CH 10

Joe the firefighter was the epitome of male beauty. Mindy's jaw had dropped when she'd seen him standing at the bar where they'd agreed to meet. The initial irritation she'd felt towards him for calling and postponing their plans till nearly eight had evaporated. He was casually propped up against the counter chatting with the bar tender. The FDNY tee he'd told her he would be wearing was stretched to its limits across a pair of the broadest most well defined shoulders she'd ever seen. Good job, Maggie.

She walked up to his 6'3" frame and tapped him on the shoulder. He twisted around and she found herself looking up into the face of a Norse god. Icy blue eyes and a head full of shaggy blonde hair. She was on a date with Thor. Then he smiled a million kilowatt smile and she melted like chocolate in a beam of sunlight. Damn.

He offered her his hand. "You must be Mindy." She was still staring up at him, at a loss for words, possibly grinning like an idiot. She didn't make a move to take his hand so he reached down and grasped hers. "Maggie's told me a lot about you. Some sort of lady doctor?" His voice was raised a little, fighting over the loud music at the bar.

Mindy nodded, half yelling back, "Lady doctor… yeah." She was dazed a bit by his beauty.

He turned back toward the bartender, a very pretty, very tall red head wearing the skimpiest top Mindy had ever seen. Joe smiled up at her, wiggling his eyebrows and ordering drinks for the pair of them. He turned back to Mindy with two dark ales in his hands. Mindy fought the urge to wrinkle her nose, she was not an ale drinker, but whatever, she decided to roll with it.

She took the drink from his hand with a smile. "So, a firefighter, you pose for any of those calendars I've heard so much about?" She looked up at him, doing her best come hither look, hoping she didn't look deranged.

He leaned forward so he could hear her better. "Oh, yeah." He bellowed at her. "You're looking at Mr. December." He raised one arm and flexed a bicep, a clear invitation.

Mindy reached up and latched on, feeling the hard as rock muscles under her fingers. She expected quick shiver of desire to run through her, but nothing. She slowly moved her hand back to her drink. Hmmm, that was odd.

He was still smiling down at her, slightly nodding his head to the beat of the loud dance music pumping out over the speakers. She took a large drink of her ale, resisting the urge to pucker her lips at the bitterness. She set it back down and stood up on her tippy toes to yell into his ear. "Do you want to dance or something?"

She pulled away and looked up at his face, waiting for an answer. He frowned. "Not really my thing." He lifted his drink and chugged it, draining the glass and slamming it down on the bar. He turned back to the bar tender, winking at her, and ordered two shots of whiskey and before turning back to Mindy. He offered her the shot with that smile. God, did he ever not smile?

She reluctantly took the shot from his hand and tossed it back, using the bitter ale to chase it. Yuck. He reached around behind and slipped his hand down her back, resting on her backside. Whoa. "Maybe we can go do some dancing at my place, if you know what I mean." His hand gave her a slight squeeze and pulled her toward him, leaning in to nuzzle at her neck.

She put her hands up against him, pushing away the tickling bristle at her neck. "Whoa buddy, a deaf and blind nun would know what you meant." Suddenly she had a flashback to the last time she'd met an overly zealous guy at a bar. She looked up at him suspiciously. Maggie wouldn't…. would she?

She pushed him away a little further. "How do you know Maggie?"

He gave her a perplexed look, still not letting go. "Me and Mags go way back. She dated my brother years ago." He cocked his head to the side, satisfied with his answer, and went back in to nuzzle at her neck.

So maybe he wasn't a male prostitute, but Mindy wasn't feeling it. She wasn't blind, she knew he was mouthwateringly handsome, but she also noticed his eyes constantly wandering around the bar, distractedly flitting from one girl to another. Still playing the room. She sighed.

She pushed him away again. "Dude, we just met like twenty minutes ago, pump your breaks." In the past it wouldn't have bothered her. Someone this gorgeous. Someone so obviously interested when she was feeling a little insecure. In the past she would have been a sure thing. But now, she wasn't even feeling that thrill of desire that normally sang through her limbs. Nothing.

He pulled away and stared down at her. A little frown of disbelief temporarily replacing the perpetual smile. "Are you kidding?" He leaned back and hooked one thumb into one of his pockets. "Maggie told me this is what you were looking for right now." He reached forward and took her hand and pressed it up against his chest, slowly dragging it downward.

She snatched her hand from his grasp. "Chill. It looks like I'll have to have a talk with Maggie." She snatched her clutch off the bar and started to walk away. She felt a hand on her arm pulling her back slightly.

She turned back and Joe still had an expression of disbelief on his face. "You don't want me. This is ridiculous." He released her and swaggered back to the bar, calling out to the bartender. "Hey, Yolanda, looks like I'm free tonight."

Mindy found herself trembling with rage as she stomped out of the bar. That cocky son of a bitch. Maggie was going to get an earful. She pulled out her phone and called her. She picked up on the first ring with an overly chipper hello.

Mindy began without preamble. "What the hell were you thinking? Setting me up with some oversexed narcissistic Norse god?" She stomped down the street throwing her hand out to hail a cab.

Mindy could hear Maggie's laughter and it pissed her off more. Two cabs blew by before one finally stopped. "Mindy, he's exactly your type. Tall, confident, and handsome. You've been so tightly wound lately, I though you could do with a night of fun, that's all. Seriously, what happened?"

Mindy was momentarily speechless. Her type? Yeah. He was her type, right? Tall, blonde, blue eyes. Someone to tower over her and make her feel like a petite little bird. Right? Why was she wishing she was with someone she could comfortably look in the eyes, someone who called her "Min" in a soft voice before he cleared his throat and looked elsewhere? Damn it.

She quickly loaded herself in the cab and pulled her attention back to the conversation at hand. "Do you want me to be alone forever? I can't keep going out with men who don't respect me. No matter how blindingly gorgeous they are." She sighed on the last word. "I'm over thirty, Maggie. I just…" She choked a little on the last bit.

The cabbie looked back at her and cleared his throat. "Where we going, miss?" Mindy looked up at him perplexed. She didn't want to go home. Not to her empty single girl apartment. For the first time in her life she found it depressing. For so long it had been a symbol of her independence, a source of pride, now it was just a reminder that she was alone.

She gave the cabbie the address to Shulman and Associates. Maggie heard it and was confused. "Why are you going back to your office? It's after nine."

"I told you when you called earlier, I have a ton of paperwork to do. It's still piled up on my desk, since I spent the last half hour getting ready for this disaster of a date, which, by the way, he called and postponed as I was leaving the office." Mindy settled into the seat.

Maggie heard the oddly melancholic tone in Mindy's voice. "Hey, I'm sorry about Joe. I didn't realize you were taking a different approach these days. I knew he could be a bit of a dick sometimes, but he was always fun in college."

Mindy sniffed. "It's alright, Mag, I don't know what my deal is. I would have jumped him not too long ago." She said her goodbyes and settled her phone in her lap, flicking over to the photos once again. Danny's smiling face looked up at her. This was all his fault.