Page 36 of Walk Off

Celia raised an eyebrow. “How’d you do that?”

“This does not leave this room,” Zara said. “Hannah is the only one who knows this story and I can’t believe I’m going to tell it to anyone else. It's the most embarrassing moment of my life.”

“It’s not that bad,” Hannah said, but Celia could tell she was holding in a laugh.

Oh, this was going to be good. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“It was the summer between my junior and senior year in college and I was interning for a small sports firm in Chicago. I met this guy, Aiden, when I was out one night, and he and I went back to his place. We had a good time and made plans to meet up the next night. He sent me a message later in the day saying he was running late, but to just use the key under the doormat and let myself inside. I did just that and then decided to surprise him by being naked on his couch, waiting for him when he showed up. Only, he wasn’t the first person to show up. Turns out, he had a roommate who strolled in the door, while I was naked as the day I was born, on the couch.”

“Oh God.” Celia covered her mouth. “Let me guess, the guy was this Noah Ashe guy?”

Zara nodded. “I was spread eagle on the fucking couch with my lady bits just hanging out for the world to see. When he opened the door, I screamed so loudly and tried to cover up, but there was nothing around. The kicker is, the man didn’t move. He didn't turn around or look away. He stared at me and smiled wickedly.”

Hannah was laughing so hard, even though she’d obviously heard this story before. “Keep going,” she said around her laughter.

“So there I was, naked and embarrassed, with the hottest guy I’d ever seen standing in front of me. I decided to own it and stand straight with my hands on my hips. I asked if he liked what he saw, just hoping to embarrass him. The fucker tilted his head, licked his lips, and said yes. I was thrown off once again at his boldness. I was just about to grab my clothes and walk away, but before I could, the fire alarm went off. The freaking fire alarm. I was confused and unsure what to do, but Noah grabbed me by the arm and dragged me outside. Remember, I was still completely naked. I screamed and shouted for him to let me go, but he had a one-track mind and kept pulling me toward the exit. At some point, he picked me up because of how hard I was fighting against him. The next thing I knew we were outside, there were people everywhere and I was still naked.”

“Holy shit, this is the best story I’ve ever heard.” Celia was enthralled, and it was nice to have someone else to focus on rather than her own issues.

“It might be funny now but it was not funny at the time,” Zara said.

“Tell her what happened next,” Hannah said.

“So there I was naked and over Noah’s shoulder. He finally loosened his grip and set me back on my feet. I started hitting him, angry at what he’d done. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that I realized how freaked out he looked. I turned around to look at what he was so focused on and saw the building I was just inside, completely in flames. Like fire everywhere. The fucking thing was burning down. All my anger dissipated as I stared at the building. Noah had probably saved my life.”

“Jesus, that’s insane,” Celia said. “What happened next?”

“Not much. Somewhere between being angry and realizing what he’d done, he slipped his t-shirt over my head to cover my nakedness but I was so focused on the fire that I wasn’t really paying attention. Then he was gone poof, just like the building, he’d gone up in smoke and I never saw him again.”

“Until...” Hannah prodded.

Zara glared at her. “Until two months ago when he showed up at my office looking for a new agent.”

“He did not!” Celia shouted.

Zara nodded. “He absolutely did. I was so dumbfounded that I think I stared at him for like ten minutes before I actually spoke words.”

“This is true,” Hannah said. “I walked by her office and found them basically in a staring contest. It was the funniest shit I’ve ever seen, mainly because Zara is never at a loss for words.”

“Did you take him on as a client?”

“Hell no,” Zara exclaimed. “There was no way I would be able to treat him like he should be treated after what happened to me in front of him.”

“I took him,” Hannah said. “He’d come to us because of Heath and so he was cool taking me on as an agent.”

“What I don’t understand is why was he at the wedding?”

“To torture me, apparently,” Zara said.

“Not what I was looking for but we’ll get back to that.”

Hannah laughed. “He knows Benji and since he was in town for a meeting with me, Cassidy and Benji told him to come.”

That sounded like both Cassidy and Benji. They were easygoing and wanted to share their love with the world. “Okay, so back to him torturing you,” she said to Zara.

“No, I’m finished with any more conversations about Noah Ashe. I don't want to think about him and I definitely don’t want to talk about him.”

“Me thinks she doth protest too much,” Celia said to Hannah with a raised eyebrow.

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