He points, and I turn. A young woman sets a stack of newspapers in a wire rack. She has already positioned one so it faces out, the front-page photo of a firefighter coming out of a burning home with a person thrown over his shoulders. The headline reads,Firefighter Saves College Student.
Gabriel is up from his seat, grabbing a copy and tucking it under his arm. He pays for it and returns, setting it on the table lengthwise so we can both read.
“You gave an interview?” he asks, glancing over the article.
The tip of my tongue traces my upper lip and I nod. “Yesterday. My sister set it up.”
Cam had communicated with the reporter, and when it was time she placed my laptop in front of me with the video call already going. Then she sat beside me, off-screen but holding my hand.
I tap the paper. “The reporter didn’t tell me it was going to be front page news. She made it sound like it was a little piece.”
“Must be a slow news day.” He keeps skimming. “The crew is going to love this. They’ve started calling me ‘hero.’”
My eyes widen in apology. “Because of me?”
“Yes,” he says, but he’s grinning. "It’s ok. There are far worse things to be called.” He gets to the end of the article and looks up at me through dark lashes. “She wrote that we’re going on a date.”
I palm my forehead as mortification makes me want to sink into the cold tile floor. “I’m so sorry. My sister mentioned it right before the call was over. I didn’t think it was part of the interview.”
His thumb runs the length of his lower lip. “Don’t be sorry. I don’t care if the entire world knows I asked you on a date.”
My toes curl, gripping my shoes as I try to keep myself rooted to this moment when everything inside me feels like butterflies and somersaults. “You don’t do that often, do you? Ask the people you save from a burning building if they’ll go on a date with you?” I’m teasing because I don’t know how to handle the intensity between us.
He smirks, a dimple appearing in his right cheek only. “You’re the first.”
“I feel honored,” I say in a joking voice.
“I hope you know I didn’t ask you out because I expected you to agree.”
“Why did you ask?”
“Honestly?”
“No, lie to me.”
This earns me a laugh. I like his laugh. It’s deep, almost gruff, and masculine.
“My dad and Ryan essentially shoved me out the door after you left the station.”
“You wouldn’t have come after me on your own?”
“I definitely would have. My wheels were turning slower that day, thanks to a beautiful woman and her even prettier smile.”
A warm flush spreads over me.
Gabriel continues. “There was no way I was going to let you drive away without figuring out some way to see you again.”
I gulp against the rush of endorphins, the flowing oxytocin. “Why’s that? Aside from you doing your job, we hardly know each other.”
He bites his lower lip. “There’s something about you, something I can’t wrap my mind around.” His head moves back and forth slowly as he speaks. “I just knew that if I let you drive away, I’d regret it.”
Words fail me, so I close the inches separating our hands. My fingers slide over his, intertwining. The newspaper lies beneath our grasp.
“Is this the right way to start something?” I ask. Am I confusing my gratitude to him for saving my life for attraction? His thumb draws a circle on the top of my hand. My core tightens.
No. Definitely not what I’m doing.
“We can pretend last weekend never happened. I met you at the grocery store, we were reaching for the same carton of strawberries. Our hands brushed. Sparks flew. You were dazzled by my wit, I was taken by your hazel eyes.”
