Lexie had mixed feelings about that.
He was definitely a gentleman.
There was no arguing about that fact.
Was it bad that she wanted him to walk her to her door for another reason?
She shook her head to clear it.
She had a test tomorrow and he'd just moved to Center City, this was not the time to worry about dating someone.
Smiling, because she meant it, she walked up the sidewalk toward the front door of her apartment building.
"Oh," she looked at him walking at her side, "what are you doing tomorrow?"
His smile deepened as they reached the light from the entryway. "I'm actually headed in to work. The floater they had is sick. So I got a call from Faust, he's the leader of the Rescue Crew at Twenty-nine. He asked if I could start. Tomorrow."
She smiled at him. "Looks like we're both busy tomorrow."
"Well," he shrugged a little, "tomorrow and overnight."
She nodded even though she felt a strange pang of disappointment.
Lexie opened her mouth to say... something, but nothing came out.
What could she say?
He had the job that he moved to Center City for, and she had a test that she'd been working toward for two years.
When they stopped at the door, Lexie reached into her pocket for her keys.
On her own, she would have had her keys in her hand, poking through between her fingers. It wasn't a foolproof way todiscourage people from coming up to her, but it gave her some sense of security.
"I was wondering..."
Lexie slipped the key into the lock and turned. "Hmm?"
"I know this might not be the right time for this-"
She turned to look at him, worried at what he was about to say.
He bit into his bottom lip, and she felt her heart skip a little in her chest.
"I don't even have a stable place to live in town yet, but I'd like to take you out sometime this week."
She opened her mouth to answer but he had more to say.
"I don't know what my schedule will be like with work. Firefighters have a long schedule."
She nodded, knowing just what he meant. "I'll be shadowing at the Emergency Room for a few shifts while we wait for my test scores to be confirmed. So, it might be a little crazy schedule-wise for both of us. But, I believe there'll be a way for us to figure something out."
"Yeah?" He grinned at her. "Good. Really good."
She agreed with him, but before she could figure out what to say, he leaned in and wrapped his arms around her in a hug.
He wasn't in a rush.
And he didn't hold onto her too tightly.
