Alpha Hero - Hope Ford Page 0,41

takes a bite and I watch the fork disappear between her lips. When she moans around the dessert, I squeeze my legs together because I swear she made the same sound last night. Her eyes pop open, like she just remembered the same thing, and we stare at each other.

I don’t know how long we sit like that, but I hear Terry clear his throat and we both look over at him and April. They’re staring at us and they both have big smiles on their faces.

April lifts up her fork, looks between us and smiles at Shannon. “Just promise me you’ll think about it.”

I look at Shannon, but she’s avoiding my stare. She guts me when she answers, “Yeah, okay, I’ll think about it.”

I barely make it through the rest of the meal. April and Shannon go off to take care of Ella and I hang out with Terry. He tries to ask me what’s going on with me, but I just grunt and answer, “Just been busy, that’s all.” He looks at me like he doesn’t believe me, so I change the subject and start talking about baseball.

When Shannon goes to leave for the night, I hurriedly say my goodbyes and follow her out to her car. “Are we going to talk about this?”

She just shakes her head. “There’s nothing to talk about, Zach.”

She goes to open her car door and I put my hand on it, stopping her. “But I think there is.”

She turns around, arms crossed across her chest. The action pushes her breasts up and it pulls my gaze to them. She just laughs and drops her arms. “Okay then, talk.”

“Why me?” I ask her.

She looks confused and shakes her head. “What are you talking about?”

I take a step closer to her. “Why did you pick me to lose your virginity to?”

“Honestly?” she asks me.

I nod my head at her, a little unsure of where this is going.

She puts her hand on her hip. “Because I wanted you. And I thought the best way to get you out of my head was to get you out of my system. So I did it… and now we’re done.”

There she goes, telling it like it is. I know I shouldn’t ask, but I can’t stop myself. “Well, did it work?”

Her head drops between her shoulders. “It would if we could forget all these side conversations and go on about our business.”

I take a step back from her. She’s doing exactly what we agreed to. I’m the one that is screwing this up. She turns around to get into the car, but I put a hand on her shoulder. “I wish it was different. I wish I was different. But I can’t do relationships.”

She turns her head to the side, but she doesn’t look at me. “I didn’t ask you to.”

She sits down and I squat down beside her. “As a friend, I’m telling you that Baker’s a bad idea. He doesn’t do relationships either.”

She doesn’t argue like I expect her to; she simply nods her head. “Noted.”

I just sit there staring at her before she reaches around me for the door. “Can I go now?”

I back away then, telling her bye and watch her drive away, pretty sure that a part of my heart is going with her.

7

Shannon

I barely slept a wink last night. All I could do was toss and turn, thinking about Zach. Even now, two days later, I feel the pull of the muscles in my legs from the other night, reminding me of everything that happened. Images of him above me and below me fill my mind and I can’t get it out of my head.

“We’re almost there. One minute out,” my partner, Philip, announces.

I’m in the back of the ambulance and we just got a call for a 901. As we approach the accident, I take some deep breaths, determined to focus on the job at hand. In a lot of cases, it is a matter of life and death and I don’t want to be off my game.

I jump out, grab my bag and start walking over to the wreckage. Everyone seems to be fine except for the man stuck in his car. Philip goes and checks on the other driver and I go to the one still in his car. It seems to be leaking gas and I know I need to hurry to get him out. The fire sirens are loud as they pull in behind us and I