With a sigh, Sara placed the newspaper back on the counter. “Do me a favor and try to keep this news from him as long as possible.” She pointed toward Rafe’s room. “He’ll just get upset, and he needs all his strength focused on recovering.”
The nurse nodded. “I’ll do my best and spread the word. Although between the newspapers passed around and the people walking in and out during different shifts, there are no guarantees he won’t hear it anyway.”
Sara nodded. “I appreciate you trying.” She turned to leave, but the nurse cleared her throat.
“Umm…did you read the blog article?” the other woman asked.
“No.” Sara had just looked at the photograph.
The uneasy feeling returned as she picked up the paper once more and this time read through the entire blog, leaving Sara feeling blindsided and raw.
The blogger had actually speculated that she and Rafe had romantic potential. All because of some words he’d apparently uttered before passing out on the rooftop.
It felt damn good to rescue a gorgeous blonde with curves to die for.
Words Sara hadn’t been aware of before now.
Words she’d never be able to forget.
In all the time they’d worked together, she and Rafe had shared chemistry on many levels. Some they’d acknowledged, like their in-sync partnership and ability to read each other’s minds—those had made his transfer so much harder to accept. As much as she’d understood his desire to spend more time with his fiancée, partnerships like theirs were rare. She’d yet to click with her new one even after a year.
Then there was the sexual chemistry, the zing that traveled from her head to the pit of her stomach, then deliciously lower, whenever she so much as looked at Rafe Mancuso. That chemistry she’d ignored, thinking it had to be one-sided.
Now he’d given her reason to think maybe it wasn’t. Maybe he shared those feelings and desires.
“Are you okay?” the nurse asked, breaking into Sara’s wayward thoughts.
“I’m fine. Just surprised by the lengths people will go to in the name of news.” She tossed the paper onto the desk, attempting nonchalance. “Do me another favor? Tell the other nurses not to believe everything they read, okay?”
The woman smiled. “Sure thing. Although I have to say, if that man thought I was gorgeous, I’d make sure I scooped him up before some other desperate woman stepped in for me.”
Sara cringed. “I take it no one here believes I’m his sister?”
The nurse shrugged. “What can I say? Everyone figured he’d want you to stay, and his family didn’t argue.”
Sara rolled her eyes. “What a crazy couple of days. I really need some sleep.”
“Well, you can rest assured he’s in good hands.”
That’s what worried her. “Thanks,” Sara said, pre occupied, her mind still whirling with Rafe’s words.
He thought she was gorgeous?
He’d noticed her curves?
So what?
She forced herself to calm down and focus. Even if his words were honest and true, even if he was no longer engaged to be married, nothing between them could change. Rafe was a man who believed wholeheartedly in the idea of family and permanency, while Sara didn’t hold any illusions about romance or happily ever after.
Life and relationships were hard enough for normal people. Her family history was proof that cops couldn’t sustain long-term relationships of any kind. Generation after generation on every branch of the family tree merely cemented the mantra she lived by—job first and revolving-door relationships when she had time. Although lately there hadn’t been any of either.
She gripped her crutches tighter at the reminder—her job was all she had. Which made this injury and its potential career-ending repercussions so damn scary.
THE DAILY POST
THE BACHELOR BLOG
Nothing is more sexy than a reluctant hero, and that’s Rafe Mancuso. The police officer/hostage negotiator rescued one of New York’s finest, earning him the next most-eligible bachelor status. And based on what he said before passing out from his injuries, his heart might already be spoken for. Still, ladies, anything can happen, so watch for him on the street and send me updates! I’ll post them as they come in.
Rafe liked his privacy. Coming from a big family, he’d learned the value of being alone, away from the constant questions and attention. After college, he’d moved away from his small upstate town and the many relatives who’d been interested in his every move. Of course, he stayed close with his older brother, Nick, and his three adoring sisters. But he loved and appreciated them more from a distance. Here in Manhattan he’d found anonymity in the large crowds—until that damned blogger picked up the hostage story. Now the women of New York City seemed focused on his every move, and he hated it.
After a week’s postoperative rest, Rafe began to take small walks for exercise and to slowly rebuild his stamina. But the Bachelor Blog had made him a spectacle, no longer the anonymous person he’d enjoyed being.
A trip down the hall resulted in female neighbors eyeing him like fresh meat. They coyly batted their eyes and talked in a stage whisper about how they were single and available. For anything. When he walked into the Starbucks he frequented, the guy behind the register shouted a hello, customers turned around and silence descended. The barista making his coffee slipped him her number. And the precinct called and said they’d been receiving packages and perfume-scented deliveries for him. Disgusted, Rafe told them to get rid of them.
All the while, the Bachelor Blogger continued to speculate on Rafe’s relationship with the woman he’d rescued. Day in and day out, reminding Rafe she existed. As if he could forget anything about her. She’d been by his side day and night until he was finally coherent and out of the woods. She looked as good to him exhausted and disheveled as she did made up and glamorous. So, no, he didn’t need the blogger to remind him of what he’d said about her before he’d passed out.
He thought about her all day.
He saw her in his dreams at night.
And wondered constantly what would happen if they gave in to the desire neither had ever mentioned aloud.
Rafe hadn’t heard from Sara since he’d left the hospital, but he remembered everything—from the warmth in her eyes to the relief on her face when he’d finally come to. But the last time he’d seen her, she’d been cool and distant, a far cry from the woman who’d sat by his bedside and held his hand. He had no choice but to respect the boundaries she’d erected. Because as much as he was attracted to her, they wanted different things out of life. And he’d rather keep her friendship than lose her after an affair ended.