Chapter 2: Ryker
I've known Corinne basically my whole life and she's been a pain in my side the entire time. I've known her since she was an annoying six-year-old who wanted to play tea party. I remember when she started developing breasts. I can even remember when I started wanting to see those breasts. She's been in my life for as long as I can remember, and I've loved her for almost every second of it. Except for the tea party years.
When we got the call to her house saying there was a minor fire, my heart started racing. Please God, not Corinne, I thought. I saw a thousand memories of our lives together flash through my mind. All those years that we'd been friends -- sort of, I'd been friends with her brother more than her -- played across my mind like a movie. By the time we arrived at her house, I had convinced myself that as long as she was okay, I was going to ask her to marry me.
But then I found out that she burned the pizza on purpose, just so that her roommate and my partner could go on a date. I wanted nothing more than to grab that tiny wrist of hers, pull her over my lap, and tan her hide. It was a strange mix of relief and frustration that coursed through me, but mostly frustration. I wanted to punish her for scaring the life out of me and for playing with fire, again, because this wasn't the first time I'd caught her doing that.
I hadn't given up the desire to marry her just yet, but it was overtaken by the desire to teach her a lesson. Which was why by the end of taking her statement and filling out my report -- and fudging the truth a little bit, forgive me, God -- I'd decided that at the very least, I was going to take that girl out on a proper date.
Corinne, though three years my junior, was the kind of girl you bring home to your mama. I'd already brought her home several times when she was younger. Her and Nathan's parents were lawyers and on more than one occasion they'd forgotten to make dinner or leave money for the two of them. So I brought the kids to my place where my mother had more than enough food for the Harrison kids to feast on. My mama came from a good Italian family who knew how to cook for a village, bless her heart.
So I was going to see if I could make sparks fly and play matchmaker for myself. I'd seen the way Corinne looked at me from time-to-time. Out of respect for Nathan, I'd kept from asking her out. I didn't want to date her, find out that we weren't a match, and then ruin things between us. So I stayed away from her and kept things platonic. We had a few close run-ins over the years, including when she asked me to take her to her senior prom, but we bounced back from that.
Now that she'd scared me half to death with this fake fire all to play Cupid for her roommate, it was my turn. If Nathan got mad, he was just going to have to get over it. I deserved love as much as the next guy. My love just happened to be a small, stubborn, 5'3", brunette who packed more heat than your average house fire.
Shane and I got in the rig and I ask how things went with Alexandra. "I heard from a little birdy that you two have been talking." If he didn't ask her out, then Corinne was going to be pissed she wasted a whole pizza for no reason.
"She's a great girl. I actually just asked her out on a date. That was probably unprofessional," he winces, but it kind of looks like an unapologetic smile.
No, what's unprofessional is threatening to spank your best friend's little sister in the kitchen of your latest fire fighting emergency. But hey, if you think asking someone out is the worst thing you could do, then, by all means, you can crown yourself the unprofessional one in this scenario.