Page 41 of Reckless
“Won’t that leave you stranded in my neighborhood?” Zoe asked. But it didn’t escape his notice that she hadn’t said no, and screw it. He’d never been good at dancing around the truth.
“Yeah, but you live pretty close to the fire station, which means I can either hitch a ride home or call an Uber. I know you can take care of yourself.” Alex pushed up from his chair, impulse and endorphins and something he had no name for moving him in front of her with mere inches to spare. “It’s just that right now, I don’t want you to have to. Okay?”
Zoe’s eyes went warm and wide, but she didn’t pull back. “Okay.”
He slipped past the curtain hanging down from the ceiling, making sure the door was shut all the way so she’d have full privacy to get dressed before going to wait for her in the lobby. She joined him a few minutes later, and although they didn’t say much as they traded the building for the parking lot, then the parking lot for her car, the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. In fact, by the time Zoe had guided him through the fifteen-minute drive uptown, Alex had gained back most of his easygoing calm.
And as long as he replaced his thoughts of Zoe’s bruises with the satisfaction of having knocked the man who had given them to her into next week, he just might keep it, too.
Zoe reached into her messenger bag, her keys ringing softly as she pulled them from the dark blue canvas. With a quick turn and click, she led the way past a pair of sturdy oak and glass doors, then through a brightly lit lobby lined with metal mailboxes and bulletin boards. A few dozen steps had them in the elevator, and a few dozen after that, she slid the key into the lock on a glossy black door marked 4B.
“I can’t guarantee that there aren’t any dust rhinos or unfolded laundry lurking about, but this is me.”
Alex’s curiosity jumped, but he covered it with a half shrug as he followed her past her tiny foyer and into a cozy, sun-filled living room. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel anything other than relaxed right now. Shit, she’d probably burned through her monthly allotment of adrenaline the minute she’d barked out Damien’s name from the door frame of the shelter.
Don’t think about it. Do. Not. Think about it.
“Dust rhinos, huh? Sounds pretty ferocious.”
Zoe lowered her bag from her unhurt shoulder, and bingo. Her smile slipped out. “Occupational hazard, I guess. Hope House keeps me pretty busy, and in the few hours that I am here, I’m either in the kitchen or asleep.”
“Didn’t anyone ever have that whole all work and no play conversation with you?” he teased, but even off her game, she was still razor-wire sharp.
“What, you mean the same way someone should probably have the whole pot, kettle, look who’s talking conversation with you? Come on, Alex. I think it’s pretty clear we’re both devoted to our jobs.”
“Yeah, you definitely proved that point this morning,” Alex said, the words crowding out before he could stop them. Zoe tensed, halfway across the carpet, and ah, fuck. Even though he meant every inch of what he’d said, calling her out after the morning she’d had was a pretty sizable dick move. He opened his mouth with every intention of telling her to forget it, but she spoke first, beating him to the punch.
“Before you read me the riot act, I know.”
Wait… “You what?”
She knotted her arms over the front of her gray button-down, which had to hurt under the circumstances, but still, she didn’t flinch. “I avoid being reckless the way most people avoid sinkholes and hand grenades. Believe me, I get that baiting Damien wasn’t the most well-thought-out plan.”
“No,” Alex agreed, slow and deliberate. “It wasn’t.”
Zoe’s chin lifted, just enough to broadcast the flash of determination in her amber-colored eyes. “But what was I supposed to do? That’s my kitchen, and when the residents are there, I’m responsible for taking care of them. No matter what.”
He crossed the floor, lowering his gaze to put her in his direct line of sight. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t have stood up for your residents, Zoe, or that you shouldn’t have taken a risk in order to do it. Hell, I’d have done the same exact thing.”
“You would?” she whispered, confusion sliding over her features. “But I thought you were mad that I tried to stop Damien.”
“I’m mad at Damien for hurting you,” Alex qualified, inhaling past the tightness in his jaw. “But to answer your question, instead of trying to take on the world all by yourself, what you were supposed to do was let me help you.”
“Oh.” The word collapsed past her lips, a thin wisp of hair fluttering forward as she dropped her eyes. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m not used to having anyone in my corner like that. Not at Hope House, anyway.”
Alex paused, taking in the sweep of her lashes as she blinked, the barely there sigh behind her exhale. He’d thought Zoe’s brazen side was beautiful, but her mettle was really just the flip side of her tenderness.
God help him, he wanted her.Allof her.
And if he couldn’t have her, the least he could do was have her back.
“Well, get used to it. It might only be for the next three weeks, but for as long as I’m at Hope House, you’re not going it alone.”
* * *
Zoe stood utterly still,her feet glued to the living room carpet and her heart doing a bang-up job of trying to break free from her chest. Her emotions had been through the blender today, she knew, but with Alex standing here in front of her with those impossibly blue eyes and even more impossibly enticing words on his lips, she didn’t just feel comforted.
She believed him.
