Page 58 of Reckless
“What are you doing?” she asked, her pretty, kiss-plumped smile sliding into confusion.
But he led her over to the bathtub without hesitation. “You still want the moment, right?”
“Yes.” Her amber-colored eyes gleamed, going wider when he reached down to twist the oiled bronze faucet handles in front of him. Alex waited until the water was a perfect hot-but-not-too-hot before pushing the stopper and guiding her into the tub, pulling her close on pure impulse.
“Good. Because I just got started with you, Gorgeous. And I’ve got all damn day to finish.”
20
Zoe clicked Save on the last document on her To Do list for the morning, pushing back against her desk chair with a weary grin. Her eyes burned from a combination of near-constant focus on the Collingsworth Grant proposal and an equally steady lack of sleep. But the last four days had been worth every ounce of effort she’d put into them. Between the abundance of able bodies in Hope House’s kitchen and the one-two punch of her planning and her father’s proficiency with paperwork, Zoe had been able to make more strides than she’d even thought possible. And the more she detailed the soup kitchen’s worthiness and strategized a bid outlining the ways she’d put that grant money to work, the more her hesitation turned into hope.
Hope she wouldn’t have without Alex Donovan in her kitchen.
A hard prickle spread over Zoe’s cheeks, and she swallowed the thought. Alex’s hearing with the battalion chief was a week and a half away, and he’d put in more than enough time and effort for his community service to be considered a success. Although he’d worked just as many hours at Hope House as she had this week—all without complaint—Zoe hadn’t missed the way Alex interacted so easily with everyone from Station Eight while they were here volunteering, or the happiness that lit up his bright blue eyes whenever they were around. No matter how purely good she felt with him in her kitchen, he belonged at the firehouse, doing a job that meant taking risks with his life on a daily basis.
But what if really living means taking risks? What if all you have to do is trust?
“Knock, knock.”
Rachel’s voice whipped Zoe back to her office by way of a good, hard reality check, and she sucked in a breath to counterbalance her slamming heartbeat and the yes-yes-yes pumping hot and heavy through her veins.
“Crap. I’m sorry,” Rachel said, shifting a massive stack of folders to her jeans-clad hip as she gestured to the door frame around her. “Your door was open, but I should’ve known you’d be up to your elbows in work. Didn’t mean to take you by surprise.”
“No, no, you didn’t,” Zoe replied, and okay, fine. So the words were only true because her inner voice had tiptoed up and startled the crap out of her first. God, she needed a break. “Is everything okay out there? Do you need any help in the kitchen?”
Rachel’s lips twitched into a smile. “Breakfast service went without a hitch, and I just walked by Alex, Cole, and Brennan unloading the produce delivery in nothing but their shirtsleeves and smiles. Everything’s coming up roses. Speaking of which…” She paused for a minute, flipping through her armload of file folders before plucking one from the pile to hand over. “Tina asked me to give this to you.”
“Thanks.” Zoe held the folder, unopened, as she slid a glance at Rachel. “You know, Tina’s never had an assistant before. Your volunteering to be a liaison between me and her has helped a lot this week.”
Rachel lifted one shoulder of her black T-shirt into a demi-shrug, but the warmth in her eyes totally called her no-big-deal bluff. “You’re right side up in the kitchen with all the guys helping, so I figured this was a good way to pitch in.” She pointed at the file she’d passed to Zoe. “Anyway, that’s the finalized list of organizations willing to act as drop off points for the food drive. Tina said you’d want it ASAP.”
“Oooh, not wrong,” Zoe said, flipping the folder open over her desk. She gave the list a quick visual, but wait. This couldn’t be right. “There are sixty-seven locations listed here.”
“Ah.” Rachel reached out, motioning for Zoe to pass the list back over. “I forgot to add the bookstore over on Church Street. The owner owes me a big one for all the romance novels I buy in that place.”
Just when Zoe thought she’d redlined on shock. “Seriously?”
Rachel huffed out a laugh. “Don’t judge a book—or a friend—by its cover, sweet cheeks. I love a good HEA. Anyway, I’ve got to make do on romance where I can. noteveryonecan have a gorgeous firefighter staring at her like she’s good enough to eat.”
Zoe’s cheeks went thermonuclear, but damn it, Rachel’s grin was more contagious than the flu in a freshman dorm. Still, Zoe had to aim for alittledignity. “First of all, I meant are thereseriouslysixty-eight drop off points for this food drive. Secondly, no one’s looking at me with quite that much enthusiasm.”
“First of all,” Rachel said, playfully mimicking Zoe’s tone along with her words, “underneath her pretty exterior, Ava is a barracuda. Of course there are that many drop off locations. Secondly”—she clucked her tongue, although her smile didn’t budge a millimeter—“I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night. You can play Cleopatra, Queen of Denial, all you want, but I’m here to tell you, Alex Donovan looks at you with a truckload of enthusiasm.”
“Really?” Zoe’s mouth formed the question without consulting her brain or her sense of self-preservation, and she shook her head in an effort to negate it. “I’m sure it’s just the sex.”
Rachel’s brows disappeared beneath her auburn bangs. “So, you and Donovan are more than just work partners, then?”
Well, shit. “Okay, yeah,” Zoe admitted, knowing when she’d been beat. Plus, the words felt unbelievably good coming out of her mouth. “I guess we are.”
Rachel slipped past the threshold, shutting the office door behind her before perching herself in the spare kitchen chair across from Zoe’s desk. “Lord, girl. Look at that great-sex glow on your face. If I didn’t like you so much, I’d hate your guts.”
“Sorry,” Zoe said, although yep. It was pretty much a giant freaking lie.
“Ah, don’t be. It’s not your fault I haven’t had sex since Thanksgiving. Anyway, Alex is a pretty cool guy. He’s clearly into you. Better living through orgasms, I say.”
Zoe’s laugh took a swipe at her nerves. “Yeah, well, I wish it was that cut and dried. It’s no raging secret that Alex’s motto is ‘risk first, ask questions later,’ and let’s just say I’m not usually on speaking terms with recklessness. Plus, when you add the whole my-overprotective-dad-is-totally-his-boss land mine…the odds of this not getting complicated are pretty thin.”
“I don’t know,” Rachel said, although the certainty in her voice belied the words. “You seem pretty fierce for someone who’s anti-risk. I’m not trying to overstep my bounds or piss you off, but the whole proceed-with-caution thing doesn’t exactly suit. Professionally or personally.”
