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But whatever peace she found in her dreams slowly comes to an end as she begins to toss and turn. Her brows knit, and her eyes dart back and forth in agitation beneath their lids. A second later, they blink open, changing from sleepy unawareness to pure panic as she bolts upright.
“Zander!” she screams. “Zander, we have to go.”
Before I can stop her, she’s rolled off the couch onto all fours. As her hands frantically pat around the darkness, I reach for her phone that I’d placed on the coffee table.
She’s so out of it that she doesn’t register when I hand it to her. Instinctively, she hits the power button, lighting the living room in a blue glow as she gazes at the time and jumps to her feet.
“Zander, it's eight! I’m late for work, let’s go!”
“Zoe,” I say calmly as I watch her stumble to the wall and flick on a light switch that won’t work.
When Zander and I got home, the power was out. The electric company had made good on their promise. Thankfully, there’s a cool breeze tonight with a bright silvery moon shining through the window. If it weren’t for the natural nightlight, I’m not sure Zander would’ve fallen asleep so quickly.
Zoe curses as she bucks her toe into the table leg. “Zan!”
Reaching for my phone, I turn on my flashlight, and Zoe damn near jumps out of her skin as the tiny room lights up.
“Cole?” Her hand flies to her throat. “What the hell did I tell you about sneaking up on me?”
“I thought that only applied to the diner,” I smile softly as she gazes around us, taking in our surroundings.
“What are you still doing here?” she asks, reaching for Zander’s coat while trying to put her shoes on and nearly falling over in the process. “I can’t believe I slept this long. I can’t afford to be late, especially not now... not when—”
Not when she needs some cash to pay for some cheap room in a seedy motel. A room I’d be damned to let her and Zander stay in.
“Hey, hey,” I say, grasping her arm to steady her. “It’s alright.”
“No, it’s not.” She sounds on the brink of tears. “I need that shift.”
“You needed the rest. It’s going to be okay. Come here,” I say as I pull her onto my lap, soothingly running circles over her back.
She’s so defeated that she doesn’t resist or tense up the way she always does when I get too close for too long. And I’m damn near shocked when she presses her face into my neck. A second later, I feel the flutter of her wet eyelashes.
“I can’t afford to rest,” she cries into my shoulder. “The eviction. The letters—”
“Can wait. Zoe, everyone deserves to rest. You more than anyone. Let me help you. Zander is already in bed, and I can stay here with him while you go to work, so you don’t have to wake him up.” I want to bite my tongue even as I say it.
The last thing she should do is go to work, but I know her anxiety won’t lessen until she does.
“You would do that for me?” Zoe looks up at me, eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and hopefulness.
“I would do anything for you.”
The moment I say the words, I swear I can see that switch flip inside of her. But instead of shutting off, she’s turned on.
“But somehow, I don’t think you’ll let me convince you to take the night off,” I say, licking my suddenly dry lips.
Her eyes follow the motion of my tongue, and suddenly the air between us becomes charged. Our breathing quickens as we realize how close we are to each other. So close I could lean in and finally taste her. I rub my thumb along her jaw and lower lip as we gaze into each other’s eyes. Like magnets on an invisible force field, we begin to draw together...
Then her phone rings, effectively pulling us out of our trance.
Zoe rushes to answer it, stumbling from my lap as the name Connie runs across the screen. “Hey, I was just leaving!” Her hands that attempt to smooth the frizzy halo around her curls are shaking.
Did I make her that nervous?
Good.
“Whoa, what do you mean don’t come in?” She stops her smoothing, her eyes growing wide. “What???... But...But... no, no, I understand. Thank you for warning me.”
