Page 62 of Reckless
Zoe waited, sensing the forthcomingbut, and she wasn’t disappointed.
“But sometimes, old habits can hurt you.” Rachel’s voice softened to one step above a whisper, although she didn’t scale back on her delivery. “I’m not trying to get all kittens and rainbows on you. You wouldn’t buy that, anyway. All I’m saying is that from the outside, you and Alex look like you could have something that works. When you’re listening to your gut, don’t forget to ask your heart’s opinion, too, okay?”
Zoe looked across the dining room, the pressure in her chest tightening as she watched Alex lean in toward Cole, listening to something the other firefighter said for just a brief second before throwing his head back in pure, carefree laughter.
“I won’t,” she said, but even as she did, Zoe knew her gut was too headstrong not to win out.
* * *
Alex sat allthe way back against his kitchen chair, ninety percent certain he was going to explode. Then Zoe pulled another tray of oatmeal raisin cookies from the oven, ushering the scents of brown sugar and warm cinnamon through the space between them, and yup. That just about sealed the deal.
“We have got to figure out another way for you to channel your nervous energy, otherwise I’m going to turnintoan oatmeal cookie.” Not that it stopped him from grabbing one more off the plate she’d put in front of him twenty minutes ago. Damn, these things were addicting.
Zoe slid the cookie sheet over the cooling rack on the counter, folding her bottom lip firmly between her teeth. “Sorry. But I only have three days before I turn this grant proposal in, and…well, have you ever had that nightmare where you stand up in front of a huge group of people only to discover you’re naked?”
He nodded, pushing back from the table to close the space between them while she continued. “Multiply that by about four million, and it’s kind of where I stand right now.”
“Sorry, what? You lost me at naked.”
“Alex,” she warned, although her laughter puffed past his cheek as he pulled her in close.
“Okay, okay.” He dropped a quick kiss over her mouth, mostly because he couldn’t help himself. But that little crease of worry that had set up camp between her eyebrows was honestly killing him. “I know you’re nervous. But you spent all day today on the last section of the proposal.” He kissed her again, just a brush of his lips. “We’ve got a full house with volunteers tomorrow, which means you’ve got all weekend to put the finishing touches on the thing. Not that it needs any,” he added, punctuating the affirmation with another, slower slide of his mouth, and bingo. Zoe melted into his touch. “You brought your A-game, Gorgeous. We’ve got this.”
“You’re always this sure of yourself when you take risks, aren’t you?”
Her question arrived on nothing more than an honest whisper, so that’s exactly how Alex answered it. “I’m always confident when I put my mind to something, yeah. But in this case, it’s not me who I’m sure of. It’s you.”
“What?” She blinked up at him, her body tightening in surprise beneath his grasp.
But no way was he letting her go. For three weeks, he’d watched her uncover the fierceness he’d seen beneath her caution all along. It was high time she took some credit.
Alex smiled. “You made the whole thing happen. From start to finish, you’re grabbing the moment to give Hope House all you’ve got. You might not want to admit it, but trust me. If there’s anything I’m sure of, it’s you.”
“I did a lot of the work,” Zoe said slowly, her body fitting further against his with every word. “But I never would’ve taken the leap if you hadn’t shown me how to be a little reckless. So, really, it’s us.”
Alex took a deep breath, but still, his pulse picked up speed in his veins. He’d been totally committed to living every inch of his life big and bold and right out loud for the last twelve years. He’d jumped from one thing to the next, letting each moment burn bright before it burned out, one hundred percent cocksure that he’d been living his life to the fullest.
But somewhere between that first morning at Hope House and this moment, with Zoe’s arms around his shoulders and that vulnerable expression that hit him right in the heart, Alex had changed. He didn’t just want to live in the moment in front of him. He wanted to live inallthe moments, and he wanted to do it with Zoe.
Beginning with this one.
“I want to be with you,” he said, cupping her face to capture both her gaze and the surprise shaping her expression.
“You’re with me right now.”
“I want more than now.” Alex skimmed his thumb over the curve of her lower lip, and hell. He’d never felt so reckless or so right in his life. “I want to wake up next to you tomorrow and see your face, just like this, and then I want to fall asleep next to you so we can do the same damn thing all over again. I want you, Zoe, and I don’t want to stop wanting you. I want to take the risk. I want to be with you.”
He dropped his mouth to hers in nothing more than the hint of a touch, but he felt the kiss everywhere, from his bones to his breath to his balls. Fitting the rise of her cheekbones against each of his palms, Alex held Zoe close, placing soft kisses on every part of her mouth until she pulled back on a gasp.
“Your hearing is first thing Monday morning, and after that, you’re going back to Eight. You belong there,” she whispered, her eyes loaded with emotion as she stared up at him through the glow of the kitchen lights.
“I do belong there,” he agreed. “But working with you at Hope House showed me I can belong in more than one place.”
Zoe’s lips parted, if only for a second. “And what about my father?”
Alex’s heart pounded a rhythmic warning against his sternum, but he pushed past his clanging sense of self-preservation. Westin might be an old-school firefighter with an honor code to match, but he was still a fair man, and the closest thing Alex had to a father.
And he wanted Zoe enough to put it all on the line.
