Chapter Twenty-Four #2
They closed in on her, taunting her with gossip about a male nurse and a female doctor who were supposedly hooking up at the hospital, and when that didn’t get her attention, they moved on to what she could only assume was fake gossip about other members of the firehouse getting caught having sex in the fire truck.
She gave them a cursory glance and went back to reading.
“Maybe she’s not reading. Maybe she’s looking at porn,” Howie called from the other side of the bay.
“Do you really think I’d look at porn right here, out in the open?” She had just gotten to a steamy scene, but they didn’t need to know that.
“Is there a rule against that?” Trey asked. “Asking for a friend.”
The guys laughed.
She pushed to her feet, ready to escape their nonsense, but Mike snagged her phone out of her hand and ran across the bay, laughing. She went after him, but he was faster.
“‘Does my sexy scientist want to do a little hands-on research?’” Mike read aloud as he ran.
“Yeah, baby. I could get into a sexy scientist,” Paul said.
“I swear, Mike, if you don’t give me my phone, I’ll end you!” Shauna threatened as she sprinted around the ambulance after him.
He continued reading, practically shouting, “She licks her lips as she wraps her fingers around my cock—”
Just as Shauna snagged the back of Mike’s shirt, “Hey, guys, is my wife around?” rang out from behind her in a familiar deep voice. Zander. Panic flared in her chest, but her stupid heart did a somersault at the ease with which he’d said it, as if they’d been married forever.
Mike whipped his head around. “Wife?”
Shauna yanked her phone from his hand and turned around without responding.
Zander was holding three large pizza boxes, his hair was damp, and boy did he look good in a white T-shirt under his leather cut, worn jeans, and an amused smile.
“Hey,” she said as casually as she could while her mind raced through explanations to give the guys. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.”
“I thought I’d surprise you and your friends with dinner. But I’ve got to admit, I didn’t expect to catch you chasing another guy around so soon after we tied the knot.” His eyes shimmered with the tease.
She felt the guys watching them, and though her insides were twisting and she had no idea how she was going to explain this to them, she couldn’t help but smile at Zander’s easy humor. “The asshole stole my phone.”
Zander feigned anger. “Want me to take him out?”
She shook her head as she stepped closer and lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “I haven’t told them we’re married yet.”
“Shit. Sorry, darlin’,” he whispered. “Guess we’d better ham it up.”
He swept one arm around her, balancing the pizzas in the other, and kissed the ever-loving hell out of her.
Why did he have to be such a good kisser?
Fuck it. If this was happening, she might as well enjoy it.
She kissed him back, but quickly discovered her mistake.
She enjoyed it too much and didn’t want to stop.
As their lips parted, it took her a minute to clear her lust-addled brain. A devilish glint shimmered in Zander’s eyes as he reached for her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze, and said, “Damn, I missed you.”
He was a hell of an actor. She needed the guys to buy it, and they sure as hell better after that kiss. Just in case, she flashed her most adoring smile and said, “If you’re going to bring me pizza every time you miss me, I might just keep you around.”
“Wait a second,” Lance said. “You guys aren’t really married, right? Tell me you were kidding.”
“We’re really married,” she said.
The guys exchanged concerned glances.
“No offense to either of you,” Howie said, “but haven’t you only known each other a week or two?”
“Sort of,” Shauna said. “We actually met a few years ago, and reconnected with his accident.” It was a stretch, but it was the best she had.
“Why’d you tell us you were just friends?” Mike asked. “And why go from friends or more to married so fast?”
Now it was her turn to lay it on thick. “I never thought I was the kind of person who could get swept off my feet, but then Zander crashed into my life, and I found out how wrong I was.” There was a little too much truth in that sentence, so she added more to temper it, even if only as a reminder to herself.
“It was like an outside force was driving us together.”
“Look, we know it’s fast. As Shauna said, it took us by surprise, too.
” Zander gazed into her eyes and said, “When we reconnected, it was like we’d stumbled into an unfinished story someone else had written for us.
We kept finding points where our lives had crossed, like everything in our lives had led us to that moment. ”
She was stunned. That was exactly what it felt like. Was this just an act? Or did he really feel that way?
“And you all know how great Shauna is,” he said to the guys. “She’s not just gorgeous and smart with a wild sense of humor. She’s as careful as she is badass. She can handle anything that comes her way, and trust me, I’m a lot to handle.”
“You can say that again,” she said more to herself than to him.
“See? She’s no wallflower.” He looked at her again, only this time it was as penetrating as it was at the wedding, stirring all the emotions she’d been trying to bury.
“But beneath all that snark, armor, and beauty beats the sweetest of hearts, and I’m the lucky bastard who gets to call it mine.
I look forward to a lifetime of showing her just how special she is.
” He lifted their joined hands and kissed the back of hers.
“So yeah, it’s fast and maybe even reckless.
But life’s short, and we aren’t going to waste a second of it. Right, Angel?”
“Mm-hm,” she managed, holding on to her runaway emotions by a thread.
“So, what do you say, guys?” Zander asked. “Do you want to congratulate us and eat some pizza, or shall we let my beautiful wife showcase her cooking skills?”
They all spoke at once, joking about wanting to live for another day, warning Zander not to let Shauna near a stove, and finally—thankfully—congratulating them on their nuptials.
As the guys took the pizzas inside, Zander said, “I think they bought it.”
“I bought it.” She laughed. “A little warning before kissing the hell out of me would’ve been nice.”
“I thought you wanted it to look real.”
“I did, but that was a bit too real. Especially in front of the guys.”
“Hey, don’t pretend you didn’t kiss me back.”
“Yeah, because—”
“You like kissing me,” he said with a smirk.
She couldn’t even try to deny it. “Next time, keep those lethal lips to yourself.”
Flashing an arrogant grin, he draped his arm over her shoulder in the way that already felt familiar and said, “Afraid you’ll get carried away in front of your friends and want to jump my bones?”
“I don’t even want to kiss you in front of them.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“Zander,” she warned.
“Save the making out for when we’re home alone. Got it.”
Her traitorous body revved up at the thought, but she managed a snarky “Dream on, Wicked.”