Page 71 of Clean Out of Luck

The guys come closer, and I watch them warily. Ifsomeone is approaching you with a gleeful smile, it usually means you’re not going to like it.

“Well. Here it is.” Linus flips the calendar around to show me a large picture on the front.

It’s me.

And it’s not just me…It’s me running out of The Serendipity with Scarlett in my arms. She looks like an angel in her lacy swimsuit cover-up.

I snatch the calendar from him and stare at it for a few minutes.

Scarlett looks fragile in my arms. She has one arm looped behind my head, that book tucked against her chest.

My face is tipped down toward her. It looks as though I’m telling her something reassuring, even though I know I was teasing her.

But the look on her face? It’s something I didn’t notice amidst the chaos of the moment.

The look on her face is thoughtful. Sweet. Dare I say…adoring?

She has a soft smile on her face and is looking up at me with wide eyes. I lean forward to look closer at the picture. It almost looks as though she’s leaning into my hold. Her fingers are clutching my collar, and she’s leaning her head toward mine.

Maybe, just maybe, our kiss the other day meant more to her than she let on. Or maybe she was stunned at me carrying her out of the building and that’s her shocked face.

Either way, I’m going to have to find out. And I’m going to be honest with her. I told her I would give her time. And I told her we needed to talk.

She’s had her time.

I pick up my phone, determined to talk to her right away. I make the call.

It goes to voicemail.

I call again, but again, it goes straight to voicemail.

Well, that’s not how I wanted it to go. Not when I just had the realization she might actually have feelings for me. I stare down at the name on my phone, wondering what else I can do to get her to talk to me. I don’t get off shift for another couple of hours.

“Was that a call to your modeling agent?”

I glance up sharply. I completely forgot about Jack and Linus. They’re both standing in front of me, looking at me with questioningly. “You don’t like it?” Linus asks.

“He likes it, I’m pretty sure,” Jack says shrewdly. “You see…he likes her.”

“Is he still in kindergarten? If he likes her, maybe he should tell her instead of carrying her out of buildings.” Linus shakes his head. “When I realized I loved my wife, I told her. And then we got married.”

“And now you have four million children,” Jack adds.

Linus snorts. “My point is, you have to actually say something to the other person, or they’ll never know.”

“What do you think I was trying to do just now?” I cut in.

“Oh, I thought you were calling your modeling agent to ask about an underwear sponsor,” Linus says with a chuckle. “You know, since you’re now a cover model.” He leans forward and taps the front of the calendar.

“I’m not sure he even wears underwear,” Jack muses. “I’ve never seen any lying around the house.”

“Just because I don’t leave my dirty underwear lying all around the house doesn’t mean I don’t wear them.” Sometimes, it’s actually the worst being friends with your roommate.

“Dirty underwear? I usually prefer to wear clean, but I guess whatever floats your boat.” Jack laughs, and I wonder if I could tackle him without injuring either of us. Probably not.I’m getting close to thirty, close to the age when one wrong knee bend could be a life sentence.

“I think he’d do better sticking with firefighting. I don’t think an underwear company would hire him,” Linus comments.

“You two are ridiculous. Is this my calendar?”

---