, obviously loving the woman’s open joy.

  “I can’t even tell you.” Bekah drained the last of her wine, reaching for the bottle to fill it back up. “To be honest, I don’t have a lot of girl friends. Something about always flirting with their boyfriends. But I figure Chris is so insanely in love with you that you would never be nervous about me, and Charlotte is as perennially single as I am, so we can bond over that.”

  “Actually, I think our quiet, overnight assignment editor might be working on the romance front.” Mira smirked over the top of her wine glass at Charlotte and winked.

  Dammit, she never should have spouted out all that stuff about Trey. Hell, she definitely shouldn't have had Mira interview him at the fire the day before.

  “Oh reeeeallly.” Bekah turned her whole body to Charlotte, all attention now focused on her. “Do tell. I can’t believe you are going to leave me alone and single all by myself.”

  “No, um there isn’t… romance. I mean a little talking, maybe. But yeah, just no.” Charlotte sipped out of her glass for something to do, the extra bonus being she had an excuse to lower her eyes from their curious stares.

  The cool, white wine slid across her tongue, tart and sweet flavors coating her mouth. She held the sip there for a second, amazed how much she liked the drink. After the one incident with her cousin and the Schnapps, Charlotte had never even had another sip of alcohol, too afraid of losing control again. So, she truly was shocked to discover she liked this wine.

  “Good stuff, isn't it? My cousin’s winery up north makes it. And people say Pennsylvania can’t make good wine. Pffft.” Bekah sipped from her own glass again, leaning back into a more relaxed position. “I want to hear more about this guy.”

  Charlotte sipped again from her glass, having no idea what to say.

  “Well it just so happens I got to meet him yesterday.” Mira piped up, filling the silence that Charlotte left hanging in the air. “Now I am one hundred percent all about my man, but I have to say, holy shit is Charlotte’s Trey hot.”

  Sputtering at her word choice, Charlotte coughed and choked a little on her wine. “Not my Trey, just Trey.”

  “Oh no, trust me, he is all yours. The man just came off the biggest fire of his career, was trying to hide a reporter and cameraman from his chief, and yet the first thing he asked me was how you were doing and wanting to know all about you.”

  This was all new information to Charlotte. She had no idea he had asked Mira about her. Suddenly, Charlotte felt an irrational jealousy that Mira had gotten to talk to and see him in the flesh before Charlotte could. “What did you say?”

  Mira’s smile stretched across her face, and Charlotte immediately knew that she had played right into the savvy reporter’s hand. “I told him you are one of the smartest women I’ve ever met. That you had a sixth sense about news. That you had no idea how beautiful or genuinely amazing you are.”

  “Did you add t
hat she has the most exotic mix of features ever and could have been a runway model if she had wanted to?”

  Charlotte burst out laughing. Surely, they had to be blowing smoke up her ass. But neither women joined her. They stared her down, letting her see the absolute truth in their words, or at least their truth. All of what they said was pure fiction to Charlotte.

  “That’s not... I’m not… He’s going to be disappointed now when we meet and it is just… me.”

  Both Mira and Bekah gave Charlotte a confused, pitying look, which she hated. She didn't need pity. She was fine with being a mousey, shy, bookworm, virgin. Well maybe not fine, but she’d made her peace with it long ago.

  “By the way Mira, you did an amazing job on the story today.” Charlotte crossed her fingers under the long cuffs of pajama sleeves, hoping with everything she had they would let her get away with the subject change.

  Thankfully, Mira smiled and nodded her head with enthusiasm. “Oh my gosh, seriously, yesterday was one of those news days that I love. The story was important, no one got hurt, the whole crew came together and put something incredible together.” She arched one eyebrow, giving them some of that sass they’d seen her torture Chris with. “And best of all, we kicked everyone’s ass.”

  “Hell yeah, we did.” Bekah clinked glasses with Mira, then reached across the coffee table to do the same with Charlotte.

  “I watched your story from the evening shows, too, Bekah. I’ve never seen you get so emotional with a story before. It was very touching.” This she could do. Talk about work, compliment the amazing reporters sitting before her. That came easy.

  Bekah crossed her legs under her, setting her drink on the table. “Well, it was impossible not to get emotional talking to all those people who lost everything. And it isn’t exactly the highest income neighborhood. I know a lot of those families are going to be sleeping in shelters for a while.”

  Silence settled over the three of them. It was almost awkward sitting there in the elegant apartment while talking about the misfortune of some many just a few miles away.

  Almost as soon as the melancholy moment began, Bekah jumped up from the couch, not letting them wander too far down that road. “Hey, you said I could braid your hair. Time to pay up, sister.” Bekah pointed one finger at Charlotte, then spun around to run someplace down the hall.

  “I’m pretty sure I never said yes to that idea.” Charlotte yelled after the curvy woman.

  “It’s cute that you think that is going to stop her.” Just as Mira laughed out the words, a phone rang from the kitchen.

  “That will be the delivery guy at the front desk.” Bekah called out from where ever she was in the back. “Mira, do you mind going down and grabbing it. I swear the night guard undresses me every time I go down there.”

  “You mean he undresses you with his eyes, right?” Mira stood from the couch, and started for the door to the apartment just as Bekah emerged from the back with an arm full of brushes, hair spray, and makeup.

  “Nope, I mean he always ends up undressing me in the mailroom right before he—”

  “Got it. Don’t need the details, sweetie.” Mira’s laugh echoed out the in the hall as she let the door swing closed behind her.

  “Okay, so I don’t have a foundation that will match your skin tone, but I am pretty sure I have every eyeshadow shade on the face of the planet, so I’m bound to have something that will work for your skin tone.” Bekah arranged the items in neat lines on the table, before turning to scrutinize Charlotte even closer. “Hell, you don’t even need foundation. Your skin is freaking flawless. I bet you don’t even do anything to it do you?”

  “What do you mean do anything to it? I wash it, and use the moisturizer my mom gives me for every holiday and birthday. That’s it.” All the attention centered on her made Charlotte squirm, the added compliment just making her want to shrink back and hide in her too big pajamas even more.

  “Oh my gosh, to get my skin even half decent, I have a routine that takes forty-five minutes before bed. Not to mention I contour the shit out of myself on air. I’m so tired of people emailing about me needing to lose twenty pounds.” Bekah rolled her eyes again and picked up a large round brush. “Okay, sit on the floor. I’m going to do this awesome braid I saw on a blog the other day, and then I’ll do your makeup.”

  Charlotte did as she was told, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. Bekah took the elastic band out from Charlotte’s hair and began gently brushing her long locks out.

  A gust of air from Bekah’s deep sigh fluttered some of the soft strands around Charlotte’s face. “I love makeovers. My main thrill in life is a makeover.”

  “Clueless. Nice.” The stroking of the brush somehow helped relax her, and Charlotte closed her eyes, enjoying someone else taking care of her, even if it was just for a makeover. At some point in her childhood, her parents must have brushed her hair. She couldn’t have sprung from the womb knowing how to style it in her signature conservative bun. But she had no memory of either of them taking the time to brush her hair out. Charlotte often had to enforce her own bedtime routine since her father was usually busy managing her mother.

  “I love that movie.” Bekah’s voice softened while she concentrated on separating the hair into sections and began weaving some magic Charlotte couldn’t see.

  “It is a good one, but I still love Heather’s the most.”

  “Oh my god yes!” Bekah tugged a little too hard one section of hair in her excitement and apologized quickly before moving on. “There are so many great one-liners in that movie. Plus, Christian Slater was still a total babe.”

  Just as the door opened and the scent of Chinese food wafted into the open space, Bekah tied the finished braid in a hair elastic and gasped loudly.

  “Yeah, that was my reaction when I saw how much food you ordered. Did you invite more people that I don’t know about?” Mira giggled as she carried two huge shopping bags full of take out containers into the living room.

  “Not the food, Charlotte has tattoos!” Bekah practically screeched the words out, and Charlotte immediately stiffened.

  No one had ever seen her ink before, other than Kym. Heck, they didn’t even take pictures of the artwork for Kym’s portfolio.

  “No way. Let me see.” Mira came around the back of the chair where they sat and leaned over. “Holy shit, that’s not just a little tramp stamp either. How far down does this go, Char?”

  Charlotte started a little at the shortening of her name. Kym had been the only friend who’s ever called her that, and so many of their interactions were online. Having someone else use the nickname, and in person, threw her. “Um, pretty far. I have a good friend that is an artist down at Galaxy Ink.”

  “Kym Eves is your friend?!” Bekah pulled down the collar of Charlotte’s shirt a little more to get a better view of the top of her back piece. “She is totally famous. I heard they asked her to be on one of those tattoo competition shows as a judge, and she turned them down.”

  There was no doubt if that was true, Kym would have turned them down immediately. She barely left her building, let alone the city. “She is great. I’m actually going for my last session on my back tomorrow.”

  “Okay, stand up. We need to see this whole puppy.” Bekah stood on the chair bouncing up and down and clapping.

  Twisting around to look at Bekah’s antics above her, a fissure of fear shot through Charlotte’s system. “But, I have a shirt on. You can’t see it all without me taking it off.”

  “So, we’re all girls here. We all got boobs.” Bekah cupped her own large breasts, heaving them up under her chin. “Some more than others, but they are all basically the same. Nipples. Boobs. That is it.”

  “Watch those things, Bekah. You could put someone’s eyes out if one of those girls get loose.” Mira turned her eyes to Charlotte, giving her a sly wink. “Why don’t you take my hoodie, go to the bathroom and put it on backwards, then come out to show us. Ev
erything will be covered, but we’ll still get to see. Because I admit I am really curious. I’ve kinda always wanted a tattoo, but never had the guts.”

  Maybe it was Mira saying she didn’t have the guts. Maybe it was the wine. Or maybe it was Charlotte’s deep desire to make these women happy, for them to like her and want to hang out more. But Charlotte found herself nodding and taking the hoodie from Mira before shuffling back to the same bathroom she had changed in before.

  This time, instead of avoiding the mirror, she faced it head on. Watching as she unbuttoned her shirt to reveal her pale braless breasts. They were nothing like Bekah’s overflowing ones, or Mira’s small put perky ones. They were too small to even be perky. But there was something there. A roundness that still spoke to femininity that Charlotte often felt she lacked.

  Next, she turned her back to the mirror, taking in the tattoo in the wide mirror. She rarely looked at it, which was odd since she was one of two people that knew it was there. And she loved knowing it was there, just under her clothes. Her own little secret that would shock everyone in her life. The colors started just below the nape of her neck, midnight blues, vibrant pinks, deep violets, swirling together with white and grey stars scattered throughout.

  Planets and moons peaked out from clouds of space dust, almost seeming to spin in their orbits. Charlotte never understood how Kym had been able to give movement to a still picture of the galaxy, but she did. The further down her back you looked, the less color there was, instead just the black lines of the outline giving a hint of what they had planned. More swirls, stars, a galaxy, and at the bottom a girl in a dress holding a wand with the whole galaxy pouring from the tip.

  Charlotte awkwardly put the hoodie on backwards, the zipper gaping open over her back. Her heart pounded as she practically tiptoed back to the living room. Black spots swam before her eyes, and for a minute, she truly thought she might pass out. Before she could, she turned her back to Bekah and Mira, draping the heavy tail of her braid over her shoulder so they could have an unobstructed view of the artwork.