Alpha Hero - Hope Ford Page 0,64

out with you, but I’m sure your brother wants someone with a little more experience than I have.”

Luke just shakes his head. “Well, I dunno, it sort of seems you’re perfect for the job.”

I take a deep breath and look between the two of them. The same green eyes stare back at me, pleadingly.

I roll my shoulders. It’s not like I’m busy. My only thing to do this week was to come up with a plan. I left my trust fund life behind in hopes of trying to figure out who I really am. Well, surely getting a job, even a temporary one, is better than nothing. “Fine. If you want, I can watch Anna until you find another sitter.”

We agree on a time and I tell them goodnight.

“Carly?” Luke says my name and it brushes over me like a soft breeze.

I get to my door across the hall, needing to put some distance between us, and turn back to him. “Yeah?”

“Did you forget your shoes?” he asks me, looking at my feet.

I look down at my bare pink polished toes and back up again. I laugh. “Yeah, I didn’t have time to grab them earlier. They’re inside,” I say, pointing at my door. Then with a small wave, I walk into my apartment, shut the door and lean back against it.

4

Carly

My first day on the job and I am already second guessing myself. I guess I thought Anna would be in school or something like that, but no, she is on spring break. As soon as I stepped into the apartment and saw him standing at the stove in his police uniform flipping a pancake, my stomach flipped with it. He looked good last night coming in with his street clothes and backpack on. But Luke in a uniform is something else.

I set down my bag at the table and Anna looks up at it and then at me. “What is Louis Vutton?”

Instead of answering her, I exclaim, “Something smells good. What can I do to help?” I don’t want to get into the whole story of where I come from and why I’m living here. And Anna doesn’t have a clue who Louis Vuitton is, which is good, because I don’t want to explain my life, especially when I don’t really understand it. No, I’d rather keep it all under wraps for a little bit.

“Nothing. Have a seat.” He points to a chair at the table and Anna and I sit down.

He starts going over Anna’s schedule and what he’d like me to do with her. He finishes with, “It should only be a few days and then I’ll have time to start looking for another sitter. I finish an exam tonight, then I’ll be off school for a week.”

“So you go to school and work?”

He sets a plate of pancakes in the middle of the table. “Yep, I’m trying to promote to detective and it requires a degree. But I’m in my last semester so I’m almost done.”

Nodding my head, I can’t help but be a little jealous. He’s already got his life figured out and he’s going for it. He knows exactly what he wants to do. And then here I am, living off my trust fund and trying to decide what I even want to do the next day.

“So are you sure you don’t mind watching her until around eight o’clock tonight? If you need me to, I can get my partner’s mom to come. She watches her sometimes when I get into a bind.”

“It’s no problem, I promise,” I assure him. I have nothing else to do, but I don’t tell him that.

“Great!” He hands me his phone. “Can you put your number in?”

I take the phone from him and do my best not to touch his fingers. I type in my name and number and hand it back to him.

He looks down at it. “What’s your last name?”

“Colton,” I tell him easily and look away. I get it, he wants to know who’s watching his sister.

He kisses his sister on the head and tells us bye. Before he walks out, he asks me, “What about a car? Do you need to borrow mine today?”

I just shake my head. “Nope. I have one.” I’m hoping he doesn’t ask me, because I don’t really want to explain why I have a BMW. I know the look when people find out you have money. For some reason, I really don’t want that from him.

I watch him