Chapter 7
7
ELLA
T hey could tell we’d just had sex. We’d done everything we could to get dressed and straighten up, but as we headed toward the parking lot, we ran into two guys from the crew.
One was Frank, the guy who’d driven the truck earlier. He flashed Zane a knowing look, then punched him in the arm.
“You old dog,” Frank said. “Get out of here before the chief sees you.”
“I’ll take you back to your car,” Zane said to me in a tone that was wholly professional.
That was when the insecurities kicked in.
I’d had friends who held out on sleeping with a guy for three weeks of dating, only to be dumped as soon as they did the deed. Was this one of those cases? He’d gotten what he wanted, and now he was done with me?
But we barely made it out of the parking lot before he reached over and took my hand. “Holy hell, that was amazing. I don’t care if I get fired over it. It’s worth it.”
“If you need me to take all the blame, I can,” I said. “I’ll tell them I seduced you. You fought it every step of the way.”
He laughed. “No way they’d buy that. They’d think I was crazy for having to be coerced into having sex with someone as beautiful as you.”
Those words warmed my heart. The guy knew how to win over a lady. I just hoped it wasn’t all talk.
“You know,” I said. “I’m not the type who just sleeps around.”
Of course, he knew that. He was my first time. We’d established that.
But he said nothing until we came to a stoplight, and then he looked over at me. “This isn’t just sex. This is the real deal. I feel it, and I hope you feel it too.”
I nodded, not able to find the words. I could never have imagined a guy like this would come into my life.
“We both have work, but I’d love to take you out to dinner,” he said. “Tonight—or another night, if this is too short notice.”
“Tonight would be fine.”
A little voice in my head said I should play hard to get, but I ignored it. No, I didn’t have to play games with this guy. As he’d said, this was the real deal.
“I’ll pick you up at seven,” he said. “Let’s exchange numbers…you know, just in case.”
He gave me his phone number, and I programmed it into my phone, then texted him so he’d have mine. By the time I got into my car at the school, I felt like I was walking on a cloud.
This was the best day of my life, and it was only going to get better from here.