Hot as Hall

Chapter Twenty

"With the break in? I'm fine. The cops said there was nothing to worry about."

"I know what they said, but I'm asking how you feel about it. Do you think that's what it was?"

Hesitation flickers in her eyes. "Tanner, really... it's not a big deal. I appreciate you being concerned, but it's just a bunch of silly kids." 

Neither one of us actually believe that, but I know I'm not going to get much more out of her right now. She's closed the communication door on that one, and I don't want to push. 

"I have some more zip-ties in the garage. I'll go grab them." Zoe turns to head into the house. Before she can get very far, I reach for her, catching her wrist.

"Call me next time. Whether it's teenagers, or whatever else has you so rattled. No matter what." A smile pulls at my lips. "What good is having a hot, fire fighter boyfriend if you don't call him when you're in trouble?"

Zoe's cheeks turn the softest shade of pink and she gets an adorable smile on her face, and I can almost see her guard drop. "Did you just call yourself my boyfriend?"

I scratch my chin with a laugh. I didn't even notice the words as they came out of my mouth, but now that it's out there, I kind of like the sound of it. "Don't make it weird."

"Deal." Zoe grins, heading into the house.

_________

"I don't think I'm every going to get married." Brooks is laid out next to me on a towel letting the sun dry him off as he cradles a shady beer can in his hand. He's still trying to catch his breath from the last set of waves we hit. After I got Zoe's camera's up, she had a few errands to run and I went to the beach to meet up with Lucas, James, and Brooks.

The boys are still out in the water having the time of their lives, but Brooks and I called it quits awhile ago. Neither one of us has the stamina we used to, and there's nothing quite a few hours of battling waves and currents to put a guy right in his place. The ocean is an unforgiving beast. It's beautiful, but ruthless.

"You're not?" I run a towel over my hair, shaking out the last of the water droplets.

Brooks shakes his head. "Ex-wives seem like too much trouble."

I let out a sharp laugh. Apparently, my story about Gwen crashing my date last night made an impression on him. "You don't get an ex-wife unless you get divorced, Brooks. And that's not exactly the goal of marriage."

"Yeah," he shrugs, "But a good majority of marriages end that way, and I think we both know with my stats, it's more than likely. Hell, with the way I burn though woman, I'm surprised I don't have any already. But speaking of future ex-wives... How are things going with Zoe?"

"Zoe is great." I ignore his chiding. Everything is perfect, except for that fact that she's still holding back a bit. "In fact, I think I'm going to invite her to the auction this weekend."

"Don't remind me." Brooks groans. "I don't want anything to do with that dog and pony show."

"Really?" I chuckle. "I would have thought parading around shirtless in your uniform suspenders while drunk, screaming women bid on a date with you is like a fantasy of yours."

"The first few years, maybe." Brooks rolls his eyes. "You're the captain...can't you make us all come in on a fake call?"

"Oh, come on." I shove his shoulder a bit with a smirk. "It's for charity."

"I'd rather write a check." Brooks shrugs, standing up and stretching. "I better get going. I've got a shit-ton to yard work I'm helping my dad with. So much for a few days off. Tell the boys bye for me."