Dakota's Hero

With the death of her policeman husband in the line of duty, Dakota vows to never give her heart to a man with a dangerous job. If she falls in love again it will be with an insurance agent or salesman.

Firefighter Ryker intends to never marry. His childhood trauma put him off relationships forever.

But when Dakota and Ryker meet, they find it impossible to stay away from each other. Can they somehow overcome their past and let love in?

June was really a lovely month in San Francisco, Dakota thought as she sat on the park bench and studied the ocean she could glimpse in the distance. The sun shown from a clear sky. A steady breeze from the west kept the temperatures cool. She felt as if she were awakening from hibernation. Which, in a way she was. Brad’s death had been so unexpected, she’d seemed to view everything through a fog. But lately, she’d started to notice things.

Like the jogger who ran into view from her left. The park had an exercise course along the jogging track. Those who wished to do so could stop and do the exercises in the fresh air and sunshine. The station opposite the bench consisted of iron bars at various heights for chin-ups.

She’d seen the man before. He came as regular as clockwork every other day at this time. Dakota wondered if she’d decided to take a break at this particular moment because of that fact.

Or could she convince herself her being here was purely coincidental?

She watched him from behind her dark glasses as he stopped at the bars and began a series of chin-ups. His arms were muscular and he did the pull-ups without any effort. His back and shoulder muscles rippled and moved as he pulled himself up over and over. He had tucked his T-shirt into the back waistband of his jogging shorts, leaving that golden expanse of chest and back bare. Long, muscular legs ended in running shoes.

A light sheen of perspiration coated his tanned skin. She watched as he pulled himself up at least two dozen times. When he was finished, he glanced at her. Raising his hand in silent salute, he began jogging again, soon lost from sight.

She let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d held. Did he know she watched him?

He could be a calendar model with those shoulders and that muscular body. She told her friend Bets about him. She’d wanted to come to see for herself, but Dakota guarded this time. She didn’t want to share.

Guilt assailed her. She couldn’t be interested in another man, she’d lost her husband only a few months ago.

Though, she argued, she was not really interested, it was more of an observation of a superb male physique.

All right, maybe a quick fluttering of interest to prove life goes on, as her mother said.

Ten minutes later, enough time to make sure he’d passed the next station and was well beyond sight, she rose to head for home.

Her graduate course work finished last month. She needed to sort through her papers and toss those she’d never need again. Then she had to clean out the flat and decide what to do about living arrangements in the near future.

A studio flat wouldn’t do when the baby arrived. She knew that. But she had delayed making any decisions until school ended.

She'd given up the apartment she and Brad shared. The memories were too painful. The studio flat near the university she'd found on short notice was the best accommodations she could find at the time. Now she needed start looking for something more long-term.

She wasn’t interested in moving in with her mom and dad, though they had both urged her to do so.

She'd been in her own place too long to feel comfortable returning. Dinner each week was fun, living back like a child didn't appeal. But she’d need something beyond the studio apartment she now occupied.

Crossing the street from the park, she turned toward the apartment building. She’d been coming to the park since the good weather arrived. She wasn’t sure when she began noticing her jogger. A couple of weeks ago maybe? Now she waited each day to see him and wonder about him.

Was he also a student that he could take time to jog in the middle of the afternoon? He seemed older than most students she knew. But, then, so was she. Going for a master's had been her goal, one Brad had supported completely.

Now she was just going through the motions.

Maybe her jogger had a night job and exercised before heading off to work.

Not that she should be speculating at all, she chided herself as she opened the large glass door that led to the small lobby of the building. Her husband hadn’t even been dead five months. Wasn’t there supposed to be a year of mourning?